Entries about thailand

I realized a while ago that I've never spent more than a week’s time on a place with a beach. Like, ever. Ko Phangan was not the exception. People and friends kept telling me to stay for the full moon party; what was the point of leaving just before the main event? But as the week came to an end, I really wasn't enjoying the place anymore. So it’s now in my wake, party or no. I took a ferry and left the islands. In a matter of hours I was back on the mainland, paradise gone. It wasn't really paradise for me though.

It must be said, there’s more to Ko Phangan than the party. It is a beautiful place, with clear water to snorkel or dive, and plenty of jungly hiking trails crisscrossing the island. I met some great people there, found my own gaze reflected on stranger’s eyes more than once. It’s a great feeling, to look into someone’s eyes briefly, and knowing you’re the same as him. No words spoken. None needed.

I guess my experience would have been a bit different if I’d arrived somewhere else on the island. But I got to Haad Rin, party center. Just a two hour hike north lies another, hippier (the wealthy kind of hippie) place, Haad Tien. Or there's the more relaxed Ban Kai, slightly west up the beach. They seem nice enough! But Haad Rin wasn't my kind of paradise. Don’t go there if broke!
And it’s not the easiest place to meet people either, and it's not just my impression. Being a big party place, lots come in tight groups, or in couples, and are not really open to chatting. Still people talk about how much sex you can have in this party land. Yet I’m not very into drunken chicks, and sober girls are being constantly harassed by drunken vultures, so we honest folk get offed away with the rest... I did make friends with people in my hostel though! Two Chilean students who slept right next to me (no such a thing as privacy in the Hostel), and there was a couple that I got along with. He is a traveler too, of similar spirits, and was celebrating his 28th birthday there. I get the feeling we'll meet again somewhere.

I took to long walks along the beach, or over gorgeous wooden bridges that round some rocky outcroppings, so you walk with the waves crashing under you. Every time I walked back on a road someone stopped to offer me a ride. A Canadian traveler, a French diving student, a German tourist and a Korean partygoer, they all brought me to or from Haad Rin on their scooter, nothing else than a smile in return. Not to mention the trucker that brought me from the small pier to the main ferry station in Koh Samui! I was wondering what to do, chatting at a juice stand, when he spurted "I’ll take you! No charge!" I’m not going to wait for someone to say this twice! He almost got me to the mainland for free, and was sad that he couldn't get me any further. And that wasn't the only one! Once in the train station, a woman waved a couple pieces of papaya at me, so I made my way over. I made sure she wasn't trying to sell anything to me, then sat down on my rucksack. She didn't speak English, but kept on talking anyway. From time to time she would use some english word and I'd get a glimpse of understanding. But mainly it was just nodding, smiling sheepishly, eating papaya and refusing her rice and curry. We waited until my train arrived, and then I left for Bangkok. In the end she pushed a 20 baat bill and a handkerchief into my satchel, and I offered her one of mine in return. I will never know even her name or story, yet I carry her handkerchief.

Not all is cheer and joy in Thailand though. Only most of it. As of yet, the only item I've lost is my water bottle, snatched from my bag when inside the luggage compartment in a bus. Not a great loss, especially considering I got it from a trash can in Oregon. But it was a good water bottle, I hope it serves its new master well. So there’s that, and the fact that that I caught a cold on that last night train to Bangkok. I can’t remember the last time I was sick, so I guess I was overdue. So no news from Bangkok! Even though I’m in this bright new city, all I want to do is crawl under a blanket and sleep.

And I’d rather sacrifice two days resting up in Bangkok, for I intend to catch the 05:55 train tomorrow to Cambodia. I’ll visit finally one of the few places in the world that give me a physical reaction upon thought: the Angkor complex.

Meanwhile, the introspective journey continues. I think I found a path to follow, on one of those beach walks. I bought a plane ticket back to Turkey, for April. And it seems I may meet my sister there. After months away both of us, that would be awesome. And it's back to Europe after that. But April's far away! A whole month!

So see you after the ruins!

For months I had been feeding the fantasy of a great sailing adventure spanning thousands of miles and innumerable seas and islands. When that thought came to its abrupt end, I was left in the labyrinth of decision. A thousand doors around me, each leading on a different path, all equal, all great. Which to choose? But just you wait, keep your eyes and mind open, and all will fall into place. So in the meantime, to give Time some time, I took to touristing.
After regrouping with my thoughts in Kuala Lumpur. I met with my friend Petrina and together we left for Malacca. Three months earlier we'd met in KL, and we had both gone on sailing adventures. Now we met again and exchanged stories. Turns out her experience was not too different from mine, with her captain’s company and attitude being only manageable, then building up to becoming intolerable, at which point two of the three crew left, and she ended up back in Malaysia, just as me. We both required some company, and with the approaching Lunar New Year Celebration, Malacca looked like a good place to be.

It's a happy place

There’s a couple of things they don’t tell you about Malacca. First that, well, there's no beach! True, they never do quite say there is one, but being by the sea and all… There is an island nearby, and beaches will be easily found there. I guess. We didn't go there. Instead we walked around Chinatown and Little India, ate laksa here and sate there, and had a good time. But our hostel was not IN Chinatown, rather in the budget hostels quarter, right next to the tower of the eerie sound. That’s the second thing they don’t tell you. Don’t stay anywhere near that tower! It cuts the wind in such a way that an eerie, ethereal and invasive sound is created. It will crawl up your spine and enter your dreams… Other than that, with its Portuguese, Chinese and Dutch backgrounds and monuments, the place is nice enough. Petrina stayed a couple more days, but for me Malacca was over quickly, and in the traveler’s style we said goodbye while walking, backpacks on, each going their own way. On, towards the next destination! For me it was to be Singapore.

'Later!

Now Singapore I really liked! It is a very modern city, and big too, but very nice. It is clean and walking friendly; it feels safe. I walked around it for hours on end, and it only felt more comfortable. The water’s clean too! And people were very smiley. For a big, modern city, I felt the atmosphere surprisingly relaxed. Had a chat with a retired Singaporean while we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant, outside a metro station. No worries, no rush.
Although I don’t need no excuse to visit a place, this time I had one. Some weeks earlier a high school friend had gotten me into contact with a friend of hers, saying we had similar ways of thinking, and we’d surely enjoy chatting. That was still back in India. And that was it. And that would have been it, for I thought she was in Japan. But in the weeks that passed she had moved to Singapore to study! Now in Malacca, being a few hours away from her and not coming to visit… that would have been a royal shame, no? So I hopped on a bus and set off to meet her in person! I knew I would like her, no shocker there! I was surprised by what I found in the city though.

Happy Year of the Horse!

Singapore is as modern and expensive as it is reputed to be. The price numbers there are the same as in Malaysia, it's just that one’s in riggit, and the other in dollars. Yet it’s also smiley and very walking friendly. The water is fresh and safe to drink, there is food everywhere and some places are open until very late at night, and there are parks and museums galore. It is a city worth visiting. I stayed at the Empire Hostel, for about 10 SGD a night, or 28 RM, a lot less than I expected.
As for attractions, people kept saying I should go to their Disneyland resorts and casinos island. Instead I spent a day in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum. I was so amazed by all that I saw there, the relics, the ceremony, the information (to some I would say the presence too), that I became stupefied. I went upstairs and had a long nap in the Roof Garden, in the Pagoda of the 10 000 Buddhas. And that name’s no exaggeration either!

All full of wonders

On another day I walked around with my newly met friend Haruka. We made our way to the Supertree Grove, in the Gardens by the Bay. You can spend hours there, going up and down (literally) and eating and marveling at both the natural and man-made wonders there. We timed our visit for sunset though. We knew the place would light up at night, still we did not expect the show of light and music that awaited us. I would definitely recommend a visit!

It's worth a look!

And now, after some traveling, I am in Thailand.
Lets elaborate on that poor sentence. It resumes two nights of sleeping on a train seat, with a layover in Kuala Lumpur (where, as it happened, I could see Petrina once more!). By the second morning I was in Thailand, and at the border I met two travelers, an aussie and a dutch, and spent the rest of the day with them. We had beer for breakfast and noodle soup for lunch, then beer for dessert. The next train was very late and we had to run with all our things to the pier, to catch our night ferries. They were going to Koh Tao, but my destination would be Koh Phangan. We said goodbye traveler style. And didn't look back.

With the sun I stepped unto one of the biggest party islands in the world. And here I am. Still unsure of what is to come, still open to whatever may!
I don't think I'll party tonight though. I have a bed for luck's sake!