One night in Bangkok and the worlds your oyster

One night in Bangkok.... pearls ain't freee...

So in our less-than-24-hours-in-bangkok we:

1) Walked around a lot.. which was good because before I had not gotten off of Koh San = very bad traveling skills

Street food in Bangkok, view from the skytrain

name of a boat on the river

Best last name ever.. esp for being an author
View of Koh San from the roof of our hotel
View of BKK from our roof

Shrine along the road, these are everywhere in Thailand, every house has one in the front yard

BKK river

2) Saw a Nile monitor


Night of the 22nd

Tristan got a giant fish tattooed on his back

I got my eyebrow pierced again - parents are going to love that one, I bet they thought they were through that stage

We witnessed the seedy underbelly of Thailand / SE Asia at a strip club that made me so sick I had to leave. It was all fat white 50 year old men and the girls all wore numbers for easier identification and purchasing.. made me completely disgusted so I left and made new friends on Koh San instead. We were supposed to be going to the strip club just for a little while for fun and then moving on to a club, but a few of the sleezier guys from Tahoe were more serious about it and actually bought strippers...served them right later when I saw that they couldn't get into the hotel with them and had to go elsewhere.

Missed our bus at 8 am - we all went to bed so late there was no way we were waking up for our bus at 8 am - good thing we hadn't bought tickets. I think all of us knew in the back of our minds we weren't going to make it on the bus. I personally was walking still walking around Koh San at 5 am with my new brit friends trying to find a tattoo parlor that was open so they could get tattoos.

We ended up being able to catch a later bus to the border, and it was the first time I have walked across a border, correct me if I am wrong parents.

Next post: Sihanouk Ville or the most awesome place ever

Koh Tao: Diving, Hitmen, and Choppers

We left Koh Phagnan behind and moved the party to Koh Tao, a smaller island about 3 hours north of Koh Phagnan. All of the travelers we had been talking to were saying that Koh tao was the "real"Thailand. Its much smaller than Koh Samui, which tends to be more upmarket, and Koh Phagnan, which tends to be more party, and is supposed to have a much more chilled out vibe than either. It is known for its diving, so the crowd generally flocks here for the cheap certification courses.

The boat ride there was crazy packed and we ended up sitting on top of the bags outside, which ended up being the best seat since we escaped the puking downstairs and the spray along the side of the boat from the waves.

On the boat we made friends with a big group of kids who were teachers in Korea and are taking vacation since their contract expired, and a few travelers who worked in Tahoe... altogether I think it was the most Americans I have hung out with while traveling / even seen while out here.

Got to Koh Tao, which was very chilled out compared to Koh Phagnan, less party and more happy pizzas if you know what I mean. My main complaint was that although the island was very small it was exceedingly difficult to get around because the roads were all washed out - something im sure they fix in Dec when all of the tourists show up. As a result we spent most of our time in the main town area, which although fun, got very boring after 5 days.

The main beach - I can't remember the name, but its where most people, including us, stay.

Awesome sign that is in most restaurants in Thailand

Cool clouds from the beach.. the weather wasn't that perfect

Full Moon: insanely cute puppy that hung out around the ganja shack that was across from our bungalow

We did rent ATVs one day and go for an adventure, which turned out to be much more of an adventure than we were expecting to have because of the deplorable road conditions. I luckily picked the one guy who rides motorcycles so I was relatively safe compared to the others. Verber almost killed himself by going over a cliff and his ATV had to be retrieved from the bushes several times by Owen, our resident ATV expert / farm boy hick who is 28 and does not have email. All of this was worth it because we got to go to two awesome beaches on the island: X and Freedom Beach. Freedom Beach was my favorite and if I ever came back to Koh Tao I would do it right and stay there for two or three nights instead of spending all of my time in the main town.
Cool salt water "pool"we found when we hiked across the island a few days before

ATV crew. From Left: me, Emely (Swedish), Melody (Korea teachers, brit), Tristan (Korea techers, Canuck, Sarah (brit), Tinkerbell (Tahoe), Owen (Tahoe), can't remember name, Verber (US), Sanna (sweden).
Rescuing Verber's ATV from over the cliff. Without Owen, dude in red hat, we would have been screwed, he fixed the chains when they popped, McGyvered ATVs out of ditches, and rode them up the really rough bits when no one else could get them up.
ATV-ing. We swam out to the island in the background and the crazies did some cliff jumping

Freedom beach...mm.. sublime beauty

More freedom beach

Hitmen!

We also unfortunately had a lot of not so fun drama on Koh Tao involving a hitman from bangkok who was on the run from the police.

