Off to the City of Joy

Don't have much time, just wanted to say a last hello before I leave Thailand. I get on a plane in less than 12 hours for Calcutta. Wish me luck!

Tribute to Roadwarrior (Bangkok, Thailand)

Allen who? No, Allen Woo!

Hello everyone, this is just a quick thanks to my friend Allen Woo for always writing in my guestbook under the pen name "Roadwarrior". Sorry to expose your identity Al, but this is in your praise. You should all take a lesson from this man and sign my guestbook as frequently as he. It's such a nice treat to read any comments you may have, no matter how big or small. Secondly, Allen has always been one of those people who you know is very smart and witty, but he never lets it shine through due to his modesty. I've recently realized that Al is not only the above traits, but also very wise. Keep living life Al!


"What's the Capital of Thailand?" - Stiffler from "American Wedding"

Here I am in Bangkok, it took many, many hours to get here from Ko Phi Phi. I suffered from a hangover. If you remember from my last entry I told you about my boat ride all day, well who knew that hanging out in the sun all day and riding on a boat would make me intoxicated so quickly with a few beers? No one ever tells you these things, damn it.

Anyway, the night was good, up until the part when I got a little sick. I had dinner with 10 other travellers, mostly Scottish nurses and Canadians. Afterwards, I had plans to meet up with other people, mostly Irish girls and Canadians. Man, these Canadians are everywhere, how can a country with only 31 million end up all over the world? I even met 2 Calgarians, one who went to Bishop Grandin and one who lives in Bonavista! Anyway, after hanging out at this Hippies bar for a while, I checked out a Ladyboy show. Ladyboy are men dressed up like women, but most of them take hormone pills and have breasts. Anyway, it was good fun, quite entertaining, good choreography. I went back to the Hippies bar and then watched a fire twirling show and man are they talented! Next thing I know, I'm dancing on the beach around a little volcano thing. It was my last night to party with Marlene, we said our goodbyes the next day and might meet up in Cambodia. Who knows.


So, since I've been in Bangkok, I had really seen that much. Yesterday, I waited in the hostel lobby for 5.5 hrs waiting for a free room. I waited with this really talkative Aussi (Jason) and this not so talkative English guy (Tim). We all arrived on the same bus at 5:30am. I repeat... AM. That was hell.

Anyway, I met up with Melissa and Emelie in the hostel. They were waiting for my arrival. We went to a cool Wat with a reclining Buddha. I don't remember the name right now. A Wat is basically a temple. Today we went to a floating market at 7am. That was pretty neat, you go in a litte row boat and go along this river where vendors will come by in another boat and try to sell you fruits and knick-knacks. There's these cool wooden frogs that immitate the sound of the 'ribbit'. I kinda want one, but its totally unnessisary (sp?). Anyway, we ate some Ranmantan and Dragon Fruit. They taste like lychee and kiwi, respectively.

Now we're off to go check out a Thai Girl show. Basically like a go-go bar with different... stunts performed. Its not my idea to go! But I'll try to have anyway.


I'm turning into a Pirate!

I'm so sorry!!! I've been buying pirated CD's and I know that I shouldn't. I feel horrible, but they're so cheap, less than $3cdn/CD. To make up for it, when I get home in Canada, I'm going to buy other CD's by the same artists. So far I've boughten 7 of them, but 5 are like electronic compilations, so I can rationalize those ones as not ripping off artists. But yesterday I boought a Paul Simon and a Randy Crawford CD. I'm sorry Paul and Randy, please forgive me.

Gotta go. Remember... be like Al. Not only should you be smart, witty and wise, you should write in my guestbook more often. Or better yet, send me an email.

Just like the movies (Thailand)

Ko Lanta

So here I am in Thailand. I first spent 3 days on an island called Ko Lanta, it was quite an ordeal to get there. Buses, ferries, Mini-vans, taxis lots of waiting, one vendor who was selling tickets to get to Ko Lanta on our first ferry that we never trusted, but really should have, one bloody motorcycle accident, one meal and 10 hours later we arrived. However, right before we got there, while 9 of us cramped in the back of this mini-van, we witnessed this 12 Thai family/friends stuck in the back of a truck. They were having the most fun that was possible back there, they weren't pissed off or tired, they were making the best of it, sharing food, playing silly games, caring for this little toddler, etc. That made the whole day worth the trip.

