Bangkok and Ko Phangan

It's only been a few days that I've been in Thailand, and already it feels like so much longer. After a brutal day of travel, I arrived in Bangkok close to midnight. When we landed, we walked directly off the plane and on to the tarmac, and it was a pretty incredible feeling! The heat and humidity even at that time of night was almost overwhelming.

I shared a cab with three American guys and it dropped me off right at my hostel. After reading about Taxi drivers who refuse to use their meters, I was impressed to see how the system for taxis at the airport worked -everyone lined up in separate lines, told them your destination, and were sent to a cab that was waiting for you. This was also my first encounter with Thai money -our entire trip to downtown took about 30 minutes, and cost us around 120 baht -this works out to around $4 Canadian. So cheap!

I stayed in Bangkok for two nights, and ended up meeting another Kingston girl, of all people, in my hostel. We hit it off and I ended up following her to Ko Phangan, which is where I am writing this from right now. The two of us are sharing a bungalow on the beach for two nights, before she heads on to Krabi to meet other friends, and then I'll probably go to Ko Tao, a neighouring island to do some snorkeling/diving.

One of the temples we toured in Bangkok

In Bangkok, we stayed near Khao San Road, a place from which much can be written. Khao San Road is a chaotic, messy, loud, and oh-so-interesting stretch of road that is known for catering specifically to backpackers. During the day, clothing stores, food vendors, tattoo studios and travel agencies spill out into the street to compete for your attention, and at night everything transforms into many different bars. The place is absolutely packed! This was definitely an interesting experience. We also took a tuk tuk around town (a strange three wheeled open air cab), checked out several different temples, figured out the cell phone situation, bought a bus ticket to the islands, and snuck into a hotel pool to try and escape the oppressing heat. A large group from the hostle also took the sky train to one of the largest outdoor markets in the world. Apparently there are twenty-something districts, with live animals, appliances, clothing, food, and more being sold, but despite looking, we were only able to make our way through the clothing section. I was still feeling a bit jet-lagged at this point, and this combined with the heat made the experience maybe not as fun as it could have been.

I write this from Ko Phangan -a Thai island on the western side of southern Thailand. This is an island known for it's legendary and debaucherous full moon party, although many other "moon" related parties have popped up in the last few years to lure backpackers. We're not here during any of the parties though, and this is evident in the amounts of empty bars and restaurants as one walks up and down the streets. The island is truly beautiful though. The greenery is lush, and the water is a beautiful teal colour. We are staying in bungalows on the beach which are really nice, although we plan on heading to the other side of the island tomorrow where the better swimming beach is. I have so much more I could write about -I wish I could fully describe the way the humidity makes even paper feel permanently damp, how intense the afternoon rain showers are, the way the market smells, and the way that you can't escape seeing what you are probably going to eat that night laid out at the market stalls. People drive around on their scooters without helmets with their children hanging off the back, and dogs covered in sores roam the streets. It's all a pretty big contrast to the backpacker crowd. I'm really enjoying meeting other travellers, and it's a pleasant surprise to find out how many other solo travellers there are, however there is definitely a big contrast between the way the local people live and the way the backpackers do. It makes me want to get off the beaten path a little bit!

The downtown of Ko Phangan

Anyways, this is a long enough post for now. I'm sorry about the lack of pictures -my camera has disappeared, which is a story for another day, so there is a bit of a gap in one day of photos. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy