Travelogue#1: Bangkok is awesome!!

January 27, 2006

Hey all

Well after a 13 1/2 hour plane ride to Hong Kong and a 1 hour stop over and then another 3 hour plane ride to Bangkok I finally got here at midnight with a crowd of taxi drivers trying to get my business and telling me that the bus is no longer running. Well I just passed by them out the door 10 feet to grab the bus which was only 10% the cost of what the taxi drivers were quoting me.

I got up at around 7am to wander the street since there are street vendors lined up throughout the streets of Bangkok serving excellent food at cheap prices (Yes I am liking this place very much). All their pop is from the 1970 style bottles that are round and swirly so I ordered one and the woman opens the bottle and then to my astonishment she begins to pour it all into a bag and then shovels some ice into it and a straw and then passes me my bag of pepsi lol! Well I found out it was only 30 cents so I was quite happy about the deal.

The temperature is very comfortable here and I can wear jeans and a tank top and never really get too hot or sweaty. I see many people wearing surgical masks to help from the smog here. My first day after checking out Bangkok for a few hours I returned to just lay down for a bit and I slept from 12 noon to 7am the next day. I certainly needed the sleep. To start the morning off right I ordered a pitcher of chang draft beer for $4cdn (Yup I really like this place) and did some window shopping where DVD players are $30cdn and sony tv sets are $100cdn. To get around there is the skytrain but I have been using the tuk-tuks since they are cheap too which are basically three wheeled motorcycles with a canopy on top. You would be surprised how far around the city they will take you for only $1cdn LOL!

Thai people are very warm and friendly and always smiling. Many who speak english will come up and offer me advice on where to go and what the locals do and pay etc... It is the Chinese new year here and stores shut down for business over next week. I went to the tourist office and booked into another hotel on the other side of town and made arrangements for a visa and travel to Cambodia in a few weeks when my 30 day thai pass expires. I then grabbed a tuk tuk to see the sleeping Buddha which was the taxi drivers idea. Even as we were driving the driver stopped to give some guy an envelope of money which he said was an offering to Buddha. A couple monks greeted me at the door asking for 20 baht. Being the big spender I am I gave them 50 baht ($1.50dcn) and they gave me a bowl of coins to place in about 50 different pots around the sleeping Buddha statue. I really didn't think this was necessary but I didn't want to offend them so I painstakenly went around placing one coin in every pot and then they gave me a paper thin piece of gold to put on the golden Buddha statue. They were more than happy to pose for my camera and seemed to like it.

I met a couple of english speaking Thais at the sleeping Buddha later and one was an architect but donated time at the temple and seemed like a really selfless individual which I find most Thais are like that and he seemed to not like George Bush calling him selfish and all about taking from his country through unfair practices. I assured him he wasn't the only one who felt that way. He gave me lots of advice and told me to buy a suit at a certain place because all the Thais do and that they tailor suits like Hugo Boss and Armani but for a fraction of the price and then to go get some rubies and saphires which is mined in Thailand and only sold to the public one week of the year and today was the last day. Thais buy these precious stones as investments. Well I didn't see any point in going to either place and when I left I met another Thai who was just up from Singapore where he lives and we chatted for awhile and I showed him my map and he saw what the other Thia man had written about the Tailor and precious stones dealer and his eyes lit up and said the reason he is here in Thailand this week is to buy some rubies from the one dealer that is selling to the public for this one week only and told me the prices he paid for a suit there and told me to check it out for myself. Well I still didn't think having a suit would be necessary but the tuk tuk driver drove me there which took a long time and I reminded him of the $50 baht arrangement we had made and he kept saying "No problem at all" then he explained that these businesses pay him in gas certificates to bring in customers and complained that gas was 40 cents canadian a liter which I told him it was $1 a liter from where I come from.

