Thailand: Waterfights, Ping Pongs and Crazy Drivers

Have you ever imagined what it would feel like to have 500 Thai people wipe clay and a mixture of baby powder all over your face, while being covered in water from hoses, waterguns and buckets at the same time? I never had either, until I came to Songkran in Bangkok. Songkran is a festival celebrating the Thai new year that happens for 4 days all over Bangkok, which started years ago with people going to temples to get blessed with water, and has turned into all out water-warefare! The first day Rego and I got to Bangkok we got out of our cab with our bags, begged the people outside our hostel not to soak us, ran inside, immediately changed our clothes, walked outside, got soaked, bought waterguns and spent the next 10 hours playing like children. It is hard to explain this festival to someone who has never been, but imagine walking down the streets and having children, old people, locals and non-locals throwing water at you, while others carry bowls filled with a clay mixture which some nicely wipe on your cheeks with a "happy new year", while others smear roughly over your face and eyes. The main road, Khao San, is like being in the mosh pit of an outdoor concert while its raining. People are dancing, screaming, music is blairing, you're walking along with your watergun in hand, doing random face-shots as people walking by, and then BAM you get a bucket of ice cold water poured down your back. At night we stood outside our hostel throwing buckets of water at passing motorcycles, cars, tuk-tuks and even into the open windows of buses (sometimes waking people up who were sleeping!) The first day was probably the best day of my life - 95% fun. The second day was still pretty awesome - 75% fun. The last day was a mixture of fun, and "if one more person wipes clay in my eyes I am going to kill them with my watergun" - 50% fun.


After Rego and I left Kuala Lampur we headed to the Parenthian Islands, off the eastern coast of Malaysia, for 5 days of relaxation and snorkelling.
With white beaches and crystal clear water, I can pretty much say it's the closest I have ever been to paradise. Unfortuantely, Paradise on the backpacker budget limited us to staying at The Symphony Village ($6 a night), a cluster of shacks on the beach, with an outdoor sink and shower, CREEPY dirty toilets, and plenty of lizards - some were small and lived in our shack (Stevie was our favorite) and others were absolute monster-lizards, crawling around making mating noises at 7oclock in the morning.
Besides sunbathing, volleyball, snorkelling, eating, sleeping, swimming, watching movies at the local bar, and playing cards, I can't say I did anything productive while on the Parenthian Islands. Without a drop of rain, the 5 days were amazing. The only bad thing that happened is on one ill-fated snorkelling trip my "indestructable" camera popped a leak, which forced me to have to buy a new one while in Bangkok and miss out on taking pictures for several days.

Although we left reluctantly, the excitment of Bangkok and Songkran was just around the corner (and only a boat, taxi, night bus, train, shuttle bus, plane, and another taxi ride away.)


Bangkok is probably the craziest place I have ever been - two days prior to the Songkran festival, on the same Khao San road, there was a huge riot that killed 18 people, and in the same location now has on display all the pictures of the dead (brains, blood, and all). When I asked a friend how they could go from riots to partying in 2 days, he said "welcome to Bangkok." While American is a society bound by a million laws Bangkok is the complete opposite. Driving a car in Bangkok is insane. People do not follow any types of rules, swerving, weaving, beeping, going through stop lights. Buses, cars, tuk-tuks (3-wheeled open-air vehicles that squeeze 3-5 passengers in them) and motorbikes weave around eachother so much so that I CANNOT believe there are not accidents every.04 seconds.
Tons of people drive motorbikes, sometimes even on the sidewalks, and they ussually carry 2-3 people, and I commonly see children on the bikes without helmets jammed in between their mothers and fathers (sometimes as young as 1 or 2!!) When crossing the road you just go, DO NOT STOP, because the cars swerve around you and if you stop they will probably misjudge and hit you. As you walk back home at night, you will have to step over at least 10 people sleeping on the streets - literally on the street, guess they can't afford carboard boxes here in Thailand. You will also see at least 30 stray dogs and cats wandering around looking for food. The "sex section" of Thailand, whole streets of flashing lights, provides people with different options - "lady boys", "cute young boys", "hot girls" and tons of "Ping Pong Shows" where girls do crazy things with ping pongs of course, but also pull objects like razor blades and massive amounts of ropes out of themselves, some even smoke cigarettes (and not with their mouths.) Men beg you as you walk down the street to choose their Ping Pong show, pulling on your arms and flashing you pictures and prices. Did I see one? Of course - "when in Rome!"


So I recently realized I am getting fat. (If I am going to put it out there, I also noticed some cellulite, my first spider vein and several wrinkles on my face.) It might be that my body knows I am turning 28 in just a few short weeks, or it might be the insanely delicious food here in Asia at prices next to nothing. A huge plate of Pad Thai from a street Vendor will cost you about 30Baht = $1. I had a dinner out the other night with an iced coffee (which they sweeten with condensed sweetend milk, and I love it), brushetta, chicken curry and rice and it cost me an expensive 180Baht = $5.50. An ice cream cone at MacDonalds costs 9Baht= $.30. Pretty much everything is cheap in Asia. The room Rego and I are sharing has air conditioning, our own bathroom and shower, and costs us each 200baht a night= $6. An hour of Thai Massage (which I got yesterday, and it was amazing) cost 180baht = $5.50. A huge bottle of water will run you about 13 baht = $.50 (while this same bottle would cost you about $4 in Australia.) If you negotiate right, a 15 minute cab ride to the other side of town costs about 100 baht = $3. The 4-day PADI scubadiving course we start tomorrow including accomodation, bus and boat to Koa Tao, and all dives/training/certifications cost us only $9,600baht =$290!!!


So, after three days of waterfighting, and one day of sight seeing (Rego and I went to look at several temples including the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew Emerald Buddah, and the Temple of Down, walked through Chinatown and shopped on Khao San Road, which is like a totally different place sans water), we head south to the beautiful Island of Ka Tao to dive, dive and dive some more! When I get back to Bangkok on the 23rd I will be PADI certified!

Hot, Crowded and Smelly

I recently emailed a friend describing my time here in Asia as "hot, crowded and a little smelly", to which they replied "aren't you on vacation?!" I got quite a laugh out of it because those were never three adjectives I would use to describe my ideal getaway, but surprisingly I am loving every minute!

Even though Singapore and Kuala Lampur are some of the most "westernized" cities in Asia, I still felt serious culture shock when stepping off the airplane from Australia: * I am no longer surrounded by smiling Ozzy men and women saying "g'day mate", but am instead the obvious minority, with Asian and Indian people everywhere I look. * While the Australian dollar was pretty easy to figure out in comparison to the American Dollar, the Singapore dollar and the Malaysian Ringgit leave me seriously questioning my ability to do second grade math. Needless to say, the new low cost of things are a breathe of fresh air compared to OZ! * I have had my first run in with a true Asian toilet - a hole in the ground with grooves on the side where you put your feet and a hose to clean yourself, which I am still at a loss of how to use (all it does is leave an inch of messy water on the floor and you soaking wet.) Not to mention they don't provide toilet paper, so it was one of the first things I had to buy and now carry with me everywhere I go! * Even though there is MacDonalds, KFC, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and even Long John Silver in every country I have visited so far, to eat real Malaysia food I've had to step out of my comfort zone. Food stands down dirty alleys and on the sides of streets, nearly falling down, filled with asian workers who prepare the food with their bare hands, that I would have called "dodgy or sketchy" at home are now where I eat every meal. Throwing hygene to the wind I eat where the locals eat, devouring some of the best meals I have ever had for the price of a bottled water in Australia.



Tim and I arrived in Singpore on Wednedsay the 31st, and headed to our respective hostels. I stayed at The Drop Inn on the other side of Little India where I met up with my friend Rego (a friend from Australia), who I will be spending the next three weeks with travelling into Thailand. When Rego said there was a "food court" near the hostel I got quite excited for pizza, pasta and other things I would expect to find at a typical food court, but instead got 30 choices of Asian food, from Frog soup to sauteed liver to fried asian noodles - I had mystery meat dumplings.



The next morning Tim and I met up to hike Mt. Faber, which is really one of the only outdoor activities I could find in my lonely planet book to do in Singapore. It was like summer in Florida with phenominally high temperatures and maximum humidity leaving us both soaking wet, but the views were pretty great. If you remember one of my previous posts about the underground opal mining city in Australia, you will understand when I say that Singapore is more underground than Coober Pedy. Under every building in town there are what seems like miles of shopping malls, and more shopping malls, and more shopping malls. There are so many shopping malls that I had trouble finding my way out of them! We spent the rest of the day exploring the malls and trying to find places to walk that weren't underground. The next morning Tim and I met up again, and walked to the Botannical Gardens where we saw a group of Asians dancing to techno music, waterfalls, and the Orchid Garden (from the entrance gate because we didn't want to pay $5.)
That afternoon Rego and I took a stroll through Little India, shopped around for the lowest possible price for a bus ticket to KL (Kuala Lampur), went to the food court (again), and stayed up late (as it was our last night in Singapore.)


The next morning we walked with our backpacks for about 30 minutes (the lowest priced bus also happened to be the farthest away) and began our 6 hour bus ride into Malaysia. Rego is an amazing bus-sleeper and slept the ENTIRE way, but I stayed up for most of it looking at the Malaysian landscapes (mainly because I lent him my travel pillow and clearly wasn't getting it back.) Our Kuala Lampur hostel is in the heart of Chinatown, a fast moving place, where crossing the street is "at your own risk", booths lines the streets selling the most amazing knock-offs for next to nothing, cats hide in every corner, the ground is littered with garbage, and funky smells fill your nostrils.



After a walk through the markets, Rego had to remind me that backpackers are not carrying around huge Luis Vutton purses, so i settled for a $7 bikini instead. Dinner on the street costs between $2 - $3, a train ride is less than $.50, an amazing purse will cost you about $15, and brand new Nike sneakers would only cost about $8. The following morning we were on a mission to get to the Malaysian Grand Prix and ended up scoring tickets which included a 1 hour bus ride there for only $30. After we were accidentally let into the "nice area" we headed to our cheap seats on the hill, saw jets fly overhead and then the race began -- it was 5 hours in the sun of watching cars go vroooom vrooom vroooom at light speed, not even knowing who was winning. Needless to say the experience was once-in-a-lifetime (literally, I will only subject myself to that once!)

I chatted up some fun English guys on the bus who happened to have umbrellas (which I conveniently sat under during the race) who we met up with the next morning to hike around the city - headed to the botannical gardens (where we got to look at the infamous Mousedeers), the planetarium, Petronas Towers (formally the tallest buildings in the world), and ate another amazing meal of true Malay food. Tomorrow Rego and I take an 8 hour bus to Khota Bharu, where we catch a ferry out to the Perhentian Islands to spend 4 days basking in the sun, surfing and just plain relaxing. On the 13th we fly from KL to Thailand - Bangkok for the Thai New year (13th - 15th) where there is a HUGE waterfight on the streets and then head to Koh Tao (a southern island) for 4 days to get PADI scuba certified.



MOST AMAZING MEAL EVER!!!













Rego and I at the Botannical Gardens!














The Infamous Mousedeer
















The Markets of Chinatown