Railay Beach: Rocks and Stuff

WELCOME TO KRABI

the ambitious look before our first climb

proof

trees - better than safety harnesses

this picture's worth a thousand words

R&R

the beach

the lagoon

after songkran, we were in Bangkok for about 48 hours before we felt the desire for sun and sand.  so we packed our bags, visited the all too friendly airasia.com, and headed south for Krabi and Railay Beach.  After an hour and 20 minute flight, we were in Krabi.  We then took an hour bus ride to Ao Nang beach.  Now, in order to get to Railay Beach, where we were going to stay for our trip, you have to take a longtail boat to get there because there aren't any roads that run there.  we eventually made it to Railay Beach around 10 pm Thursday night and checked into some bungalows.  Now, these bungalows were pretty bad - no flushing toilets, no hot water, the water that came out of the sink & shower had a higher salinity than the Pacific Ocean, and mosquito nets...  The next morning, I checked out and went to the place next to these bungalows where I could get hot water and A/C.  It was a move much needed.

On Friday we ventured out to the beach.  I logged some hours in the sun and have regained my black skin.  The water was so nice too - it wasn't too cold or too deep.  We stayed on the beach to watch the sunset then returned home to rest up for the adventure ahead.

Saturday was our day of physical activity.  We woke up at 9am and geared up for some rock climbing.  Jon, Meris and I were adventurous enough to rock climb and Charity was our designated photo/videographer for the day.  I decided to do a half day and Jon and Meris did a full day.  Jon, part Monkey, climbed first.  He made it look all too easy for Meris and myself.  After his climb, I decided to go next.  Now, you may want to watch the video of me climbing first (ON YOUTUBE) or keep reading for a description.  I think me and rocks is like oil and water.  My first attempt i think I got about six inches off the ground before I had to rethink my steps.  Second attempt, I think I got about five feet off the ground before I had to call it quits.  I think I could've jumped higher than I climbed...  I got in about four more climbs in my half day and that was plenty.  At one point, I actually climbed pretty high on one of the rocks.  But I lost my grip and fell off the wall.  Next thing I know, I got a face full of tree and I'm clinging to it for my life.  Everyone really seemed to enjoy laughing at my pain....

The next day we thought would be a day of leisure but instead we decided to hike to this hidden lagoon our friends had told us about.  We walk along the sidewalk until we find this small, unmarked path and start to climb up the path.  We had no idea how challenging it would be before we started.  But that just made it worth it when we found the lagoon.  It was pretty cool - there were like fish and lizards swimming in the water, a ton of caves and stuff.  We hung out there for a while until it started to rain so we thought we should head back.

Well that wraps up the krabi trip.

Classes are over now.  I officially have about two weeks left in Bangkok - which includes final exams...  So we're all trying to enjoy ourselves as much as possible and make as many memories as we can in the time we have together.

Happy 2551!!

THIS IS SONGKRAN!

the canal: a source for water and dysentary

old men + wet chicks = songkran

playing at the guesthouse

the view from above

well as if living 12 hours in the future wasn't enough, i'm now 43 years in the future thanks to thai new year.

April 12 - 16 was Songkran Festival which is Thailand's New Year.  Songkran was traditionally a festival about paying respect to elders, monks and buddha.  Originally, thais would run water over buddha and their elders as a cleansing to pray and give thanks.  but it is far from that now...  it has turned into the world's largest water fight.  And yes, it's a five day holiday - which was officially extended one day this year by the government.  so that meant one more day of water and one less day of school for us.

so on April 11 we all left Bangkok on an overnight bus bound for Chiang Mai, in the northwestern part of Thailand.  During Songkran, most of the thais in Bangkok return to the provinces in Thailand to spend time with their family - so Bangkok is pretty much full of foreigners.  It was really cool to be in Chiang Mai because, while all we did was throw water around, there was a lot of culture to be observed throughout the weekend... but i'll get to that later.  The bus ride was 12 hours of torture.  But it just made stepping off the bus in Chiang Mai that much better.  We went to our guesthouse for the trip, The Green Tulip, and took naps to recharge for our day.  Then the real fun started....

