Date: May 5, 2007
Location: Bangkok
Next Destination: Cambodia
Estimated Time of Departure: Tue. Mar. 8, 2007
1) Butterworth, Malaysia > Satun, Thailand ferries plus 30km riding
Apr. 7 - Apr. 8, 2007
Caught the 7:00 ferry to Penang, then the 8:15 ferry to Langkaui. Had expected to stay a week in Langkaui, but every hotel was full (there are a lot of hotels). Caught the 12:30 ferry to Satun, Thailand.
2) Satun, Thailnd > Trang, Thailand 162km
Apr. 8 - Apr. 10, 2007
162km from Satun to Trang. At the Trang Hotel, across from City Hall.
3) Trang, Thailand > Krabi, Thailand 150km
Apr. 10 - Apr. 15, 2007
150km from Trang to Au Nang Beach, Krabi.
4) Krabi, Thailand > Phang Nga Thailand 105km
Phang Nga
Apr. 15 - Apr. 16, 2007
105km from Krabi to Phang Nga. No clouds, little shade, and a lot of hills made this ride a long day. Not much to Phang Nga, small town, resorts south of town but I didn't go there. Stayed at a $6/180 Baht hotel, you get what you pay for but it was cheap.
5) Phang Nga Thailand > Takua Pa Thailand 67km
Takua Pa
Apr. 16 - Apr. 17, 2007
67km from Phang Nga to Takua Pa. Plenty of clouds made this an enjoyable ride through beautiful lake filled hills. Stayed at a $9/300 Baht hotel that was pretty nice for the price.
6) Takua Pa Thailand > Khura Buri Thailand 57km
Khura Buri
Apr. 17 - Apr. 18, 2007
57km from Takua Pa to Khura Buri, the last 13 were in a truck due to a flat tire. The last 13km are all up hill, so I guess I lucked out. Not much in Khura Buri, I wouldn't even expect a hotel but there turned out to be a nice hotel for about $18/650 Baht.
7) Khura Buri Thailand > Andaman Beach Resort Thailand 74km
Andaman Beach Resort
Apr. 18 - Apr. 20, 2007
74km from Khura Buri to Andaman Peace Beach Resort. I came here because I was tired of the constant hills.
My bungalow wasn't very nice, but the bungalows that I saw being worked on were much better. I could've had a better bungalow if I wanted to pay for 600 Baht rather than 400 Baht, but there's no ATM and I'm low on Bahts.
Andaman Resort is right on the beach, not across the street or 3km away. The food at the resort is the best I've had in years, not too oily as some Thai places make, and lots of vegetables with a good variety, not too soggy and not overwhelmed by the oil. I'd come here just for the food, but if you get a good bungalow on the beach, even better.
8) Andaman Beach Resort Thailand > Ranong Thailand 67km
Ranong
Apr. 20, 2007 – Apr. 22, 2007
67km from Andaman Peace Resort to Ranong. Stayed at the Sunny Lodge near the Royal Princess Hotel. Newly renovated, finely detailed, you can't tell that it's part of an old building. The bed is a new box spring, still better than all the hard beds I've been on so far. The food is okay, they make great drinks, all very cheap and friendly.
9) Ranong Thailand > Bangkok Thailand; bus ride
Apr. 24 - May 09, 2007
Took a bus from Ranong to Bangkok. Stayed 3 nights at the Green Hotel for 360 Baht/$10 per night. Stayed at The Rose Hotel in the Patpong District for 1600 Baht for 3 nights, then back at the Green Hotel to wait for my visas for Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.
In Bangkok
I've finally figured out some Thai in order to use Blogspot. Evidently, Blogspot is responsible for their commands showing up in Thai while I'm in Thailand. Changing the computer's language doesn't help. In Rangong, I got tired of riding my bike, so I took a bus to Bangkok. It was hot in India, hotter in Malaysia and I sweated a lot more, but once I reached Thailand it was like the movie Airplane when the pilot was sweating like a hose was on his head. I think what saved me and allowed me to bicycle 167km one day, and 130-150km other days was Cytomax, a product I picked up in a Singapore GNC. It not only replenishes electrolytes but helps prevent burn in the knee which was hurting me in India.
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I've been in Bangkok a few days. It's been raining everyday, and the rain is heavvvy, but not flooding any streets. I see shop keepers cleaning gutters to keep the drains running. San Francisco could learn something from this, their streets are always flooding and gutters clogged due to leaves and trash. When I lived in San Francisco and walked to work, I would take a stick and clean any clogged drains. I would even wear waterproof gloves to clean drains, but waterproof usually just meant water resistant. People would look at me like I was weird, and I guess I am.
