Thailand Dec 2003-Jan 2004

Thailand Dec 2002-January 2003

My first trip out of Japan was to Thailand. Of all of the places that I have been in the world, this is one I hope to come back to someday. Thailand was incredibly easy to navigate, and the places that I went, since they were tourist destinations, it was quite easy to get around in English. Don’t get me started on the food…

I landed at BKK and found transportation to Khao San Road, where my Lonely Planet bible told me must absolutely be my first stop. It is chock-a-block full of tourists, restaurants, interenet cafes, and shops, with their sales staff always ready to give a “special price for you my friend”. The first thing I did was find a place to stay. I found one for about 3$ per night. It was a horrible little place, but for the price I was tickled pink. I removed my heavy backpack and freshened up before heading back into the street. Khao San Road, in itself, is a destination. It’s not the “real Thailand”. It’s where the travelers hang out to get acclimatized before setting foot into the country. It’s a good place to buy all of your tacky souvenirs. Same Same, but Different.

I went to Wat Pho, or Reclining Buddha Temple. I rode in TukTuks. I shopped and shopped. After 3 days I went to meet my friend Remi in Phuket (pronounced poo-ket). He had been there a couple weeks and had met a beautiful Thai woman named Saow.

It was great to have a local friend with whom to experience the city. I went on a day trip to Koh PhiPhi (pronounced ko peepee). It was my first experience snorkeling and there isn’t much that could top that experience. It was so incredibly beautiful it made me dizzy. Koh PhiPhi is where most of the scenes for “The Beach” (Dicaprio, 2000) were filmed. (I didn’t find that out until later.)

I don’t remember all of the activities we did together over the next few days, but I will never forget our big night out, Christmas Eve. Nice 5 course meal and a live performance. Remi is a large man, sporting a tad too much testosterone. Thailand is full of beautiful women. I was getting a little tired of his constant, sometimes sexist, comments about the women. Well, as expected, he went on and on about the scantily clad women dancing on the stage in front of us. He didn’t believe me when I told him. Well, I laughed so hard that I cried when one of the waitresses confirmed for me that it was in fact men dancing on the stage. I am still chuckling as I write this. His expression was priceless, and he kept his trap shut about the beautiful women for the rest of my time with him. There is a lesson to be had here.

Later that night, I stayed out and walked the beach by myself, contemplating life. I happened upon a beautiful ceremony in which they were lighting up paper lanterns and letting them float away in the sky. What an incredible, blissful treat that was. I had no idea what the ceremony was about, but I was captured by the moment; throat tight, heart light.

On Christmas morning I said goodbye to my friends and set off on my own. Destination, Koh Samui. While on Koh Samui, I met an incredibly interesting man with whom I had several conversations. He was a writer. He told me he was there incognito for a month, writing a book, and that while he was there he was using the name AliBaba. We had amazing and deep conversations, and though I couldn’t tell you to this day what they were about, I do know I always felt incredibly enlightened and open about the world. A couple of years later, when I saw a photo of Salmon Rushdi, he looked so familiar, and, though I wouldn’t bet my life on it, I could swear it was him. I wish I had taken a photo.

I booked a two night trip mid-week to Koh Tao where I had intended on learning to SCUBA dive. I guess I chickened out, but ended up snorkeling in another amazing spot, Nang Huan. Not so much for the fish, but because these islands, at low tide, were connected by a sand bar. But as the tide rose the waves came crashing from both sides making it difficult and highly amusing to walk from one island to the other when the tide was waist deep.

My other Koh Tao story was about the baby alligator. I had just stripped down and was about to hop in the shower when I noticed a very large iguana type creature on the wall in my shower. I backed out and got my camera. I must have been a sight, filming this thing in the nude, completely terrified. After I got dressed and shooed it out, I took my digital camera (it was new technology back then) to the lady that was running the place. She said it was a baby alligator, but her English was poor. She also said that I should be careful. Do you honestly think I slept that night? That was worse than the 2 inch long cockroaches that scurried away when the flashlight was turned on at night.

The third and final leg of that particular journey was flying in a small, scary aircraft, back to BKK, and then a long train trip to Chiang Mai, spending the night and hanging out at the most amazing night market I had ever seen. I bought an extra suitcase to bring home all my treasures. The staff at the hotel let me leave my luggage in a locked room while I did an overnight hike to a Karen Village where we stayed with a family and ate traditional food. No, I don’t remember what we ate. But I do remember that on our way there we rode an elephant, and did a bamboo river raft. I found some similar tours that they are still offering.

My final day was spent getting myself back to BKK, and on to Osaka. Since it was late at night and I had missed the last train back home to Kojima, I rented a tiny room in a hotel, near the train station, so I could hop on the first morning train, and hopefully make it to work, several hours away, the next morning. I did the math, and that one hotel cost me as much as the 17 previous nights combined in Thailand. It was several trains to get back home. The school I was teaching at was about half way between my apartment and the train station. I didn’t have time to make it home. I walked straight from the train station, into class, with 5 minutes to spare. Oh the days when I had that much energy.

I can’t believe that I wrote all of this by memory, without even looking at my journal or photos. What a lovely trip down memory lane. My hands are numb.