Not to mention the fact that Ko Lanta is beautiful with hardly any tourists. We stayed in this bungalow guesthouse. Nicest place I've stayed so far and there was no cockroaches! (one gecko, but they're harmless and cute). For the 3 nights we were there we just basically relaxed on the beach, read, listened to music, beach volleyball, jogged, played cards, ate good food and had one very relaxing and soothing Thai massage. On Saturday the 8th, it was a full moon. In Ko Phang Ngan, its a huge, huge, huge party. On our island, there was a tiny little party at this bar called "Flotation". Wasn't very exciting, some fire twirling and at 11pm we all sent candles and incense into the ocean after making a wish. Tradition!

Finding Nemo

I'm now here on Ko Phi Phi, another island, but this one is crazy busy with tourists everywhere and its not even full high season yet! Its so small though that there's no cars on the islands, just tiny little streets/sidewalks. Everyone come here it seems, I've run into some people I hung out with in the Cameron Highlands and we hung out yesterday. Its pretty cool to walk down a street in a foreign country and find friends on the street to chat with.

Anyway, today I went on this boat trip that goes to the little islands around the area. It was 6 hours long. One of the coolest things I did was snorkelling, it was my first time and its actually quite simple to do. I saw the neatest things down there. There was chances of seeing some sharks (non-threatening) but no luck today. However, we saw tonnes of fish that are like the ones in Finding Nemo. I've never seen the movie, but that's what everyone tells me. Actually, as we speak, the movie is being played at a local bar.

Lots of the bars have movie schedules of like brand new movies. They're free to watch, well I guess you have to get a drink or something. They were playing "The Beach" yesterday.

The Beach

Another one of the little islands we went to today was "Myamma" (sp?) beach. This is where the movie was filmed from. It was pretty cool to see it, it totally looks like how it did in the movie, with clear, clear water. Unfortunatley, we're not the only ones that went there, of course there was tonnes of other tourists there swimming and roaming around, taking pictures. Trying to find that ideal place, like in the movie, is not that easy to do. Although, I haven't really tried, don't think I will, not now anyway.

Sports

Well, as you all probably know, I'm not really into sports. I can deal with that, its never really bothered me. However, it kinda gets annoying when most of these bars are playing football (soccer to us North Americans) and you can really escape it. I don't understand though, why all these foreigners leave their country to try and grasp another's culture and then end up in a bar with all foreigners and watch football. I guess its something I'll never really understand. Well, I guess if it was a bar that was having a Stevie Wonder concert or something, I wouldn't miss it for the world.

After the football though, there was live Thai Boxing. That was pretty cool to see real people boxing. A lot of people were saying that it looks pretty fake, or set up and its just for exhibition. It might be true, but you could like hear all the thumps and smacks. After the match has been won, the 2 boxers come around and shake everyone's hand. I'm assuming they're wanting money for it. It was free to watch afterall, but no one really gave anything. I actually lost 20baht (that's like $0.65 cdn) because Marlene and I placed a bet between the 2 of us, just to make it more exciting.

Anyway, I gotta run. Believe it or not, I've got a choice of things to do right now with different groups of people. Like I said, I know people here left and right. Don't I feel special... hehe.

Oooooh.... aaaaaaah... (Malaysia)

Ahhhh... Langkawi!

Wow, I'm now in Langkawi, an island on the Northwest Corner of Malaysia, just below Thailand. It's so lovely out here. I came by ferry yesterday with Marlene and we ran into this Englishman Dominic who'd we'd met previously in Melaka. We rode along the Indian Ocean, its such a neat feeling to be riding on the ocean for 2 hours.

All the travellers I've met in the last couple weeks in Malaysia have all said that the west coast islands aren't that nice and not even worth going to. Most of them skip out on Langkawi and head straight up to Thailand. Well, I obviously haven't been to Thailand yet (arrive tomorrow morning), but Langkawi is so gorgeous I think that all those travellers are missing out. They must all have the Lonely Planet or something (I met someone yesterday who called it her 'bible'.

