Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Life in the islands

After one last rainy day of visiting some of the more famous temples and the Grand Palace in Bangkok I boarded an overnight bus and ferry to arrive in the diving paradise of Ko Tao. Here it is sunny all the time and there is a nice breeze next to the ocean. Ko Tao is probably the most popular place to get a diving certification due to low prices and so the tiny island is covered in dive schools. While I was there I got to go on a few dives, do some kayaking, climbed up to and amazing lookout on one of the small neighbouring islands and do some snorkeling. After a few days of relaxing island life I moved on to Ko Phangan the island of the legendary full moon parties. Other than spending time on one of the numerous beaches and swimming and snorkeling I think the most popular past-time is to party. Haad Rin has a huge beach party every night with lots of fire dancers, buckets, and music playing everywhere. This is all leading up to the full moon party tonight which promises to be even crazier than the past few nights have been. It is important to be well rested since the party goes on until sunrise. This island is much larger than Ko Tao and I have rented a scooter to share with my friend Ester while I'm here and learned how to drive on what are probably the hilliest roads around (20% grade). I think after this I can probably drive anywhere! Soon I will be leaving the crazy parties behind and crossing over to the west coast which is supposed to be even more beautiful than it is here.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Travelling halfway across the world

Starting day three in Bangkok and it's still kind of hard to believe that I won't be home for another three months. What's crazier still is the number of people I've met who aren't going to be home for a whole year. Not to say that I've homesick but it is definitely and adjustment from the highly hectic and structured life I had before leaving.

Getting here was long and uneventful. Took me roughly 32hrs from when I left my doorstep back in Ottawa until when I got to the hostel here in Bangkok. During that time I managed to get about 6hrs of sleep in 1hr increments. I'm not sure why I didn't sleep more since normally I pass out on road trips but I think lack of leg room might have had something to do with it. I have nothing to complain about the airline service though and Singapore airlines was quite nice though it was also pretty disorienting to have breakfast three times along the way. Other than that the only hiccup was that my luggage didn't make the transition from Singapore to Bangkok so I had to wait up late that night until it came in. During that time I was teased by the other backpackers for being homeless. I think having so little sleep though worked out to my advantage in the end because I slept so well that night that it didn't matter to much that there it was actually noon at home when I went to bed.


I spent the day yesterday visiting some of the many temples in the area and being scammed by the tuk-tuk drivers who will give you a really good deal on a ride (we spent $1 between the two of us to go around for about 5hrs) but in exchange you have to visit several jewelery shops for 5minutes so that they can get cards from the government for free gas. We made it more fun by pretending to be a couple and saying that we were interested in seeing the most expensive jewelery.

There is certainly lots of fun to be had in Bangkok and I love hostel I'm staying at. From what I hear it will probably be the nicest one of my trip so I'm trying to appreciate it while I can and will probably come back here at the end of my trip. It's so easy to meet people here and it looks like I will be running into several of them again as I move south to the islands for some beach, scuba, and full moon parties.

Monday, September 13, 2010

So I'm going to give this a shot

So I have never been someone who was good at keeping a journal. I just don't have the commitment and dedication required and I have unfinished journals still from both my trip to Dominican in 2003 and to New Zealand in 2008. Nevertheless I have somehow convinced myself that this time will be different. Perhaps the fact that I can type it instead of writing will help to convince me. Also I plan to be travelling alone and I'm bringing my netbook with me so theoretically I should have some downtime where I can compose my thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences.

The Trip
I have to admit that this is probably the most unorganized trip I have ever gone on. This will also be the first time I travel on my own. My original plan was to take a year off between my undergraduate degree and grad school but I decided that I was too antsy and I didn't want to hold off for that long. Now instead I will be spending three months touring Southeast Asia starting and finishing in Bangkok, Thailand. Along the way I will travelling though Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. So yes this is pretty much what I have planned but I don't know a whole lot more. From what I've been able to gather from past people's experiences things never go according to plan anyway so I figured why bother in the first place?

What I do know
I have a flight booked to land in Bangkok on Sept 14 and to leave again on Dec 14. I addition I have booked mt first two nights stay at a hostel in the Khao San district of Bangkok which is supposed to be a backpackers paradise. Hopefully this will help to get me started and I will get to meet some other travelers to get some advice from and travel with. I plan to meet up with my high school friend Ange for her birthday in Vietnam who will be touring Asia with her IDS buddies Tiana and Ania. Also my friend Jess who is currently living in England plans to come visit me in Bali during her fall vacation.

Now I'm leaving in a few hours to catch my flight and I have to admit that I'm a little scared not knowing what lies ahead of me. There are the usual concerns about the risks of travelling alone, what if I get robbed or my luggage gets lost, etc. I've been warned by a lot of people that you can't trust people and the risks of con artists and all that but I think I need to trust that I will also meet some wonderful people along the way and make many new and hopefully lasting friends.