So i got up really really early around 4 am and showered anc hecked outta my room. Suprisingly i was able to get my 3 suits and all the stuff i bought at MBK the day before into my suitcase. When i got downstairs one of the 2 cab drivers was waiting for me, it was the guy that was hooked up by the suit guy. So he took me to the airort for a good price. I didnt have to do much walking really. None of the flights were delayed. I mostly slept on the planes and i didnt eat anythign because i really wanted a hot and ready when i landed. I met a couple from Canada who were quite nice. I flew from bankok to tokyo to vancouver, same as when i came to bangkok. it took about 21 hours. No one really knew i was comming home which was good. When i got to the airport and to the family waiting area i expected for my brother and a few freinds to be there, i looked around and no one was there. i walked around a bit more and still no one. Finally i jsut went to a pay phone and said to my brother "Jix where the hell are you man?" he was upstairs getting a piece of pizza, lol. So we left the airport and got in his new car that he bought while i was gone. He got a black golf just like mine pretty much. When we got to poco I went and played football with the boys because it was sunday.
So thats my trip to thailand. Obviously there are things i would do differently if i went but i dont have any regrets. I had a great time and i would recommend it to anyone who wants to travel outside of north america. I can honestly say that it opened my eyes and made me open up to different cultures in so many ways. I think in a few years i'll do Australia. And if i do I'm going to make sure on the way home to go to northern Thailand and indonesia like i was supposed to on this trip.
J Marsh OUT!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Last Day in Thailand!
I know its been a while since i've wrote on here, i got kinda lazy on my last day and when i got home. But now tis December 24th, Christmas Eve and i'm bored at work because there is too much snow for people to come in and do business. So anyways i'm gonna finish this up.
So i checked into the Rambiturri Inn at 6am. I got a room on the 3rd floor which kinda sucks when your lugging around heavy stuff, no big deal tho. I had a nap until about 11. I decided to do my big shop at MBK mall. It was still as busy when as when i left it. At this point in my trip i didnt care about saving money so i took a taxi instead of a tuk tuk. I bought quite a bit of stuff. t shirts for the girls, jeans for me and my brother, some golfshirts for myself, My friend Austin and my dad, i bought 30 DVD's for $90! So far i've only had a problem with one of them. I bought some white shoes because i have always wanted some, some bakini's for friends of mine (they are super cheap so it made sense to get some), a couple soccer jerseys for me and my bro, some t shirts for me, and some sunglasses. O ya and i had to buy a new suitcase to bring all my stuff back. So as i was shopping the suit guys were making my suits. I finally left MBK around 6 pm. I know that sounds long but i had lunch/dinner at pizza hut which was a rip off because the pizza sucked (big suprise) so i came home in a tuk tuk while it was pouring rain harder than anything i have seen in thailand. It was the wrong tiem to choose tuk tuk over taxi! When i got back i took my stuff up to my room and headed down to the suit guy to do the final alterations, i was 30 mins late. So we did all the alterations and it came time to deal with the shipping. The guy originally said "it will be cheap 100 bhat" i can deal with that because its like $35. So we got down to it and he said 5000 bhat! 1000 per kilo. That would ahve been nice to mention eh! so in the end i just said fuck this i'll take it all in my suit case, i had to pay an extra 500 bhat to make the Jacket quicker but i didnt care. They dropped the Jacket off at 2am at the front desk. After all the stuff with the suit guys i decided i should go walk around koh san road one last time, there was so much stuff to buy but i was litterall y out of money. i had enough for my cab the the airport and 3 meals, talk about cutting it close eh. I decided against meeting people and drinking and stuff because i didnt want to be hung over for the plane ride, i've made that mistake twice. So i had a shower and got ready for bed. I started reading a book by rio ferinand, an English Soccer player, just before i left bankok for Laos a week before. The book was really good and i read about 5 chapters before i went to bed. Earlier that day i talked to one fo the suit guys and got them to hook me up with a good cab driver to take me to the airport the nest morning. i also got the hotel to have a cab waiting for me in the morning as well. If one or the other fell through i had a back up. I have to say the Rambiturri Inn was a good place to stay.I was comfortable there and it was right near koh san road. So i went to bed and set both my cell phone alarm and my ipod dock alarm just incase. This room also had a TV so that was good about 5 channels were in english so i watched a bit before i went to bed.
