We ended up spending 2 nights in the abandoned bungalow.
My subconscious must have a been a little more nervous about the whole thing than I was admitting to myself because the first night I woke up screaming bloody murder while Shawn tried to calm me down and convince me I wasn't actually being abducted by Thai criminals in the middle of the night. It was a good 30 seconds of awake screaming... and it was loud. My voice hurt afterwards. All because Shawn was holding my hand in my sleep and I honestly thought it was someone else grabbing onto me trying to pull me out of the bungalow. We spent another night there anyway. We didn't get much rest that night either.
The last night on Koh Chang Island we spent at a real guest house so we could shower before we headed to Cambodia early the next morning.
We caught a series of buses to the border town, and met a fantastic young couple from Slovania. We've stayed with them from that night, stayed together, crossed the border together (20usd each, Eric D., although it took us a good 45 minutes of back and forth and confusion to find the legit place), getting to Siem Reap, renting a tuk tuk to Angkor Wat for 2 days, etc. Changing all this money has been extremely confusing. 7 (+ a British couple) of us rode in the back of a pick up truck for 2 hours, which was fun. Cambodia is very confusing and a bit stressful, but now that we're actually here I think we'll be able to enjoy it a bit more.
We're planning to head north to Laos next and probably skip Vietnam altogether.... FYI.
It's been a ton of fun, but I have to tell ya.... we're getting tired.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Thailand: Take 3
We're currently on Koh Chang Island in Thailand! The beach is gorgeous!! The mountains, palm trees, blue skies, etc. are definitely the stuff of posters and paradise resort ads.
The day we got here we picked up another traveller who was alone. So we turned into 4 and found ourselves a bungalow. Last night we had 3 different mosquito nets up in the tiny hut! Mike went exploring and found a half built bungalow, so we all went to go find it to see if we could camp in it comfortably enough. On our way to find it we discovered a deserted resort!! So... we explored a bit, found an empty hut that was to our liking and checked out of the other bungalow. So now we're camping in an abandoned resort! For free!! We took a bunch of palm leaves and put them down, sort of weaved the edges together, and threw a tarp over them for a bed. We're literally 10 feet from the white sand beach when the tide is in. I think it's pretty awesome.
The weather of course is amazing. The only downside of that is that the bananas around here are pretty much useless except as food. (Although, I'm sure Eric could come up with something else).
Our Australian roomie (temporary #4) didn't feel up to the camping, so we're back to three.
Next on the itinerary is Cambodia, so stay tuned!!
The day we got here we picked up another traveller who was alone. So we turned into 4 and found ourselves a bungalow. Last night we had 3 different mosquito nets up in the tiny hut! Mike went exploring and found a half built bungalow, so we all went to go find it to see if we could camp in it comfortably enough. On our way to find it we discovered a deserted resort!! So... we explored a bit, found an empty hut that was to our liking and checked out of the other bungalow. So now we're camping in an abandoned resort! For free!! We took a bunch of palm leaves and put them down, sort of weaved the edges together, and threw a tarp over them for a bed. We're literally 10 feet from the white sand beach when the tide is in. I think it's pretty awesome.
The weather of course is amazing. The only downside of that is that the bananas around here are pretty much useless except as food. (Although, I'm sure Eric could come up with something else).
Our Australian roomie (temporary #4) didn't feel up to the camping, so we're back to three.
Next on the itinerary is Cambodia, so stay tuned!!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Thailand: Take 2
We rented motorbikes on the 13th and headed to Northern Thailand.
We spent the first night in Chiang Rai, but the next day headed to the Golden Triangle, which is where Laos, Thailand, and Burma (Myanmar) meet. It was pretty cool.
That night we headed to Mai Sai so that we could cross the border into Burma (Myanmar) the next day. It was expensive, but we got the Visa and the stamp to go in and visited a little village and did a little hiking. It was cooler than we expected. We talked to a lot of people. Burmese children = adorable.
We snagged a hitchhiker (friend of a friend of the KW's in Chiang Mai) and headed to Mae Salong, where some of the the Chinese Nationalists settled after the Communist take over. It almost felt like home again. We drove though soe moutains and found some fun hill tribes off the beaten path along the way.
After Mae Salong we dropped our hitchhiker off in a place called Fang and saw a neat little agricultural camp run by some fun "save the world" types. We just missed a pig being killed, but we watched them cut it up and ate some of the intestine.
We couldn't find the hot springs we were looking for that night, but stayed in Chiang Dao.
The next day we went to the elephant camp, where we saw a show and then ended up taking an hour and half elephant ride though the jungle and a river. It was wicked expensive, but pretty cool.
We found a waterfall in the afternoon and drove through some more mountains all the way back to Chiang Mai. We'll go to service again this morning, maybe get a Thai massage this afternoon, and then head out for another trip to check out some more hill tribes.
We spent the first night in Chiang Rai, but the next day headed to the Golden Triangle, which is where Laos, Thailand, and Burma (Myanmar) meet. It was pretty cool.
That night we headed to Mai Sai so that we could cross the border into Burma (Myanmar) the next day. It was expensive, but we got the Visa and the stamp to go in and visited a little village and did a little hiking. It was cooler than we expected. We talked to a lot of people. Burmese children = adorable.
We snagged a hitchhiker (friend of a friend of the KW's in Chiang Mai) and headed to Mae Salong, where some of the the Chinese Nationalists settled after the Communist take over. It almost felt like home again. We drove though soe moutains and found some fun hill tribes off the beaten path along the way.
After Mae Salong we dropped our hitchhiker off in a place called Fang and saw a neat little agricultural camp run by some fun "save the world" types. We just missed a pig being killed, but we watched them cut it up and ate some of the intestine.
We couldn't find the hot springs we were looking for that night, but stayed in Chiang Dao.
The next day we went to the elephant camp, where we saw a show and then ended up taking an hour and half elephant ride though the jungle and a river. It was wicked expensive, but pretty cool.
We found a waterfall in the afternoon and drove through some more mountains all the way back to Chiang Mai. We'll go to service again this morning, maybe get a Thai massage this afternoon, and then head out for another trip to check out some more hill tribes.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Thailand Update!
I should really be sending this out in an e-mail instead of posting, but this is just so much easier...
So...
We arrived in Bangkok on Thursday night. We weren't sure where to stay since our travel book was at least 7 years outdated. We got in a taxi and pointed to the address for a hostel which may or may not have still existed...
It did exist, but it was full. There were probably a few dozen hostels in the area, but almost all of them were full and the rest were more expensive than we were shooting for. Also, we're pretty sure the area of town was for a certain kind of traveller. There were quite a few rainbows on doormats, and people reflecting that.... lifestyle. The guys were glad to have me along.
We got out of Bangkok as quickly as we could. It was expensive, confusing, not walker-friendly, etc.
We could only get seats on the overnight train to Chiang Mai, so we were a bit nervous. But, the seats reclined, the train had a ton of character, and we met a fun couple from England and played cards! The train was 2+ hours late. When Mike asked a guy about it he said, "Welcome to Thailand!"
Our hostel in Chiang Mai is AMAZING! Very comfortable, colorful, cheap, etc. There are iced ovaltines across the street for only 15 baht!
We met the Kingdom Workers and went to the Sunday morning service despite the fact that it was all in the Thai language (Thailandese?). We hung out with the K.W.'s there, had lunch, went to the walking street market, played games, shared ice cream. It was all a very good time.
The boys stayed up until 5am watching the Eagles game last night since Mike (who we are travelling with) is a huge fan. I finally caught up on sleep. Now you are caught up!
So...
We arrived in Bangkok on Thursday night. We weren't sure where to stay since our travel book was at least 7 years outdated. We got in a taxi and pointed to the address for a hostel which may or may not have still existed...
It did exist, but it was full. There were probably a few dozen hostels in the area, but almost all of them were full and the rest were more expensive than we were shooting for. Also, we're pretty sure the area of town was for a certain kind of traveller. There were quite a few rainbows on doormats, and people reflecting that.... lifestyle. The guys were glad to have me along.
We got out of Bangkok as quickly as we could. It was expensive, confusing, not walker-friendly, etc.
We could only get seats on the overnight train to Chiang Mai, so we were a bit nervous. But, the seats reclined, the train had a ton of character, and we met a fun couple from England and played cards! The train was 2+ hours late. When Mike asked a guy about it he said, "Welcome to Thailand!"
Our hostel in Chiang Mai is AMAZING! Very comfortable, colorful, cheap, etc. There are iced ovaltines across the street for only 15 baht!
We met the Kingdom Workers and went to the Sunday morning service despite the fact that it was all in the Thai language (Thailandese?). We hung out with the K.W.'s there, had lunch, went to the walking street market, played games, shared ice cream. It was all a very good time.
The boys stayed up until 5am watching the Eagles game last night since Mike (who we are travelling with) is a huge fan. I finally caught up on sleep. Now you are caught up!
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