Well, much has happened in the past two weeks since I last wrote. My apologies to those of you religiously reading this blog in hopes of knowing my every move. On the other hand, if you are religiously reading this blog in hopes of knowing my every move, it's called stalking and you might want to consider an new hobby.
Anyway, it's been a relatively exciting couple of weeks. It all began back in Bangkok, where I met up with Jen, an old friend from high school and her fiance Ben. I hadn't seen Jen in about five years, so it was some coincidence that we both happened to be on the opposite side of the world at the same time; she and Ben were here for a wedding. We spent a day or so around Bangkok, after which they headed north to Chiang Mai and I eventually headed north to Pak Chong where I had the experience told of in my previous entry. We made plans to meet up again in Phuket and then travel south together to Koh Phi Phi, an island off the Andaman Coast.
As usual, I waited until the last possible minute and walked into a travel agent expecting to be able to board a night train to Phuket that day. What I had failed to take into account was that it was right around the full moon, and everyone was heading south for the parties. The trains were booked solid for a week, but I could get a bus the following night. Knowing that it was a 12 hour trip, I was a little apprehensive about taking the bus, but it was either the bus or spend 1000 Baht more and fly. My traveler's thriftiness kicked in and I settled on the bus. Bad idea.
After boarding the bus near Khaosan Road (this was my first clue that the trip was going to suck) I was actually lucky enough to get a seat at the very front of the buss on the top deck. Things were going well at first; a bunch of young British girls were boarding the bus behind me and I figured I'd at least have someone interesting to talk with for the trip. This was not to be so. A stinky French guy also boarded the bus and the unhappy Thai girl seating people stuck this filth next to me; super. What made this even cooler was that the seats had no middle armrest, so I was now sitting in the transportation equivalent of a love seat with this guy who quite obviously hadn't showered since the days of Napoleon. The bus got underway and after an hour or so the French guy decided it was time to sleep...against me. The French haven't won a war in centuries and I wasn't about to let this douché bag (the accent is to identify this particular douche bag as French) win this one. A sharp shove from my elbow jolted him from his dream of hairy-legged women with condescending attitudes three-hundred years out of date. He then shifted to the opposite side of the seat which was preferable, but then began to snore.
At this point, I was nicely pissed and began silently cursing Jen for convincing me to travel to Phuket; all I wanted was to be back on Koh Tao, comfortably in my room. This was not to be, after all, we were in the middle of Thailand on a shitty bus with ten hours to go before reaching our destination. Thankfully, my iPod (which started working again shortly after arriving in Bangkok) was fully charged and I spent much of the rest of the trip listening to Metallica and the like, letting my temper stew.
I eventually arrived in Phuket and was dropped off at a travel agent of all places, sometime around 9:00 AM. Phuket, I'm convinced, exists only to extort money from unsuspecting western tourists. From the second I arrived at the travel agent I was assaulted with offers for hotels, resorts, diving trips, etc. I had no need for any of this since Jen and Ben were kind enough to offer me a bed in their room and the travel agent quickly lost interest in me, including helping me get to the pier when he realized he wasn't going to make a dime off of me. I eventually worked an over-priced taxi ride from him and made it to the pier.
The boat ride to Phi Phi was about two hours and was the perfect opportunity to calm my temper, which was still boiling from the stank-ass Frenchie and the con-artist travel agent. The seas were calm and the weather was near perfect, by the time I arrived in Phi Phi and met Jen and Ben, I was almost normal again, save for the fact that I still hadn't slept or eaten anything in almost 24 hours. Koh Phi Phi is absolutely gorgeous though, and after a few minutes in the pool at their hotel, I forgot I was ever angry about traveling there.
I had planned on only staying on Phi Phi for a night or two. I ended up staying four. My experience there is sort of cloudy thanks to ten too many Chang Beers (I'm convinced it's poisonous now), but once I pull the pictures off my cameras, I should have a better recollection. There was one particular incident that probably ranks in the top ten funniest things I've ever seen in my life, but I'm only mentioning here for posterity. I can't really describe it and even if I could it would only be funny to the people who were there, including once VERY confused Thai security guard who is now 1200 Baht richer.
I did manage to go diving on Phi Phi and while I didn't see any new fish, the underwater terrain was different enough from Koh Tao to make the trip very worthwhile. Jen and Ben also worked it so I could go snorkeling with the wedding party. It's funny telling people that I was there just because I happened to be in the area.
After four nights on Phi Phi, it was time to return to Koh Tao. There was apparently a storm brewing in the Gulf of Thailand so no travel agent on Phi Phi could get me all the to Koh Tao. The best they could do was get me to the mainland where it would be up to me to find my way back...after all, this is traveling. Once I got to the pier at Krabi I was able to book a boat to Koh Tao. I was adamant about it NOT being a night boat, since in the last few years, more than a handful of these things have sank. The woman at the desk assured me, no, she literally guaranteed that it would not be a night boat. I don't know why I was surprised when I got to Surat Thani and it was a night boat.
Night Train is track three on Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction album. After now experiencing the night train, bus, and boat in Thailand, I know why Axel and crew chose the train. Not only do Night Bus and Night Boat not have the same catchy ring to them, as real entities they absolutely suck. While my bus ride was made worse by the guy sitting next to me, I don't think he would have made the boat ride much different.
