So time to update after the long 4 day weekend (Buddhist holiday!) Left work early last wednesday to meet up with Hannah, Kirk and Travis on Khao San to hop a bus south to the island of Ko Tao, located near the more famous Ko Samui in the Gulf of Thailand. The journey there was impressively long. It took us only 12 hrs to get to Krabi which is technically further away but closer to 17 to get to Ko Tao. An incredible amount of just waiting around on the bus in Bangkok and then after getting kicked off at 3:30am in Chumphon at the bus station and then on the ferry waiting for it to leave. Arrived around 11am to find a super low tide such that the ferry couldn't get to the dock and a number of small boats had to be sent out to retrieve passengers. Residents on the ferry said they'd never seen it so low.
Once there we were met by a saengtaew from our resort booked in Bangkok - the Coral Grand. Hopped on and met a mix of fellow international travelers on internships with IAESTE. Turned out that one of them happened to be a mechanical engineer from Purdue! Bryan something who is gonna be a senior and an RA at Carey. In all my travels this is one of the least likely places to run into a purdue engineer..
Got checked into our rooms - pretty nice for the deal we were getting - then had a quick orientation session for the 3.5 day PADI open water course. Our instructor Paul, from New Zealand originally, was a great guy and had some absolutely hilarious stories. Finished with watching a video on scuba diving and then spent the evening chilling out on the beach.
Friday we had a morning filled with instructional videos and a couple of quizzes. I learned a few things, but I think overall they make it so that you'd have to have no common sense to fail anything. Our group ended up being the four of us plus a really nice Norwegian couple a few yrs older, Lars and Elizabeth. Afternoon was our 'confined dive' which most people do in a pool but we got to do out in the ocean! Admittedly we were only a few meters deep, but it was awesome to be learning the basics while fish were swimming around you. Learned all the gestures, mask clearing, buddy breathing and emergency surfacing techniques. Although I've scuba-ed once before it's so much better to know what's going on and control things like bouancy.
Saturday we finished up the classroom work before heading out on the first of our real dives. First about 12m deep at twin peaks and then 10m deep at Japanese Gardens. Incredibly awesome! My ears took too long to adjust, but it gives me good incentive to stay down once I get there. Hannah and I use up a lot less air then the boys so we could theoretically dive for much longer then the 40min each time our group was doing. It's hard to describe properly really, but being able to move in 3D provides a lot of entertainent. Saw lots of bright tropical fish, of which I know few names.
On Sunday we were up to get in our last 2 dives at 6:30am. First one was 18m deep at Liam Tien. That's nearly 60 feet underwater! Way too cool. Saw a great trigger fish that looked as if it would attack at any minute. Unfortunately no sharks... Surfaced to find a rain storm just coming that we rode out in the water since it was so much warmer then the air at that point. The next dive was only 14m deep at a site called King Kong. Overall scuba diving could be a very addictive hobby - just wish my ears didn't get quite so messed up from it. Back at the resort we had a mad rush to get packed, check out, take our final exam and fill out paperwork. But at the end all of us were open water certified!
The journey back doesn't need describing other then the fact that it was LONG! At least the bus was much nicer... except for the fact that at 3am it blew a tire. I guess the sparks and tire changing at least provided entertainment. Got back to the city at 5:30am, went home, went to work! A long day needless to say, but at least that evening I got to meet up with Alan and Joyce Welch with a last dinner before the head back to the states this Wed. Caught up on all their adventures and they were even nice enough to give me the name of a good guide at Angkor Wat... Only a few weeks away now!
THE BEST WAY TO SPEND $20 - Hannah and I had girl bonding time last night and went to a massage place near where we live. Splurged and got the 1 hr aromatherapy oil massage... freakin awesome. And that was only $18 - it's bumped up to $20 because we got dairy queen blizzards on the way back to the dorms. Bad addictions to go home with ... can't afford either there!
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Pictures!
Weekend 1 - Grand Palace, etc: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTFo5cuXDqQ
Bangkok miscellaneous: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTFo5cuXDuA
Sorry for all the links but I don't know how else to do it!! Hope you can be bothered...
