The Spring Festival, as it is referred to here in China, is the biggest holiday of the year. For the migrant workers, especially, this is important because it is the one time a year they are given days off of work to travel and see their family. With an unseasonable snow cover parts of South Central China, many were deterred from reaching their destinations. The holiday is officially one week long, but the celebration lasts until the full moon late in February culminating with the Lantern Festival. Luckily, the drought in Beijing kept us snow free and travel out of Beijing airport was relatively a breeze. With news of blocked railways and frozen electrical lines further South, I was grateful for the chance to escape the freezing temperatures in the city.
Thank you New York for worrying about the locals getting home for the holidays. I will get back to you with more of what happened with snow in South Central and Chinese Army's efforts to help people find their way home.
One Night in Bangkok
There is a back packers area of Bangkok which is infamous for everything you can imagine young traveling Westerners are looking for in an abroad experience.
You can feel the humidity wrap around you like a thick blanket upon deplaning. As you might imagine, the back packers haven is something I would normally avoid like the plague, but it was our destination for our one night in Bangkok. We should have stayed in the lovely new airport with all the comforts of home, but as least we know for sure that it is what you might imagine.
2 am, Wednesday, February 6. We walk around looking for a place to eat. The streets are lively and as you can imagine, it was slim pickins for a supper venue. We find a buzzing "Irish" Bar and Restaurant still serving food. We avoided the street food, though the company there would have been better. We ordered our first Thai meal in an "Irish" Bar. I ordered a Thai whiskey with coke to take the edge off. Henry enjoys soaking in the atmosphere while I cling on to my backpack with all my most important belongings: passport, laptop, & leica. Henry warns me of getting caught with drugs on me. I wonder if he thinks I have a secret life. Aussies abound. I enjoy my meal and try to be easy about the fraternity like background. We finally get off this beaten track and find a quieter street with monuments and photo banners of the king. We walk until our time runs out. We have to be back at the airport for the next leg of our journey. Roundtrip in taxis cost us about 1000 Baht. Dinner sets me back 800 Baht. I would recommend skipping this area and just staying at the airport or booking early for the airport hotel. We both exchanged $50 and almost used it all for our adventure into the nether regions. ($1 = 32 Thai Bhat)
As the song goes...
THE AMERICAN:
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know what the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world in a
Show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies - doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boards in it
All change - don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland... or the Philippines... or Hastings... or... or this place!
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
THE AMERICAN:
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
COMPANY:
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board, not looking at the city
THE AMERICAN:
Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town...
COMPANY:
Tea, girls, warm, sweet, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
THE AMERICAN:
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
THE AMERICAN:
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a
Muddy old river or reclining Buddha
And thank God I'm only watching the game, controlling it
I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you
So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage parlours
COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me
-Murray Head
Our Final Destination: Phuket Island
8 am, Wednesday, February 5
We arrive via Thai Air Aisa. The air is clean and the sun shining.
I couldn't be happier.
We get a cab. It is run on LPG.
Taxis here and in Hong Kong are switiching from diesel fuel to
liquefied petroleum gas, as it is more fuel efficient and less polluting.
The taxi takes us to where we will be staying for the week, as private home inside at gated community, just north of the Laguna complex. It is still being built and the complex is pretty quite.
The house is amazing. Beautifully done and so comfortable out of the way of swarms of foreigners. We arrive and Henry's family friends are waiting for us. Magnus, Henry's old high school mate, and his girlfriend, Liv. Crispen, Magnus' older brother is there too. We arrive to a beautiful garden, private pool, and a gorgeous room with a seaward view.
The best way to get around is by moped. We hired a moped for the 6 days we would be there.
Day 1: Wednesday
Lunch on the beach
Sunset drinks on the beach at Rasta A's
Dinner on the beach at Tum's
Midnight serenade by guitar
Day 2: Thursday
Moped around town
Grocery shopping
Grill out at home
Day 3: Friday
Breakfast at home
Moped out to the Airport Beach
Swimming around a small reef, spotted a Moray eel!
Lunch on the beach
Crispen departs for HK
Dinner on the beach with Magnus & Liv (Unseasonably heavy rain drives us indoors)
Day 4: Saturday
Breakfast at home
Magnus & Liv depart for HK
Henry and I moped around on separate bikes
for a day
Massage at A&E
Lunch on the beach
Sunset drinks at Rasta A's
Dinner on the beach
Day 5: Sunday
Picked up at Canal Village
Boat out to Phang Nga
Sea Kayaking Adventure
with Sea Canoe Eco Tour: Self paddle group
Paddle around islands and into caves and lagoons
Lunch on board with team leaders Tiger & Billy
Dinner at Toto's
Day 6: Monday
Moped out to
Gibbon Rehab Center & Bang Pae Waterfall
Picnic lunch
Sunset drinks at 360 Bar
Dinner on the beach at Tum's
Day 7: Tuesday
Departure for Beijing
For a nice map of Phuket:
http://www.dive-the-world.com/maps-phuket-island.htm
1 comment:
Su, I miss you. I LOVE READING your blog. I would love to bring Willa for a visit, although totally unrealistic. We are cheering for you over here. Seems you are very inspired!! Glad things are lovely. peace and love, ann
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