Basically our days in Chiang Mai consisted of:

• wake up
• eat
• throw water
• buy ice
• make water cold
• throw cold water
• buy more ice and repeat

That was repeated for hours and hours, days and days.  I think the majority of my baht spent in Chiang Mai was either on ice or water guns.  Chiang Mai is basically enclosed by a canal surrounding the city.  This was the main source of our water - and now dysentary.  Everyday we would walk to the canal then find a tuk-tuk to drive us around for an hour or so.  the tuk-tuks were rigged so that they had taken the top of the cart off and had put two big tubs for water on the back.  then we would drive around and proceed to drench those thais by any means necessary.  but, being white in Chiang Mai, we were like moving targets for them.  I think they had a lot of fun throwing water on us and seeing us shiver due to the cold water.  It was very cool to see how the entire thai culture came together for this holiday.  Young, old, wet, dry - everyone was having fun and throwing water around.  But I have to say one of the coolest things of the weekend was witnessing the Thai culture in effect.  On Monday, the last day I had to run around and play in the water, they did a parade throughout the city where each temple in Chiang Mai had a float in the parade.  Each float consisted of a thai style band playing traditional music, a buddha that people would throw oil on to cleanse, and 10 or so thai ladies.  I was fortunate to be standing at the stopping point.  So each float would stop and play a song.  During the song, the ladies danced in traditional thai style.  But the funniest part was - they were all traditionally dressed.  Everyone.  but...  the water didn't stop.  So here are these nice thai ladies - all make-upped and dressed to the nines being sprayed with water guns.  It was pretty cool how a smile never left their face and they never seemed to get mad.  In fact, the whole weekend - I never saw anyone get mad because of water.  

well it was definitely THE coolest thing i have done/will do while in Thailand, or southeast asia for that matter.  

UPDATE: it's raining cats and (stray) dogs right now.  i'm trying to get this post out before my tower loses power - which it's notorious for doing.  happened three times last night/this morning.  seriously - i can't even see the river or thammasat or even the freeway beneath my room....  crazyyyyyyy

well check back tomorrow.  i'm going to post about me on rocks in krabi - gotta leave ya hangin.

The Gibbons Experience (read: The Hike-seven-hours-a-day-and-eat-crappy-food Experience)

I think "Experience" is the perfect way to explain my days in Laos.  Or hell.  Either way, I'm glad I saw what I saw, but I never want to do it again.  I was living in the pages of National Geographic for 5 days.  I couldn't believe it.  Let me count the ways:

• babies didn't wear clothes
• no one really wore shoes
• electricity was a luxury - if you could find it
• i drank water that was purified with "tablets" - i still don't believe the water was purified
• chicken, buffaloes, pigs and horses roamed the streets

anyways - I went to Laos to do the Gibbons Experience.  Abby and I were fortunate enough to get (read: have) to do the Waterfall experience, which takes you deeper in the jungle and involves more hiking every day.  great.  we were supposed to see lots of jungle animals - i saw two: water buffaloes and leeches.  two animals which i really never want to see again.  we ate food that tasted like it had been cooked in 1965.  the rice was hard and they served us tomatoes and spinach cooked with enough salt to dry up lake michigan.  we had to hike like 5, 6 or 7 hours a day, while carrying our stuff with us, through the jungle.  uphill, downhill, whatever.  oh and we lived in a treehouse, which everyone seemed to think was really cool but me.  let's see: no running water, no electricity, bad food, "mattresses" as thin as ice, and mosquito nets to protect us from the wonderful (read: deadly) wildlife of the jungle.  oh yeah, i'm forgetting one thing: rats.  yes, rats.  they can climb trees 600 ft because of the smell of our wonderful leftover food in the treehouse.  one even crawled over abby one night...

one of the highlights of the trip was the zipline network.  that was cool.  it was crazy because we were so high over the jungle... i forgot how high but i think we were 200m over the ground, which is like 600 ft.  and the longest zipline was 700m, which is a half a mile long across the jungle.  it was cool, but at some points really scary.  like coming into one of our treehouses, it was in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around it and i didn't make it all the way on the zipline.  so there i was, hanging out 600 ft above the ground then i have to pull myself in to the treehouse.  i can't really repeat the words that came out my mouth at that moment...  but i probably scared away all the "gibbons" - i still don't believe there are gibbons in that jungle.  i think it's a big conspiracy and they have been extinct for years....

anyways, i'm going to post some pics but i don't want to talk about it anymore.  I'm glad I saw what life inside National Geographic is like - but I can't handle it.  It made Thailand look like paradise and the United States look like Heaven.  I just can't believe that people live without cell phones, computers and communication.  It was crazy when I realized that they didn't need any of that because all of the people they needed to communicate with were in their village.  they didn't really know anyone else out in the world.  it just blows my mind that they've probably never seen images of the rest of the world.  they don't have any source of news from the world, either.  no tv, magazines or newspapers.  they completely lead a self-sustaining lifestyle.

oh, and the average salary for our tour guides was $40 USD a month.   A MONTH!!  crazy...

oh and one more thing.  there's like this understood curfew in Laos.  we were at the bar just starting our night at like 10 pm.  30 minutes later - it's last call.  yes 10:30 was last call....  and by 11 pm everyone was gone.  the whole town turned into a ghost town at 11 pm.  it was very strange and very different from anywhere i've ever been, especially bangkok.

well here's some pics from my trip to the jungle.

Houay-xai, the village in Laos where we stayed.  yes, these wom

en are driving their motorbikes with umbrellas-ella-ella-ey-ey-ey.

the view in the jungle (one of the highlights).  every morning was foggy

the zip line (another highlight)

me on the zipline

the group in the treehouse

well in a matter of hours we are all leaving for Chiang Mai for the Songkran Festival.  (Click the link for more information.)  But basically it's the Thai New Year.  being a buddhist holiday, it revolves around paying respect to buddha, monks and elders.  the way they pay respect during songkran is by washing water over these people.  but it has basically adapted into the worlds largest water fight for days and days with water guns, buckets, water balloons.  and the goal is to get anyone you see as wet as possible.  so it should be a good time.

The Life of Luxury: Another Day at the Office...

when I left Los Angeles, I thought my days of work were behind me.  i was wrong...

after midterm exams, I realized that I hadn't been keeping in touch with anyone from American Express Publishing.  so I decided to send out an email to my bosses filling them in on my experiences from the past three months.  then I heard back from one of my bosses Marion, who is the West Coast & Asia Pacific Advertising Director for DEPARTURES and Black Ink Magazine.  Being the Asia Pacific Advertising Director, she makes annual trips to Asia to meet with advertisers in our magazines.  Her trip includes Hong Kong; Shanghai, China; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Singapore and Bangkok.  So she emailed me telling me that she was coming to Bangkok for three days as part of her Asia trip.  She also gave me the opportunity to shadow her on her business meetings while in Bangkok.  Part of my "shadowing" included staying at the Four Seasons with her - ya know, cuz that commute across town is sooooo brutal.  I instantly jumped on the opportunity and started packing my bags.

DEPARTURES Magazine

(Black Ink is too exclusive to be online - so I don't have a picture of it)

She filled me in before she came to Bangkok that a car was going to pick me up at my apartment and take me to our first meeting with Thailand Tourism.  Now, the only car I've seen since I've been in Thailand has been a Toyota Corolla so I wasn't expecting much.  But up rolled Luxury #1 to my apartment - a Mercedes Benz S-Class AMG.  It was not only the nicest car I'd seen in Thailand, it was probably the nicest car I've ever been in.  The driver took my bag and opened the door to the life of luxury.  There was water and white wine waiting in the backseat for me and off I went to the first meeting.  Our meetings with the Thai companies were very interesting.  The Thai people were very nice, spoke excellent English and were very interested to learn about the magazine from an American perspective.  On Friday, we met with Thailand Tourism and Thai Airways.  After that, we returned to the Four Seasons and I checked into Luxury #2 for the weekend.  I had a bit of rest in my room then I changed and went downstairs with Marion.  We then sat and had wine and some specialties from the kitchen with the General Manager of the Four Seasons and his wife.  They were very nice and very hospitable.  They then treated Marion and I to dinner at Madison, the seafood restaurant at the Four Seasons.  I had a delicious meal of Sea Bass.  At dinner, Marion surprised me saying that she had planned a day of sightseeing for Saturday.  I had thought that we had more business meetings, but no!  She had organized a driver, tour guide, massages at the Peninsula Hotel then dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.  So I was really excited for Saturday.  But after dinner, I started feeling sick - ended up getting a fever, headache and stomach pains.  I didn't end up sleeping any that night and when I woke up in the morning, I was feeling worse.

The Mercedes S Class that picked me up

Four Seasons Bangkok

I checked out of the Four Seasons in the morning and ended up having the driver take me home and I spent the rest of the weekend in bed with the stomach flu.  It sucked but I've had my go with the Thai illness now...

This past weekend I went to the jungle in Laos and it was three days from hell...  that post is coming up...