Enjoy
Bangkok miscellaneous: http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeANGTFo5cuXDuA
Sorry for all the links but I don't know how else to do it!! Hope you can be bothered...
Enjoy
Monday, July 18, 2005
Big Dinners and a weekend at Military Camp
Summary of last week= lots of eating and sleeping. Mon and Tues were both go home, eat and sleep evenings. Then on Wed. I got an email from Alan Welch, a friend from the SOS at Purdue who is visiting Thailand with his wife Joyce. Ended up having dinner with them and their cousins - fellow Hoosiers and Boilermakers - at a great Thai restaurant not far from the skytrain. Really great to catch up on the travels of others out abroad and know that it's really such a small world. Thurs night, the whole CRI crew - about 10 of us - ventured across the street to Dr. Naporn's house for dinner. Picked up corn and fruit on the way. Then Doug, Elliott and I got inspired to contribute to the feast by cooking banana bread. Needless to say that it was interesting but considering we had no recipe, vanilla, or baking soda the end result was quite good! Just toss in plenty of bananas, chocolate chunks, and I think maybe pineapple just cause it was around. Definitely a hit with the Thai kids at least. Other then that we had all sorts of Thai dishes from phat thai to papaya salad to tom yum (hot soup which I generally avoid.) At least they've all realized I can't handle Thai hot!
On Friday we had our 2nd round of presentations at Mahidol University. Went relatively quickly. Still depressing to talk about my 'project' which isn't really going anywhere. I just run the same reactions over and over again attempting to get them to work - and this is just to make starting material! Ah well, I just try to keep calm and remember it's good practice for grad school. After that, our fantastic four - me, Hannah, Kirk and Travis went to see the movie of the same title. Hilariously bad but entertained. Topped off with American food and home to bed.
Saturday was the Mahidol planned trip, leaving at 6:30am. Due to communication problems none of us really understood where we were going or what we were doing there. Ended up a couple of hours north of Bangkok near the edge of a line of hills or small mountains staying at a military base/amusement park. Odd, I know... At any rate, checked into our housing and rented bicycles for the day to get around the base. Felt like part of a Beatles movie, all of us on bikes on paved, treelined lanes in single file. Once again, nice weather for the weekend considering it poured everyday last week. First activity was paintball. Most of us were new to it but not afraid to get killed. Most of the Thai students were entertained enough just watching us play for a couple of hours. And I admit we were probably pretty entertaining. One side gave a definite advantage so we switched each time but my team of Doug, Elliott, and Ann and San (2 Thai students) won the most! In full camo with winter vest type things and helmets we were sweating down our body weight while playing. At the end the guys took on each other and while posing for pictures afterwards Elliott didn't check the chamber and accidentally shot Kirk in a very sensitive area - of course providing further entertainment as soon as it was ascertained that he wasn't permanently injured!
From there we biked to lunch and after that to the shooting range - theme of the day = shooting. Rifles, pistols and semiatomatics. Travis is quite the sharp shooter and got a 99/100 winning him a Fanta. Next, shooting laser guns in a blessedly air conditioned building. Entertaining to watch as the sceanarios ranged from pumpkins on a fence to a motorcycle gang to snipers hidden in bushes. After that we all wanted to go swimming in the big pool with high dives that we'd seen earlier. Apparently not allowed so we had to settle for the community swimming pool with tons of kids in the shallow end waiting to be entertained. One thing I don't know if I've mentioned is the fact that it seems like very few Thais actually know how to swim... They may jump in but they generally wear life jackets and stick to the shallows. Very weird and it makes them seem even more like little kids despite the fact that all our students are older then us. That and their fear/belief in ghosts...
Anyway, a deep end and 2 very springy dive boards were good entertainment. Hurt ourselves doing all sorts of flips and what have you. Kirk is a pro at it and tried to be our coach. After a couple of hours we were all sore! Dinner, a bike ride and relaxing rounded out the day followed by a spectacular thunder storm around 1am.
