Here's a short video of some clips from my last couple days in Chiang Mai. After having a blast renting a motorbike and cruising around the national park just west of the city, I spent the next day just relaxing by reading in the park and wandering around the city. Not really wanting to spend the large sums of money required for guided trips, cooking classes, or any other tourist attractions, I felt it was time to move on from Chiang Mai and head up north to the beautiful small city of Pai.
Before I left, I walked the enormous Saturday market with two Japanese girls. With their English being less than conversational and my Japanese being nonexistent, other than the phrases konnichi wa and domo arigato (Mr. Roboto) we walked the crowded markets, only uttering short phrases. While our conversations may have lacked in substance, I had a great time with them, browsing the eclectic assortment of foods, crafts, and clothes.
Finally, the day I left for Pai, I recorded some video of me playing with the two children of the woman who helped run the hostel. The little boy was full of energy, demanding nonstop that I swing him through the air. With the heat of the day, it was quite the workout, but lots of fun. Sweaty, but happy, I jumped into the minivan up the winding road north.
On Christmas day, I left the southern beaches and flew to the northern city, Chiang Mai. Nestled near the mountains, this city has amazing weather, being drier, a tad cooler, and sunnier than the more humid south. The center of the city is a square surrounded by a moat. Temples (or Wats in Thai) are scattered throughout the city, with Buddhist monks seen walking all around in their bright orange robes. On the weekends, there are massive markets on closed off streets, where people can buy a variety of different crafts, clothes, and foods.
For Christmas dinner, the woman who runs my hostel cooked a huge feast for all the people staying at there. At the table were people from all over, with four from Japan, two from France, one from Italy, Scotland, and the United States. It was a great meal to have for my first Christmas away from home.
The day after I arrived in Chiang Mai I rented a motorbike and explored the Doi Suthep national park just to the west of the city. This mountainous park has beautiful views, forests, and quaint little villages nestled in the rolling landscape. I rented a 125cc bike, rather than the 110cc (not quite to the 150cc MarioKart style), and had a blast cruising around the area. I stopped at the little towns, had fresh coffee that is grown right there, and ate some cheap and delicious food.
Here's a video of some of things I've been up to in the past week, volunteering at a hostel on Koh Lanta island. Poi, which is a form of performance art where the artist swings, loops, and twists a ball attached to either a chain, rope, or elastic band, is very popular on Koh Lanta and the surrounding islands. Most of the bars along the beaches have fire shows where people perform with bright and mesmerizing light which dance along the dark night sky. Some of the other people staying at my hostel are pretty good at it and practice all the time, so I took some video of some different nights' performances.
My life in Koh Lanta is pretty great. I basically work a few hours a day in the morning. After that I usually walk on down to the beach for a quick swim and air dry in the hot sun. I go for walks on the beach at sunset, hang out with other volunteers and hostel locals, and eat amazing yet cheap Thai food at the local street stalls.
Life has been good here, but tomorrow I will be leaving Koh Lanta and ending my volunteering at the hostel a little early to travel to a small and minimally populated beach called Ton Sai. Some other volunteers traveled there the other day and it sounds like a special place that has yet to be changed by tourist influence. After a few days of final beach life and I will fly north to the mountains of Chiang Mai.
And Merry Christmas! Even though it doesn't feel like Christmas at all here, being that its usually about 30 degrees C (85 F) and I am on a beach everyday.
(Some of the poi video got messed up, but a fine video nonetheless)
Until my flight on Christmas to Chiang Mai, I am helping around and staying at an outdoor bamboo hostel called Clayzy House. It's a really cool and very hippie little place with fun and friendly people.
The whole island of Koh Lanta is pretty laid back, with a lot of the local Thai people being deeply tanned and both genders sporting the past shoulder length long hair. The area where the hostel is located is only 300 meters from a huge western facing beach, where every night a beautiful sunset lights up the sky. There are about 6 places to eat, with a minimart convenience store, which sells beer at $1 and has tables where people can hang out, drink, and eat from the pad thai guy, who sets up shop around 5 pm, or three amazing street food stands open all day and into the night, run by smiling Thai women who cook different curried meat sauces, served with rice and sold at 50 baht ($1.75).
Here's a short video of some shots I took on a walk to sunset last night:
After spending one day on Koh Lanta, I met up in a neighboring island Ko Phi Phi with some friends that I met in Bangkok. This small island is best for people looking to sunbathe during the day and party hardy during the night time. While many people would love spending a week or more here, two nights was plenty for me.