While walking around Chinatown in Bangkok, I saw a shimmering green, dragonfly finger puppet and my mind was reliving happy times at BayTV. One day while coming back from lunch, I spotted a dragonfly finger puppet in the lost-and-found and went over to play with it and being immediately transported to another world. It wasn't until someone said, "Look, he's truly happy playing with the finger puppet." that I realized the puppet was real. From then on, as the technical director sitting next to the director (Elida), every response or question required a finger puppet, with flapping, shimmering wings in Elida's face. Every day at BayTV was like a party, we would either eat gourmet food made by Bay Area chefs visiting the show Bay Cafe, or we'd all go for a field trip to Whole Foods and have a feast. Funk music blasting the entire 3rd floor, as per the director Freddy Bushardt, before the evening shows began. The memories a simple finger puppet can conjure. But now I've been re-united with my dragon fly.
I'm trying to visit everything in Bangkok, and that includes the notorious parts of Bangkok. Yes, I'm talking about their fabric shops. Everywhere you go are beautiful fabrics, usually just for women. The men's clothing stores are all black, grey, and black with some grey. Whatever you find in a mall, you can find at small street shops for 1/5 the price. I found what must be the best mall in the world (Fashion Island), not for its shops but because the 1st floor was dedicated to learning. It was like an entire Learning Annex for children and adults, as well as a gym and toddler school/play room. All supervised by professionals. This mall was huge and far away from any tourist area, so I was probably the only non-Thai in there. The best mall in the tourist area was probably the Siam Center/MBK Mall, both right next to each other near the World Trade Center. The Siam Paragon Center must've had 15 ice cream shops on the first floor and a few on the upper floors. There was one New Zealand ice cream shop, and from what I've heard New Zealand is famous for their cream. The same mall had a huge food complex with gourmet food, restaurants, and a food court. If you like food, this is the place to be. The great thing about the World Trade Center area is that it has about 8 high quality malls, all connected by sky-walks. Trying to walk around in Bangkok is dangerous. The cross-walks are just the officially suggested places to die. Also, the malls are a great place to get away from the heat and humidity.
Yes, I've visited the other thing Bangkok is notorious for, the sex bars of the Patpong district. The bars range from degrading to boring. Having a women shoot balloons with darts coming out of parts of her body isn't a celebration of the female body, it's a circus freak sideshow. The other bars with women dancing on stage are very boring. The women look bored except when they give you "that look" because they want to get off the stage and they know you have money. Compared to strip clubs in America, where the women have choreographed dance routines and most really enjoy the dance. The only other thing Bangkok offers is sex, and having sex with someone you don't know is rather boring and empty. With the language barrier, it was hard explaining that to the dancers who came to sit by me. Usually, two dancers will sit with you, so that you have to buy them both a drink, and also so that one can be going through your pockets while the other is keeping you distracted. Fortunately, I carry very little money with me at these places, mostly to keep myself out of trouble. I did get a massage, but my back hurt more after than before. When she dug her elbows into my back, I almost cried and had to bite the towel. The next day I did some yoga and my back was much better after that. I should say that none of the women looked under-aged. Perhaps Thailand is cleaning up its image, but then I didn't ask if young women could be acquired.
From last week
Krabi, Thailand, was a very nice resort area. Very family friendly. I was in Thailand for their new year, which was a lot of fun. They smear a white paste on your face and sprinkle water on you, but the fun is the parade of trucks down any main street, where people are squirting each other with huge water guns, hoses, and cups of water. I had the choice of getting my camera or having fun, I couldn't do both because my camera would get wet, so I don't have pictures.
I've looked at the pictures I've taken so far and have been unimpressed. The awe that I've felt while taking the pictures just didn't translate when I looked at them later. I look at a picture of the beach and say, "yep, that's a beach, so what". I didn't take any pictures in Singapore, or Malaysia. I feel uncomfortable carrying a big, expensive camera around my neck. You were right, I should've bought the small camera. The pictures would've had the same quality, especially if I'm posting them on the internet. Instead, I'm lugging around a big camera that I hardly use.
The other day I heard music and dancing at a Thai temple, so I went to investigate. I saw a monk, priest, or whatever they call them, being carried on the shoulders of one person, being paraded around the temple by a hundred people and a small pop/rock band. I guess the monk entered the hall-of-fame or something. After each rotation around the temple, they changed the person carrying the monk. The monk looked like he ate pretty well, so you can imagine the strained face of the carrier in the heat and humidity. I end up being dragged to the front of the parade, dancing around with toothless, elderly women who were practically fighting over me. Some of these women may have been professional women when they were younger. One woman started dirty-dancing me, and I'm thinking, "this is a religious ceremony, shouldn't you be showing some respect", but I had fun and dirty-danced right back. After about 20 rotations around the temple in hot-humid weather we finally finished the parade and that's when the women started asking me if I needed a women for the night, meaning the elderly woman who was dirty-dancing me. I thanked them for the good time and passed on any further fun.
I'm getting tired of riding a bike. I may, if the hills start getting tough, take a bus. There are very few hotels in southern Thailand. There will be more hotels north of Krabi. I've had to ride 167km, 154km, and avg. 120km/day. That's way too much. If finding hotels in S. Thailand is difficult, I'm concerned that finding hotels in Laos, Vietnam will be more difficult and will probably take a bus.
Rick