The taxi driver then told me he had 3 suits at home from this place and showed me his $18,000 Baht ruby ring which surprised me since this guy was only getting $40 baht from me for this 2 hour ride thinking they must not make very much. Anyhow believe it or not I wound up buying a hugo boss suit for $350 cdn with 3 extra shirts that they tailored for me. They took my measurements and I am on my way back there in a few hours for fitting and then it will take only a few days for my suit. It is a casual suit that is cream colour with a good fabric so I will have the whole Don Johnson/miami vice thing happening when I wear it around Bangkok :).

OK have to run now as I am checking out of my place now and my internet time is running out shortly. Lots has happened in the last few days and it is definitely my kind of place and they say Bangkok is the worst part of Thailand so things can only get better.

Kevin

Bangkok Photos

 My new suit.

Travelogue#2: Bangkok

January 31, 2006

Well since last I wrote I moved across town to the Khao San district which is where the backpackers hang out and close to all tourist sites. You would be amazed out how cheap everything is here compared to North America. I almost bought a two handed sword but knew it would be a pain packing it around with me. I got my suit back and am realizing it is too hot to wear it outside (It made so much sense at the time in that air conditioned tailor shop lol! They normally ship it to your home country for you but I also got 3 high quality silk shirts with it which is great in this heat. I actually bought 3 more from another tailor and am picking them up this evening. Things are so cheap here it is hard not to spend money even for a cheapskate like me. Most of the street food is $10 baht which is around 30 cents an item. Half a cantaloupe, deep fried chicken, corn of the cob, etc... are $10 baht. Leather couches run from $100-$500 cdn. I tried squid for $20 baht (very chewy).

Bangkok was established in 1782 and was called the "venice of the east" since it has canals that run throughout the city. English speaking Thais always come up to you and say hello and hope to start a conversation with you. Then a few will lead you to different jewelry stores where they get a little commission from the store owner. One jewelry store clerk showed me some fake Rolex watches that were so identical you couldn't tell the difference from a real one and even the seconds hands didn't "tick" but glided smoothly around which real Rolexs do. So I negotiated the price down from $2200 to $1600 baht. I started at $1000 and the shop girl simply said "no way" and countered at $2000 and then I said $1500 max and she hesitated and called over her mom (we'll call her the dragon lady) and the dragon lady said $1800 and then I said $1600 max and was prepared to leave and she said OK. I handed over my interact card and they wanted cash so I checked my wallet and I had $1440 baht and then I remembers I had $5 cdn in my walled too so that brought it to $1605. Wanting a bit of cash for the taxi ride home I told them I would keep $35 baht ($1 cdn) and give them $1565. Well the dragon lady had a spaz attack freaking out that we had a deal at $1600 and that her son was preparing the watch to fit my wrist. I said OK fine! No need to blow a harry over $35 baht. I was totally shocked at how mad this woman got. Afterwards she tried to be polite and make friendly conversation as my watch was being fitted for my wrist (I felt like saying "I am afraid I can't recommend your shop to my friends who were looking to buy some expensive rings based on that little spaz performance you put on").

Most Thias are very happy people always smiling and laughing. They are the happiest people I have ever come across. Later when I left the store I found the sunglasses I was looking for and offered $200 baht from the $250 baht sticker and the vendor said he would give me 2 for $450 baht which I didn't want so I agreed to paying the $250 baht sticker price for one pair. And then he says "ok, you only want one pair so I agree to your originall offer of $200 baht. I laughed and said "Yes" thinking that this guy must have watched Monty Pythons "life of Brian" where the vendor haggles in the opposite direction just for the fun of haggling.

Many Thias have talked about getting jewelry as an investment since Thailand is one of the biggest miners of rubies and saphires. Of course there are many jewelry scams here but there are authentic shops you can buy from and get authenication papers describing how many Karats, the type of cut, type of stone, etc... I ran into a guy from London at one of the temples and he showed me the stones he bought for $3100US (You are only allowed to buy 3 jewelry items per year from Thailand as a individual person and many Thais buy the maxim if they can). Anyhow this Londoner said he doubles his money buy selling it back in London but first asking for triple his money from the dealer and then settling at double his original investment and he has done this 4 times in the last 4 years which basically pays for his trip. I am not interested in buying any jewelry at this stage but am thinking of possibly buying some sometime down the road and the investment wheels are turning in my head.

