In
a complete attempt not to bore you I decided that it might be better to write a
kind of long post, sorry, about my trip to Thailand instead of just posting my
itinerary, as I originally was going to do out of pure laziness.
One
of my best friends from the states that I have known since high school has been
living the exciting life of traveling around Southeast Asia and I had the
opportunity to join her, her boyfriend and his friend for a mini vacation/break
from Senegal. I have not seen her in entirely too long, she had moved to South
America after college, so of course I jumped on the chance to not only catch up
with her while were both capable of being in the same place at the same time
but also to explore the beautiful, and exhilarating, country of Thailand.
My
first impressions of Thailand were great, everyone was very welcoming and it
was great to be in a civilized country again, as politically incorrect as that
may sound. We spent the first three days of my part of the trip in the capitol city
of Bangkok where we ate street food, visited some of the most famous and
beautiful
Temples around and did some shopping in the infamous street of Khao
San Road where you could do, find and eat just about anything. Of course the
first meal that I ate in Thailand, dinner with Kari in a little café just
outside of our hotel was Mexican food. I figured that I needed to not only get
in as much Thai food as possible but this was my chance to get all those other
ethic foods that I crave while in Senegal including Mexican, Indian and
Italian.
 |
| Shopping street near hotel |
After
our time in Bangkok we all decided that we wanted to get out of the city and
head up north to the mountains of Chiang Mai. We took the night train from
Bangkok, which arrived in Chiang Mai only two hours late which the delay I was
accustomed to at this point and was honestly a better form of any sort of
transportation in Senegal. We were aware that monsoon season was welcoming us
and, being in the mountains the rains were particularly worse than any other
part of the country during our trip. With that being said it was hard to just
walk around town and get lost since we relied on public transportation to get
to specific sites; though there was one day where we put on our ponchos and
walked to the Women’s Correctional Facility to set up appointments for massages
and got to see a few more sites along the way. And yes, I did say massages at a
correctional facility; the women
are trained so that they have a skill once
they are out of the institution. They were more than friendly, very
professional and gave great Thai massages which I found out are not meant to be
relaxing but was more of an hour of stretching, twisting and kneading our
bodies. One of our day trips was quite memorable and that was to the Elephant Nature Park just north though still in Chiang Mai. We had a van
pick us up at our guest house which not only brought us to the park but showed
a video that was from some travel channel describing the problems that
elephants in Thailand face today (forced begging, physical and emotional abuse
and demanding physical labor). For a country that truly respects and worships
elephants they are horribly mistreated, solely as a source of income, and
Sangduen ‘Lek’ Chailert has created a sanctuary for the gentle giants that she
is able to buy or rescue within Thailand; along with the elephants in the park
there are hundreds of dogs that are also abandoned or rescued. We spent the day
feeding, bathing, more feeding and watching the elephants in a
 |
| The rice fields we passed on our way north to Chiang Mai |
After
the mountains we were ready for some fun in the sun and headed down south. We
could not find a direct mode of transportation, within our budget, so we took
the overnight bus from Chiang Mia to Bangkok and from there the bus to Phuket
Island. Phuket was a great little island and since it is not Thailand’s high
season for tourists it was more tranquil than a raging party, which was really
nice. We were only in Phuket for three days or so but we managed to devote this
time to the beach. The beach near our hotel was nice but the second day in
Phuket we went to Kata Beach, which was so beautiful. We spent the day laying
out, and by that I mean on a beach chair under an umbrella since we are past
our days of tanning and ruining our skin, swimming in the water with the tubes
that we bought and drinking Maté, which is an Argentinean tea that Pablo and
Vera were obsessed with. It was a
Krabi
was beautiful. It was not like any other part of the world that I had ever been
to with the hundreds of cliff style islands off the coast. You can’t help but
be taken away by the landscape, and I quickly realized, the culture of Thailand
and Krabi specifically. We were technically in a town maybe ten mintutes south
called Ao Nang and it was the perfect spot to settle down in for about four
days. Our hotel was much nicer than anything we had been staying at, we somehow
got a deal online, and was nestled next to the mountains with a less than five
minute drive down to the beach, which the hotel offered a free shuttle to every
hour. We had Indian food for Pablo’s birthday the first night followed somehow
by tequila shots at a bar called The Crazy Gringo. It was a fun night out with
everyone but I had a great trip planned for the next day all for myself and
could not wait to get to bed and awake to my adventure.
I
rented a motorbike to tour around on for 200Baht for 24 hours, around $6.50.
