Emily and Catherine’s Excellent Adventure

Welcome to Paradise

Hello everyone, we’re back for round 2. We are presently in the hippy-mecca of Northern Thailand, Pai. Off to Chiang mai tomorrow for new years with Ben and Kate. More about all that later…

Ko Chang, as you can see, is an amazingly beautiful place and we got to spend two weeks there! So, where to begin. After spending a somewhat grueling, but interesting week in Bangkok, we decided there was no good reason not to head immediately to the islands. And the bus ride was…interesting. It started off like any other bus ride, until the MUSIC. O my god. I guess the public transportation etiquette here is the driver picks his favorite horrible Thai pop music (which isn’t inherently bad, but lets just say we and the bus driver have different tastes), and plays it for 3 hours as loud as physically possible. No Ipod can drown that music out. But once the three hours were finished, we got to watch a Thai variety show, much of which focused on a man dressed as a woman, or “Ladyboy” (we’ll get to that later…you’ll even get to see one!) and yes, it was blasting as loud as the music. Luckily, the music drove us to bond with one of the sassiest Aussie girls we’ve had the pleasure to meet, Jasmin (Jas, is that your CD?). Little did we know she would become a permanant fixture in our lives over the next few weeks-and baby Ko Chang would not have been the same without you!
So we finally arrived inTrat where we found that the ferry’s had stopped running for the night-we of course did not look into this beforehand-and we spent the night there. As happenstance would have it, the woman who booked our ferry thought 3 nice-and very attractive girls deserved 3 nice boys to travel to ko chang with. Thaddy, Peter and Kris were great additions to our little Ko Chang family…o the cheese. Once we arrived on Ko Chang, we took a “taxi” ( a converted pickup truck with no back door (but still really safe Moms and Dads!) to a very special place called “Lonely Beach”. In the taxi, which ended up with roughly ten people in the back driving through steep hills on the one road on the island, we met Paul who was also from Boston. Babe, we had an awesome time with you-remember the sunscreen. And Peter and Kris, you were both lovely boys, we were sorry to see you go. Thaddy-we’ll get to you later!

Once arriving in Lonely Beach we were thrilled to find an open hut at what would be our home for the next two weeks, The Treehouse, or as we call it Never Never Land. Sounds so cheesy we know, but really, if you could see this place.

The path to the Treehouse

This is where we eat/drink/lie around/read/Chang! Central hut at the Treehouse

our beautiful beach

our front yard(view from our doorway-pretty crazy, huh?)-rotated 90 degrees-sorry!

our private hammock-another front yard shot

our first treehouse meal with all our new friends!!

We call this place Never neverland for several reasons, but the first thing that made us call it that was watching our little band of treehouse children march through the main hut in descending order of height followed by Dingli, their adorable little dog. Everyone there was pretty much 20-early thirties, except for Poi, Amber and Milan. Children of the owner, cook and permanent resident. Such beautiful spitfire kids followed by their little dog just added to the fairytale quality of this place.

Poi and Milan

A day in the life…
We woke up to the sound of the ocean under our bungalow everyday, after a good solid 4-5 hours of sleep, got breakfast (overlooking the water), and went down to the beautiful beautiful beach. we parked there till we got hungry enough for lunch-eating was a major event throughout our stay on the island, Treehouse salad!! we went swimming, played a little hackeysack-esque Cambodian game, but generally just laid around. around 5 or so, when the sun just started to set-btw, gorgeous sunsets, you’ll see! we’ d shower (shower? we’ll explain) and make our way down to treehouse for dinner. they bbqed every night and the deck was always full of people sitting around eating, drinking, hanging out. there was always a party going on at one of 3 bars on the beach- our nights were generally made up of dancing on the beach and an occasional midnight swim-dancing for hours works up quite a sweat!

Us and Jasmin outside our bungalow

We decided it would be much more economical and way more fun if the three of us shared one bungalow (and we didn’t have much of a choice- only one was available), but it turned out to be awesome-Jas-there’s no one we would rather sleep with than you-well… but seriously, night after night of sleeping sideways getting tangled up in the mosquito nets and getting eaten alive after someone spilled salmon teryaki potato chips everywhere…the days old beer on the front porch probably didn’t help matters much.

the bed we shared-oh yes all 3 of us every night…for the most part, anyway

Thankfully we fit through the window…there was more than one instance when our key got misplaced (oh, it’s been in my back pocket all this time…), or a roomate with the key got misplaced…

shirt billabong, shirt shirt billabong, shirt billabong shirt shirt billabong, bikini bikini

So you may all think that lying on the beach all day is a peaceful existence and for the most part it is, but trying to deter the local beach vendors who are hawking everything from coconuts (“lucky for you lucky for me”, we love you coconut lady), to fishermans pants to soccer balls to bracelets to the ever famous “shirt billabong shirt shirt billabong, bikini bikini i love youuuuuuu billaboonng”-we have an audio clip of this believe it or not-thaddy we’re waiting on you to send it!!

beach views

dinner with a view

didn’t mean to overdo the sunset pictures-yes we did

toilet/shower

toilet to the left, “shower” to the right-have we got some stories!

the toilets in the states really lack atmosphere, dont you think? our bathroom roof

no blog of ours would be complete without a detailed description of the toilets…they were all outdoors, open air, surprisingly liberating and quite enjoyable. puts bangkok’s central guesthouse bathrooms to shame, as the smell of palm trees is much more pleasing than that of poo.
the showers consisted of a big stone basin filled with fresh water and a bucket. use your imagination. bathing in the fresh air-or pouring rain, as the case may be, was quite refreshing. especially after a long day at the beach.

the only mirror for 5 miles

no shoes in treehouse

we promised we wouldn’t drink the water

we weren’t quite as careful with the meat-avian flu adds a certain je ne sais quoi

helping jasmin wash her dirty clothes-the hard way

The Nightlife…

Johan aka Johnny Gunpowder…it’s only rock n’ roll…but baby you rock, Matt from Denver, such a pleasure…You Republican…just kidding guys, Republicans aren’t allowed on Ko Chang

danny…where do we begin?…schizophrenics on crack have less energy, but boy, you CAN dance

firedancers on the beach…after watching a fat white man fall on top of the burning ring of fire, we decided it was only for professionals

pre-party w/our original crew

night on the beach

craig and the “king’s” dance off (why he called himself the king and not the queen, we don’t know) craig, you animal… we love you

night on treehouse deck

thaddy-did you know this would be posted on the internet-jasmin, we know you did

Craig, Jasper, Thaddy, Paul, Kristan and Jas-what a time. You guys-among others- made Ko Chang what it was.

Thaddy, your impressions of an American accent were priceless, we’re so glad you got rid of your Dengue Fever (now we know we can beat it too!)…everyday with you was a treat, you have such a sweet heart. We’re also very glad that we made it through Tsunami 2005, BangBao and wish we could’ve made Ko Wai…but are glad you made it safely off the island!

pong’s b-day celebration (jacobs creek!!!!-finally a decent glass of wine)

tosh and jr-you guys really did it up for pongs bday. we had a blast with both of you masaman curry and all. hope you guys are having an awesome time in ny…until we meet again, perhaps in oz

the girls (and craig)

oh jasmin there are no words, we could fill a blog devoted to you…

instead, we’ll tell a funny story…
so one day we were sitting around with jazzy, kristan, and dave and we were discussing jasmin’s upcoming tattoo. she decided to get the southern cross constellation, pictured on the australian flag, tattooed to her back. kristan told us about his brother’s white tattoo and jasmin decided that white stars on her back would look wicked, as did dave. she got her tattoo over the course of the next few days, as we weren’t sure if the white would show up. after she finallly went through with it, we were eating lunch with kristan who commented that something looked amiss. turns out not the southern cross, but its mirror image, had been tattooed on her back. jasmin was bullshit, but catherine offered up these wise words: ” jasmin, just say ‘same same, but different'” For those of you who have been to Thailand, you know that this is the first phrase you learn, and hear daily thereafter. And Jasmin, it really is same same…but different, and what a perfect representation of the Southern Cross…via Thailand.

Dave, on the other hand, was lucky enough to get the tattoo he wanted….but since he can’t read Thai, it could also say “How much for a Massaman Curry?” or “I am yours for life”, for that matter. Dave, even if we never get a normal moment, it was always fun…we loved meeting you, and we want tickets to your Hollywood premier…your screenplay was fabulous–quotable one liners.

kristan-what can we say, you are the joy of joys and a crazy motherfucker to boot

we wish you the best time in israel, it was really so great to spend time with you. we miss you and truly hope our paths meet again.

smelly dog-is this not the fattest creature you’ve ever seen? it could barely walk

The infamous Lonely Beach morbidly obese Smelly Dog…smelly dog, smeeelly dog, it’s not your fault.

Goodbye for now. We hope this was amusing because we devoted our entire afternoon sitting in this damn internet cafe-good burger break, though, made it worth it. we’ll write soon, hope you’re all well and enjoying christmas/chanukah and happy new years!!

for all the lovely people we’ve met thus far, and for all you guys at home you remain in our hearts
love emily and catherine

So we’ve finally stopped to take a breath and start this Blog (which we had planned on getting started within the first few days)—but REALLY, who can blame us, we’ve been sitting on a paradise beach for two weeks, eating delicious food, plenty of Chang (you might figure that out later), lying on the beach all day, dancing all night…with a little midnight swimming for good measure, ahem, exploring the Island and it’s herbal sauna ($4) and most importantly meeting the most amazing people, our little “Treehouse Family” and sharing travel stories and advice for places to come. But as much as this may sound completely self indulgent (well let’s be honest here), at the same time it was a much needed rejuvination/holiday from Bangkok and if you stick around for the next paragraph, you might know why…
Tonight we’re off to Chiang Mai and because we’ve got a bus to catch we are going cheat a little on this first entry-do a bit of cutting and pasting from old emails, so bear with us if you’re reading any of this for a second time.

