June 2018
Singapore is one of my favorite new cities and Thialand is now one of my favorite countries. The country is beautiful, the people incredibly kind, and the food delicious. I have been having the time of my life. I write you now from Koh Chang, having previously been in Phuket, Koh Phangan, and Bangkok.
One of the best part of travel is the people you meet. The Thai people are always smiling and it is fun spending time with Brits and Russians on holiday. Through my travels, Trump has been discussed more than a few times. The vast majority of the eastern people I have spoken with support Trump. They believe it is a leaders sole responsibility to act in the best interest of his people and to be strong. While the majority of the western travelers disdain Trump.
From now on, we will only talk about all the fun things I have been doing.
Here is a partial list:
- Give an elephant a bath
- Play with monkeys
- Snorkel
- Jet Ski
- See Muay Thai
- Party in the Jungle
- Party on the Beach
- Party at the Waterfall
- Feed a goat
- Feed a pig
- Feed a bunny
- Bottle feed fish
- Go to temples
- Eat Durian
- Hang out at the beach
Thialand has some of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. This is the view from a hotel I stayed at in Surin on Phuket Island. It is a beautiful beach, but did not have much going on in the area so I decided to move 30 minutes down the island to Patong.
Patong is a popular travel destination for both international travelers and Thai alike. Many of the Thai people I have met have never been out of Thailand, and they have all expressed interest in wanting to see America. When I ask where, they always say New York first.
This is a picture of a street market. You can get delicious Thai food for only 50 Thai Baht, which is about $1.50.
This in Bangalore road. It is even wilder than Bourbon Street. Full of wild bars, big clubs, and weird adult shows. It took me a while to understand why so many people thought I wanted to see a ping pong show. I have never been somewhere with more people trying to sell me something. I found it best to smile, wave no thanks, and just keep walking.
On Phuket I went to a Full Moon Party. These are basically huge beach parties for tourist and Thai alike looking for a wild time. The Full Moon Party originated on Koh Phangan in the 1980’s and other islands have borrowed the concept. I would attend the original fool moon part in Koh Phangan in a few days.
I just thought this was a creative way to identify bathrooms. Only now I realize they were also advertising massages.
Thialand loves fire. Been seeing a lot of fire dancers. Even a French one who has lived in Thailand for 17 years.
Had a great time at the elephant sanctuary in Phuket. This is a place were they rescue the elephants from the trecking trips. This Santurary is owned by a Swiss man who loves elephants and wants to save them from the companies that abuse the animals for profit. During our visit, we met 4 female elephants. All are in their 40’s, just entering their second half of life.
First we hand fed them pineapple by holding it out so they could grab is with their trunk. The truck of an elephant is so dexterous and strong that is can pick up a coin or a 500 pound log. After feeding we gave them a mud massage and bathed them. These elephants live a pretty great life and you can tell they are happy. They get fed around 500 pounds of food a day, get daily mud massages, and are never chained up or forced to work.
This one I am putting mud on is named Mali. She hurt here food many year ago when she stepped on a landline. She is doing great now and likes to play jokes. She was the first one I fed and bathed. When I went to go pet another female elephants, she filled her truck up with water and sprayed me, twice.
The elephant caretakers, and their families, all live with the elephants. Most of these caretakers come from families that have worked with elephants for many generations. Each elephant has a specific caretaker to bond with.
The most popular sport in Thailand in Mauy Thai. It is a combination of boxing and kickboxing. Walking down the street on a Sunday night we see this truck drive by with a fighter practicing kicks on the roof. It drew my interest, so my Thai friend and I decided to go the the Bangalore Boxing Club to, “See da best!”
I was very surprised when we showed up and the first fight was kids. The event was done by weight class. As the night went on the fighters got bigger and older. Respect plays a huge roll in this sport. Each fighter made a ceremonial walk around the ring before the fight, stopping on each wall and corner to pray. Even through the fight, you could see a high level of respect between opponents and I did not see any cheap shots. When a fighter was knocked out, the applause was louder when he got up then when the other fighter won.
There was even an American fighter. Five weeks ago he was a computer program working in San Francisco. He felt we wasn’t living life fully enough so he moved to Thailand to train in Mauy Thai. This was his first fight and I have a lot of respect for him getting into the ring.
While on Phuket island I decided to do one of the speedboat tours to visit a few different islands and go snorkeling. I wasn’t the only person who decided to do this.
Reality
These wild monkeys were pretty chill, except for the one trying to pickpocket me.
This monkey is a tourist photo prop. His owner seemed really nice and the monkey seemed well cared for. I got to play with him a bit and feed him a peanut.
On my way from Phuket to Koh Phangan, I had a few hours to kill before catching my ferry to the island (Koh means island.) I was able to get a private tour guide to show me some of the temples for 2 hours and only cost 200 Baht or $6.25.
There were several artists on the island making both large and small movie characters from scrap metal. It was interesting seeing Predator next to a Buddhist temple.
This was my tour guide, Ota.
These temples are amazing!
It was interesting seeing these magnificent temples, and simple huts on the other side of the water.
This is the hotel I stayed at Koh Phangan. Very friendly staff and great place to spend time relaxing.
The night before full moon party, there is the Jungle Party. It’s a party in the jungle.
Full moon party is a once a month rager on the beach. Along the beach there are bars, clubs, booths, and lots of fire dancers. You go up and down the beach dancing and drinking out of a bucket.
This in Nuch and Anya, we met at Full Moon Party and have stayed friends since.
Lots of chill dogs in Thailand.
The night after full moon party is the Waterfall Party. It’s a party, in the jungle, by a waterfall. It’s wild.
And this wraps up the solo part of my travels. Now I head to Bangkok to meet up with my sister and cousin.