One day we took a 5 hour boat ride around some nearby islands, where we saw monkeys, swam and snorkeled. It was absolutely beautiful and with the price of only 400 baht ($12, which included food and water too) it was well worth the money. Along the way we stopped at Maya Beach, where the movie The Beach was filmed. Got some great underwater footage too.
On December 7th, I finally left Bangkok and started my second leg of my Thailand journey. Taking the overnight train south, I spent the day alone in Koh Lanta, an island on the Indian Ocean side just south of the Thai mainland. This island is best traveled via motorbike, which I rented all day for only 250 baht ($7.50). After an initial rocky start to my motorbike experience (had a minor collision right in front of the women who rented it to me), I cruised around the winding island roads along the coastline to the entrance of the island's national park. Stopping to swim and eat along the way, I really enjoyed being out of Bangkok's thick smog and quickly attaining my tan again.
At night I took up the advertisements around the island and went to The Mushroom Bar Sunday night party. With really chill and groovy vibes, this bar openly sells joints and mushroom shakes, which obviously is a little out of the ordinary for anyone coming from somewhere where these things are looked down upon and taboo. I had a great night and met some really cool people from all over the world. Awesome glow in the dark paint as well.
December 5th is a national holiday that holds great importance to all Thai people. The King of Thailand, who has been in throne since the 1940's turned 87 this year. Everywhere you go throughout Thailand, there are pictures of the king, ranging from posters in stores and homes to huge billboards with the king's image on it. A tradition is also to wear the color yellow to honor the king.
Fellow hostel volunteer and now good friend Caspar and I were shown around by two Thai girls whom we had helped teach English to at the hostel. We spent the whole day taking a boat up the river to different temples, ate some great Thai food that I otherwise would not order, watched a boxing match and music festival, and finally ended the night at the fireworks and candle light show where tens of thousands of Thais (and a few Westerners) honored their king.
One funny part of candle and firework show was that Caspar and I were in a sea of native Thais. People were taking pictures of us and laughing when we had no idea what to say when the crowd responded to the MC. At the end of the fireworks, two girls asked our friend if they could take a picture with us. Overall a great day and a fitting end to my week and a half stay in Bangkok.
On Wednesday, a newly met Taiwanese girl, Rebecca, showed fellow hostel volunteer Diego and I an abandoned building close to the river in Bangkok. Started in the 1990's, the 48-story building was left unfinished and is open for people to sneak into. The building was surprisingly untouched other than some minor graffiti. The open air balconies offered some amazing views of the city. We climbed to about the 35th floor, ate some pad thai, and I took some great shots of the bustling city.
Today, Mike and I, along with two more redditors that we met last night, Kristen and Danny (also from the USA), took an hour minivan ride north of Bangkok ($1.90 each way) to Ayutthaya. Now ancient ruins, Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767. It was a great day away from the smog and congestion of Bangkok.
Today I met up with a fellow Redditor named Mike from San Francisco. Meeting via a facebook page for redditors traveling SE Asia from November-May, we quickly became friends as we toured some famous sights of Bangkok. First we toured Wat Pho, an area with lots of temples with hundreds of golden Buddhas inside. We rode around in Bangkok's famous tuk tuk, a three-wheeled open air taxi that can be ridden anywhere for very cheap prices. We then bought a few beers and took an hour long boat ride through the canals along the Chao Phraya river. Here's today's video:
Today, my two new friends from the hostel, JB of South Korea and Caspar of the Netherlands, went to Chatchuchak weekend market. Said to be the largest market in the world, it was packed with stalls and people selling all sorts of food, clothing, and collectibles for extremely cheap prices.
At 4:35 of the video is near where the COW Hostel is and the last images are of the inside of the hostel. Awesome place!
After 33 hours of airline travel and waiting, waiting, and more waiting, I finally arrived in the humid furnace that is Bangkok. Immediately after leaving the airport, I was assaulted by an array of stimuli. Smells, both pleasant and down right rank, flashing billboards, and motorbikes, cars, and trucks wizzing by at alarming speeds, all greeted me on my taxi ride to my hostel. And the heat. It is strikingly similar to the 105 degree/40% humidity yoga sessions I've labored through back home. The only difference here is that one cannot escape the stickiness, whereas back home, you only have to deal with that for an hour. This is the farthest thing possible from the quiet and uneventful Wheaton. And I love it so far.
