Quit Dreaming and Go Somewhere

Phi Phi Part I

March 2nd, 2004

So we moved to Kata Beach then we took a bus to Phuket Town, only a short distance away, and Jim did his last diving class. The day he was gone I walked super far to the Immigration Office to find out about extending our visas, since we are getting really close to 30 days. Technically, a 10-day extension should cost 500 baht ($13), but the office said 1,900 baht ($50), so it was better for us to make a border run, which means going to another country just to get a stamp and come back immediately to Thailand, and you’ve got another 30 days then. We only need to go to the Similan Islands and Ko Tao and Ko Pha-Ngan, which are right next to each other. Anyway.
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More on Whores and Ladyboys

February 27th, 2004

So the other night, we went out with a Belgian dude from Jim’s Scuba diving class. We went to his hotel and another Belgian guy came with his Thai girlfriend. Jim and I had even talked about what would happen if one brought a Thai girl, and Jim thought it would be interesting anyway.
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Jim is NOT THAI

February 27th, 2004

I can’t believe I haven’t posted about this before, well, maybe I have and I just forgot. So many people have asked Jim if he is Thai, and it seems now that he is pretty tan there are more. It is funny to us because he, obviously, is not Asian at all. But even before we left, he hypothesized that he could possibly be mistaken for a resident at almost every place we go.

At one guesthouse, the owner lady asked him if his mother was Chinese?!

And taking the cake was while we were eating at a (delicious!) Tex Mex restaurant in Kata Beach and the waitress came over and said something in Thai, and we kind of looked at her blankly, like, why on earth are you speaking Thai to us? And then another waitress next to her said, “No, not Thai!” and she thought it was so funny because she thought Jim was Thai for sure. She kept saying things in Thai to him and laughing. So that was funny.

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Some Links

February 23rd, 2004

Tales of Asia is an awesome resource all about Asia and well, tales from there.

The travel blog from a nice couple we met in Singapore.

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Pitiful Patong (Men Are Pigs)

February 23rd, 2004

Well, I thought Bangkok sucked, but I realize now that at least Bangkok, for all the stink and pollution, had interesting things to see.

It’s my own fault for thinking Patong would be ok. The guidebook says, Yes, it is a major, major tourist attraction with tons of development but the beach is still great.

So I thought, we’ll put up with the ultra-touristness and just enjoy the beach. it must be famous for a reason, right?

Ugh, ugh, ugh. This place is so boring that I would actually rather stay in the hotel room than walk around again. Usually when I don’t have a real plan, I just walk around and look at stuff. If you did that here, all you would see is restaurant, ATM, vendor, shop, bar, dive shop, store, restaurant, resort, shop, vendor, BLAH BLAH BLAH. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing interesting or cultural to see. And, it is very, very hot. So you basically walk around, sweating through your clothes, saying NO NO NO to all the touts “Hello, taxi?” “Hello, you want a suit?” “Hello, tuk-tuk?” “Hello, come eat.” Hello! Hello! So you never even have a real interaction with people since you are always saying NO since you KNOW they are trying to sell you somethng. But that’s a whole different story.

There is nothing to see! I went to the beach and held all my belongings on my shoulder in a big piece of cloth (you think I am leaving anything on the beach? Backpackers know how to NOT get things stolen. I don’t feel like chancing it.) So I am standing in chest high water, trying to keep my bundle above water and basically just standing there. I probably did look pretty dumb.

Then I spread out my blanket no the beach (I heard they charge you for sitting on a beach chair, and the beach is COVERED with them. I had a hard time finding an open spot for me.) Then I open my bag and see I did a poor job holding it above water. All the postcards were wet and I was so bummed, but I managed to save them and mail them today.

So I laid on the beach a while, sweat some more, read my guidebook, and tried to figure out how we are going to finish up here in Thailand before our 30 day visa is up. I don’t understand why people like just lying on the beach. It is so hot. So after a little while I flopped around in the water some more and walked back to the hotel.

(Patong beach *is* nice, but I thought even Ao Nang was nicer.)

I showered off and pigged out on the food I bought yesterday. Had a sandwich, yogurt, little bit of cereal, more sandwich meat, more cereal. I love having a fridge in the room! I’ve totally been eating like a cow the last few days. Not good.

So Jim has a major problem in that he is congested and if he continues to be, he cannot dive. Poor guy. I just hope if that happens, they give him some of the money back from his diving program. Probably not though. But because of his congestion he informed me that we couldn’t turn the A/C on yesterday because that could make it worse. I had to fight so hard not to turn it on when he wasn’t looking. Argh.

OK, no one has asked or said anything about PROSTITUTES. Here in Patong it is worse than I’ve seen. EVERYWHERE you see white guys walking hand-in-hand with Thai girls dressed up in heels. It is so obvious because regular Thai women do NOT walk around dressed up in heels. And these men, because they know NO one back home can see them, walk around as proud as can be with the girls. It is REVOLTING. Jim even thinks it is lame. But because of it, almost every bar here is just for Thai girls and farangs to meet and get together. We walked down a street lined with bars as early as 9:30PM and the girls are calling and yelling to everyone as they walk by. (They aren’t ALL hookers, some just work at bars to get men to stay and spend money on drinks…I think) We saw some young guys walk in and the women basically throw themselves all over the guys. I told Jim, “Look, those guys think they are hot stuff because they girls are all over them.” And Jim says, “No, they know what’s going on.” But I don’t know. The whole thing is lame. The lamest part is that there isn’t really a bar we can go to just hang out and talk to other people at. In Ao Nang one night we talked to a bunch of old Irish and English people in a pub for a while and it was lots of fun. None of that here…

I can’t stay here another day, I am so bored. We’ll have to see what we can do, since Jim has to stay for the Scuba.

Oh, and Jim said our hotel seems to be a hotel for farangs to bring their Thai girls. Once he said that, it did become obvious since there were tons of Thai girls dressed up hanging out in the lobby and playing pool with farang. Sheesh.

Anyway, I just spent another TON of time here on the net. Hope everyone is having a good week.

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Doing What I Do Best in Patong

February 22nd, 2004

Leave me alone for one day and I’ll find some way to have an adventure, by accident.

Leave it to me to turn a short walk to the post office into a hours-long sweaty, thirsty ordeal.

[sigh]
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How to Choose a Hotel Room

February 22nd, 2004

Kelly’s Rules for Choosing a Hotel Room

In our short time of traveling, there are many things that have become apparent. When you are looking for a hotel and you look at the room, you need to do more than flick the lights on and off.

*Most Important Rule*
Don’t trust anything. If the room LOOKS ok from a glance, there can be tons of things wrong. You need to test everything. Don’t ASSUME because there can be things that are broken that you wouldn’t imagine.
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Island Paradise

February 21st, 2004

We took a cheap little tour from Ao Nang called the “5 Island Tour.” I don’t remember any of the islands’ names except Hong Island.

First we got on a rickety longboat with lots of Frenchies (fun group…NOT) and took a super long and uncomfortable ride to the first island, pictured here. The water was crystal crystal clear and you could see bright striped yellow and black fish. I even snorkeled a little bit, for the first time in my life. At one of the islands, I held on to Jim and we went in deeper water and even saw sea urchins and coral and stuff!! I was scared because I don’t like deep water and it was dark and just…weird!! But super awesome!

All the scenery was gorgeous and the water was clear and warm and amazing. So the trip was great, aside from long bumpy boat rise on wooden seats jammed against other people. The Thai tourist people really fill up their buses/tours/boats to capacity!

Anyway here are some photos. I think they are pretty cool. Hope you like!

* Me back at Ao Nang. Jim calls me “Sid” when I wear my hat and that shirt together. He says I look like an old Jewish guy from Fort Lauderdale.

* Jim snorkeling. I didn’t go in because it was deep and required real swimming.

Another cool beach scene.

Jim snorkeling off the boat. (on the right)