Apparently the guys were all at choppers (our usual spot) and saw a Thai guy dragging a western girl out by her hair. They went to go stop him as I would hope any decent guy would do, which caused lots of yelling but no punched were thrown. They ended up chasing the guy down the street to the end where he grabbed a butcher knife from a food stand and threatened them with it then ran off - We all assumed it was over after this.

The next day Verber was checking his email by himself in a cafe and the guy stormed in and punched him in the nose then ran away. There was blood everywhere and Verber was in a state of complete shock and shit ton of pain. I ended up taking him to the hospital (which reads: Dengue checkup, malaria checkup, Pregnancy check, HIV check, over the door - gotta love Thailand) at midnight while both of us were drunk so that he could try and get painkillers, although im dubious of whether he needed them since he was so drunk already.
After a lot of questioning, we discovered that everyone knew him but no one would turn him in and everyone said the police were worthless. T he owner of choppers told us that he was a hitman that was wanted by the police in Bangkok, that was why he was in Koh Tao and not to mess with him. Overall it was a really scary / messed up couple of days, especially since the boys hadn't done anything but try and help the girl. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief when we got on the boat back to BKK.

On a lighter note we had a really fun last night and hung out at a little beach hut / bar were a group of Argentine guys were playing. We all danced and sang until the wee hours of the morning and I got to practice my abysmal Spanish a bit, which after all the Spanish guys figured out I could at least understand them I became their pet and they made me take copious jager bombs with them.

Next post: one night in Bangkok and the worlds your oyster, the bars are temples but the pearls aren't free

Full Moon Madness!!!

Disclaimer: the pictures from full moos party are not going to be on this thing till Sanna posts them on facebook since I didn't bring a camera with me to the big party.

Full moon was definitely the most crazy night of my life to date.

First though a little description of Koh Phag Nan to appease my parents so this isnt completely about drinking. There are three islands off the eastern coast of thailand that are the spots most tourist flock to if they want to do that coast (the other coast is the koh phi phi, phuket coast). There is Koh Samui, which is the largest and slightly more upmarket, Koh Phag Nan, which is medium sized and is considered the backpacker "party"island, and Koh Tao, the smallest, which has some of the best diving in Thailand. The boats to the islands first land at Koh Samui, then Koh Phagnan, and then finaly Koh Tao, resulting in Koh Tao being the least touristy and Koh Samui the most. Sidenote: all of Thailand is one giant tourist clusterfuck, so don't expect to get away ANYWHERE here, this is why I was not such a fan of Thailand.
Despite its reputation for drunken backpackers, theft, and full moon parties, Koh Phagnan is still ridiculously beautiful. The island is pretty large, taking about 45 minutes to get from north to south, but this is party due to the roads. The north of the island is supposed to have the nicest beaches (I never went), and the south near Haad Rhin, where the full moon party is held, is supposed to be overclowded and kind of shitty. We stayed on the west of the island, but if you are just going for the full moon, its much better to stay near Haad Rhin because the line car ride home at 8 am is a bitch, and most likely all of your money will have been stolen at some point so you wont be able to pay for it.

The south of the island, as you approach Haad Rhin area, has the most amazingly steep hills that you have to cross before you can get to the beach, and that whole area is the least developed and most beautiful. If you were not too picky about being on the beach it would be cool to stay up in this area with amazing views of Haad Rhin and the harbor.

Above is a tiny pic of Koh Phagnan. The isthmus in the bottom Left hand corner is Haad Hhin, home of the full mood parties, and you can see from the topography that there is a huge mountain seperating it from the rest of the island. We stayed up on the middle right hand side, which was nice, but nothing special; at least it was really cheap.

Pics of where we stayed which was ok but not that great, and as you can see the weather was kinda shit.

OK now on to the Big Partyyy:

Our crew started out being two Swedish guys, the Swedish girls I was already hanging out with, and Aussie dude, and two Chileans.

On the islands you get around in line cars: trucks which have extra seats inserted into the truck bed with an iron roof over the whole thing where they usually store bags, and in our case...extra people. The 40 minute ride into town was pandamonium - we had all had consumed a few buckets and beers at that point and were feeling pretty jovial. Buckets: drinks come in actual beach buckets in all different colors and are usually about 5 dollars for a vodka and redbull bucket with about 7 or 8 shots. Back to story: We sang songs the whole way, hung off the back of the car and and the bravest of us (Sanna, me, Aussie and one of the Swedish guys) went up on the roof so we could see the island better as we were wizzing along at 50 mph.

When we got up on the roof we did not know of the existence of the hills, and - when we hit these I was doubting the sanity of our decision to ride there since it was like a roller coaster with no seat belts while trying to dodge overhanging tree branches at the same time.... but it was still awesomely fun, probably one of my favorite few moments from the night. Unfortunately when we climbed down someone had kicked one of my rainbows out of the back of the truck by mistake during the ride, so even before getting to the party I had managed to lose my shoes and had to buy another pair for 100 bhat.