Tuk Tuk drivers will drive you around to see the sites for free but you will have to go to a jewelry shop who pays the Tuk Tuk driver his 1 liter gas certificate (gas is 90 cents a liter here). After seeing some temples (and I am totally templed out now) the tuk tuk driver drove me to the jewelry shop for his gas certificate and I walked in with 5 attendants ready to serve me.

A cute one from behind the counter said "You are from Sweden?" and I said "no but close I am from Canada" and she showed me all the rings they had as I did my part for my loyal tuk tuk driver. She asked if I wanted to buy one for my wife and I told her I was single and looking for a thai girlfriend and then she says with a shy smile "I not have boyfriend" and then another co worker takes a step closer to us and she says "She not have boyfriend either. I have many girlfriends I can introduce you too and help you find an apartment here". I tell you, I am really starting to like Thailand! Her name is "Eat" and I told her I would call her once I get back from Cambodia. I am off to Cambodia on Friday (Or Thursday for you guys) where I will go to Angkor Wat and then to the capital city before returning to Bangkok and working my way south. I am going to buy a one way ticket to Beijing for April and apply for a Chinese visa in Bangkok. I am also going to look at getting a residency permit so I don't have to leave and come back to Thailand every 30 days since you get a 30 day visa exemption upon arrival but have to leave the country after 30 days before returning.

I usually go to the Khao San district where the backpackers hang out and check out the markets there. Some big 280lb east Indian with a turbin and huge beard trying to pass himself off as a psychic was hounding me to go with him for a reading. I knew he was a fake but thought "OK lets see where this goes" and he led me down a narrow pathway (3 feet wide) between the buildings to where other swami looking east indians were doing readings for some white female tourist where they just sat down on the ground doing these palm readings. Well my guy was so bad he was saying the exact opposite of what was in my future like I would be going home to find a great job and making guesses and generalizations by my appearance. I told him he was WAAAAAAAAAY off and he said "Please sir!!, you must let me finish!". Then he wanted me to place a bunch of money in a folded hankerchief and I told him he was only worth $50 baht ($1.50 cdn) for sheer entertainment value so at that he refused to go on and told me good luck.

LIke any big city there are lots of "touts" trying to make a buck and bringing you to jewelry stores for a commission etc...  I have been sleeping 12 hours a night and think it must be the heat or the lack of caffeine. It is easy to lay down for a nap to awaken 8 hours later when it is 11pm and then easy to go back to sleep and sleep another 7 hours (Trust me, I've done it a few times already).

Nice to see Gold going up and hitting a new high of $572oz. I have made $17,000US with my gold investment since Jan 3, 2006 (Skippity do daa!!). I can't wait until it hits $600oz and then I will buy more and will be able to live in Thailand forever and never have to work again!!

Anyhow, I will be going to Cambodia on Friday once I get my passport back from the tourist office so the next time I write I will be in Cambodia. I have also learned to count to 10 in Thai. It sounds like this 1= Nuung 2= sing 3= sam 4= see 5= HA 6= hawk 7= jet 8= Bat 9= cow 10= sip. There all of you can count to 10 in Thai now! Thank you = Cop con. This is all I know so I am far from fluent in Thai haha.

Talk to you all soon

Kevster

Khao San rd photo

Khao san road.

Travelogue#3: Cambodia and Angkor Wat

February 6, 2006

Hello Folks

Since last I wrote I was in Bangkok for 10 days. Lots of mosquitos in the last place I stayed at and I have mosquito bites all over my arms and body. (Note to self: pick up insect repellant). The last place was a real dump but I booked it through an agency because it was cheap but they had no pictures available to show me (Now I know why!). TAT is the main agency for booking all travel needs but I didn't realize they pad the bill by 70% and stuck me in a dump. Welcome to Asia Kevin!!. Everything is commission over here.

