Thailand Part 2

It has been raining quite a bit in Thailand recently, and I thought I would take this opportunity to update my blog. I'm currently in Krabi Town of Southern Thailand at the Pak-Up hostel. Only $7 a night and one of the nicest places I've stayed so far.

Being a food tourist of sorts, I had to try these chips. Spicy shrimp flavor. They weren't bad, but definitely not gourmet. Good crunch, very greasy and too much salt. Pretty much like putting the flavor packet from shrimp ramen on Lays original.

 In a hurry I had to pick up breakfast at 7-11 before my bus to Krabi. This is packaged toast with strawberry jam. It was actually very tasty, and I wished I had bought two.

Once in Krabi and waiting out the rain I took a day trip to Railay beach. The trip was in a long tail boat and took about 45 minutes.

Once on Railay, I hiked around, saw the wonderful beaches, checked out some caves and to break it up, went for a swim between each activity, because the heat was a bit oppressive.

Here's the sign at the trailhead to a viewpoint on Railay. This sign was an understatement.

It may be hard too see, but the trail is near vertical and is covered in a very slick clay mud. There are a few muddy ropes to help you along, but the best route was usually the least muddy and therefor not following the roped off route.

 A viewpoint from the top.

 Mud.

Railay has white sand on one side and mangroves on the other. Heres a few of the rockier mangroves.

A tractor brings some passengers ashore from the eastern beach.

R

A View of Railay West and the cliffs that surround it. The caves here are really cool and worth checking out.

The next day without rain I jumped on a local bus and went to check out a temple (Tigers Cave) and climb to the top of a mountain.

Here's the sign at the base of the hill.

The 1237 step thing is a bit misleading because some of the steps are a little steep to say the least.

 There are multiple shrines along the way.

 A view from the top.

A massive Buddha rests on top of the mountain. Notice the man below him for scale. It is a sacred place and a nice place to hang out and think about things.

My next stop was a forest park with a Jungle hike and several caves.

There were some very cool plant life along the trail including some old growth rainforest trees. The noise of the birds was awesome, and really made me feel like I had stepped into the Amazon.

 Shrines are in many of the caves and you will see monks walking around or praying silently in the lotus position. Out of respect I didn't take any pictures of the monks, but snapped a few pictures of the caves and shrines when nobody was around.

 A cave entrance.

 Me in front of "Big Tree" (note the sign)

 Monkeys were everywhere, but the pictures came out blurry. I saw one steal a guys water bottle from the outside of his backpack. Always be suspicious of monkeys, mischievous buggers.

These chickens were ginormous.

This chicken was Delicious. Happy Thanksgiving!

Thai freedom salchichas.  (bacon wrapped hotdogs for those unfamiliar)

Mai Thais with the guys from my hostel room.

The house band at Pak-Up Hostel. They are really good actually and play quite a few American songs with their own style.

There you have it, Krabi Thailand. I'm staying here a few more days and will be doing a trip to a couple more islands. Rain or shine, I'll post more pictures as I take them.


Much love to my friends and family stateside.

My next post will likely be from Bankok or Dubai!

Thailand Part One

I have been in Phuket Province, Thailand for a few Days now and have found it to be everything they say; people are friendly, the scenery is beautiful and the food is amazing. I'm finally at an internet cafe capable of uploading pictures so here it goes.

Thailand is hot. Doesn't matter what time of year, it's always hot. After a long flight and hiking in the heat, it is important to hydrate. A coconut freshly lopped open before your eyes will run you about 20 baht ($0.66)

 

My current accommodation for the weekend is $23 a night and includes a king size bed, A/C, a swimming pool and free wifi internet. It far from the main tourist areas, and I like it that way. Here's the view out the balcony. Next week my accommodation will be a Hostel in Krabi for $7 a night. (lets hope it's decent).