Sunday we were up early, breakfast, turning in bikes, and then heading to nearby Sarika waterfall. A good hike up to the top where there was a nice cold pool of water. The Thai students again got their entertainment as most of us climbed up to the ledge to jump in. A 20 foot drop, but it was good times. Spent nearly an hour doing that, then down for lunch and back to the city
After getting back Hannah and I decided to have some girl time and go get Thai massages at Wat Po where there is a famous school. A bit of negotiating trouble with tuk tuk drivers followed by an odd amount of people trying to tell us the wat was closed we made it - thank goodness we'd heard of all the scams before. The 1 hr massage was great - partially because I was so sore from the previous 2 days. Somewhat more intense then a regular massage though - lots of pulling and stretching. Tea at the end and we headed home via MBK.
Met up with Doug and Elliott later that night and walked 45 min over to the night bazaar by Limpini park. A hot night -couldn't move without sweating even long after the sun was down. I've almost forgotten how to be cold outside. The bazaar was a bit classy/touristy for us so no buys. Instead we sat for awhile in the beer garden which was absolutely surreal. 50 meters of plastic tables/chairs surrounded on the edges by food court style stands. At the front their was a stage with 'musicians' probably lip synching with a giant TV behind showing the British open. Strung above the stands and tables was light irrigation tubing misting down water which wasn't enough to keep anybody cool last night. At any rate a good evenings worth of entertainment.
Back at work to day and my chemistry continues to fail miserably. Accidentally staying late to watch a PTLC. Hopefully that will make up for leaving early on Wed. to head to Ko Tao on our long weekend!
On Friday we had our 2nd round of presentations at Mahidol University. Went relatively quickly. Still depressing to talk about my 'project' which isn't really going anywhere. I just run the same reactions over and over again attempting to get them to work - and this is just to make starting material! Ah well, I just try to keep calm and remember it's good practice for grad school. After that, our fantastic four - me, Hannah, Kirk and Travis went to see the movie of the same title. Hilariously bad but entertained. Topped off with American food and home to bed.
Saturday was the Mahidol planned trip, leaving at 6:30am. Due to communication problems none of us really understood where we were going or what we were doing there. Ended up a couple of hours north of Bangkok near the edge of a line of hills or small mountains staying at a military base/amusement park. Odd, I know... At any rate, checked into our housing and rented bicycles for the day to get around the base. Felt like part of a Beatles movie, all of us on bikes on paved, treelined lanes in single file. Once again, nice weather for the weekend considering it poured everyday last week. First activity was paintball. Most of us were new to it but not afraid to get killed. Most of the Thai students were entertained enough just watching us play for a couple of hours. And I admit we were probably pretty entertaining. One side gave a definite advantage so we switched each time but my team of Doug, Elliott, and Ann and San (2 Thai students) won the most! In full camo with winter vest type things and helmets we were sweating down our body weight while playing. At the end the guys took on each other and while posing for pictures afterwards Elliott didn't check the chamber and accidentally shot Kirk in a very sensitive area - of course providing further entertainment as soon as it was ascertained that he wasn't permanently injured!
From there we biked to lunch and after that to the shooting range - theme of the day = shooting. Rifles, pistols and semiatomatics. Travis is quite the sharp shooter and got a 99/100 winning him a Fanta. Next, shooting laser guns in a blessedly air conditioned building. Entertaining to watch as the sceanarios ranged from pumpkins on a fence to a motorcycle gang to snipers hidden in bushes. After that we all wanted to go swimming in the big pool with high dives that we'd seen earlier. Apparently not allowed so we had to settle for the community swimming pool with tons of kids in the shallow end waiting to be entertained. One thing I don't know if I've mentioned is the fact that it seems like very few Thais actually know how to swim... They may jump in but they generally wear life jackets and stick to the shallows. Very weird and it makes them seem even more like little kids despite the fact that all our students are older then us. That and their fear/belief in ghosts...
Anyway, a deep end and 2 very springy dive boards were good entertainment. Hurt ourselves doing all sorts of flips and what have you. Kirk is a pro at it and tried to be our coach. After a couple of hours we were all sore! Dinner, a bike ride and relaxing rounded out the day followed by a spectacular thunder storm around 1am.
Sunday we were up early, breakfast, turning in bikes, and then heading to nearby Sarika waterfall. A good hike up to the top where there was a nice cold pool of water. The Thai students again got their entertainment as most of us climbed up to the ledge to jump in. A 20 foot drop, but it was good times. Spent nearly an hour doing that, then down for lunch and back to the city
After getting back Hannah and I decided to have some girl time and go get Thai massages at Wat Po where there is a famous school. A bit of negotiating trouble with tuk tuk drivers followed by an odd amount of people trying to tell us the wat was closed we made it - thank goodness we'd heard of all the scams before. The 1 hr massage was great - partially because I was so sore from the previous 2 days. Somewhat more intense then a regular massage though - lots of pulling and stretching. Tea at the end and we headed home via MBK.
Met up with Doug and Elliott later that night and walked 45 min over to the night bazaar by Limpini park. A hot night -couldn't move without sweating even long after the sun was down. I've almost forgotten how to be cold outside. The bazaar was a bit classy/touristy for us so no buys. Instead we sat for awhile in the beer garden which was absolutely surreal. 50 meters of plastic tables/chairs surrounded on the edges by food court style stands. At the front their was a stage with 'musicians' probably lip synching with a giant TV behind showing the British open. Strung above the stands and tables was light irrigation tubing misting down water which wasn't enough to keep anybody cool last night. At any rate a good evenings worth of entertainment.
Back at work to day and my chemistry continues to fail miserably. Accidentally staying late to watch a PTLC. Hopefully that will make up for leaving early on Wed. to head to Ko Tao on our long weekend!
Monday, July 11, 2005
Krabi and surrounds
So I made it back from yet another incredible weekend. Hard to believe, but they really do keep getting better each time.
We took off work early on Thurs to make our way to the Southern bus terminal via bus, skytrain, water taxi, and regular taxi - only 2 hrs total from CRI which is pretty good! This city is insane for lack of organization and consistant public transport. ah well. This weekend's adventure included me, Elliott, Doug, Kirk, and Travis. Hannah's mom was visiting so they were together for the weekend and as usual the Texan couple were on their own somewhere. So we get to the bus station and somehow manage to haggle tickets for the 7:30 bus which gave us enough time to eat and hit up the omnipresent 7-11 for supplies. Doug bought what he thought was a beer until he pulled off the tab and passed it around. REALLY bad Thai whisky... the other people waiting for the bus got a hoot out of our reactions I'm sure. Our 12 hr bus ride was actually on a pretty swanky bus. big seats that leaned back pretty far, plus we had the whole back row to ourselves. They gave us water and a snack as soon as we got on and coffee in the morning. Slept as well as possible and we pulled into the Krabi bus station about 8am on Fri.
Our options were pretty open so we ended up heading to a beach area about 30km away via sawngtaow (pickup with seats in the bed) and then longtail boat. Gorgeous weather! We've gotten lucky with it being rainy season yet our trips always have sunny clear skies. The boat dropped us at East Hat Rai Lay where most of the budget accomadation for the area is. There are 3 or 4 beaches connected by trails on this small peninsula surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Climbing came first of course. Elliott's been climbing for a couple yrs and Kirk for a couple months so Doug went with them and rented gear for the day. Since Travis and I were weaker links, we began by exploring the area and its paths. Hiked all over the 3 beaches we could access. Beautiful white sand and azure water. Out in the bays were other isolated limestone clifts overgrown by jungle vegetation. Wins the picturesque award for sure! We found a lookout 'trail' which was like a mudslide up one of the cliffs and hiked up it with a nice English couple we ran into. Pulling ourselves up by conveniently placed ropes it turned into quite the hike! Also got to hike down from there to a hidden lagoon - kept thinking of James Bond stories to go with it.
Then we succumbed to the urge to climb some of the cliffs and did a half day top rope course. Meaning a guy who knew more then we did lead the route and then belayed us from below. Definitely good since climbing isn't my forte. But it was incredible! Julie you'd be proud I hope! A couple of 5's and a 6a. The 6a absolutely killed me at the end. A good 60 feet up and hold that I couldn't reach! Got some good scratches and scrapes from that.
We met back up with the other guys for dinner watching the sunset on the West Hat Rai Lay beach. Then down to an isolated corner to watch stars - the most I've seen since coming to Thailand and a night swim in phosphoresent waters before camping on the beach.
Saturday morning Kirk, Travis, and I took a long tail followed by a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The island is beautiful but the devestation suffered from the tsunami is still evident. It's basically 2 hilly islands connected by a low sandy area where the main town is - of course almost washed away now. We were looking around for a snorkeling trip and went into a place that was obviously very active in recovery work. The man in charge looked a little shooken up and said they were busy as they had someone picking up things that belonged to his parents who had died. I was the only one who saw the box marked 'bones - human remains, do not touch.' Draw your own conclusions as I already have... Brings a far off tragedy home.
We did end up going snorkeling around the southern island of Phi Phi Lay on which they filmed 'The Beach.' Clear water and swarms of colorful tropical fish made our afternoon! Plus I didn't even get sunburnt.. then...
Kirk headed back to Krabi and Travis and I set out to find the more isolated beaches on the other side of the island. You would think that would be simple enough on such a small island, but we never made it to the other side! Instead ended up walking in a couple of different circles. At least we found some good look out spots and enjoyed an isolated sort of jungle trek. Butterflies were everywhere which made it fairy tale like (plenty of mosquitos too unfortunately!)
Basically spent the evening hanging out on the beaches, and on Sunday morning to the ferry back to Krabi. Since our bus left at 5pm we didnt have time to go back to the isolated Hat Rai Lay area so we took a shared taxi to Ao Nang which is a beach near Hat Rai Lay but accessable by road. I'm sure it's packed during the high season but on Sunday there were only a handfull of tourists and more locals trying to sell them massages or necklaces. So we killed the day relaxing on the beach. Hard to complain about that sort of weekend! We did see a kid get stung by a jellyfish but figured our odds were good and indeed made it out without such an injury. Still I've got plenty of scratches and bruises to show as war wounds. If you ever visit Thailand this is one area you do not want to miss!
So an actual full week of work awaits before a planned trip... Back to the chemistry!
We took off work early on Thurs to make our way to the Southern bus terminal via bus, skytrain, water taxi, and regular taxi - only 2 hrs total from CRI which is pretty good! This city is insane for lack of organization and consistant public transport. ah well. This weekend's adventure included me, Elliott, Doug, Kirk, and Travis. Hannah's mom was visiting so they were together for the weekend and as usual the Texan couple were on their own somewhere. So we get to the bus station and somehow manage to haggle tickets for the 7:30 bus which gave us enough time to eat and hit up the omnipresent 7-11 for supplies. Doug bought what he thought was a beer until he pulled off the tab and passed it around. REALLY bad Thai whisky... the other people waiting for the bus got a hoot out of our reactions I'm sure. Our 12 hr bus ride was actually on a pretty swanky bus. big seats that leaned back pretty far, plus we had the whole back row to ourselves. They gave us water and a snack as soon as we got on and coffee in the morning. Slept as well as possible and we pulled into the Krabi bus station about 8am on Fri.
Our options were pretty open so we ended up heading to a beach area about 30km away via sawngtaow (pickup with seats in the bed) and then longtail boat. Gorgeous weather! We've gotten lucky with it being rainy season yet our trips always have sunny clear skies. The boat dropped us at East Hat Rai Lay where most of the budget accomadation for the area is. There are 3 or 4 beaches connected by trails on this small peninsula surrounded by huge limestone cliffs. Climbing came first of course. Elliott's been climbing for a couple yrs and Kirk for a couple months so Doug went with them and rented gear for the day. Since Travis and I were weaker links, we began by exploring the area and its paths. Hiked all over the 3 beaches we could access. Beautiful white sand and azure water. Out in the bays were other isolated limestone clifts overgrown by jungle vegetation. Wins the picturesque award for sure! We found a lookout 'trail' which was like a mudslide up one of the cliffs and hiked up it with a nice English couple we ran into. Pulling ourselves up by conveniently placed ropes it turned into quite the hike! Also got to hike down from there to a hidden lagoon - kept thinking of James Bond stories to go with it.
Then we succumbed to the urge to climb some of the cliffs and did a half day top rope course. Meaning a guy who knew more then we did lead the route and then belayed us from below. Definitely good since climbing isn't my forte. But it was incredible! Julie you'd be proud I hope! A couple of 5's and a 6a. The 6a absolutely killed me at the end. A good 60 feet up and hold that I couldn't reach! Got some good scratches and scrapes from that.
We met back up with the other guys for dinner watching the sunset on the West Hat Rai Lay beach. Then down to an isolated corner to watch stars - the most I've seen since coming to Thailand and a night swim in phosphoresent waters before camping on the beach.
Saturday morning Kirk, Travis, and I took a long tail followed by a ferry to Ko Phi Phi. The island is beautiful but the devestation suffered from the tsunami is still evident. It's basically 2 hilly islands connected by a low sandy area where the main town is - of course almost washed away now. We were looking around for a snorkeling trip and went into a place that was obviously very active in recovery work. The man in charge looked a little shooken up and said they were busy as they had someone picking up things that belonged to his parents who had died. I was the only one who saw the box marked 'bones - human remains, do not touch.' Draw your own conclusions as I already have... Brings a far off tragedy home.
We did end up going snorkeling around the southern island of Phi Phi Lay on which they filmed 'The Beach.' Clear water and swarms of colorful tropical fish made our afternoon! Plus I didn't even get sunburnt.. then...
Kirk headed back to Krabi and Travis and I set out to find the more isolated beaches on the other side of the island. You would think that would be simple enough on such a small island, but we never made it to the other side! Instead ended up walking in a couple of different circles. At least we found some good look out spots and enjoyed an isolated sort of jungle trek. Butterflies were everywhere which made it fairy tale like (plenty of mosquitos too unfortunately!)
Basically spent the evening hanging out on the beaches, and on Sunday morning to the ferry back to Krabi. Since our bus left at 5pm we didnt have time to go back to the isolated Hat Rai Lay area so we took a shared taxi to Ao Nang which is a beach near Hat Rai Lay but accessable by road. I'm sure it's packed during the high season but on Sunday there were only a handfull of tourists and more locals trying to sell them massages or necklaces. So we killed the day relaxing on the beach. Hard to complain about that sort of weekend! We did see a kid get stung by a jellyfish but figured our odds were good and indeed made it out without such an injury. Still I've got plenty of scratches and bruises to show as war wounds. If you ever visit Thailand this is one area you do not want to miss!
So an actual full week of work awaits before a planned trip... Back to the chemistry!
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Kanchanaburi Province
So this weekend was a lovely trip out of town to a province about 2 hrs West of Bangkok, in fact Kanchanaburi Province borders Burma itself. There were 5 of us in the big group: me, Hannah, Travis, Kirk, and Elliot. Doug ended up sick and the couple went on their own as usual and for the best. The adventure began with us attempting to catch a taxi at Victory Monument, apparently the only place in Bangkok it's illegal for them to stop. Eventually we walked far enough away to get one to stop, then it was the excitement of Fri afternoon traffic. The skytrain is fabulous but it doesn't cover near the area it should - for goodnessake at least connect all the bus/train stations! So an hr later we made it to the terminal, and in true Thai style were immediately pointed in the correct direction by people who noticed our lost/out of place look. No other toursists on this bus so we knew we had a winner. All of $1.50 for the aircon ride out.
Arriving in town around 9:30pm we wandered around a night market near the bus station. After finding a vendor selling a buffet of bugs we decided it would be culturally inept not to try a few. I had a couple of crispy meal worms - they taste better at Purdue's bugbowl! Kirk and Elliott were daring and got the largest bug available - about the length from my thumb to forefinger - and devoured it... That's really why we keep the boys around, for entertainment purposes. Next we walked about 1.5km to the main guesthouse area in Kanchanaburi. Luckily we caught the travel service open and a nice lady named Mickey let us set up a 2day/1night tour before hooking us up with a cheap guesthouse down the street. Delcious food from a stand with tables sitting on the edge of the road and a beer or two before our mini slumber party.
Up early on Sat for our 8:30am departure. The minibus was full from the 5 of us and a few day trippers also headed out to Erawan falls which is one of the big attractions in this province. Our guide, Tree, was also there and we learned this was her first 2 day trip and she hadn't even been told before that morning! It was about an hrs drive out to Erawan natl park where we commenced the 2km hike up to the 7th and topmost level of the waterfall. On the initial path we got surrounded by another tour group of what at first appeared to be all women but we soon noticed were all men dressed as women.... Apparently you have to be careful of who is actually a Thai woman... They took quite a fancy to our boys and after not too long all 3 found themselves holding hands with the Thai transvestites. Hilarious!! Hannah and I were safe for obvious reasons but it was really hard not to laugh at the boys' ackward embaressment at their predicament. Lucky for them, we managed to loose that group at the first level of the waterfall. It wasn't too difficult a hike including stops for scenic photos. We even ran into a few monkeys - gibbons which didn't attack! Every level of the falls seemed like another version of a Disney-esque fairyland. After reaching the top, we all jumped in and swam for awhile before hiking down. Swam more at the 4th level where there were natural slip n' slides formed from some huge rocks nearby - just had to be careful of not being eaten by the fish.
From the waterfalls we had a huge lunch and then traveled further North to an elephant camp where we rode elephants for about 30 min - really rode! I just kept thinking that it would totally not be allowed in the US, not so many seatbelts/straps. Towards the end we even got to get out of the seat and ride bareback on the elephant's head! Plus we decided to do the option of giving the elephants a bath so after harness and seat were removed we clambered back on and each rode a separate elephant into the river to scrub it down. Totally awesome as they would almost completely submerge and then rise up a bit and spray you with water from their trunk... Hard to beat that! Afterwards we hopped in the back of a pickup to get taken up stream and ride back past the elephant farm on a bamboo raft. Actually most of the time it was swimming beside the raft as we went down the river. Absolutely glorious! The scenery was full of small mtns covered with jungle folage - out of any SE asian movie ever! Apparently scenes from the Deer Hunter were shot in this area, but I've not seen the movie.
Saturday night we stayed on a rafthouse on Kaom Laem resevoir. No other Western tourists in the vicinity, it was incredibly peaceful. The resevoir leads right up into Burma and apparently is a hotbed for illegal immigration. Sunday morning we had breakfast on a houseraft while being towed around the lake on a longtailed boat. No big town or city just a few huts here and there and plenty of rafthouses. From there we went to Hin Dat hotsprings which was discovered by the Japanese in WW II. Enough time to jump in the river, in the hottub temperature hot spring and back a few times before moving on to Hellfire Pass. Hellfire Pass is one of the deepest cuttings made during the completion of the "Death Railway" in WWII. Tens of thousands of British/Austrailian POWs as well as local laborers died making it - our cultural/historical part of the trip. On the way to Nam Tok we stopped at Sai Yok Noi waterfall - thronged over with tourists so we didn't stay long at all. At Nam Tok we ate lunch before boarding the last train back to Kanchanaburi. A scorcher of an afternoon, the 2 hrs on the train, even with all the windows open, were killer to stay awake during despite the gorgeous scenery. Got out at the Bridge over the River Kwai for a photo op. Just enough time for dinner and running to catch the last train back to Bangkok, although I don't think any of us would've minded missing it for another day out of the city. Tree ended up meeting up with us at the station and giving us a whole bag full of mangosteens, voted one of our favorite Thai fruits. It was great not having to worry about travel plans and have the 5 of us get carted around in our own private minibus with private guide.
So a short week of work on our request - leaving Thurs night for Krabi, a good 12 hr bus ride away!
