We are now in Phang Na, but I'll back track a bit first. We looked around Bangkok some more after we packed up the morning of the 4th. We took our first tuk-tuk ride to a nearby Wat (temple type thing). Tuk-tuks are known for ripping off tourist, and we
were no exception, but the experince is worth it. They whiz around like little go-karts, racing between cars. We walked up the hill to the Wat and got a 360 view of Bangkok. It is Huge, I knew it was big, but wow! Skyscrapers in every direction. Then we walked a few blocks to where they make monk bowls. Imediatly we were harangued into the regular "Hallo, Hallo, Come, I show you, very nice, You buy?" We followed an old man through some alleys (a bit sketchy) but it was really interesting to see the living conditions of the locals. Next we went to check out The big mall downtown, it has 7 floors. We had lunch at a restaurant that was full of thai people, so figured it was good. We were pretty disappointed as we sifted through the crab shells and porkrines, and basically just picked out the peanuts and noodles. After that we headed for the train station. On our walk out we were flagged over to what were apparently some Thai radio of TV stars and they were advertising Pepsi, so we may be on some Thai commercials or something, Ha Ha, yeah we're a pretty big deal... Eventually we made it to the train station. We had an hour to kill so we just sat on the floor like everyone else, and when the clock hit 6 o'clock the Thai national Anthem (i think that's what it was) started playing on the loudspeakers and everyone in the station stood up and faced the mural of the King. Have I mentioned how much the Thai people Love their King! There are posters of him everywhere! It's kind of funny to imagine the US loving our president that much. How wierd would that be for every household to have a picture of Bush on the mantle. We boarded our train around 7:30. We sat there waiting for about 2 hours and then finally we left. The 13 hour ride was pretty close to miserable. Since we were in 3rd class we had bench seats and it was impossible to get comfortable.
We took a bus from Surat Thani to Khoa Sok where we booked our bungalow hut thing, it had an amazing view and was surrounded by the sounds of the rainforest. We also got an hour long thai massage, pretty awesome for $7. Khoa Sok National park is the biggest rain forest in Thailand, and has a huge lake. We took a tour of the lake, which was beautifully bordered with limestone cliffs, and had a tour of some nearby caves. Our guide Po (spelling?) was like the real Moguely from the Jungle Book. He swung around on vines and made gibbon and sacaida calls. The caves were amazing, and there were absolutely no safety precautions, which made even better. We followed a stream down into a crack in the cliff with nothing but our headlamps. Walking along we saw some awesome rock formations and bats that covered the
ceiling. There big frogs in there too, the picture is of "budda frog", he's playing dead. In one stretch Po stopped to show us a Huge spider and the ground was crawling with crickets... ugh! That was my least favorite part, but the best part was when we climbed down into the stream and had to swim across, so fun! We hiked through the jungle back to the boat. Our ride back to the bungalows was in some guys truck. He didn't really speak english so it was fun. I was resereved shotgun, i don't know why? It was really funny actually. there were six people sitting in the bed and four squeezed in the back seat and Kendra went to sit in front and the guide stopped her and motioned me to sit there, wierd? Anyways, the guys truck was really nice, and it had a screen on the radio that showed the words to the song (like karoke) so all of us were singing along and the driver thought it was the funniest thing ever. Then the people in the back knocked on the window and so we stopped at the 7-11 (they're everywhere) to buy beer and snacks (which made the karoke even funner). We knew our bungalow people were annoyed with us since we didn't book our tour through them, and these suspitions were solidified when our dinner meal of green curry arrived extra extra spicey! It is probably the hottest meal I've ever eatten, and it burned on the way out too... TMI. Anyways the next day we did our own hike in the jungle to some waterfalls, it was really nice, but I was sweating buckets. Then we retrieved our backpacks and walked out to catch the local bus to Phang Na.
Wow, this post is getting long... Well, last night we stayed at a hotel in Phang Na for $2! So Amazing! Our standards have sure adapted to the Thai dollar. Now we're like "$6 hotel, pshh, we can get it for 2, and $1 pad thai, thats outragous, lets walk down the street and get it for 60 cents!" hahaha, gotta love it! This afternoon we are catching a boat over to Koh Yao Noi where we're going to rent kayaks and paddle around the bay and camp on little islands and stuff. Should be awesome!
Hope everyone at home is doing well!
xo
were no exception, but the experince is worth it. They whiz around like little go-karts, racing between cars. We walked up the hill to the Wat and got a 360 view of Bangkok. It is Huge, I knew it was big, but wow! Skyscrapers in every direction. Then we walked a few blocks to where they make monk bowls. Imediatly we were harangued into the regular "Hallo, Hallo, Come, I show you, very nice, You buy?" We followed an old man through some alleys (a bit sketchy) but it was really interesting to see the living conditions of the locals. Next we went to check out The big mall downtown, it has 7 floors. We had lunch at a restaurant that was full of thai people, so figured it was good. We were pretty disappointed as we sifted through the crab shells and porkrines, and basically just picked out the peanuts and noodles. After that we headed for the train station. On our walk out we were flagged over to what were apparently some Thai radio of TV stars and they were advertising Pepsi, so we may be on some Thai commercials or something, Ha Ha, yeah we're a pretty big deal... Eventually we made it to the train station. We had an hour to kill so we just sat on the floor like everyone else, and when the clock hit 6 o'clock the Thai national Anthem (i think that's what it was) started playing on the loudspeakers and everyone in the station stood up and faced the mural of the King. Have I mentioned how much the Thai people Love their King! There are posters of him everywhere! It's kind of funny to imagine the US loving our president that much. How wierd would that be for every household to have a picture of Bush on the mantle. We boarded our train around 7:30. We sat there waiting for about 2 hours and then finally we left. The 13 hour ride was pretty close to miserable. Since we were in 3rd class we had bench seats and it was impossible to get comfortable.We took a bus from Surat Thani to Khoa Sok where we booked our bungalow hut thing, it had an amazing view and was surrounded by the sounds of the rainforest. We also got an hour long thai massage, pretty awesome for $7. Khoa Sok National park is the biggest rain forest in Thailand, and has a huge lake. We took a tour of the lake, which was beautifully bordered with limestone cliffs, and had a tour of some nearby caves. Our guide Po (spelling?) was like the real Moguely from the Jungle Book. He swung around on vines and made gibbon and sacaida calls. The caves were amazing, and there were absolutely no safety precautions, which made even better. We followed a stream down into a crack in the cliff with nothing but our headlamps. Walking along we saw some awesome rock formations and bats that covered the
ceiling. There big frogs in there too, the picture is of "budda frog", he's playing dead. In one stretch Po stopped to show us a Huge spider and the ground was crawling with crickets... ugh! That was my least favorite part, but the best part was when we climbed down into the stream and had to swim across, so fun! We hiked through the jungle back to the boat. Our ride back to the bungalows was in some guys truck. He didn't really speak english so it was fun. I was resereved shotgun, i don't know why? It was really funny actually. there were six people sitting in the bed and four squeezed in the back seat and Kendra went to sit in front and the guide stopped her and motioned me to sit there, wierd? Anyways, the guys truck was really nice, and it had a screen on the radio that showed the words to the song (like karoke) so all of us were singing along and the driver thought it was the funniest thing ever. Then the people in the back knocked on the window and so we stopped at the 7-11 (they're everywhere) to buy beer and snacks (which made the karoke even funner). We knew our bungalow people were annoyed with us since we didn't book our tour through them, and these suspitions were solidified when our dinner meal of green curry arrived extra extra spicey! It is probably the hottest meal I've ever eatten, and it burned on the way out too... TMI. Anyways the next day we did our own hike in the jungle to some waterfalls, it was really nice, but I was sweating buckets. Then we retrieved our backpacks and walked out to catch the local bus to Phang Na.Wow, this post is getting long... Well, last night we stayed at a hotel in Phang Na for $2! So Amazing! Our standards have sure adapted to the Thai dollar. Now we're like "$6 hotel, pshh, we can get it for 2, and $1 pad thai, thats outragous, lets walk down the street and get it for 60 cents!" hahaha, gotta love it! This afternoon we are catching a boat over to Koh Yao Noi where we're going to rent kayaks and paddle around the bay and camp on little islands and stuff. Should be awesome!
Hope everyone at home is doing well!
xo
Wow. What an experience. Jess and I wish that we had a chance to come with you.
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