January 20, 2007 by zankbennett.

About there months ago, I read the Author’s Profile in the beginning of the Lonely Planet book. One of the authors wrote about his “favorite trip” up to the far northwest of Vietnam. He took a motorbike on a massive trip over 1000 km through the high mountains, meeting tribes of villagers and having the greatest adventure of his life. At that moment I made up my mind to do a similar trip.
I managed to find the right bike to set out on. It’s a Yamaha, 2-stroke, 175 cc motorbike. Now I need to find a warm jacket. It’s COLD here and colder in the mountains. Gloves, hat, rain cover the whole rig.
With much trepidation I have planned this trip as a solo venture. Of course, once here I’m hearing stories about people who do this thing solo all the time. I’m amped and ready for the challenges that the road and trail bring. Finding these tribes could prove to be quite a challenge, but one I’m really up for. Lots of hiking and getting lost on trails and the road are surely in my near future. This is it, the apex of my adventures on this trip!

Leaving tomorrow, if all goes well today procuring various things I need. I’ll be riding with a spare tire and some tools for working on the bike, should it break down. I’ll have a single change of clothes and, of course, the camera gear.

Massive vistas from towering mountain passes. Mud slides. Mechanical failures. Days and days alone. It’s all coming.

Right now, all limbs and faculties are working. I just hope that when I come back to Hanoi I can say the same. I’ll be as safe as I can be! This is IT!!!

I’ll post if it’s available to me, but likely I’ll just post a massive one on return.
Best,
-Z

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January 19, 2007 by zankbennett.

From my sweet hotel in Hue, took a 12 1/2-hour bus tour of the demilitarized zone, DMZ in central Vietnam. It was a really heavy day. The tour guide grew up in the first town south of the DMZ and remembered playing ball and spending time with the US soldiers when he was around 10 years old. He told stories about the poverty he experienced with his family when Vietnam was under full communism (now, a free market exists in communist Vietnam.) for a year he had one change of clothing. His family would receive a “coupon” for food: 2 kilos of meat and 7 of rice per month. Things are much improved for him now, but, of course, none of it is due to the war. He guides tours around and through the DMZ and occasionally takes small groups anywhere they desire. Tourism has only been open to Vietnam since around 1990, so things are still rather in the state they were left in 40 years ago. There are crashed planes to see. There are bunkers to go into. There are VC tunnels to explore, complete with maternity rooms and classrooms. Our guide described to the group a recent trip he took to one of the most famous mountain tops north of the DMZ. He went with two returning American veterans who told him stories of the four months they lived in a hole atop that mountain and under intense enemy fire. They requested to spend one last night on that hill together. The guide obliged.
Since 1990 many US veterans have returned.
He told of the 5,000 deaths that have occurrd since the war to Vietnamese due to old, buried munitions or mines. The death rate is slowing, but even last year a small boy stepped on a mine and lost his legs near the DMZ.
I met an older man at lunch who is a veteran and is the CEO of an organization trying to find a way to more efficiently scan for the underground death traps.

There was a lot to see and hear during this tour. It avoided the gory (there’s plenty of it here and doesn’t require searching!).

I found it intreasting that I came for the tunnels at Vinh Moc, but they were hardly the most impressive part of the day. Maybe the crater from a bomb dropped by the US just outside the tunnel entrance was more impressive. Maybe the fighter plane captured by the N Vietnamese and after only six days of trial-and-error training used against the south, including the US troops. Maybe it was the look on our guides face when he smiled after telling us about life during and amidst the war.

On to Hanoi.

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January 19, 2007 by zankbennett.

Flight from HCMC to Hua. People were amazed to be above the city lights and so crowded to the windows for a glimpse. It was a little prop. plane. No thanks, but I suppose I couldn’t really choose!
It’s cold here. Drizzling as I wait for my bag to come out.
Tomorrow I’m off, by bus, to Vinh Moc. It’s where the most impressive Vietnamese tunnels from the war were dug. They exist just north of the ironically named DMZ and have remained reportedly untouched since the war. The tunnels in the south were mostly destroyed and had to be rebuilt and so their authenticity is somewhat limited. What I read anyway…

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January 19, 2007 by zankbennett.

Another crazy, huge city. Mopeds are the rule here. Crossing the street is an experience. The drivers here go slowly. Everywhere. A left turn at an intersection consists of getting into the left lane (yes, directly into oncommung traffic) and turning left while still on the left (wrong) side of the road. Now, the driver is like a salmon swimming upstream, but slowly making his/her way to the right. Believe it or not, that’s just how it’s done. Walking across the street requires a quick shot of adrenaline, enough to push you out into the mayhem. From there, go forward. Don’t stop or change direction and for the sake of safety, don’t dare run! The sea of mopeds and cars part and leave you untouched and with a definite feeling of accomplishment. I googled this q while ago, before I left. It’s just commonly accepted that crossing is like this. Love it.

Where the Cambodians were sagacious, the Vietnamese are both quick to get it and equally hilarious! Everyone’s up for a joke; when I’d nearly cartwheel on one of the ridiculous HCMC curbs there was always someone to point and give an understanding laugh. It was really refreshing. I spent two days meeting lots of Vietnamese and really enjoying the interactions.

Food? Good, not great here. I’m still Thai-spoiled. Fresh is an understatement, and that’s a real plus.

Yesterday, 17 Jan, took the Lonely Planet recommended walking tour. My second such endeavour of this, now five month old trip’ and really enjoyed myself. HCMC has a ton to see and food is never far away.