Everything has been SUCH a whirlwind! O my goodness, really….pheeew, haha. Well, we have so far in just a few days and only being in Bangkok, seen things of such a beauty and peace to the most sensory assaultive experiences. The first 24-48 hours were rough, with some ups and downs in between since. The flight itself was actually quite pleasant and we both couldn’t believe how relatively short it felt. We watched a couple of movies, slept a bit, ate a few meals and it was over. One of the coolest parts of the flight was flying over central Russia (Kazikstan, Uzbekistan, etc.)…we actually flew the opposite way around the world than we thought we would, over Scandinavia etc. Once it got light enough to see the land there it was absolute tundra and looked like a crazy moonscape.

Once we got over the first 12 rush of gettting to Bangkok, we both have periods of just feeling pretty rough physically, with a bit I’m sure of some added mental stress. The first few days the jet lag really messed with us. Also, Bangkok has very bad air pollution that can really bother you…you really have to almost get to the point of blocking it out, altough we haven’t truly mastered that yet.

The first night was pretty funny. We passed out at midnight completely exhausted…like as soon as our heads hit the pillows. Then at 2:30 we both woke up totally awake. We were awake almost all night and it was pretty funny (the first night!) we had been up for hours each trying to be quiet so as not to wake the other and the Emily would whisper, “Catherine” and we would both burst out laughing because the other had been wide awake the whole time. Then we finally passed out for about a half hour at around 4:30 and then…THE ROOSTER!!!! O my goodness! What a privilege to have a rooster in the middle of a city of 10 million people living right outside your “bedroom” (using that word lightly). That God forsaken creature crows all morning long and by the time it stops the temperature and humidity have reached a point to only allow the comatose to sleep.

Which brings us to what has been so comically referred to as our “accomodations”. They are situated in Banglampu, a cheap touristy area. We stayed right off of khao san road, a super backpacker-y scene: people drinking all day and night, lots of street vendors, the works, but very cheap. some travellers never leave khao san-it’s comfortable and easy and fun, all the things you would imagine of spring break, but much more interesting crowd-for the most part anyway.

It actually makes us smirk a bit just trying to describe it and we have thought quite a few times how funny it would be if you saw it….the bathrooms, are well, hmm, let’s see. There are three for the guesthouse. two of which are holes on the floor that you squat over…number two and all if need be. What is convenient about them is if you need to go to the bathroom before you shower, you needn’t go far because the shower head is essentially above the toilet. And it’s nice to have scented body wash, or congestion from the smog if you wish, because the sewer system here can’t handle toilet paper, and it’s not the cultural tradition anyway. There is a little shower head next to the toilet, or whole that you are ideally supposed to use in lieu of tp. Now the catch to the scented body wash is, all the foreigners by their toilet paper especially for bm’s and is must be stowed in a little trash can next to the toilet/shower….at times the smell is intense. As disturbing as all this may sound, what is ever more disturbing is that we’ve kind of gotten used to it…well not the smell.

The rooms are BASIC, and the walls are paper thin. But in genral things are clean and it is VERY safe with good staff, free internet and some really cool people from all over staying here.

We spent our days primarily walking around where we could.

Bangkok is very spread out so we didn’t get to walk too much of it. it took us a while to transition and get over jetlag etc… we both felt a little out of sorts and tired and bangkok is so big and smoggy and hot. walking down the street was much sometimes, on more than one occasion we had to hold a tissue over our mouths because the air was so harsh and polluted.

Yesterday, we did one of the coolest things thus far. We went to this beautiful Wat (Buddhist temple). The grounds are massive and soooooo beautiful. The outside was all white walls and smooth marble floors with roofs and embelishments that are gold with beautiful mosiac designs. Inside the main temple was a massive (40 feets?) gold seated Buddha.

The coolest things was that we happened by chance to get there during a servie and later found out that yesterday was one of the holiest days for that temple. We kneeled on the floor with the rest of the people in front of the monks reciting their prayers.

It was beautiful.

The monks where these beautiful bright orange togas. After the service some people gathered on the floor in front of one of the older monks and so we joined them. He was blessing by flicking sticks dipped in holy water, much in the same way the priests do. Then he would give your a red string bracelet with five wooden prayer beads on it…all very cool. We walked a bit through the grounds and saw many monks gathered in another large temple behind the first one. We didn’t know if it was a special area for just the temples so tried to find out if you could get closer. We ended up speaking with this 26 year old monk who spoke English really well and told us about the special holy day at the temple and how he had started as a novice at 13 etc…it was very cool to talk to him.

Can’t wait to write (or cut and paste) all about ko Chang, paradise on earth, but we’re running late and will surely miss our bus if we sit around.

You are in our hearts and thoughts
We love and miss each one of you
Stay tuned for the next installent of our excellent adventure
-Emily and Catherine