Homage to Chiang Rai’s Befuddling White Temple (PHOTOS)
This temple was both gorgeous and wacky. Enjoy the album!
All posts tagged: Thailand
We Spend a Week in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s Jungle Hideout
I’m writing this in retrospect and it is a real challenge to my memory! I should be more dedicated to collecting my memories but on the other hand I vastly prefer to blog on a proper computer (versus our i-Pod Touch). We left Bangkok a couple of days after the Gaga concert. During the five or so days we spent there before leaving for Chiang Mai, I managed to develop a sinus infection (A/C mismanagement perhaps?) so I wasn’t feeling very dandy. Once again we were staying just off Khao San Road and the heat and humidity was preventing us from much exploration on foot. Exploration was likely limited by our scepticism that legitimate taxis and tuk-tuks exist. We exiled ourselves, read books, watched movies and got on one another’s nerves. Bangkok was grating on us. It wasn’t apparent at first but we had both hit a low and getting off the Bangkok was the only relief. Opposed to bus travel and operating within a tight time line due to our Thai visas, we hopped an overnight …
Convinced I Was Had
Well, if indeed my apres-burn lotion is manufactured by Samui Sun. Did I just give good money to these folks for sunscreen and then more to recover from their inferior product. Yes, yes I did. Stupid farang. 72 hours later… Spirits are lifted. This morning I was able to independently fetch my own breakfast from the dive resort restaurant. This was a notable feat as yesterday it was a failed endeavor, resulting in my running back to the room lightheaded and slightly nauseous. Shortly thereafter I developed a fever and chills which was alarming. But anyway, feeling better today following a 12 hour sleep. Face is pink but improving. Stomach and chest are still a shocking shade of red, despite pain subsiding significantly. If I may be so bold, I suspect I may be on the upswing. As I have exiled myself to our room and really proven to be poor company, G has really embraced scuba diving. We had done our Open Water Dive tickets together, completing them the day before I managed to burn the shit out …
Did I Just Buy Knock-Off Sunblock?
I am laying in the air-conditioned darkness of my hotel room thinking, ‘Did I just buy a bottle of knock-off sunblock?’ Is counterfeit sunscreen a thing? Here are the condemning facts: At eleven a.m. I walked to a ‘pharmacy’ (essentially a minimally stocked drugstore) and purchased a bottle of SPF-30 sunscreen. The product in question is Samui Sun; Samui of course, referencing the island of Ko Samui. The packaging further reads, ‘Coconut sun protect‘ and boasts that it ‘protects against sun burn and premature skin ageing‘ (verbatim, misspelling included). Two for the win, right? — 29 days into our trip I was confident I had established a base tan, less the slightly less visible veins on my forearms. (A testament to living in snowy Prince George, Canada for the last five years, and one I am eager to remedy.) Given the perceived base tan, I would do this by purchasing sunscreen that was less than the SPF-60 my Dad-Pants Boyfriend bought for us. Speaking of Greg. He signed up for a two-day advanced open water diving …
Proof Thai Full Moon Parties are an Absolute Shit Show
Let me sum up a Thai Full Moon Party: there are a lot of dumb [expletive] people at full moon parties doing a load of stupid [expletive]. A fire rope, while highly entertaining to me, is a highly infectious idea to drunk people. Two locals stand on platforms and swing a petrol doused, flaming rope. Swinging it slow at first, they speed up until they trip the drunk foreigner. It must not have hurt enough though because many tripped. Other flaming items included fire dancers (who will gladly light the cigarette held in your lips) and fire limbo. You can climb the side of a building and then slide down a wet slide, landing on an inflatable wedge on the beach. Drunk people will often sit on the wedge. Need I paint the picture? 10,000+ people drinking buckets of hard liquor mixed with pop and Red Bull. In Thailand Red Bull has legit amphetamines in it too. Every bucket poured receives six straws. This means that for any given FMP, 60,000-120,000+ straws litter the beaches. More logistics: 10,000 drunk people and one public toilet (read: the beach). Listen …
Sawadee Ka! We Just Arrived in Thailand
I’m backdating this entry half a week due to the fact that I’m not toting my laptop and so I can’t write in real time. We spent a couple of nights just off Khao San Road in a busy guesthouse, far enough from the noise but close enough to the action to stumble to. Double room with A/C, fan, basic amenities and clean enough for $15/night. We love Thailand already. It wasn’t long before the humidity had us taking afternoon siestas and primarily functioning after dusk. Given the 40 degree heat and near total humidity, we needed to make any beach our heading, ASAP. Quite frankly, we weren’t able to enjoy Bangkok for this reason. May as well head elsewhere, we will have plenty opportunity to return. We booked an overnight bus and ferry to Koh Samui, an island in the South. That evening we had a very social night, meeting tons of other travellers. Among the nine of us in our crew, was a German girl who mentioned that she had rented a bungalow …
T-Minus: 2 Months to Asia
To complete my knowledge I still need to learn to braid my bangs, lest they become unruly or excessively sweaty and ruin all of my travel photos (Worst Case Scenario). Reporting in at the two-mark. Here is the progress to date: Health Insurance –check. For those who care, BCAA provider with a $0 deductible. For trip budgeting purposes this came to just over$220.00. Travel Immunizations -first round to start in a week. I’ve found it hard to nail down a concrete answer on which vaccines to get and much to my annoyance the doctor at the travel clinic will be charging $30 just for the consultation. I can’t help but feel that if I am going to invest another $250+ in my health, at your travel clinic, then maybe it should be waived. If I decide to consult you and then on my own initiative head to Costco and fill the prescriptions myself, then sure charge me a consultation fee. Then again, who has the time and patience for that. Visa Applications –in progress. Given that we’re staying …