I'm down to my final 10 days in Malaysia. Considering how sedentary I've been over the past 6 months and how eventful my birthday weekend in Langkawi was, Nico and I decided to head up to Thailand for one of our last weekends before we head home to the US. When else will I find a flight and 2 nights in a hotel in Thailand for $365USD?
This was my first trip to Thailand, even though Penang is only about 2.5 hours from the Thai border. The biggest reason I haven't been up there is that I had no idea where to go. Fortunately, this has never stopped Nico - he's already been to several parts of Thailand over the past 8 months and recommended Phuket (pronounced pooh-ket) as his favorite. From his experience, it's cleaner than Bangkok, but still has plenty of activities to keep you busy.
Phuket is actually an island (543 sq km / 210 sq miles) off the southwest of Thailand, about twice the size of Penang (293 sq km / 113 sq miles). There are only two seasons in a year -- the rainy season from May to October and the hot season from November to April. The average temperatures range between 23°C and 33°C. It was warm the whole time we were there, but cooler than Penang and it didn't rain once. We stayed mostly in the Patong Beach area.
We were actually there for the Kings Cup Regatta (which coincides with the King's birthday), although it is not a very interesting spectator sport.
We arrived late the first day due to airplane troubles, but on the second day we signed up for a canoe cave trip. There are 43 islands around Phuket and several of them have caves. The trip we took was a full day - from the pier, it was an hour boatride just to the first cave, but the scenery was great.
Once we got to the cave, we got into canoes and paddled through an amazing sea cave. It was completely dark in the cave except for flashlights (and camera flashbulbs).
My only complaint was about halfway through, we were told to watch for bats - wouldn't that have been a good thing to mention before we got in the cave? Here's a picture of the bats to give you an idea of the quantity.
Here's a picture of me pretending to be happy about the fact that there were hundreds of bats over head - thank goodness it was dark in the cave so people couldn't see me making this face for 35minutes.
Because I think video is neat to embed in a blog, here's one of us coming out of the cave - the effect of the light coming in from the opening looks pretty cool. (you may have to click twice on the play button at the bottom of the picture)
After this, we went to a place the locals call "James Bond Island" (also known as Khao Tapu). I'm not a big Bond fan, but apparently this island played prominently in "The Man with the Golden Gun." The movie significance was lost on me (and this sure seems like a very loose definition of the word "island"), but once again there was great scenery all around.
One thing that was particularly interesting was the motors used by the boat taxis to get us from our boat to the island. They clearly look like full sized car engines attached to a very long drive train and a propeller.
They are attached to the boat on a swivel hinge which allows the driver to lift the propeller out of the water and move the engine side to side in order to steer. The engines are geared to drive forwards or backwards. It works, but surely there's an easier way to do this! Here's a quick video, there are more pictures in my web album below.
The next day we had a city tour. We went to Wat Chalong temple, which our guide told us actually had a bone from Buddha. We couldn't read the signs, so we'll just have to take his word for it. Then we went to an activity area (basically, games for tourists) where they had elephant rides, ATV rentals, a shooting range and a monkey show. I chose the monkey show, but didn't get many good photos. Then we went to a cashew nut farm, where I was introduced to cashewy juice (cashew oil concentrate, which when combined with soda water tastes a lot like cola). Oddly, I'm much more adventurous with new drinks than I am with new food.
Around town I noticed two other unique things I haven't seen elsewhere. First, they definitely have problems around Patong Beach with their sewers. When I first saw this, I thought maybe trash just collected near their drains. The more I saw it, I realized that this is actually to prevent the smell from the sewer from coming up to street level where all the shops are. We walked by a few areas where the drains were not covered and you definitely would not want to shop there for more than a few seconds. What's unfortunate about this, is that it appears that so many of the drains are covered, it makes it much worse for the few that are uncovered.
Second, most of the electrical wires are above ground around Patong Beach (I don't know if this is true for all of Thailand). However, because of either fast growth or poor planning, the wires are a total mess. It looks worse than the back of my computer closet! We walked by a few of these poles that were actually buzzing audibly - surely that can't be good.
I would be remiss if I didn't at least comment on the nightlife in Thailand. Anything you've heard about Thailand is most likely true.
Near Patong Beach, the hot spot is known as "Bangla Road." Thailand is very tolerant of just about everything. Bangla Road has all sorts of people who are willing to keep you company, including plenty of "Kathoey's" (a bit difficult to explain here, if you're curious, click the link). There are easily more than 100 bars along Bangla Road and you can walk the full distance (when it isn't jam packed with tourists) in less than 5 minutes if you don't stop along the way. So in order to get you to stop, all the bars employ women to entice you to stop and talk. Some are advertising regular bars, some are openly advertising things you would never imagine people doing in a million years.
Competition is so aggressive that the women don't waste any time on pleasantries. The first dozen times a strange woman squeezes your biceps and acts impressed (despite the fact that you haven't worked out in a few months), it is quite flattering. After about 50 times you don't want to be touched anymore. While I'm sure they were joking, there were several occasions where Nico and I were physically surrounded by 6 or 8 women who were determined to get us to stop in their bar and engaged us in the most aggressive version of Red Rover I've ever played. Eventually, these "barkers" escalated to pinching the backs of our arms and various other contact I won't repeat here. I felt quite violated by the time we got out of there.
There's a story of a father who catches his son smoking and locks the boy in the closet with a pack of cigarettes and refuses to let him out of the closet until he smokes the whole pack. I have no idea if this has ever happened (probably it has), but the idea is that the kid will be so sick of smoking by the time he gets out of the closet that he'll never smoke again. (Disclaimer - do not try this at home, this blog is not advocating lung cancer for children). I would equate what I experienced on Bangla Road to being locked in a closet with a pack of cigarettes. Sex and sex related imagery is so prevalent and seemingly accepted, you can't help but overdose on it (or I guess some people move there). I saw enough that night to feel comfortable never returning to Thailand. Then again, I saw a lot of white men with young Thai women who appeared to be more than just a short term partner, so I guess not everyone has the same reaction. It was an eye-opening experience, but very overwhelming.
There's a song from the 80's called "One Night in Bangkok." In preparing to write this blog, I had planned to do something creative with the lyrics. I never knew what the actual words were, but the part I remember (which you're probably singing in your head right now) includes a line about making a "hard man humble." Before today, I always thought this was a profound political song about the poverty in Thailand - turns out it's pointless song about a chess tournament. Who knew?
So what was my favorite part of Phuket? Well, it's a bit "soft", but I got this video on my first day there. Maybe I'm just missing my puppies at home. (there is no sound on the video, so you don't need to adjust your speakers)
Many people asked questions last week about how you would make a black chicken. I'm sure there is more information out there, but wikipedia does have some information about it. Sounds like you can even find it in the US if you know where to look for it.
For more pictures from my trip to Phuket, click the picture below.
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