Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand!
May 7, 2002
Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand!
Stories from Bhaktapur, Chiang Mai, Ko Samet, Kanchanaburi...
Yes, it's been a while since I've written. The day after my last
note I found myself gazing in awe at the most impressive mountain
range I have ever seen. Sometimes when you see pictures of Mount
Everest, or Sagarmartha as the Nepalise call it, it's hard to tell
if it's really the biggest, and you have no idea of it's magnitude.
30 minutes private jet flight from Kathmandu and we are staring
her. Fills the view. The jet cirles slowly. There is nothing but
treacherous earth, with the world's tallest mountain in the middle
of it. It is DEFINTELY the biggest.
That evening we had dinner with Carsang Lama and his family. We met
him on our bus journy back to Kathmandu from Langtang. Carsang and
his four siblings are orginally from India. He invited us to his
humble home for dinner. His mother was thrilled to cook for us.
It was the best meal I'd had in a long time. From the balcony of
the appartment building we watched the electrical storm in a 260
degree view. The lightning struck a transformer to create a shower
of sparks. We ate dinner by candle light.
Todd was feeling sick so he didn't join Eric and I on a 4 hour trip
to Bhaktapur. The three biggest cities/towns in Nepal are Kathmandu,
Pattan and Bhaktapur in that order. Bhaktapur is the Dain (yogurt)
center of Nepal. Every Nepali we asked said the best stuff comes
from Bhaktapur. It's famous for it. And is really is good stuff.
But the coolest thing we found in Bhaktapur is the people. Our
taxi ride out there was 490 rupia. That's a lot of rupia. We only
had a couple hours to spend in the town and we didn't feel like paying
the outrageous 750 rupia fee (about 10 dollars US) that they charge
all the tourists. As we slowly sauntered away a small boy came up
to us and tried out his English. The Nepali people on a whole speak
great English. The ones that go to school usually start learning
it about age 4. Eventually the young boy's friends in the village
began to follow us around as well. Before we knew it we had about
9 kids gathered around us asking us questions. Some of the adults
became curious and slowly gathered around. We exchanged stories
and dispelled myths and regreted that we had to leave. They all
wanted us to come back that night for their largest festival of the
year. We said maybe, and we'd like to, but we knew that we could
not. The taxi driver wanted 250 to take us back to Kathmandu. The
kids that followed us to the street knew that was a bad deal. They
told us how to take the bus back. It was just as fast, and only
9 rupia.
Back to Bangkok for a day, then to Chiang Mai. Thai love Chaing
Mai. When you're a tourist here, they ask, "have you been to Chiang
Mai yet?" Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand located
to the North East and has far less pollution, traffic and humidity
than Bangkok. We rented motorbikes (125cc Honda motor scooters).
We had some premium bikes by Thai standards. We cruised around
town, cruised to the temple at the top of the hill, cruised to the
lake, and raced some girls back to the city in the rain. In Thailand
if you are a foreigner they call you "falang". Many expatriate falang
live out the rest of their days in Chiang Mai.
After a long weekend in Chaing Mai, we take the 12 hour night train
back to Bangkok. The sleeping bunks are Thai size, not Jesiah size.
We get back to bangkok. Eric must return to work for a few days.
Todd and I, tired from all the fun and relaxing in Chiang Mai,
decide we could use some relaxing and fun on Ko Samet. I'm mentioned
Ko Samet. It's wonderful. We both get what we came for. Todd gets
to drink, party and pick up girls, I get to relax, swim in the ocean,
and spend time with the Thai friends that I made on my first visit.
A very satisfying 48 hours, for me anyway. Lesson learned, next
time on Ko Samet with Todd, I'm getting my own room.
Back to Bangkok. Meet Eric. Leave to Kanchanaburi. Two and half
hours by bus. Kanchanaburi is where a lot of Thai people go to get
away from the big city. It is also where the famous Bridge on the
River Kwai is. You may remember from your history books, lot's happened
here during WWII. There's also a movie about it. It's called "Bridge
on the River Kwai". We walked the bridge. Took a ride on a long-
tail boat. These are motor boats of a rather simple design. Take
something like a large canoe, widen it out a bit, flatten the bottom,
then stick a V-6 car engine in the back. Instead of a differential
at the end of the drive shaft, put a propeller. They seem to have
just two gears, forward, and backward. And just two speeds, slow
and really fast. I saw something I'd never seen before on that river
trip. Apperantly a really popular thing for Thai people to do is
party on the river. It's a floating rave party. String three huge
rafts together, the first one with a wopping sound system and a dance
floor, another with a bar and lounge, and the third with a restaurant.
Pull them with a longtail boat and wave shout at the falang when
they cruise by. We rented motorbikes again. Made a day trip to
some natural hotsprings. Another cool place where not many falang
tourists show up. Hotwater, coolwater, Monk-trained masseuses.
Back to Bangkok. Planning the next adventure...
+j
ps, I love this.
pps, I miss you all.
ppps, pictures, as soon as i can, i promise.
pppps, anyone want to send me money?
Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand!
Stories from Bhaktapur, Chiang Mai, Ko Samet, Kanchanaburi...
Yes, it's been a while since I've written. The day after my last
note I found myself gazing in awe at the most impressive mountain
range I have ever seen. Sometimes when you see pictures of Mount
Everest, or Sagarmartha as the Nepalise call it, it's hard to tell
if it's really the biggest, and you have no idea of it's magnitude.
30 minutes private jet flight from Kathmandu and we are staring
her. Fills the view. The jet cirles slowly. There is nothing but
treacherous earth, with the world's tallest mountain in the middle
of it. It is DEFINTELY the biggest.
That evening we had dinner with Carsang Lama and his family. We met
him on our bus journy back to Kathmandu from Langtang. Carsang and
his four siblings are orginally from India. He invited us to his
humble home for dinner. His mother was thrilled to cook for us.
It was the best meal I'd had in a long time. From the balcony of
the appartment building we watched the electrical storm in a 260
degree view. The lightning struck a transformer to create a shower
of sparks. We ate dinner by candle light.
Todd was feeling sick so he didn't join Eric and I on a 4 hour trip
to Bhaktapur. The three biggest cities/towns in Nepal are Kathmandu,
Pattan and Bhaktapur in that order. Bhaktapur is the Dain (yogurt)
center of Nepal. Every Nepali we asked said the best stuff comes
from Bhaktapur. It's famous for it. And is really is good stuff.
But the coolest thing we found in Bhaktapur is the people. Our
taxi ride out there was 490 rupia. That's a lot of rupia. We only
had a couple hours to spend in the town and we didn't feel like paying
the outrageous 750 rupia fee (about 10 dollars US) that they charge
all the tourists. As we slowly sauntered away a small boy came up
to us and tried out his English. The Nepali people on a whole speak
great English. The ones that go to school usually start learning
it about age 4. Eventually the young boy's friends in the village
began to follow us around as well. Before we knew it we had about
9 kids gathered around us asking us questions. Some of the adults
became curious and slowly gathered around. We exchanged stories
and dispelled myths and regreted that we had to leave. They all
wanted us to come back that night for their largest festival of the
year. We said maybe, and we'd like to, but we knew that we could
not. The taxi driver wanted 250 to take us back to Kathmandu. The
kids that followed us to the street knew that was a bad deal. They
told us how to take the bus back. It was just as fast, and only
9 rupia.
Back to Bangkok for a day, then to Chiang Mai. Thai love Chaing
Mai. When you're a tourist here, they ask, "have you been to Chiang
Mai yet?" Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand located
to the North East and has far less pollution, traffic and humidity
than Bangkok. We rented motorbikes (125cc Honda motor scooters).
We had some premium bikes by Thai standards. We cruised around
town, cruised to the temple at the top of the hill, cruised to the
lake, and raced some girls back to the city in the rain. In Thailand
if you are a foreigner they call you "falang". Many expatriate falang
live out the rest of their days in Chiang Mai.
After a long weekend in Chaing Mai, we take the 12 hour night train
back to Bangkok. The sleeping bunks are Thai size, not Jesiah size.
We get back to bangkok. Eric must return to work for a few days.
Todd and I, tired from all the fun and relaxing in Chiang Mai,
decide we could use some relaxing and fun on Ko Samet. I'm mentioned
Ko Samet. It's wonderful. We both get what we came for. Todd gets
to drink, party and pick up girls, I get to relax, swim in the ocean,
and spend time with the Thai friends that I made on my first visit.
A very satisfying 48 hours, for me anyway. Lesson learned, next
time on Ko Samet with Todd, I'm getting my own room.
Back to Bangkok. Meet Eric. Leave to Kanchanaburi. Two and half
hours by bus. Kanchanaburi is where a lot of Thai people go to get
away from the big city. It is also where the famous Bridge on the
River Kwai is. You may remember from your history books, lot's happened
here during WWII. There's also a movie about it. It's called "Bridge
on the River Kwai". We walked the bridge. Took a ride on a long-
tail boat. These are motor boats of a rather simple design. Take
something like a large canoe, widen it out a bit, flatten the bottom,
then stick a V-6 car engine in the back. Instead of a differential
at the end of the drive shaft, put a propeller. They seem to have
just two gears, forward, and backward. And just two speeds, slow
and really fast. I saw something I'd never seen before on that river
trip. Apperantly a really popular thing for Thai people to do is
party on the river. It's a floating rave party. String three huge
rafts together, the first one with a wopping sound system and a dance
floor, another with a bar and lounge, and the third with a restaurant.
Pull them with a longtail boat and wave shout at the falang when
they cruise by. We rented motorbikes again. Made a day trip to
some natural hotsprings. Another cool place where not many falang
tourists show up. Hotwater, coolwater, Monk-trained masseuses.
Back to Bangkok. Planning the next adventure...
+j
ps, I love this.
pps, I miss you all.
ppps, pictures, as soon as i can, i promise.
pppps, anyone want to send me money?