You'd be amazed at how little tourists there here actually, most of them are just people on a short vacation. Lots of resort type hotels here. Anyway, yesterday on the beach which spanned about 1.5km there were literally about 30 people. In the water, even less, like 7-9. Today, on another beach on the northern tip of the island, there was like 10 people spanning about 2km. I'd like to see that little amount of people on a beach in Thailand, doubtful! I think that fact alone, makes Langkawi superior to Thai beaches.

Okay, I'll admit the sand wasn't perfect, like there were a few shells to walk on, and in the water there was some pebbles along the bottom, but so what. The water was clean and clear, a nice color. You can't go wrong, I'm glad I didn't skip this place.


Oooouch! My aching bones!

So yesterday, while on the beach, I saw a few people jogging on the sand, along the shore line. I haven't been jogging since about early September or so and I was totally motivated by the others. No problem, I decided to give it a go... with no shoes. Not the best idea. Like I said there's pebbles and seashells on the sand. It was a nice run though, I actually wasn't even struggling at all, it must be all the hiking from the Cameron Highlands that got me back into shape, not to mention I walk around every city for hours at a time. However afterwards, my feet were pretty soar and my calves were aching! I did stretch before and after, but I think that its the fact of no shoes that did me in. It was so 'Baywatch' like to do it with no shoes though!

Not only are my calves and shoes soar, my skin is starting hurt. Today and yesterday I bathed in the sun and was able to read my book. (African Safari Papers by Sedlack... good book!) I put some sun screen on, but I don't think it was 100% full proof. My skin's a little tight right now and kinda hot. I'm sure I'll be fine though. You should see how dark my arms are, I look like a regular Malaysian!

My ass is a little soar too, but that's another story....

Yeeeeee-ha.... riding again!

Marlene and I rented a motorbike today for only RM20, which converts to like $6.50 Cdn for 24hours. Pretty inpressive price. Too bad the breaks didn't work so well, and the second we were about to leave the lot, the merchant yelled "wait, wait!" so he could run over and pump a little air into the front tire. He also gave us a 90 second riding lesson, good thing Marlene rode a scooter for 4 years when she was younger.

Anyway, Langkawi is pretty big, can't just walk from on end of the island to the other. (Just a quick note that there's about 80 tiny little islands all around Langkawi). So anyway, we took turns today riding from one place to another. I'd say I'm a pretty good driver for it being my first time, not to mention that Malay's drive on the left side of the road. There's hardly any traffic, the roads are really straight and there's like 5 traffic lights on the whole island.

Seven Wells

Since we were able to explore the island we found this cool place, Seven Falls. Basically you walk up something like 550 steps and at the top there's this small waterfall where you can go swimming in. Pretty cool stuff, there's even a part where the rocks form like a slide to go down. I went down twice!

12 Monkeys

Okay, there wasn't really twelve of them, but its a better title. Marlene was wondering a little on her own, while I was getting ready to jump into the Seven Falls water, but then I heard her scream. I looked up and she was about to get attacked by a few monkeys. She was ready to use her camera to swing at them as she slowly backed away. It was actually quite funny, after the fact, but I don't know what I would've done it they actually attacked. Would I save her from the monkey? You or I will never know, but I'd like to think yes, being the gentleman that I am.

Ewwwww.... critters.

So, if I'm man enough to fight a monkey, then I should have no problems living with cochroaches. Yeah, that's right, cockroaches. In our room last night, we discovered about 3 or 4 different cockroaches hanging off the wall. I tried not to freak out, but Marlene is there jumping and stuff, of course I'm gonna freak out with her. I slept with my feet facing the wall as opposed to my head, the way it normally should be, because I know that the cockroaches are found on the wall. It took me like 10 minutes to get the guts to go into the washroom and brush my teeth. One scream later and a lot of courage, I had some clean teeth.

I think I'm okay now, you just have to get to know them, be friendly with them. They won't hurt or bite you, they just want to be roomates... yeah, that's it. In fact, just about 45 minutes ago, I had a shower with one! I didn't even freak, honest. I just quietly chanted to myself, 'please go away, please go away, please go away'. You can't really do much while you're standing there naked! But I watched it and saw how it moves, and they actually pretty neat little critters. Nevertheless, I left the lights on when I left the room, hopefully they won't be there when I get back.