Touts of all ages who speak english will chat you up and ask what you are looking for and then lead you to a commissioned store where they get a little something for bringing you in. I am getting used to their bidet toilet system too since I couldn't figure out why there was hardly any toilet paper available and all toilets come with a hose with a nozzle attached to the wall. At first I thought I was being bad when I used it out of necessity having no toilet paper available until I realized that was why it was there.

I am shocked at the amount of "lady boys" I have spotted in Bangkok. Many travelers have said you can't tell the lady boys from the thai woman but I spot them immediately wondering why there are guys in drag walking the streets of Bangkok. After I got my bus ticket I spotted some delicious looking chicken so I bought it and sat down at an outside eatery when this gender confused freako sat down across from me with arms flinging around like gays do when they over dramatize female movements and this "freako" was trying to start conversation with me as I tried to enjoy my chicken asking me questions like where are you from etc... I was rolling my eyes and looking in the opposite direction trying to give "it" the hint to piss off and finally I just said I didn't understand what he was saying and it took awhile before he/it finally left me alone.

From the street vendors I got a whole catfish on a shishkabob and it was absolutely delicious and the meat basically just slid off the bones. Asian cooking is superb and they can cook anything and make it taste delicious.

After 10 days in Bangkok I left for Siam Reap, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat which was a 12 hour bus ride which was comfortable until we got to the Cambodian border and changed buses where 20 of us packed into a mini van and drove over the pot hole filled dirt road to Siam Reap (Our asses were hurting after that). They have illegal gas stations where they fill up 2 liter bottles with gasoline and my guide told me they pay off the corrupt cops to look the other way. Apparently cops have 2 other jobs and being a cop isn't a full time job and doesn't pay anything (Geez, I wonder why there are corrupt cops??). Our bus stopped at a guest house at 10pm and most of us were too tired to argue or look for another one. In the morning I got a driver who looks exactly like the chinese kid from "Indiana Jones and the temple of doom" called "Short round". So I nicknamed him shortie.

A Swiss traveler who I chatted with the whole bus ride said he wasn't allowed to rent a scooter and I didn't see one traveler riding a scooter but they make you get one with a driver to show you around Angkor Wat and all the other ancient temples in this area. Angkor Wat is just the biggest temple here which is surrounded by a mout and is 1.3 x1.5km but there are many other huge temples in the area and another big one is the Bayan which you have probably seen with all the smiley faces on 4 sides of a tower. I have to admit the temples here are way more impressive than the ones the Mayans built which I visited a few years ago. Half way through our day my driver "shorty" says he has to go to a wedding reception for a couple hours and asks if I want to stay at a temple for a couple hours or go with him to the wedding reception. He said it was all you can eat and all the Angkor beer you can drink and I said............ SURE!!!

The groom greeted me at the door saying "Thank you for coming" and we sat down and started pounding back Cambodian made "Angkor beer". I must have drank 20 beer (only because I was being polite and didn't want to offend anyone sucking back 50 in an hour or so). The food was absolutely delicious and I had the best cooked shrimp I have ever had. Even with chopsticks I got lots down :). They served fried duck and other foods and girls came around topping our beer drinks with ice cubes on a regular basis. I was surprised that many could speak english. My guide book said the average cambodian makes $20US PER MONTH!! Obviously these people made a little more but I put $20US as a gift to the groom and a guy at the hotel said he opened it and was shocked at the huge sum of money I gave him since most people contributed very small amounts (I felt like I drank $30 worth of beer + incredible food so didn't think much of it).