So i checked into the Rambiturri Inn at 6am. I got a room on the 3rd floor which kinda sucks when your lugging around heavy stuff, no big deal tho. I had a nap until about 11. I decided to do my big shop at MBK mall. It was still as busy when as when i left it. At this point in my trip i didnt care about saving money so i took a taxi instead of a tuk tuk. I bought quite a bit of stuff. t shirts for the girls, jeans for me and my brother, some golfshirts for myself, My friend Austin and my dad, i bought 30 DVD's for $90! So far i've only had a problem with one of them. I bought some white shoes because i have always wanted some, some bakini's for friends of mine (they are super cheap so it made sense to get some), a couple soccer jerseys for me and my bro, some t shirts for me, and some sunglasses. O ya and i had to buy a new suitcase to bring all my stuff back. So as i was shopping the suit guys were making my suits. I finally left MBK around 6 pm. I know that sounds long but i had lunch/dinner at pizza hut which was a rip off because the pizza sucked (big suprise) so i came home in a tuk tuk while it was pouring rain harder than anything i have seen in thailand. It was the wrong tiem to choose tuk tuk over taxi! When i got back i took my stuff up to my room and headed down to the suit guy to do the final alterations, i was 30 mins late. So we did all the alterations and it came time to deal with the shipping. The guy originally said "it will be cheap 100 bhat" i can deal with that because its like $35. So we got down to it and he said 5000 bhat! 1000 per kilo. That would ahve been nice to mention eh! so in the end i just said fuck this i'll take it all in my suit case, i had to pay an extra 500 bhat to make the Jacket quicker but i didnt care. They dropped the Jacket off at 2am at the front desk. After all the stuff with the suit guys i decided i should go walk around koh san road one last time, there was so much stuff to buy but i was litterall y out of money. i had enough for my cab the the airport and 3 meals, talk about cutting it close eh. I decided against meeting people and drinking and stuff because i didnt want to be hung over for the plane ride, i've made that mistake twice. So i had a shower and got ready for bed. I started reading a book by rio ferinand, an English Soccer player, just before i left bankok for Laos a week before. The book was really good and i read about 5 chapters before i went to bed. Earlier that day i talked to one fo the suit guys and got them to hook me up with a good cab driver to take me to the airport the nest morning. i also got the hotel to have a cab waiting for me in the morning as well. If one or the other fell through i had a back up. I have to say the Rambiturri Inn was a good place to stay.I was comfortable there and it was right near koh san road. So i went to bed and set both my cell phone alarm and my ipod dock alarm just incase. This room also had a TV so that was good about 5 channels were in english so i watched a bit before i went to bed.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Commin Home
So after a few days in Laos i decided to come home.
I booked a bus that left Viang Vien at 1PM, it was alright. A mini bus with half assed A/C. We took that to Vien Tien and sat around for a bit then took another mini bus to the boarder. Again, i hate dealing with the boarder, they are way understaffed. From there we took a huge a/c VIP bus to bangkok. This bus was legit. The A/C was great, they made a good amount of stops, and it was a smooth ride.....well almost:( This bus had assigned seating which didnt really make a difference to me, as I am used to sitting beside people. I soon realized that no one was assigned next to me, BONUS! So I had a lil room to put my stuff and spread out. About 30 mins into the ride a girl who was riding in the back asked if she could sit in my spare seat because her's in the back of the bus didnt recline. I was pretty choked but what can i really say right? I should have known better tho, after riding busses for the last month and a half i should know that when you are given a break you should take it no matter what. I realized this after i said it was alright. I had a horrible ride to bangkok to say the least. This girl kept elbowing me and comming over to my side while she was sleeping, so i would just elbow her back and push her over, it was a battle the whole way! So let that be a word of the wise to you, when you get a gift like that when you are traveling, DO NOT GIVE IT UP! I got to Bangkok at 6 am and checked into the Rambiturri Inn, the place i always stay when i go to bangkok.