To begin with, the night boat is only about five feet high. So, in other words, unless you're Thai or of some other short bloodline, you can't stand up. You of course can stand on the open deck in the front of the boat, but that's where they put the pigs. Now, I know what you're saying, "Yeah, but dude, you've been with fat chicks before." True, but never one that was actually part of the genus Sus (Any Rochester people reading this will please shut their mouths now). With livestock up front, the "living area" was preferable, but only marginally so. It was really just a long room with mattresses on the floor. Now, while that doesn't sound too bad, these mattresses are at sea every night of the year in a non-air-conditioned cabin. The boat was thankfully uncrowded, so I at least had some space. I found a spot under a fan that seemed comfortable enough, laid out my sarong to hopefully act as a barrier between my body and anything growing in the mattress and began to read my book.
The boat left the dock and started on the eight hour trip to Koh Tao. I had read about fifty pages and was really getting into the story when the lights went out, taking the fans with them. I figured it was just a short power outage, but soon discovered this is how the boat works...it was now sleepy time. There was a slight breeze from the ocean coming in through the windows, so air was circulating, but barely. I again began to curse people, but this time the girl at the ticket counter who had guaranteed that I wouldn't be on a night boat and that the boat I would be on would be air-conditioned. Just when I figured things couldn't get much worse, my sarong started moving. I turned it up to find the largest cockroach I've ever seen. I flicked it with my book, only to see it come charging back at me. I flicked it again and it fell into the gutter surrounding the sleeping area; I never saw it again. Figuring I'd now entered the seventh circle of hell, I contented myself with the thought that things just now could not get worse unless the boat sank and that might actually be a welcome change. That's when the drunk (or high, I couldn't tell) Thai started yelling in his sleep and stumbling around the room.
When we boarded the boat, the westerners sat near the front and the Thais sat near the rear. I sat somewhere in between because this is where I could get the most space. This also meant that I was now the closest westerner to this guy who was obviously out of his mind. He began harassing the other Thais around him, who started yelling back in Thai. I knew if he came my way, I wouldn't have that luxury. Luckily, his friend persuaded him to head outside before he reached me. Three hours later this exact scene replayed itself...good times.
The boat docked in Koh Tao around 7:00 AM. I really hadn't slept or ate, so I wasn't feeling too great by now. I got a room here at Ban's and took a nap for a few hours. I got a bite to eat and decided that a dive might do me some good. I ended up throwing up my lunch after the first dive; curry hurts much more coming back up. I attributed this not to sea sickness, but to just being overtired and spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping on the boat deck, and then later in my room.
I woke up around 8:00 PM feeling like garbage. It was then that I took my temperature and found that it was 100.8. The doctor at my insurance company suggested that I take some Tylenol, get some rest, and see what it was in the morning. It turned out to be 101.5 and I was feeling positively awful. The same doctor then told me to get to the hospital on Koh Samui as quickly as possible.
I bought a boat ticket and by 3:00 PM I was on my way to the hospital. I hoped to be there by 5:00. When I got to Koh Samui, I told the taxi driver that I wanted to go to a particular hospital and was directed to a minivan. Thirty minutes into the ride, I reminded the driver where I wanted to go and he looked at me like I was speaking Greek, and I imagine if I had been speaking Greek, the result would have been the same.
After pointing to the hospital on a map in my Lonely Planet book, I found out that not only had I boarded the wrong minivan, but that we had been traveling in the opposite direction the entire time. I got off at the next resort an arranged a taxi back towards the hospital. The only problem was that there were three hospitals between where I was and where I wanted to go, and, thanks to a pre-arranged fare, the taxi driver tried to get me to go to each of them. I insisted and eventually arrived at Samui International Hospital at 7:00 PM, my fever and headache raging.
I won't go into the rather disgusting details of the hospital visit, but the doctor determined that I had a bacterial infection in my stomach, probably from dirty ice or water, but it was impossible to determine. I was prescribed a broad spectrum antibiotic and released, with no idea where to go. It was too late to get a boat back to Koh Tao and I didn't have a clue where to stay. I wandered around for about 45 minutes until I found a guesthouse that had an available room. It turned out to be a nice place and I immediately fell asleep and caught the boat back to Koh Tao in the morning.
I've been on Koh Tao since, and have been feeling better every day. The antibiotics are working their magic and I feel like I'm about 100% again. I've made a few more dives, I think I have around 30 now. Some divers saw a couple of whale sharks at one of the dive sites a few days ago, I'm hoping to see it as well soon. I'm thinking about taking a diving trip to the Similan Islands with a few other DMTs next week. Apparently the diving is just about as good as it gets anywhere in the world and the visibility is something crazy like 40 meters; it's only about 5 meters right now on Koh Tao. It will be on a live-aboard boat as the Similans are almost entirely uninhabited, so it should be an experience; 14 dives in 4 days...more good stuff.
In other news, I've rented a (real, with a clutch, no more scooters for me) motorbike on a monthly basis now, and I'm currently looking for a monthly rental house. I think I'll be able to finish my DMT by the end of January, but I'll probably stick around through February just to do some more diving. In March I'll head back to Bangkok, store a bunch of my stuff and then head north to Chiang Mai, Pai, and then Northeast into Laos. I'm looking to travel from Vientiane, up the Mekong River through Vang Vien to Luang Prabang. After that, I'll head back down to BKK, and east to Seam Reap to Angkor Wat for a few days, then down south to Penom Phen and back to BKK. I'm quite sure I'll be broke by then and will be back in the US by early April; I'm hoping to be home by my birthday on the 12th.
I hope everyone is well, where ever you are. I'm sure I'll get to write some more before the holidays, but if I don't, I'm wishing everyone the best.