I almost ran over a pretty big lizard today, but I swerved just in time. Then a few minutes down the road, there was a dead one splattered on the pavement. Poor fella.

I saw a rat a couple days ago too, but this was in Penang. First time seeing a rat. I'll have to get used to these aswell for when I get to India.


Ummmm.... a few tidbits.

I drank a Crysanthimum drink today. Inside it were all the flowers, but they look like dandelions. It was way too sweet, I tried to add some water to it, but still gross. I fed it to a tree.

I bought the drink from this big outdoor Ramadahn market. Ramadahn is a month long fast for Muslims, from 6am-7pm. We got there around 6pm and it was swamped with starving people, buying food to eat right at the strike of 7pm.

Speaking of the Islam religion, right now I'm at this internet cafe with no shoes on.

If you haven't read my "Everything happens for a reason" story, do so before reading this paragraph (should be the next one). Anyway, right after I wrote that entry, literally 2 mintues later, I bumped into Melissa and Emilie at the cafe that located at the base of my hostel! They're the 2 Canadians coming to India with me. Later that night, they bumped into a friend of a friend they know from Montreal. He then told us he knows of a travel agent in Bangkok who might be able to help us out with our plane tickets. I swear, this is no coincidence.

Does everything happen for a reason? (Malaysia)

Okay, i tried this last night, but the stupid computer blanked out and lost it. here it is again, with a few variations. Also, just so you know the shift key on this keyboard doesn't work very well.

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason, there's no such thing as a coincidence? it's a pretty big question to swallow and could take a lifetime to answer. during the last little while, i'm starting to believe that everything does happen for a specific reason, whether it be good or bad.

- met Marlene in Singapore
- met Allan and louisa just outside of our hostel in melaka, they later told us about Daniel's lodge in the Cameron highlands
- first night in the highlands we were hanging out at a pub where i left early due to crappy and loud music. its way too hard to sit around and talk to foreigners who you can hardly hear, let alone understand their accent.
- had a really great night as a result, went back to Daniel's lodge and sang around in a big group while a guy named Gill played his guitar
- while all this was happening, marlene was still at the pub and was meeting new people
- next morning, marlene introduced me to Timm, this German guy who turned out to be a really cool and funny guy.
- next day, i met Allen, this Scottish guy that was also at that pub that night, but i never met because i left, but was introduced by marlene.
- a couple days later, i met these 2 Canadian girls (Melissa & Emilie) in my dorm room and we talked about my going to India and how they had met another Canadian who's been there and was telling her experiences of it
- later that night, sitting around the camp fire at Daniel's, the 2 girls were there and also the other Canadian lady (Lorilee) who'd been to India.
- after talking a while, the 2 girls decided that they'd join me in India for a while. I've been hoping to find travel companions for India!
- next day, i left for Penang, 3 minutes after i walk into my hostel, lorilee walks in!

So, do you belive that everything happens for a reason? I really want to know, just put it in my guestbook with a few comments.

Can't... get... stuck! (Malaysia)

I'm here still in the Cameron Highlands. I was planning on leaving this morning but was cohearsed to stay by some of the other backpackers in my hostel. I don't really have any complaints about staying at this place, but there's so much more to see and only... 11 months and 12 days left to do it! I'm actually sad to leave this place, first place actually, that I don't really want to leave. Its been a fun 4 days, out of these 4 I've done 3 day hikes.

Today was supposed to be a simple, relaxing hike, but turned out to be one of the hardest ones so far. I guess its just being tired from drinking and hiking from the day before. I actually slipped in some mud today, twice! No biggie.

Last night was Halloween and there's was a 'party' that turned out to be nothing. I was really excited for it, I guess I've had worse Halloweens. Anyway, don't want to spend my last night sitting in front of the internet... gotta go. Probably write again from Pulau Panang. An island on the east coast of Malaysia, everyone I've talked to says its kinda boring, but I'll have to see for myself.