I booked a bus that left Viang Vien at 1PM, it was alright. A mini bus with half assed A/C. We took that to Vien Tien and sat around for a bit then took another mini bus to the boarder. Again, i hate dealing with the boarder, they are way understaffed. From there we took a huge a/c VIP bus to bangkok. This bus was legit. The A/C was great, they made a good amount of stops, and it was a smooth ride.....well almost:( This bus had assigned seating which didnt really make a difference to me, as I am used to sitting beside people. I soon realized that no one was assigned next to me, BONUS! So I had a lil room to put my stuff and spread out. About 30 mins into the ride a girl who was riding in the back asked if she could sit in my spare seat because her's in the back of the bus didnt recline. I was pretty choked but what can i really say right? I should have known better tho, after riding busses for the last month and a half i should know that when you are given a break you should take it no matter what. I realized this after i said it was alright. I had a horrible ride to bangkok to say the least. This girl kept elbowing me and comming over to my side while she was sleeping, so i would just elbow her back and push her over, it was a battle the whole way! So let that be a word of the wise to you, when you get a gift like that when you are traveling, DO NOT GIVE IT UP! I got to Bangkok at 6 am and checked into the Rambiturri Inn, the place i always stay when i go to bangkok.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A day in Laos
Tubing was really fun! The first bar where you start there was a bar that was non profit and gave money to the local schools that taught english, it looked pretty legit so i had a drink for the children. There are about 20 bars along the river that you get pulled into if you want to stop. We stopped at quite a few. The best was "Mr. Lao Lao's" He had Happy shakes so we all had one. At the start of the river i didnt think i was gonna do the rope swings but after a lil liquid courage i did a few.
After tubing and a meal i was done, pretty much jsut layed down and went to bed the rest of the day/night. Today i didnt really do much, just chilled out and walked around. I'm gonna meet up with the aussies around 830 and go to a bar called "bucket bar". I think I'll do some tubing tomorrow then leave on the next day.
After tubing and a meal i was done, pretty much jsut layed down and went to bed the rest of the day/night. Today i didnt really do much, just chilled out and walked around. I'm gonna meet up with the aussies around 830 and go to a bar called "bucket bar". I think I'll do some tubing tomorrow then leave on the next day.
Worst few travel days ever!
So i left Koh Tao from my hotel at 11pm for my 1230 boat. The boat took 3 hours to get to a town called Chumpon. I had a 2 hour layover before my bus from there went to bangkok. I met a nice american couple and decided to have dinner with them. Eventually i took a 12 hour busride from chumpon to bangkok. I arrived at Bangkok at 5am. After showing the americans where to stay i went to the trainstation to get the first train to Laos. I found out that the train i wanted leaves at 8 PM which means i have a full day to waste in Bangkok. I have a love/hate relationship with Bangkok. I grabed a hotel room and had a 6 hour nap. I then decided to go to MBK mall to watch a movie in a VIP theater and get some mcdonalds. On the way i wanted to check out suit prices. I didnt want to go in but i ended up going in. Its kinda a good thing i did because they need about a week to make the suit. So i ended up getting all my measurments taken and in the end bought 2 suits a tux, 6 shirts, and 5 ties. I then left for MBK and went to see the movie, "body of lies" with Leo Dicaprio and Russel Crowe. It was pretty good. Before the movie starts there is a video and music about the king of thailand that you stand for. I got back to the suit place for them to do some final measurements then it was on to the train station. At first when i saw my first class sleeper car i wasnt too impressed. It basically had a lower and upper bunk and a sink. I had a guy from new zealand in the bottom bunk. Eventually as the train got moving every 5 mins there would be a new person that came into the room to change something. One came with bottled water, then clean glasses, another to change the garbage, another to take dinner and breakfast orders and one to change the sheets. So eventually our opinion changed. I thought the ride on a train would be a bit smoother than a bus but i was wrong, even tho i did get to sleep more, the bus was really rocky and bumpy. That train wetn from 8pm til 10 am in the morning. Eventually we got to the Laos boarder. I hate dealing with the boarder. you have to sign out of thailand then get a visa for laos and sign in there. Its a long process because there are so many people. That was the boarder at "VienTien". Eventually i got through and took a taxi to a travel agent to get a bus that would take me to Vang Vien. I only had to wait 40 mins for the bus which was alright. The bus to Vang Vien was about 4 hours. I met an austrailian on the bus that owns a bar in Vang Vien so that has come in handy. The first night i took it easy and just had some beers at his bar. I met an Ausie couple at the bar who were on my bus up here. We decided to meet up to go tubing the next day.
Tubing was really fun! The first bar where you start there was a bar that was non profit and gave money to the local schools that taught english, it looked pretty legit so i had a drink for the children. There are about 20 bars along the river that you get pulled into if you want to stop. We stopped at quite a few. The best was "Mr. Lao Lao's" He had Happy shakes so we all had one. At the start of the river i didnt think i was gonna do the rope swings but after a lil liquid courage i did a few.
After tubing and a meal i was done, pretty much jsut layed down and went to bed the rest of the day/night. Today i didnt really do much, just chilled out and walked around. I'm gonna meet up with the aussies around 830 and go to a bar called "bucket bar". I think I'll do some tubing tomorrow then leave on the next day.
Tubing was really fun! The first bar where you start there was a bar that was non profit and gave money to the local schools that taught english, it looked pretty legit so i had a drink for the children. There are about 20 bars along the river that you get pulled into if you want to stop. We stopped at quite a few. The best was "Mr. Lao Lao's" He had Happy shakes so we all had one. At the start of the river i didnt think i was gonna do the rope swings but after a lil liquid courage i did a few.
After tubing and a meal i was done, pretty much jsut layed down and went to bed the rest of the day/night. Today i didnt really do much, just chilled out and walked around. I'm gonna meet up with the aussies around 830 and go to a bar called "bucket bar". I think I'll do some tubing tomorrow then leave on the next day.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Most intense travel day so far...
So I took my 3 hour boat to chumpon from Koh Tao. From there I took a 12 hour bus ride to bangkok Which arrived at 5 am. Durring the trip i met a nice american couple. We had dinner together along the way which was cool. When we got to bangkok they hadn't been there before so I took them to Rambiturri rd. where i stayed while i was there.
It was kinda a shitty time to get to bangkok (5am) so i took a cab to the train station and found out that the train i wanted to Laos didnt leave til 8pm that night. So thats great, i have to spend a day in Bangkok. Me and Bangkok have kind of a love/hate relationship. Kinda like me and the city of Richmond. There are parts of it that are fun and then parts of it that are like pulling teeth. I grabed a hotel room so i could get a 6 hour nap because i was pretty tired. I then decided to go to MBK mall for a movie and some mcdonalds. On my way i checked out a suit place. I told them that i didnt want to go in because i knew what would happen, and sure enough it did. I ended up buying 2 sweet suits and a tux. You never know when you might need that kinda stuff right? The nice thing was that it was tailored to my body and had extra fabric if it needed to be altered in the future. I bought a grey suit, a black pin striped one and a tux. Along with 6 shirts and 5 ties. So after about an hour of going through all that i went to MBK. I went and saw the movie "body of lies" with Leo Dicaprio and Russel Crowe. It was pretty good. I did the whole "VIP Movie" thing. Super huge reclining chairs that reclined pretty much as far as you wanted them too. a blanket, cheese cake, popcorn and a coke. Before any movie in Thailand there is a video clip with music that you have to stand before and honor the king. A lil different eh? I bought a few shirts then went back to the suit place to make the final alterations to the test suit they would be making the real suits from.
I then got on a train to go to Laos. I booked a sleeper car in first class. When i got there it didnt look like much, 2 bunks with a sink and some lights. I had a nice guy named Steven from New Zealand rooming with me. We ended up traveling together through to vien tien. We were kinda choked about the money we put out for this plain Jane car. (he paid 200 more bhat than me) all of a sudden people started comming in and making changes to our room every 5 mins. A guy came in with bottled water. Then a guy came in and changed the garbage. Another came in to give us drinking glasses wrapped in paper. Another guy came in and made the beds with fresh sheets and blankets. Then the last guy came in to take our orders for dinner and brekfast in the morning as well as any drinks we might want (only alcohalic, no soft drinks:( ) So after all that we changed our opinion. I thought that it would be a smooth ride all the way through being on a train and what not but i was sooooooo far off. The car rocked and constantly hit bumps the whole way through and kept making stops. We eventually got there a hour late at 930am. Then took a tuk tuk to the boarder.
I hate dealing with the boarder. There are sooooo many people there all doing the same thing. You have to check out of thailand, then check into Loas and fill out a bunch of forms in the blazing heat. You even had to take a bus from the thai boarder to the Laos boarder, thats how far apart they were. For some reason i was feeling really sick today so that didnt help. Me and steven then took a taxi for about an hour to vien tien. I went to a bus stop and he stayed there. My bus was leaving in 10 mins from when i got my ticket so that was good, but then some stupid couple at the only hotel we had to pick up from was 30 mins late. I know this sounds like i'm complaining alot but when you are sick and waiting in the heat of 100 degree weather (not exagerating) it sucks. So we finally got on our "VIP Bus" This wasnt much of a vip bus, it had ac but wasnt very comfortable. It was by far the bumpyest bus ride I have encountered in my whole trip, and it was like that the whole way, in the 5 hours i got maybe 2 hours of sleep. I finally got to Veng Vien. It looks like its gonna be a good time.
I was thinking i would only stay 3 days because I'm feeling so shitty but with these prices i'll probably stay longer. I met a guy on the bus that owns a bar here so that will probably come in handy;) My accomadation was about $4.50 a night. Nice big bed and a huge fan, i dont really need a/c here apparently. I think thats what got me sick in the first place. I'm gonna do some tubing tomorrow and sample some dishes from the "happy Menu" so it should be fun. So thats pretty much where I'm at right now.
It was kinda a shitty time to get to bangkok (5am) so i took a cab to the train station and found out that the train i wanted to Laos didnt leave til 8pm that night. So thats great, i have to spend a day in Bangkok. Me and Bangkok have kind of a love/hate relationship. Kinda like me and the city of Richmond. There are parts of it that are fun and then parts of it that are like pulling teeth. I grabed a hotel room so i could get a 6 hour nap because i was pretty tired. I then decided to go to MBK mall for a movie and some mcdonalds. On my way i checked out a suit place. I told them that i didnt want to go in because i knew what would happen, and sure enough it did. I ended up buying 2 sweet suits and a tux. You never know when you might need that kinda stuff right? The nice thing was that it was tailored to my body and had extra fabric if it needed to be altered in the future. I bought a grey suit, a black pin striped one and a tux. Along with 6 shirts and 5 ties. So after about an hour of going through all that i went to MBK. I went and saw the movie "body of lies" with Leo Dicaprio and Russel Crowe. It was pretty good. I did the whole "VIP Movie" thing. Super huge reclining chairs that reclined pretty much as far as you wanted them too. a blanket, cheese cake, popcorn and a coke. Before any movie in Thailand there is a video clip with music that you have to stand before and honor the king. A lil different eh? I bought a few shirts then went back to the suit place to make the final alterations to the test suit they would be making the real suits from.
I then got on a train to go to Laos. I booked a sleeper car in first class. When i got there it didnt look like much, 2 bunks with a sink and some lights. I had a nice guy named Steven from New Zealand rooming with me. We ended up traveling together through to vien tien. We were kinda choked about the money we put out for this plain Jane car. (he paid 200 more bhat than me) all of a sudden people started comming in and making changes to our room every 5 mins. A guy came in with bottled water. Then a guy came in and changed the garbage. Another came in to give us drinking glasses wrapped in paper. Another guy came in and made the beds with fresh sheets and blankets. Then the last guy came in to take our orders for dinner and brekfast in the morning as well as any drinks we might want (only alcohalic, no soft drinks:( ) So after all that we changed our opinion. I thought that it would be a smooth ride all the way through being on a train and what not but i was sooooooo far off. The car rocked and constantly hit bumps the whole way through and kept making stops. We eventually got there a hour late at 930am. Then took a tuk tuk to the boarder.
I hate dealing with the boarder. There are sooooo many people there all doing the same thing. You have to check out of thailand, then check into Loas and fill out a bunch of forms in the blazing heat. You even had to take a bus from the thai boarder to the Laos boarder, thats how far apart they were. For some reason i was feeling really sick today so that didnt help. Me and steven then took a taxi for about an hour to vien tien. I went to a bus stop and he stayed there. My bus was leaving in 10 mins from when i got my ticket so that was good, but then some stupid couple at the only hotel we had to pick up from was 30 mins late. I know this sounds like i'm complaining alot but when you are sick and waiting in the heat of 100 degree weather (not exagerating) it sucks. So we finally got on our "VIP Bus" This wasnt much of a vip bus, it had ac but wasnt very comfortable. It was by far the bumpyest bus ride I have encountered in my whole trip, and it was like that the whole way, in the 5 hours i got maybe 2 hours of sleep. I finally got to Veng Vien. It looks like its gonna be a good time.
I was thinking i would only stay 3 days because I'm feeling so shitty but with these prices i'll probably stay longer. I met a guy on the bus that owns a bar here so that will probably come in handy;) My accomadation was about $4.50 a night. Nice big bed and a huge fan, i dont really need a/c here apparently. I think thats what got me sick in the first place. I'm gonna do some tubing tomorrow and sample some dishes from the "happy Menu" so it should be fun. So thats pretty much where I'm at right now.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
First and pretty much last day in Koh Tao...
So i woke up around 11 for my dives at 12. I went down to the shop around 1145 to check in and fill out some forms. They said we'd be leaving around 1215 so i grabbed a sandwich. 12 15 rolls around and we're still not movin. 1230 rolls around and i ask if i can just make a quick hit on the internet before we leave and they say the bus will be here soon. So 1250 rolls around and i say eff this i'm gonna go use the internet, knock on the door when we're leavin. So we finally leave at 1 pm. The gear is not already on the boat so i have to carry my own bag which is something i havnet had toi do before. We take a taxi to the "sister dive shop" and when we get down there there are sooooooo many people! When i was diving in koh phi phi i had the instructor and one other person with me and there were maybe 15 peopl ppl on the boat which are good numbers. So groups of about 12 pplk jump on speed boats and get taxied to a big boat. In the end there are 55 people on the boat and 5 in my group! That is wayyyyy too many people. Not to mentiopn the other companies that are at the same dive site. So it took quite a while to get in the water because your waiting for alot of people and i hate waiting when i ahve dive gear on, i just wanna get in the water. My instuctor had such a thick accent that i could barely understand him which isnt good. There were 2 advanced divers and me and another lady had our open water and there was the dive master. I was supposed to kinda stick with the other open water diver but she dragged her ass on both the dives! there was no way i was stayin with her the whole time. The visability wasnt that great down there, not even close to as good as Koh Phi Phi. So we finished the first dive and got back on the boat, i always get kinda a sea sickness feeling on the boat but i ahve never thrown up. The divemaster gave me a sea sickness pill. I was about to take the pill and i thought about swallowing it and right there i vommited! All over the boat, lol for some reason no one noticed. So i went to the back of the boat which was close and vommited 3 more times. I felt better:) I went on the 2nd dive and it was pretty much the same deal, slow partner, took forever to get in the water, bad vis. I knew it was gonna be like that at any dive shop on the island. Koh Tao is a nice place, really chill. But when I'm by myself chill is not a good place to be. When I'm by myself i need a party to meet people. There are some cool bars here but just not the right kind. I ended up meeting up with Maz last night and we had some drinks and what not. They are leaving today and so am I. I leave at 2 and i'll get back to bangkok at 5 am then i take a train to Laos. I'm looking forward to Laos because i always hear good things. Then again I'm kinda gettin tired of traveling by myself, kinda too lazy to make the effort to meet people. I just wanna get home and sleep in my own bed where the temp is normal. Eat a home cooked meal. Watch some tv. Eat Canadian food. And most of all be with my friends. I miss my friends alot! I should be home pretty soon, i jsut dont know how soon, could be a week could be 2 or 3?
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