After that shortie and I drove back to Angkor wat very drunk. I stumbled around the site taking random pictures of nothing when three monks dressed in orange robes called up to me to stay where I was and that they were coming up. OK I am pissed out of my tree and these holy men want to talk to me...Great! Anyhow they smile and gesture that their photographer wants to get a shot of them with the big white blond guy. Later on I wanted to find a nice fluffy bush to pass out under but I know my driver would never find me.

Everytime you pass by a concession stand many Cambodian women will cry out "Hey Meeeeeeister! Want some cold driiiiiiiiiink?". Of course they all want you to deal with them and not their competition that is 5 feet away from each other. I saw a couple small elephants being rode around like a car with the driver putting his foot on the elephants ear to get it to slow down (I guess that is the brake).

On our second day we got into a scooter collision with another scooter. Asian drivers will drive on the opposite side of the road going into oncoming traffic on the shoulder of the road and it is normal here but my driver shortie was in the wrong since you are not technically allowed to do that and some guy swerved to turn and we T-boned him and crashed. The other guy drove a piece of junk scooter so he didn't care about the damage and left. We saw at least 100 orange robed monks marching across the road at Angkor wat and shortie told me it was their once a year fast and meditation time where they spend one full month in solitude with no food. The next day we went out to a far off site where there were not too many tourists and saw some very poor people who lived in bamboo huts with stilts in case of floods. I was shocked at how happy the kids were and everytime they saw me they would smile and wave frantically or say "Hallo!".

Later we went back to Angkor wat site and played with some monkeys. Shortie told me they would bite me if I tried to touch them but I sat still and a few came up to me and one climbed up me like a ladder and sat on my head with a strong grip like a frightened cat then it came down and started biting my finger trying to take a piece off by moving its head but its teeth were too dull (Thank god!). Shortie got a picture of it and then my sunglasses got knocked off my head and the little bugger grabbed them like a rugby ball firmly tucked in its armpits as it made a dash for the jungle. Shortie got them before the little bugger got away and as he did another grabbed his helmet and made a mad dash for the jungle to bring back its prize which was funny to us until we saw he had the keys to the scooter in his little palm and that is when we freaked out and chased the monkey but he dropped it before making it back into the forested area. Some of the monkeys had little babies in their pouch and the babies would jump out to look around and the mother would just hold onto the babies tail to make sure it didn't get very far.

I just finished my 3 day tour of Angkor Wat and surrounding temples and am off to Phnom Penh tomorrow morning for a fun and enjoyable bumpy 9 hour ride (I can't wait!!). I am checking flights with Air Asia which is the airline all the asians use since they are dirt cheap and thinking of heading into Vietnam after getting a visa in Phnom Penh. Shortie told me the Cambodian language is 50% similar to Thai language but 50% different but can understand each other. He told me a lot of Cambodian history and all the kings where it thrived between 700AD and 1400AD when the Thais came in and wiped them out. Very similar time period as the Mayans. Wandered around Siam Reap in the back markets which were disgusting to western standards with flies all over the meat and fish and I saw turtles, ducks and fish for sale.

This internet connection is really slow so I will try to download some pictures over the next week or so.

OK over and out and chat with you all soon.
Kevster

Angkor Wat photos

Here I am at a Cambodian wedding. That is my scooter driver "shortie" on the right.

Travelogue#4: Phnom Penh

February 7, 2006

I am in Phnom Penh right now and the ride wasn't so bad as the one to Siam Reap. It was only 6.5 hours long. I have found a nice guest house here that has all the services a traveler needs with great prices. I can even apply for a Vietnam visa through them and get it within 24 hours and book my $6us bus ticket through them to Ho chi minh city. My guide book says that I can go from the south of Vietnam (Ho chi minh city) to the north of Vietnam (Hanoi) for $22US and I can jump on and off along the way. From Hanoi I can purchase a cheap ticket through Air Asia back to Bangkok. I will stay in Phnom Penh for a couple days before moving on.

Talk to you all from Vietnam.

Kevin