Kari would not get on the bike for the fear of her life, I understand that, but
I had to get out and see some sights without relying on public transportation
and figured as long as I wore a helmet and drove aware of my surroundings
nothing too bad could happen, well nothing that could not already happen
traveling as much as I do or living in Senegal; you forget, until you don’t
have a car anymore, how liberating it can be. I started the morning talking to
an absolutely useless woman at the community travel center to help tourists and
after getting absolutely nowhere with her I decided to grab a map, hope for
signs and get lost. I had all day and only a couple of things that I absolutely
wanted to do so I figured I had plenty of time. Fairly easily I found what is
known as Tiger Cave, which is a hike comparable to
Stairway To Heaven in Hawaii
but not as long or scary; stairs heading up the side of a mountain leading to a
temple at the top with breathtaking views of the region where apparently tigers
used to occupy. I assumed that I was just in horrible shape considering how
tired I was once I reached the top but heading back down there was more traffic
than when I started and I quickly noticed it was everyone who was getting their
butts kicked on the way up, which I felt a little better about. Since I had a
swimsuit on and brought a towel I took the opportunity to dry my cloths over
the railing while I rested drinking Gatorade (THAILAND HAS GATORADE! WHAT?) now
that I think back on this situation, it was very Senegalese of me but I was the
only one up there so I feel a little less guilty. After properly dressed I
headed to the temple where there was a 360˚ view of the mountains, the coast and the city. There was a very loud
buzzing noise that was heard from the top and after asking some Japanese
tourists, and them translating it on their phone, it was coming from an insect
called a cicada. While I had never heard of them I found their sound very
peaceful but persistent at the same time. After the hike I was back on the bike
to try and find the Shell Cemetary where slabs of mollusk fossils are found
along the coast. Along the way I ran into a Fisheries Research and Development
Center where tanks and ponds used to house and test marine species could be
found. I specifically fell in love with a stingray that loved attention and was
not afraid of people. The shell cemetery was great because it was home to
fossil slabs that are over 75 million years old and were remains of snail
shells that piled up on top of each other and cemented together by silicic
matter. It was cool to see a little part of history. I stopped at a local
market the way home to buy some snacks and since it as almost dark I decided to
eat my lychee and mystery tea drink that was recommended by a vendor on Krabi
beach while watching the sunset. The perfect day. The next morning I had a
couple hours left with my motorbike so I could not think of any better thing
than getting expensive, but worth it, McDonalds breakfast to eat on the beach
before the tourists started to come out for the day. I still had some gas left
so I drove up and down the coast for a couple hours until I had to return the
bike at 10am. At one point I remember seeing a sign saying that Krabi was in 22
kilometers and I remember not feeling quite as calm or relaxed as I was in that
moment than I have had in a long time, especially not since moving to Senegal
which can be a very anxious place.
 |
| Me at the beginning of my road trip, Kari snagged a photo from the bus |
The
next day we took a Hong Island day trip which actually consisted of multiple
islands off the coast of Ao Nang which had proved to be even more beautiful
than any other coastal parts of Thailand that we had been to thus far. Islands
with steep cliffs, turquoise coves and blue waters were the sights of the day
and with a local
packed lunch on one of the islands we could not have asked for
more beautiful surroundings for the day, though beautiful does not even begin
subscribe it.
 |
| On the boat during the islands tour |
My
last night Kari accompanied me to a sort of last minute tattoo expedition where
I got a, planned just unknown as to where I wanted it, Black Capped Chickadee
tattoo just under my collar bone in memory of my grandfather who had died while
I was in Senegal. I got the tattoo using the traditional Thai bamboo method,
which consisted of a needle tied and waxed onto a bamboo stick and then speared
into my chest. Sounds more painful than it was and it is beautiful. The best
part about it is that it catches the corner of my eye and reminds me of my
grandfather and back home in general.
The
crew headed to another part of Thailand while I took a van back to Bangkok to
catch my flight back to Senegal; well to Ethiopia where my flight was delayed
12 hours and we got put up in a hotel with breakfast, lunch and dinner and then
off to Senegal, but that was fine with me.
Thailand
will have a special place in my heart and it is a country, and a part of a
wonderful mysterious region of the world that I will be back to visit and
explore. I have always had an attraction to Asia and I don’t know if it was
because there is such an influence in Hawaii, my love for many Asian dishes or
just the mere fact that I had never been but it was a great experience and I
can’t wait to return. Thanks Kari for a great trip, take care and see you soon!
Until
next time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment