Ko Chang

Ko Chang is a small island in the southern gulf of Thailand, a former national park,with plenty of opportunities for trekking, beaching, and generally enjoying jungle and rainforest. I had great plans for my days on Ko Chang! And the island is still all that--but as I have been eating antibiotics and painkillers in massive amounts the past few days I am not really my normal energetic self, and so most of my fun plans were suspended, replaced by a desire to spend a week in a hammoc, reading, recouperating, doing nothing, alone. However, catching a bus down here I befriended the Aussi woman in the seat next to me, Kim, and arriving at Lonely Beach we both found small bungalows by the water and agreed to go for dinner. Very randomly, so had Susan and Darren, two people I aquainted in Vieng Viang, decided to do--and so my original plans of recouperating in silence with my book have been replaced with wonderful company, fascinating discussions, general chit-chat and only a little bit of reading. Most of this, fortunately, done on a beach while tanning nicely. I haven't really seen any other bits of the island than Lonely beach, which is a strip of some 500 m of sand, five restaurants, endless amounts of bungalows, quite a few internet shops and general vendors, plenty of palms and a lovely beach. But I've had a good time, and I feel better. Tomorrow I head back to Bangkok where I should be able to upload photos before I figure out how to get to Siem Reap and Cambodia shortly after that.

Bangkok

Leaving Ko Panang in the afternoon I arrived in Bangkok a little too early in the morning, but wide awake and ready to hit the big city! My friend Mikey, being a true gentleman, had offered me a spare room in his house while I was in town, so my first adventure was conveying his address to a Thai taxi friver and pray that I'd get to the reight part of town... With my first taxi experience in Bangkok in mind, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself getting to the right door in no time, with no hassle and for a lot less money than expected. My second meeting with Bangkok was all the muvh better than the first in most ways, particularly as I actually had time to see the city this time! I have spent my days in Bangkok walking around the older parts of the centre, looking at the Grand Palace and the temple of the Emerald Buddha, seeing the Wat Poh where Thai massage apparently originated and they have a giant reclining golden Buddha, some 15 m long and 11 m high; eaten Pad Thai off the street vendors in Khosan road; braved the Chatachut weekend market--supposedly one of the biggest outdoor markets in the world with some 10'000 stalls, helped Mikey sorting out stuff as his wallet was stolen from his pocket, posted 11 kilos of stuff that I hope reaches home before Christmas (or you'll all be waiting for your Christmas presents!); gone back to Khosan road to browse the endless amounts of CDs, dresses, bikinis, slacks, t-shirts and what-nots they sell there; eaten lovely food with Mikey; taken taxis across town and had drivers try and explain the street layout to me while I marvelled at the endless mix of old and new, modern and ancient, worn-down and fancy that Bangkok comprises of. My most fascinating moment though, was my meeting with Thailand post: Having shipped originally 10 kilos of stuff back home from the branch at Chatachut market I wandered back into the myriad of stall for some food quick food--and spotted something I needed, but had not known of until I found it there (Karianne's Christmas present, actually). I pondered the matter and need for a short while and realised it was genuine, I had to bring this thing home, and sighed with the thought of carrying it all the way through Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and China ... Passing Thailand Post on the way out of the market I had little hope but nothing to lose, and so I walked back into the office wondering if I could add this little something to my parcel. It took me two attempts to ask (the first time I ended up getting change for a big note, which I also needed)--but to my utter surprise, the guy that had helped me wrap the package in the first place smiled widely, as Thai people do, and said of course, why not? Somehow my faith in helpful Thai people seemed restored as we re-wrapped my box and he asked me to please fill in a new form for the parcel; better to have it correct, otherwise someone might make trouble for it, that's no good you know, miss.

Koh Phanang

Asking other travellers for advice on where to go in Thailand, every single person I've spoken to has suggested Koh Phanang to me--and, after figuring out the full moon party with its trance-house-dance-drug-style might not fit me, added "the northern parts--you'll love the northern parts of the island!" And they were right. Renting a moped to go around the most of the island, I drove the some 10 (or is it 15?) kilometres across it, from Ban Kai in the south where I stayed, to Ban Chalok Lam in the north. The latter is a small fisherman's village, and offered the feeling I guess I'd been expecting but hadn't found in Thailand yet: The everyday Thai life. By all means, Thailand is a beautiful country--but often I get the feeling it only lives off of tourism and its derivatives; shops, markets, accommodation, and food. Even the island's elephants are there mainly for the tourists these days; standing in cages to be fed bananas... However, in Ban Chalok Lam, as I enjoyed a fruit shake on the pier, I enjoyed a more typical everyday life that goes on when the foreigners have left, with small fishing boats and busy villagers glancing at you rather than eyeing you for business. Moving my way westwards to Hat Salad, I found an amazing spot with small bungalows right on the beach, palm trees, hammocs--and very little apart from only that. I wanted to gather my things and get a sea-side hammoc on the beach, but--as one should expect I guess-- the taxi business is as corrupt on Koh Phanang as any other place. In the end, however, my main goal for my stay in Thailand--swimming, relaxing in a hammoc and doing nothing, maybe read, tan a bit?--came back to me, and as the full moon faded and the tide rose the water to above waist level again, I found that I was already at a lovely beach, so no worries then! Staying for a few more days, Bong--the lady running the guest house, turned out to be amazingly chatty when she had the time. Being practically the only person at the Panang Rainbows for a few days I actually did get to see everyday life in Thailand, as well as knowing her family.

Long time no writing...

I'm sorry this place has been all quiet for a while! Laos simply would not let me upload photos, no matter where I went, and so getting online just to write--with such horrible and expensive connections anyway--just didn't seem all that tempting. Since my last post I made it directly from Pakse to 4000 islands at the very south of Lao, 5 km away from the border to Cambodia. taying on Don Kohng the first night was not so interesting, but Don Det is a truly backpaker's island, only without the Vieng Viang party-tubing factor. That's what you want, you say? Well, that's not what I want... I wanted a small shack of a bungalow on the beach, though--and that was what I got! Hooking up with 7 other random people form the bus down to Pakse the group got a bit big for me, though--and after a few days of lovely company but the downs of having to wait for democracy to take its turns around all diplocamtic corners, I caught a bus straight to Bangkok (Thailand) on the 15th of October. Travelling through Pakse, I carelessly left my lunch baguette in the first bus--and had one of my nicest moments in all of Laos when I strolled the local food market for a food stall and found the loveliest woman selling amazing noodle soup and something tasty I don't know what is called, but yum!--tasty! In fact, I think that was my best meal so far on the trip, if not only for the food then also for the lady and her photo posing for me with the dead chicken she would make soup with for the guests after me.. (Yes, I'd show you the photo here, but all these computers think my folders are .exe files, and so I cannot get to the pictures.) The bus trip to Bangkok was uneventful, but fortunately rather speedy. Arriving in Bangkok I made the mistake of getting a metered taxi from the northern busstation to the southern one. They're much cheaper you say? Right. Not if they take you half way around town first... He had a few charming tricks up his sleeve, but after almost six weeks in various Asian countries the tricks are rather easy to spot. In the end I told him off and gave him the money he should have, and from the lack of fighting back I reckon he knew he was exactly what I called him; a cheeting bastard liar. Getting on a new bus an hour or so later, I was finally headed for Surat Thani, and a boat to Koh Pah-Nang! Well, so I thought... The bus got to Surat Thani ok, and having 60 km left to get to Don Sak and the ferry--and 2 hours until the last ferry departed--I was happy and content. The bus ride took 45 minutes more than I had...and so I ended up on a ferry to Ko Samui instead. There are, undenoably, other ferries I could have taken; the problem is that when you'are at one ferry pier 60 km away from the other piers, they don't tell you that the night ferry still runs, 'cause it's not their company that runs it. Ergo, the night ferry does not exist at the pier you're at, and so you have to take the chance on it existing elsewhere, or you can go to, say Ko Samui. Enjoy! It was an ok night in a very decent hotel, though--with plenty of time for pampering my poor feet, skin and hair, so I had a great evening by myself! Finally arriving in Ko Pha-Nang the next morning, my Canadian friend Mikey, who has clearly stayed too long in Bangkok and got too used to local ways, picked me and my bags up on a scooter--I wish I had a photo! Ko Pha-Nang is a lovely little tropical island, although very typically living from tourism more than anything else. There are no fishermen on the beaches in the morning, no boats coming in that I can see...there are however numerous places selling you food, onward tickets, renting you bikes and offering you a beach-side bungalow for a more or less ok price. The weather has been a bit on and off, with rain showers every day so far, but I'll be staying here for a few more days until I head up to Bangkok again to have Mikey as my local guide for the weekend. I'm hoping to get some photos to you there, and some more words about what I've been up to.

Buddhism-galore I: Dafu, the giant buddha

The past three days have been devoted to two major Buddhism sites in Sechuan, including the giant Buddha--Dafu--close by the city of Leshan. Arriving in Leshan I met a more rural and rugged China than I had seen so far, with rickety local busses and no English but plenty of sign language used to interact with travellers. I planned on getting a ferry across from the city to a temple at the side of Dafu. However, due to my lack of Chinese and the busdriver`s lack of English I was promptly let off at the side of the bridge they felt I should be at. So, starting at the northern gate I made my way on small, neat walking roads through hordes of Chinese visitors travelling in groups (min. size seems to be the 57 people a bus takes, plus one tour guide with a silly flag and a matching hat). Passing a pagoda, a few options to look at random buddha and cave stuff and even more Chinese hordes, I found myself next to the gigantic ear of Dafu much quicker than expected. A friendly Chinese family on pilgrimage explained the easier way to explore the Dafu for me, and I promptly set off on the steep climb down to the lower path along the shore--a beautiful walk leading to a fisherman village and a temple. The Dafu was impressive enough--his ears are 7 m long, and his eyes are 10 m across, and he is by far the biggest buddha I ever saw. However, I often find it easier to appreciate the little things that differentiate China from other places I`ve been: The greatness the Chinese seem to treasure so highly--everything in China is big--will often only make me feel alienated. (Fittingly enough; the Chinese Police posters stress that aliens, i.e. non-Chinese citizens, should report where they are to them.) However, the walk was lovely, the fisherman village was scenic and the potted plant garden in front of the cave tombs was really beautiful. Arriving at the monastery I thought of skipping it; I`ve seen a bunch of temples in China already, but a local monk motioned me in and so I decided to follow. In most buddhist temples, including this one, they ask you not to photograph the holy figures. In stark contrast, the little monk (I was a head taller than him) urged me to take photos of the different buddha figures, then literally pulled me into the main room of the temple and told me what figures to snap shots of. This was accompanied by Chinese explanations, of whom the figures were I suppose, but our only common word was "buddha"--so he kept showing me all the buddhas and showed mne that Bussha can be in your stomach. In fact, he insisted that buddha could be in my stomach, and proved this by rubbing it vigourusly. As the local, slightly forced tour of the temple grounds continued, the walk got more and more bizzarre--and in the end I have no idea of whether I was actually felt up by a monk, or simply had most of my sweaty body dried off with tissues! Walking back to the starting point I was sent off with some sort of greeting or blessing, while the weird monk wandered off in the gardens, still in his own little world. I got a bus back to town. It left when it was full of people, honked appropriately as one would expect in any rural, slightly undeveloped countryside, and after a few stops a lady walked on with a live chicken in a bag and another bag of vegetables that seemed to go well with...well, chicken. I just love it when people carry chickens on busses, I don`t know why, but the sight of her simply made my day as I was heading for the long-distance bus station to get to Emei`shan before it got dark.