The party is on a huge stretch of beach, prob a good 3/4 of a k long and pretty wide when the tide is out. Lining the shore are Vietnamese selling buckets, jello shots, black light paint, drugs etc, and numerous DJ booths pumping hard core techno. Even now, a week later, I think Wheeeres youuuurrr heeeead at, wheres your head at, wheres your head at, and apple bottom jeans, boots with the furrrrrrr are both permanently seared into my subconscious. Scattered all along the beach mixed in with the crowds are fire twirlers and other acrobatics so the whole place with is flashing lights, whizzing circles of fire, and reverberating music would be any acid junkies dream.

I think I spent a good 3/4 of the night swimming, and because of this lost the new pair of shoes I had bought along with my shorts and shirt - don't worry I was wearing a swimsuit so I wasn't running around naked. My favorite part of the night was swimming out at about 8 am while the sun was coming up and watching the party from the water: the whole beach was still packed and in the daylight the little bit of beach that was left looked like a mile long snake of moving people.

One of my friends wasn't so lucky and while he was passed out someone stole his pants OFF OF HIM, so he had to walk home with no money in his boxers.

The damage was catastrophic to the beach. The high tide line was one unbroken mess of bottles, buckets, clothes and shoes; no wonder there is so much shit floating in the water in thailand.

Left the party at 9 am and it was still going strong, I think they turn the music off at 10 or 11. It was one of the most fun nights of my life but something I do not need to repeat any time in the neat future... I think I did in one night normal liver and mental damage for a year.

Now things start getting REALLY epic:

I go home, can't sleep, and decided to go for a walk on the beach. I feel like crap and the whole time I am repeating the mantra: I will never drink again, over and over again in my head, you know the drill. I hear some drumming and singing from up in an empty lot about 50 m away so I kind of poke my head up to see what is going on. Turns out it is about 8 thai guys all sitting in a circle playing drums on old buckets and singing. They invite me to come joint them. Not one to pass up an opportunity to chill with locals I go. They make me take shots with them which is an almost impossible task at first, seeing as I can hardly even take shots anymore evern when im on form. I try to leave after about an hour.. they won't let me leave till we finish the whole bottle. ouch. It was really fun though and they made me sing songs for them too, so I sang American Pie and San Francisco - flowers in your hair.

getting to Thailand

So far this is everything that has gone wrong on my way out of china:

1) slept through first train

2) Last name on my plane ticket was written as Mindt, not Mundt and they almost didn't let me on the plane to kunming

3) no flights to Mandalay or Yangon s0 I bought a ticket to Bangkok instead. Thought the flight time was 8pm, at 1:30 the lady comes to find me and ask my why I'm not at the airport when my flight is leaving in an hour...rushed to the airport, and made the flight though so that was good.

I didn't spend much time in Bangkok / didn't even get off of the backpacker street since I was there for less than 24 hours, so there isn't really much to say. The one thing though that you notice as soon as you get there and is really shocking is the number of western washouts that are hanging around the street - people who maybe came for a day or a week and stayed for ten years addicted to drugs / whatever and are now begging on the street or selling bracelets.

Went out, made friends with some German dudes and we sang lots of German drinking songs, but I was still feeling mighty shitty from the epic last two weeks in Jing so I went to bed really early.. not what you are suppsed to do in BKK (haaa that was for you mado)

German guys I was hanging out with all pass out on the table at like 9 PM

Decided to go budget so I took the 12 hour bus down, which was not fun, but I met two cool Swedish girls on it who I am still traveling with, so some good came out of it. We got to Koh Phag Nan in the afternoon, and pretty much immediately started prepping for the FULL MOON PARTY! wooooo. get looose

Stupid little stickers they make you wear so they can tell if you're going to Koh Phagnan, Koh Samui, Phuket, etc.


The crowd outside on the front of the boat on the way to Koh Phagnan

Last night in the Jing

This is about two weeks belated since I haven't found good enough internet to upload pictures.

we went to Tairyo for tepanyaki as my last supper before heading off to the SE Asia. Then continued on to NanJie and eventually down the Rabbit hole.

Tairyo was awesome as usual, (its all you can eat all you can drink 170 kuai). Steffen walked straight into the mirror on his way back to the table, then apologized to his reflection for running into it thinking it was a real person....he almost got away with it since I was the only person who saw it happen...but I told everyone.

Fire at Tairyo
Steffen becomes a Panda Bear

After that we moved on to NanJie.. where for some reason people thought it was a good idea to wear their motorcycle helmets inside, and we found a huge pumpkin to play with.

After white rabbit I came home and found that my key was too messed up to open the front door. Not wanting to wake up Nancy, and having no other place to go, I laid down on the welcome mat to sleep there until Gardiner got home..I'm so glad no one got a picture of that. After a little bit I woke up and was cold and panicked thinking that she might not come home till 8am like the day before, and I REALLY wanted to eat the avocado that I knew was lying in the kitchen bread bowl. (This is the avocado that I bought for Nancy and Nick to replace the one I had eaten the week before when I was drunk... so its ridiculous I managed to eat it again, while drunk, before they could get to it... now I need to get them ANOTHER one). I started ringing the doorbell until Nancy came and opened it... poor girl but apparently she was still awake. I then proceeded to make seven layer dip....it was deRicious.

I want to give a shout out to all of the people that made Beijing AWESOME...I could list everyone but it would just take way to long. However I am going to miss some of the highlights:

"When I blow my horn you all take a shot"

Gardiner's "drinking horn"

Che's laugh

Sexy Parties

Ordering in Bitapita

All nighters

Beijing/Qingdao Huangning ni
Beijing Beijing, wo ai Beijing

Random ridiculousnes

Joweling demonstrations

Will not miss:

NanJie hangovers

Anyway, I'm going to miss all of you guys and hopefully I'll see most of you soon...esp you Gardiner and Steffen in Incredible Indiaaaaaa. Everyone else, come to SEATTLE!!!

Liz II

Rahul's Sexy Party 1.5!!

Rahul threw his SEXY PARTY 1.5!!! last night. The highlights:

First: here is a really awesome article my sister linked

We went for drypot beforehand, which is like hotpot in that you get to choose what goes into your meal. Then it is dry fried and seasoned with some of the sichuan peppers that make your mouth go numb. Ours had chicken, eggplant, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, tofu, and some green things.

Then we went to Angel to see DJ Shadow after a long debate over if it was indeed necessary to spend 200 kuai each to see this dude, which we decided in the end it was, me with some reluctance since I'm unemployed.

Once we got to the club billy immediately gamboled off in the opposite direction supposedly to use the ATM, promising to be back soon. 10 minutes...20 minutes....30 minutes.. he finally showed up 40 minutes later with a NEW HAIRCUT... the idiot had fancied a haircut at midnight! WHILE we were waiting for him!!! I also got some chinese guy who lived in Vancouver to give me his two tickets which he hadn't used.... thats 200 kuai a pop or over 40 US for the two!! Go me.

After Angel we carried the party over to Jamies apartment where Billy thought it would be a good idea to put one, but only one, of Gardiner's shoes in the freezer and then try and light her feet on fire with a lighter while she was "sleeping" on the couch. Luckily I saved her.

At 7 we finally called it a night once the sun came up and rolled our sorry company off for dim sum, only getting back to the apt at 8 am.

Kanye Kanye, wo ai Kanye, Kanye Kanye, wo ai Kanye

It was a huge struggle to get excited for Kanye bc we felt like such shit after Halloween, I don't think we left spooked till at least 6 or 7. I did fancy dress again, going as a bumblebee. Our seats were over on the side and the sound quality SUCKED you couldn’t even really tell what song he was singing. It was so bad we were all actually thinking about walking out. Plus, they didn’t have any alcohol there so we were all grumpy about that. About three or four songs in we discovered that the sound quality in the middle of the stadium was infinitely better and we took the party over there. After that the concert was sweet.. especially when they randomly started playing journey in the middle.

We headed over to Nanjie after and spent a few hours being ridiculous there, eventually going to Vicks and having another epic night. Gardiner somehow managed to chip Che's tooth on her ring while "sculpting" his face. 

Che post-chipped tooth...its one of the two front ones on the top

Gangsta

Got home from Vick's at 630 and had no money to pay for the cab so I just ran....I feel really bad about it, at least the cab ride was only 10 Kuai.  Then of course I set my alarm for 830 since I had a train to catch and the ticket was 400 kuai and I really didn’t want to miss it, buuuuut.......

Woke up at noon. Ooooops. So that is why I am still in Beijing. I’m just going to be uber lazy and skip Shangai and fly straight to Burma from here, since I can just do Shangai in the spring when I come back for HONG KONG SEVENS.. which I’m already pretty excited about. Mostly is awesome since I said goodbye to everyone last night..and yet.. I am still here, and showed up at Rickshaw for quiz night.. and then we destroyed the boys at skill darts. HAH

Two cool pics I took at Nanjie when I got really into the manual shutter speed on my camera:

Che looks fuuucking creepy in this pic

Pretttty