Yesterday, I took a boat trip to a few islands. The tour was in a crazy fast jet boat and stopped at five islands and provided lunch and we had the freedom to do what we wanted when the boat was in port. This is one of the more secluded islands and offered sunbaithing or snorkeling, whichever you prefer.

A view from the ocean as I was snorkeling around one of the islands.

Not sure what this is. It looked alive though and not a fishing lure as it appears in the photo. It was over ten feet down and my camera only has a waterproof rating to ten feet, so I didn't dare dive down all the way.

Sea cucumbers.

Do you see it? Master of camouflage.

Needle fish I believe.

 

Dragon fruit and other local varieties. What we consider "exotic" can be found in street stands everywhere.

Most of the islands near Thailand has sheer limestone cliffs. Its very hard not to look up while walking around.

 

This sign was funny at first, until I saw a few monkeys behaving badly. They were all fat a grumpy. Way overfed and obviously sick of tourists. I have a video of a monkey poking a guy in the eye that I will hopefully be able to upload later.

  

This monkey was looking for trouble.

 

 "Bananas again?"

"Viking Cave"

Watch out for these.

This is waht it looks like when a bunch of tourists bring a banana into the water.

 

Snorkel roots.

 

These people are waiting in line to take a picture of a beach. It must have been pretty cool, but I think it was just a line attracting a mob of people. With limited time and my boat leaving in half an hour I decided to hike around instead.

The guy on the boat said we could trek the the "rainforest". I started walking through the sparse woods and saw a few planted trees including rubber (an agricultural tree planted everywhere). It was pretty, but definitely not dense enough to be called a rainforest.

One the way back to the boat there is a restroom in the rainforest. The urinals are built into the cliffs. If you look up while peeing, it is a seventy foot cliff above you.

Red curry with a Thai beer. Delicous and only cost 140 baht (about $4.50)

In the back of a Tuk-Tuk. Though this is not a true tuk-tuk as it is not a tiny red pickup truck blaring crazy music and flying through intersections fearlessly.

 

Pork spring roll. The sauce was a bit sweet , but this was the one thing I ordered from the touristy shopping center, so I knew it couldn't be as good as the street food.

Yes, this is a shooting cafe in a shopping center. It is in a very small building too. I would be very surprised if this was allowed in many other countries.

 Banana crepe only 20 baht ($0.66)

 Fried garlic pepper shrimp. That is all fried garlic on the spring, not rice. It was amazing to say the least. (not sure why the photo is sideways, sorry bout that)

Well Thailand has been awesome so far. The only mishap so far is losing my debit card temporarily. I put it in an ATM and it ate it and wouldn't give it back. Good thing I have a couple extra credit cards and a mom and sister who were willing to wire me cash if needed.

I have avoided the crazy nightlife for the most part to try and save money, but the few bars I've been to have all been tourists. Besides getting a drink at a bar near the beach, things are pretty cheap here despite being a touristy area, (a meal and a beer is about $6, and a taxi anywhere around town is about the same) but it is still easy to spend money, because the food is so good, the shops are cheap and my guesthouse is far from the town center.

Patong beach is especially touristy, and besides walking down the boardwalk, I have avoided it altogether. Also, while walking down the streets every ten feet or less someone stops you and hassles you to buy a suit, or take a taxi instead of walking, or to get a massage. The massage girls literally grab you and try to bring you into their massage lair. Cheap massages are nice, being hassled about it is not.

My best moments in Thailand so far couldn't be photographed, because they were the moments where I found myself chatting with the very friendly locals about anything and everything. A smile gets you really far, and people are always friendly, even if they can't make a buck from you. Thai ladies love to smile at you and Thai men aren't afraid of shaking your hand and patting you on the back. Everyone is throwing compliments everywhere. It's really cool, and quite refreshing how nice people are..

Next week I go to Krabi and will be trying to do some rainforest trekking and waterfall swimming.

I hope you enjoyed this installment. I've done so much stuff, I only posted what I thought other people would be interested in. Questions and comments are always welcome!