Thailand for Alan

The title of this blog is misleading. The last time I wrote, I was in literary tears as Bayly and her parents explored Thailand. I had a chance to visit Thailand with Davis (Bayly's brother) during my week lay over between last semester and teaching art this summer in Taipei.

Running, out of breath, feeling as though I was trapped under a boat and I couldn't quite swim far enough in any direction to find air, and this is the first hour of my trip. Davis and I barely made our flight to Bangkok with a little help from the kind staff at the Taipei airport. We weren't allowed to check our bags so we had to bring them on the plane. In my mind, this was an awesome start because I hate sitting at airports for to long. I like to people watch, but I got to do it in fast forward this time as we ran though the airport to our gate. The funniest part was that two other people came in after us, so I guess the airport staff was kind of messing with us by telling us to run as fast as we could. Oh well, we made it!

Bangkok is not for the wimpy traveler. The second we walked out of the security area we were bombarded with, "Taxi, taxi, taxi, where are you going, need a hotel?" We landed at 2 am and there were still plenty of hungry cab drivers. We paid 400 baht for a 250 baht cab ride, but we were happy to be dropped off at our door step. I forgot to call the hostel, as per the emailed instructions, for the late night code into the building. We knocked loudly and after five minutes some other people that were staying in the Hi-Sukhumvit (good place) let us in. We woke up the staff, and they told me that I booked for the next night. Apparently, 3am is still considered the day fore and not the next day (even though it is clearly after midnight). On top of that I booked Davis and I a cozy double bed. The staff was cool and hooked us up with twin beds in a dorm style room and the next night gave us our own room. We spent the entire next day seeing temples, markets, and riding in a really cool long-tail boat through the canals of Bangkok. We were treated like royalty by our guide that was provided by a friend of my Uncle (THANK YOU!!). We went out at night, and had a blast in the Bangkok nightlife. I thought overall the city was a little dirty and so touristy that most the people were so familiar with travelers and would try to take advantage of you. The temples were amazing and I’m glad I went, but Bangkok isn't the Thailand I would grow to love throughout the next week.

Chiang Mai- VISIT this place! First of all, its about a 10-15 minutes easy ride from the airport to the main part of Chiang Mai. The sun beat down on my brow like a Mike Tyson punch from the 80's. I saw a thermometer that read, "Freakin’ Hot"! Davis and I were famished and had no idea where to eat. We stumbled from shadow to shadow trying not to melt and eventually found a restaurant with rotisserie chicken in the front window. We entered the glorified tent and proceeded to have the best meal of our travels! We went back a day later and enjoyed the food again! We spent our days walking around markets, ruins and temples. We also went white water rafting, trekking to waterfalls and aboriginal villages, and we rode an elephant. We heard the best rafting is 3 hours north of Chiang Mai, but we didn't make it their because our trip was short, and our rafting trip was relaxing and fun, but not exhilarating. Riding an elephants is kind of scary...like driving with some of Bayly's friends! Davis and I shared a moment on the back of the elephant that most people can't say they've experienced (not like that). We met 2 guys and 3 French girls on our rafting experience and had a good time in the mountains with our new friends.

We had plans to go to a smaller island with less tourist stuff going on, but after talking to tons of people we said lets go straight for the heart, and we went to Ko Phi Phi. Flying into Phuket was great! Imagine you are flying into Jurassic Park, and you get the picture. The islands looked amazing and water was some shade of blue that Crayola hasn't even mastered yet. When we got to the pier and we had perm-ma smile we were so happy to finally being going to the beach! It was about 2:45 on a perfect day, blue skies, fluffy clouds, the smell of ocean in the air, and the last boat to the island leaving the dock RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! We missed the 2:30 boat, and had to spend the night in Patong Beach. We made the best of it and had some beers and shared a sunset (again, not like that). In the morning we caught an earlier ferry to Phi Phi and when we got there we found a cool hut (with AC) and made our way to the beach. That night we went out to some beach bars and saw people jumping through fire hoops and jumping ropes on fire! The next day we saw the hung over Brits and Aussies with burn marks on their backs and legs (idiots)! We took a boat ride to "The Beach" and spent some time swimming where Leonardo DiCaprio did in that famous scene from the movie. We went kayaking and our kayak almost sunk...that was fun. We went snorkeling and I saw some cool stuff: Clown fish with Anemone, sea snakes, eels, goat fish, damsels, tangs, and some amazing coral. During our last hour on the beach at Phi Phi, I was shopping, and Davis was at the beach and happened to run into the 3 French girls we rafted with in Chiang Mai! That's like meeting someone in upstate New York and seeing them again in Panama City Beach the same week...crazy.

Overall, traveling through Thailand was great! Davis and I being of the same mind-set pushed each other when we knew it mattered and we both were on the same page when it was time to chill. Imagine the best meal you've ever seen in your life and all you can have is a few choice bites, and you'll be able to imagine our experience in Thailand. I know I want to go back, and I'm currently taking donations!

If you have 3 weeks - 6 months and you want to go to paradise...Thailand is the place.

I wish I could have had Bayly with me, but we are going to explore Malaysia and Indonesia together and I'm thankful for that!

" I want to buy a map of the world and put little pins in for each place I’ve gone, but first I'll have to visit the top two corners of the map so it will stay on the wall" -Mitch Hedberg

Thanks for reading. -Alan