So I figure that if I'm going to take this blog thing seriously I have to post more often. My first three posts I tried to fit in everything that I'd done in weeks into a blog and ended up just rambling on but not really describing anything. So I will try from this point forward to post more consistently and maybe even add some photos.
I arrived in Penang, Malaysia after an 18 hour train ride from Hat Yai, Thailand. Hat Yai itself was an interesting town, with a mix of Muslims, Thai's, and Chinese. I saw maybe three other foreigners when I was there which was pretty cool but other than that there is not much more worth mentioning. The train was pretty smooth and no crazy stories to mention from there either. In fact I haven't had one ridiculous story yet. I guess life is not as interesting when you are not drinking so much. I haven't had a drink (alcoholic) in 2 weeks.
The train arrived in Butterworth, Malaysia but nobody stays there for very long as there is a quick ferry ride to the island of Penang with Georgetown being the capital. The train arrived at 10:00pm and walking through the streets of Georgetown I could instantly feel like I was in a different country. The Malays have a much darker skin tone than the Thais, many of them look very similar to Indians. As I was walking through town, I could sense the culture of the place. There were Chinese food stalls all over the place and Muslim and Indian restaurants as well. I could already tell I would be doing a lot of eating here. I found a guesthouse that was sparkling clean and called it a night. The next day I was able to see the town in the light and it was even cooler. There was such a mix of Malay Muslims, Chinese, and Indians. Penang has much history as a trading port and the diversity could clearly be seen. It has also been designated as a world heritage site recently. I just walked around town taking everything in for a little bit. I had heard about a lion dance competition that was being held there while I was there as well from someone on couchsurfing. So I went over to watch that and I am very glad I did. It was pretty incredible the daring and skill it takes to do that. There are numerous poles in a straight line some one across some two across, each one with a surface enough for one person to stand on comfortably. Two people go under this lion outfit, one is the head, the other the body and they jump from pole to pole while putting expressions on the lions face. It is like a mix of dance and gymnastics. It requires incredible strength and flexibility as well as athleticism. While the lion is jumping around the rest of the "team" is playing drums and symbols. You are judged on the difficulty of your routine, coordination of drums and lion, and expression and movements of the lion. It was pretty awesome to see. They only have this competition once a year and teams from all over Asia participate. I just happened to be there the weekend it was held.
After walking around for a bit after the lion dance competition I went up to Penang Hill which is this big hill on the island that is supposed to have a really amazing view of Georgetown. You can hike up which takes about three hours but I decided to take the railway up because it was getting close to sunset and I wanted to be on the top for that. Unfortunately you couldn't really see the sunset but when it became dark you could see the lights of the city and the water which looked pretty cool. That night I went to have dinner in Little India, which is basically just a bunch of Indian restaurants and shops that are blaring Indian music that sell Bollywood movies and CD's. It definitely feels like you are in India and the food was absolutely delicious all for about $3. I didn't skimp on anything, I went all out. Mango Lassi, Roti Canai, Pujabi Chicken, and a Horlicks (I was intrigued because I saw this on the menu everywhere but had no idea what it was. It is some kind of warm milk/coffee drink that is supposed to help you sleep) it was actually pretty good.
The next day I went to the second and final day of the lion dancing competition, the defending champing from Malaysia won again. For the next four or five hours or so I sat inside a Chinese food shop in a mall with some local couchsurfers just talking. The locals were both older, one probably in his 40's the other in his 60's and I learned a lot about Malaysia history and culture. The Muslim Malays control politics and the Chinese and Indians have very little representation. I also learned about the 1969 race riots in where officially a hundred and some, unoffically a couple thousand Chinese were killed. It is pretty interesting because usually the Chinese in other countries control all the business and are the upper class but it is not the case in Malaysia. Because of the conversation I missed out on some other sights I wanted to see but it was definitely worth it.