My SE Asian journey begins at C.O.W. Hostel (Citizens of the World), where I will be volunteering for 2 weeks in return for a free stay. Having been here not even 24 hours, I have met some really cool people from all over the world. At O'Hare, I met a fellow 23 year old Ohioan headed to Bangkok as well. We split a taxi to the hostel and after dropping our bags at the hostel, went out to explore the city. We found out quickly that the hostel is only a short walk away from Bangkok's infamous (or famous. Whatever you see it as) Soi Cowboy strip, known for its "Adult Entertainment". Groups of girls in scantily clad clothing call out to any male walking past their establishment, something that differs greatly from the U.S. where the gender roles are reversed in those situations. After being cat-called by dozens of Thai girls, we hopped in a cab to the famous backpacker destination in Bangkok, Khao San Road. Packed with thousands of other greasy faced hippies like myself, it is a people watchers heaven. Here we met four girls from the UK, ate cooked scorpion, were pestered by local Thais to pay them to take us to a nude ping pong show (which we did not see), saw by far the biggest rat (looked more like a small dog), and finally met more people from various other continents.
Already, I can tell that my stay here in Bangkok will be an intensely interesting, but also draining from all of the constant motion happening. Today, after sweating out a slow run through a small park by the hostel, I slowly meandered around the busy area, eating delicious pad thai from one of the hundreds of street vendors. After being on my feet all day, I took up some of the women wooing and calling at me from across the street for a foot massage, which cost $5 for an hour, which needless to say, felt amazing.
More updates to follow.
Jerry
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
INTRO: Summer and Planning my Trip
After graduating from Loras College in May of 2014, I, along with many other new college grads, struggled to find a job/activity that A) financially supports the basic needs/wants that I desire and B) I am deeply passionate about. Having graduated with an accounting degree, I wanted to do anything BUT that after graduation. Being an Eagle Scout and having gone on dozens of camping and backpacking trips throughout my life, I happily found a 2-month AmeriCorps program with Northwest Youth Corps, based out of Eugene, OR. Camping and being generally filthy for 9 weeks in the beautiful William O' Douglas Wilderness in Washington and the lush Willamette National Forest of Oregon, my four crew members and I build and repaired trail and conducted forest thinning projects via chainsaw. Returning home in mid-August, I returned to my job at the stunningly beautiful Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, IL, which I have been a caddie for a decade. When I started caddying again, I reluctantly told myself that I would look for jobs while making fast cash on the golf course. I quickly found out that I would not settle for an entry-level accounting job, rather looking for opportunities to teach English abroad and other travel opportunities. I eventually began narrowing my sights to two websites; workaway.info and helpx.net, for these websites allow one to travel cheaply long term by volunteering for weeks/months at different places all over the world, while also giving the traveler the freedom to meander from volunteer opportunity to opportunity. (Shout out to my good friend and fellow workaway participant Anna Farber for showing me workaway.info!) With the money I made this summer being a mountain man in OR and WA, as well as caddying, I decided to take a "Gap Year" to try and figure out what the hell I want to do with my life. Keeping in tradition with my extremist personality (just check out my hair and running history), I decided that I wanted to travel to Southeast Asia. And I did not want to take a typical 2-week vacation, but rather a slow 6+ month vagabonding journey through the many amazing countries Southeast Asia has to offer. Many people ask WHY I picked Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam to travel to. Here are some reasons:
SE Asia is EXTREMELY cheap. (You can find hostels throughout the region for $2-$7 a night and food for usually $1 a meal.)
The weather will be HOT. Looking forward to taking an Off-year from Chicago winters.(Bangkok's weather is 90+ this week.)
Throughout most of SE Asia, English is spoken pretty regularly, making it at least manageable to make it through the area without too much of a language barrier.
SE Asia is a very well traveled area, with lots of people from Australia and Europe visiting. This made it easy for me to research everything, as there is a lot of info on the area.
As I mentioned before, I tend to take the things I am passionate about to the extreme. Traveling to SE Asia for 6+ months seemed to satisfy my extremist urges.
As my November 24th flight to Bangkok draws nearer, my excitement and nervousness grows more intense. Leaving Chicago with nothing more than one backpack, I hope to write text and post both video and pictures from my GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition. Thanks for reading! Jerry
Chainsaw crew in Willamette NF
On a 17-mile hike to work on the Pacific Crest Trail in WA