Arriving in town around 9:30pm we wandered around a night market near the bus station. After finding a vendor selling a buffet of bugs we decided it would be culturally inept not to try a few. I had a couple of crispy meal worms - they taste better at Purdue's bugbowl! Kirk and Elliott were daring and got the largest bug available - about the length from my thumb to forefinger - and devoured it... That's really why we keep the boys around, for entertainment purposes. Next we walked about 1.5km to the main guesthouse area in Kanchanaburi. Luckily we caught the travel service open and a nice lady named Mickey let us set up a 2day/1night tour before hooking us up with a cheap guesthouse down the street. Delcious food from a stand with tables sitting on the edge of the road and a beer or two before our mini slumber party.
Up early on Sat for our 8:30am departure. The minibus was full from the 5 of us and a few day trippers also headed out to Erawan falls which is one of the big attractions in this province. Our guide, Tree, was also there and we learned this was her first 2 day trip and she hadn't even been told before that morning! It was about an hrs drive out to Erawan natl park where we commenced the 2km hike up to the 7th and topmost level of the waterfall. On the initial path we got surrounded by another tour group of what at first appeared to be all women but we soon noticed were all men dressed as women.... Apparently you have to be careful of who is actually a Thai woman... They took quite a fancy to our boys and after not too long all 3 found themselves holding hands with the Thai transvestites. Hilarious!! Hannah and I were safe for obvious reasons but it was really hard not to laugh at the boys' ackward embaressment at their predicament. Lucky for them, we managed to loose that group at the first level of the waterfall. It wasn't too difficult a hike including stops for scenic photos. We even ran into a few monkeys - gibbons which didn't attack! Every level of the falls seemed like another version of a Disney-esque fairyland. After reaching the top, we all jumped in and swam for awhile before hiking down. Swam more at the 4th level where there were natural slip n' slides formed from some huge rocks nearby - just had to be careful of not being eaten by the fish.
From the waterfalls we had a huge lunch and then traveled further North to an elephant camp where we rode elephants for about 30 min - really rode! I just kept thinking that it would totally not be allowed in the US, not so many seatbelts/straps. Towards the end we even got to get out of the seat and ride bareback on the elephant's head! Plus we decided to do the option of giving the elephants a bath so after harness and seat were removed we clambered back on and each rode a separate elephant into the river to scrub it down. Totally awesome as they would almost completely submerge and then rise up a bit and spray you with water from their trunk... Hard to beat that! Afterwards we hopped in the back of a pickup to get taken up stream and ride back past the elephant farm on a bamboo raft. Actually most of the time it was swimming beside the raft as we went down the river. Absolutely glorious! The scenery was full of small mtns covered with jungle folage - out of any SE asian movie ever! Apparently scenes from the Deer Hunter were shot in this area, but I've not seen the movie.
Saturday night we stayed on a rafthouse on Kaom Laem resevoir. No other Western tourists in the vicinity, it was incredibly peaceful. The resevoir leads right up into Burma and apparently is a hotbed for illegal immigration. Sunday morning we had breakfast on a houseraft while being towed around the lake on a longtailed boat. No big town or city just a few huts here and there and plenty of rafthouses. From there we went to Hin Dat hotsprings which was discovered by the Japanese in WW II. Enough time to jump in the river, in the hottub temperature hot spring and back a few times before moving on to Hellfire Pass. Hellfire Pass is one of the deepest cuttings made during the completion of the "Death Railway" in WWII. Tens of thousands of British/Austrailian POWs as well as local laborers died making it - our cultural/historical part of the trip. On the way to Nam Tok we stopped at Sai Yok Noi waterfall - thronged over with tourists so we didn't stay long at all. At Nam Tok we ate lunch before boarding the last train back to Kanchanaburi. A scorcher of an afternoon, the 2 hrs on the train, even with all the windows open, were killer to stay awake during despite the gorgeous scenery. Got out at the Bridge over the River Kwai for a photo op. Just enough time for dinner and running to catch the last train back to Bangkok, although I don't think any of us would've minded missing it for another day out of the city. Tree ended up meeting up with us at the station and giving us a whole bag full of mangosteens, voted one of our favorite Thai fruits. It was great not having to worry about travel plans and have the 5 of us get carted around in our own private minibus with private guide.
So a short week of work on our request - leaving Thurs night for Krabi, a good 12 hr bus ride away!
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