The next day I caught a bus to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. The Cameron Highlands are in the middle of the country is known for its rolling hills, tea plantations, and jungle walks. It was much cooler in Cameron Highlands than Penang or anywhere in Thailand I had been which was nice. The two days I have been here were raining off and on the whole time but that didn't take away from it. The owner of my guesthouse kept trying to persuade me and everyone else to do the full day tour run by the guesthouse but I figured I could go exploring on my own. So I went through a hike in the jungle to the top one of the highest points in the area. It was quite the trek, all uphill and I didn't see anyone else on the way which was pretty cool. It made me feel like I was discovering this jungle for the first time except there was a clearly marked path. I finally got to the top but could not see anything because it was so foggy, but thats ok I saw some spectacular views elsewhere. After the hike I was really tired and took a different path down. I wanted to visit one of the tea plantations after that but I misjudged how far away it was. I started walking towards the tea plantation which is on a side road that goes through the rolling hills. It was really beautiful, you can see tea leaves all over the hills and beautiful flowers as well. I was really considering hitchhiking as this seemed like the perfect place but couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't need to as a nice Malaysian family stopped and offered me a ride the rest of the way. I got to the plantation and unfortunately they weren't doing factory tours because of the weather but I still got to drink some delicious tea and feast on an assortment of sweets. After my experience getting a ride I decided to grow a pair and hitchhike back to town which was about 9km away. I got a motorcycle to the main road and then two Chinese men drove me past the town I was going and the next town after because I figured mine as well check it out. So I went to a local strawberry farm. The farm itself wasn't that interesting but the food was. I had a strawberry muffin with ice cream, fresh strawberry juice, and strawberry hot chocolate. It was a feast of strawberries. They even have strawberry n'aan at the Indian restaurants here. After that I walked most of the way back to my guesthouse but again was offered a ride when I was almost there. It was about 6:00pm at this point and I was exhausted so I took a nice hot shower and then went out with some people from the guesthouse for dinner.
Today was my last day in Cameron Highlands. I took a bus then hitched a ride (I'm beginning to really enjoy it) to another tea plantation owned by the same company, BOH (the biggest in Malaysia). This plantation was more touristy and they had signs throughout explaining the history of BOH and how they produce their tea, there was also a ten minute tour of the factory. The teahouse itself where you can sit and drink tea overlooks hills of tea leaves. It was quite the amazing sight. In fact all of Cameron Highlands is an amazing scene of rolling hills and jungle. After the tea factory I had planned to walk/hitch a ride to Gunnug Birching the highest point of Cameron Highlands and also famous for its mossy forest which apparently is like something out of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. It was 5km uphill to the place though, I couldn't hitch a ride, I was utterly exhausted, and it was foggy, so I thought better of it and hitched a ride back to the guesthouse where I am now.
A note about hitchhiking. I certainly wouldn't do it everywhere and I still haven't done a long distance journey hitching. I would like to but don't know when it will happen because I can imagine that there is nothing worse standing on the side of the road in the pouring rain waiting for a ride. I think Cameron Highlands is absolutely the perfect place to hitchhike for the first time and to hitch in general. There are side roads to tea plantations that are very long walks and friendly people more than willing to give you a lift. There is one main road so you just stand on the side of the road you're going and wait for someone to pull over. The farthest distance I hitched was only about 14 km, not very long at all. I've heard and can attest that Malaysia is a very hitchhiker friendly country. It was fun to do it, but of course I'm not going to do it everywhere I go. In this case it was the easiest way of getting around, as there are not really public buses and the only alternative is walking a long way.
I was planning on going to the Prehentian Islands next but I heard a monsoon might be coming through there so I may have to change my plans. I guess next time you'll figure out where I went.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Thailand
So the font on my last post was totally messed up. Sorry about that, actually nobody has read it so I don't really have anyone to apologize too. It's ok, Taiwan seems like a distant memory now. I have been in Thailand for a little over three weeks now and it has been great. I see why they call it the "land of smiles". Everybody seems to be happy and not stressed but there is something deeper that I will get to later.
My first four days I stayed at this place I found on couchsurfing called The Overstay. It is a very interesting place which consists of part bar/part hostel/part art studio/part squathouse. Basically there are 10-15 people that stay at this place every night, some on couches, but most on mattresses sprawled all over the fourth floor (It has 6). I definitely met some interesting people there but after four days my foot was covered in about a 100 bug bites and the conditions were not the cleanest so I decided to try my luck on Koh San Road. Koh San Road is a backpackers haven. Bangkok has been called the gateway into southeast asia because it is different enough than the West but has most of the luxuries of home. Koh San Road is the epitome of this. It is a road filled with nothing but guesthouses, restaurants, bars and street vendors selling various clothing and souvenirs. Some people come to Bangkok and never leave Koh San which is sad because what is the point of coming to a new place? During my time on Koh San, I had a few interviews for an English teaching position. It's a real pain in the ass to have to live out of a backpack and put on nice clothes for an interview. Also the second you step outside you instantly start sweating and by the time I arrived at these interviews it had felt like I just took a bath in my own sweat. Thailand is HUMID. After coming from the dry heat of Arizona for five years, this is going to take some getting used to.
After about a week in Bangkok, three of my friends from semester at sea arrived, Jen, Randi, and Tim. It was nice to see some familiar faces and we had a great time traveling around Thailand. We went to Chiang Mai in the north where we had a fun elephant riding, white water rafting and bamboo rafting experience. Bamboo rafting which is supposed to be calm and relaxing where you just sit aboard a bamboo raft and move slowly down a calm river turned about to be the most dangerous activity of them all. I somehow was nominated to steer which basically means putting a big long bamboo stick in the ground to point yourself in the right direction. Well one of the bamboo shoots? (logs) was loose and my leg slipped so that it was stuck between two shoots. It was quite the hilarious yet painful experience. I should also mention our guide on this days experience. He spoke broken English but we could understand him. One of the activities on our tour was a hike through the jungle to a waterfall. Throughout the hike our guide would hide behind trees and bushes and jump out and try to scare us. He would also throw rocks in our direction pretending like it was a monkey. He did scare us a couple of times but he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. I guess if you do the same thing day after day you have to think of other ways to keep yourself entertained. We also had this German guy as part of our group, and for whatever reason our guide would not stop touching him throughout the tour. Let's just say the German got pretty agitated and I thought it was going to come to blows, but thankfully it did not go that far. Rafting was our last activity and the whole ride back it was pouring. We were riding in the back of a pickup truck that has a top and two benches in the back, these all serve as buses in parts of Thailand. Riding through the jungle was a really cool site to see as well as watching the crazy Thai motorcycle drivers behind us. (Sidenote. In Thailand and the rest of SE Asia the motorbike is probably the most common form of transport. It is not uncommon to see a whole family, dad driving, wife in the back, and small child in front on one. The kids start driving motorbikes at like 8, it's really crazy.
That night in Chiang Mai we went to a Muay Thai fight. I was really looking forward to it, but it turned out to be more of a circus show. All of the fights were between 13-15 year old kids. 99% of the crowd were foreigners and the announcer lady would give someone in the crowd the microphone to commentate the fight each round. It was kind of a cool idea but I would have preferred to see a legit grown men fight.
After Chiang Mai we hit up two islands in the southeast, Ko Phagnon where the famed full-moon parties are, and Ko Tao. The highlight of Ko Phagnon was renting motorbikes (more like scooters) and riding around the island. There is a stretch of road right by the main beach where the backpackers go and where we were staying that is nothing but huge hills and one of the motorbikes couldn't make it up one of them with two people. Thankfully ours (Jen and I) didn't have that problem.
Ko Tao was had more of a chill vibe and is known for SCUBA. There are 40 or so odd SCUBA operators though and many people go there to get their SCUBA certification. We weren't certified so we went on a "discover dive" which is a legit dive you just don't go any deeper that 12 meters. It was a really awesome experience. Getting that perspective and being under the sea like that, seeing the fish swim in front of your face was truly amazing. On our second of two dives though, as I was going up to the surface, I took a breath and didn't feel like I was getting any air. When I reached the surface I checked my air guage, and I had indeed run out of air! It was a pretty crazy experience. I don't know what went wrong because all my friends guage showed a 100 and mine was at 0. I told our guide and he just kind of shrugged it off. Well I made it out safely but it was a scary thought knowing that I had run out of air, not scary enough to discourage me from going again though, just have to keep a closer eye next time and actually check my air guage. One of our nights in Ko Tao we went to a Ladyboy Cabaret show which was quite the entertaining experience. Unfortunately our time in Ko Tao came to an end much to soon and we took a night ferry back to Suratthani where we were catching a flight back to Bangkok. I thought the night ferry would just consist of some seats inside which where what the other two ferries were like, but no. There were mattresses spread all over two floors and it was like a giant slumber party. It was a really cool looking set up but I couldn't sleep at all because I was freezing from the sea breeze coming in through the windows. I eventually went to the bottom level and just squeezed myself in between two people sleeping. I probably looked like a total creeper, but I didn't care I needed some sleep! Unfortunately we arrived about an hour late and then got to the airport about 8 hours before our flight. So naturally we played spades to kill the time. My friends had one final night in Bangkok before their departures back home which was not too eventful.
After my friends left, I realized that I was on my own now. No more friends coming, nothing to fall back to. I was in Thailand with no flight home and had to figure out what I was doing. I felt a momentary panic but that went away and for the next few days I continued my job search. After being offered a job in Rayong which is a few hours south of Bangkok I really thought about what I was doing here. If I took the job I would have to sign a one year contract that would keep me here until October of next year. Also Rayong is a town that doesn't have a large foreigner population and there is not much to do. So after much deliberation I decided not to take the job and really not to try to look for another one. I came to Thailand because I wanted to live in another country but more so because I wanted to do something meaningful that would try to help figure out what I am doing with my life. Getting a teaching job in Bangkok would be fun but honestly it wouldn't be so different from living in the U.S. I would go out on the weekends, make some friends who would probably be foreigners and live a pretty normal life. The only big difference being the language. It would be nice just to ingrain myself and live in another country but I don't know if I would really be doing that here. So I have decided that I am going to do a volunteer program helping teach Burmese refugees English and other things as well. I have been accepted into a program and can basically start whenever I want, I just have to volunteer for a minimum of three months. So I think I'm just going to travel around SE Asia for a few months and then start that in January. I have to leave Thailand in a week anyways because my visa is running out so mine as well explore some other countries while I'm there. I'm leaning towards going to Malaysia first and then perhaps checking out Singapore and Indonesia as well. I heard Malaysia is a good country for hitchiking and I have also wanted to try it. I have met travelers who have hitchiked through many places and it is something I want to experience so I think I may try my luck in Malaysia.
Today I met up with the Soi Dawgz or Bangkok's Ultimate Frisbee Club. It was a ton of fun and that is something I'm going to miss out on by traveling and not settling in Bangkok for a while. I want to really experience Bangkok by joining social clubs like Ultimate and other things but I think I would rather travel and volunteer instead, at least for now.
Getting back to the Thailand lifestyle. It is a simple one for the most part. Eric Weiner in his book "Geography of Bliss" said something to the effect Thai people are so happy because they don't think about anything. I think he put it very well, Thai people are relaxed and carefree. They hang out with friends and socialize but don't think or discuss serious topics. I don't think I could handle living in that environment for very long. I need intellectual stimulation even if I'm reading about the terrible things that go on around the world. Thailand is a place I could definitely spend a year or two and I could see how and why people don't want to leave. But to truly revel in Thailand's glory you have to turn off your brain a little bit.
Another aspect of Thailand and Bangkok especially that I have trouble with is the sex tourism. Bangkok is one of the worlds leaders in sex tourism. You see prostitutes walking down Sukhumvit, Bangkok's main Business street. You also see tons of white men walking around with Thai women. Many are legitimate but many are paid for and I get this weird feeling everytime I see a white foreigner with a Thai woman. Something that makes me kind of sick. Maybe Thai women are attracted to white men but it seems as though men come to Thailand to find themselves a wife and settle here. It's accepted in the country from what I can tell but there something deeper to it that I can't put into words. Don't get me wrong, Thai women are absolutely gorgeous but I don't know if I would feel comfortable walking down the street holding one's hand. Something about me would just feel wrong.
Well this has been a long post without many good stories, hopefully that will change. I haven't really done much exciting but hopefully that will start to change as I make my way out of Thailand and on to the start of my traveling.
My first four days I stayed at this place I found on couchsurfing called The Overstay. It is a very interesting place which consists of part bar/part hostel/part art studio/part squathouse. Basically there are 10-15 people that stay at this place every night, some on couches, but most on mattresses sprawled all over the fourth floor (It has 6). I definitely met some interesting people there but after four days my foot was covered in about a 100 bug bites and the conditions were not the cleanest so I decided to try my luck on Koh San Road. Koh San Road is a backpackers haven. Bangkok has been called the gateway into southeast asia because it is different enough than the West but has most of the luxuries of home. Koh San Road is the epitome of this. It is a road filled with nothing but guesthouses, restaurants, bars and street vendors selling various clothing and souvenirs. Some people come to Bangkok and never leave Koh San which is sad because what is the point of coming to a new place? During my time on Koh San, I had a few interviews for an English teaching position. It's a real pain in the ass to have to live out of a backpack and put on nice clothes for an interview. Also the second you step outside you instantly start sweating and by the time I arrived at these interviews it had felt like I just took a bath in my own sweat. Thailand is HUMID. After coming from the dry heat of Arizona for five years, this is going to take some getting used to.
After about a week in Bangkok, three of my friends from semester at sea arrived, Jen, Randi, and Tim. It was nice to see some familiar faces and we had a great time traveling around Thailand. We went to Chiang Mai in the north where we had a fun elephant riding, white water rafting and bamboo rafting experience. Bamboo rafting which is supposed to be calm and relaxing where you just sit aboard a bamboo raft and move slowly down a calm river turned about to be the most dangerous activity of them all. I somehow was nominated to steer which basically means putting a big long bamboo stick in the ground to point yourself in the right direction. Well one of the bamboo shoots? (logs) was loose and my leg slipped so that it was stuck between two shoots. It was quite the hilarious yet painful experience. I should also mention our guide on this days experience. He spoke broken English but we could understand him. One of the activities on our tour was a hike through the jungle to a waterfall. Throughout the hike our guide would hide behind trees and bushes and jump out and try to scare us. He would also throw rocks in our direction pretending like it was a monkey. He did scare us a couple of times but he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. I guess if you do the same thing day after day you have to think of other ways to keep yourself entertained. We also had this German guy as part of our group, and for whatever reason our guide would not stop touching him throughout the tour. Let's just say the German got pretty agitated and I thought it was going to come to blows, but thankfully it did not go that far. Rafting was our last activity and the whole ride back it was pouring. We were riding in the back of a pickup truck that has a top and two benches in the back, these all serve as buses in parts of Thailand. Riding through the jungle was a really cool site to see as well as watching the crazy Thai motorcycle drivers behind us. (Sidenote. In Thailand and the rest of SE Asia the motorbike is probably the most common form of transport. It is not uncommon to see a whole family, dad driving, wife in the back, and small child in front on one. The kids start driving motorbikes at like 8, it's really crazy.
That night in Chiang Mai we went to a Muay Thai fight. I was really looking forward to it, but it turned out to be more of a circus show. All of the fights were between 13-15 year old kids. 99% of the crowd were foreigners and the announcer lady would give someone in the crowd the microphone to commentate the fight each round. It was kind of a cool idea but I would have preferred to see a legit grown men fight.
After Chiang Mai we hit up two islands in the southeast, Ko Phagnon where the famed full-moon parties are, and Ko Tao. The highlight of Ko Phagnon was renting motorbikes (more like scooters) and riding around the island. There is a stretch of road right by the main beach where the backpackers go and where we were staying that is nothing but huge hills and one of the motorbikes couldn't make it up one of them with two people. Thankfully ours (Jen and I) didn't have that problem.
Ko Tao was had more of a chill vibe and is known for SCUBA. There are 40 or so odd SCUBA operators though and many people go there to get their SCUBA certification. We weren't certified so we went on a "discover dive" which is a legit dive you just don't go any deeper that 12 meters. It was a really awesome experience. Getting that perspective and being under the sea like that, seeing the fish swim in front of your face was truly amazing. On our second of two dives though, as I was going up to the surface, I took a breath and didn't feel like I was getting any air. When I reached the surface I checked my air guage, and I had indeed run out of air! It was a pretty crazy experience. I don't know what went wrong because all my friends guage showed a 100 and mine was at 0. I told our guide and he just kind of shrugged it off. Well I made it out safely but it was a scary thought knowing that I had run out of air, not scary enough to discourage me from going again though, just have to keep a closer eye next time and actually check my air guage. One of our nights in Ko Tao we went to a Ladyboy Cabaret show which was quite the entertaining experience. Unfortunately our time in Ko Tao came to an end much to soon and we took a night ferry back to Suratthani where we were catching a flight back to Bangkok. I thought the night ferry would just consist of some seats inside which where what the other two ferries were like, but no. There were mattresses spread all over two floors and it was like a giant slumber party. It was a really cool looking set up but I couldn't sleep at all because I was freezing from the sea breeze coming in through the windows. I eventually went to the bottom level and just squeezed myself in between two people sleeping. I probably looked like a total creeper, but I didn't care I needed some sleep! Unfortunately we arrived about an hour late and then got to the airport about 8 hours before our flight. So naturally we played spades to kill the time. My friends had one final night in Bangkok before their departures back home which was not too eventful.
After my friends left, I realized that I was on my own now. No more friends coming, nothing to fall back to. I was in Thailand with no flight home and had to figure out what I was doing. I felt a momentary panic but that went away and for the next few days I continued my job search. After being offered a job in Rayong which is a few hours south of Bangkok I really thought about what I was doing here. If I took the job I would have to sign a one year contract that would keep me here until October of next year. Also Rayong is a town that doesn't have a large foreigner population and there is not much to do. So after much deliberation I decided not to take the job and really not to try to look for another one. I came to Thailand because I wanted to live in another country but more so because I wanted to do something meaningful that would try to help figure out what I am doing with my life. Getting a teaching job in Bangkok would be fun but honestly it wouldn't be so different from living in the U.S. I would go out on the weekends, make some friends who would probably be foreigners and live a pretty normal life. The only big difference being the language. It would be nice just to ingrain myself and live in another country but I don't know if I would really be doing that here. So I have decided that I am going to do a volunteer program helping teach Burmese refugees English and other things as well. I have been accepted into a program and can basically start whenever I want, I just have to volunteer for a minimum of three months. So I think I'm just going to travel around SE Asia for a few months and then start that in January. I have to leave Thailand in a week anyways because my visa is running out so mine as well explore some other countries while I'm there. I'm leaning towards going to Malaysia first and then perhaps checking out Singapore and Indonesia as well. I heard Malaysia is a good country for hitchiking and I have also wanted to try it. I have met travelers who have hitchiked through many places and it is something I want to experience so I think I may try my luck in Malaysia.
Today I met up with the Soi Dawgz or Bangkok's Ultimate Frisbee Club. It was a ton of fun and that is something I'm going to miss out on by traveling and not settling in Bangkok for a while. I want to really experience Bangkok by joining social clubs like Ultimate and other things but I think I would rather travel and volunteer instead, at least for now.
Getting back to the Thailand lifestyle. It is a simple one for the most part. Eric Weiner in his book "Geography of Bliss" said something to the effect Thai people are so happy because they don't think about anything. I think he put it very well, Thai people are relaxed and carefree. They hang out with friends and socialize but don't think or discuss serious topics. I don't think I could handle living in that environment for very long. I need intellectual stimulation even if I'm reading about the terrible things that go on around the world. Thailand is a place I could definitely spend a year or two and I could see how and why people don't want to leave. But to truly revel in Thailand's glory you have to turn off your brain a little bit.
Another aspect of Thailand and Bangkok especially that I have trouble with is the sex tourism. Bangkok is one of the worlds leaders in sex tourism. You see prostitutes walking down Sukhumvit, Bangkok's main Business street. You also see tons of white men walking around with Thai women. Many are legitimate but many are paid for and I get this weird feeling everytime I see a white foreigner with a Thai woman. Something that makes me kind of sick. Maybe Thai women are attracted to white men but it seems as though men come to Thailand to find themselves a wife and settle here. It's accepted in the country from what I can tell but there something deeper to it that I can't put into words. Don't get me wrong, Thai women are absolutely gorgeous but I don't know if I would feel comfortable walking down the street holding one's hand. Something about me would just feel wrong.
Well this has been a long post without many good stories, hopefully that will change. I haven't really done much exciting but hopefully that will start to change as I make my way out of Thailand and on to the start of my traveling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)