Visited HCMC museum. Saw some of the Vietnamese war exhibits. These are the mild ones and I was a wreck…so I made a note to skip the War Crimes museum and etc. The re-unification Palace was a great stop. For just under $1 I took a guided tour. Lots of amazing moments transpired in some of those rooms. The highlight was definitely the basement with the war-planning rooms with their original typewriters and rotary phones and secret staircase.

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January 19, 2007 by zankbennett.

Arrived in Siem Reap in one piece. Checked into hotel. Killed the other 12 residents who’d been living in the room before I got there. Promptly bought some Raid mosquito spray to be sure their friends weren’t coming back.
Started taking the doxycycline for malaria. Between that and the Raid lingering in the room I had the craziest dreams! Ha ha.
Spent the next there days exploring the temples of Angkor Wat. The temple area begins about six miles from town. The options are bike, tuk tuk or taxi, in order of expense and general desirability for a proper visit.
Miked it for the first two days. The bike weighed in at about 40 lbs. Like a tank, but it had shocks and worked well enough.
The temples are incredible. The area is huge. It’s possible to bike through back woods areas and explore temples off the beaten track. It’s too much for me to describe, so I will post pictures. Of note: some of the temples have steps leading to upper levels that are quite climbable. They’re steep. Really steep. The ratio, best I could judge using my hands, was 3 to 1. IOW, each step was there times taller than deep. Normal steps are roughly 1 to 1. These were so steep that most people, including me, had trouble looking down them from the top of say 30 of them. At that height, 3 was roughly 15 feet up but only a horizontal distance of 5 feet from the last step. We all crawled up and down these…very carefully.
On way home, met a cool Brit and asked him to snap a couple pictures with my camera of me riding next to some of the local kids. Riding along, talking to the kids, I heard the sick sound that comes from metal crunching together at speed. He had run head-on into a scooter. The girl was alone and riding a new scooter. He flipped over the bars and never dropped my camera. I lifted the scooter off her pinned leg and there we were, in a Cambodian road-show. The girl was ok, the Brit was ok, but nothing was going to stop the crowd from coming. We had 50 people in as many seconds.
I biked home and later ran into the Brit. Turns out, the police wanted him to pay $800, a number they apparently pulled from the air. It was also up for negotiation. Huh? So they kept his passport while he made a decision as to what to pay them. Really nice guy and I wish him the best with this.
The next day, more biking. Visited the temple used in the movie Tomb Raider. Of course, they were selling counterfeit Tomb Raider DVDs right inside the temple. There’s got to be something wrong with that.
Last day was spent on a tuk tuk (here, a tuk tuk is a scooter with a trailer with seating for two people.) went with Ryan from the first day’s taxi ride. We took it 1 1/2 hours north to a waterfall and underwater carvings. The waterfall fell into a nearly-dry pool but it was none the less spectacularly refreshing to stand under. The hike was 45 mins one way. The Lonely Planet described this trip as “frankly not worth it”, but I completely disagree.
The town of Siem Reap is exactly what one would expect of an impoverished tourist center; beggars and children selling everything imaginable are omnipresent. But, the Cambodians are different. I found them to be brilliant. Most of the children (roughly 6-10 yrs old) working the monuments could speak a little of up to six languages! I had a little not rattle off the numbers one to ten in English, Spanish, German, French then a couple more I didn’t know. It wasn’t unusual to see Cambodians acting as tour guides speaking English, French or German. While that’s not particularly unusual, I got the feeling that a fairly large population was capable of doing this, and from the countries I’ve been to, that’s was quite remarkable to me.

On a bus now. Going to Pnom
Pen (sp?), the capital. I’m sitting 3 feet from the only speaker on this stinky bus. It’s blasting the audio from the Cambodian comedy show that’s playing at the front of the bus. This is entertainment and presumably makes the trip go by faster. So, while I search for earplugs, everyone’s laughing and enjoying the show. I always get the screaming baby on flights and seem to now also attract the brain-meltingly loud speaker on bus trips. As I pray for a massive electrical disturbance that knocks out the DVD system, the guy two seats in front of me sounds like he’s about to bark himself to death. I’m actually legitamately concerned.
But the road is paved, the bus has A/C and after 30 minutes I found the button to recline my seat back from its 90 degree angle.

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January 19, 2007 by zankbennett.

Cambodian roadside attraction.
Where to start?
We stopped along the route to allow everyone a lunch/bathroom break.
It’s impossible to describe the scene, but here’re a few details.
Trash everywhere. A couple cows eating at it. A covered restaurant thing with no walls, intrenched in bus exhaust. Went around back to the dried-out pool to find the bathroom. Waited my turn. Went inside.
It was a square room with a giant pool, about 3 feet deep taking up the far half of the 6′ x 6′ room. The pool of water clearly ran between both “bathrooms”. There was a pail balanced on the edge of the pool. The idea is to do one’s business then use the pail to scoop up some water from this massive pool and wash it away; only there’s no drain in the dead-flat, cement floor, just a small hole in the corner and a small opening to the adjoining room. So I’m using the facilities when the person next to me apparently finishes and decides to “flush”. Ahem. So, here comes this river of disgustingness, straight at my shoes! I was slow, too slow to move, but there wasn’t much room anyway. So there I am standing in a swirling, flat lake of someone’s unpleasantness. After I left, a white girl walked in and just stared; she couldn’t figure out what to do and just walked away after a few moments of contemplation.
So, I head over to the bus-fumed eating area. A lady is making meat sandwiches, taking money and using her hands to do it all on a counter that hadn’t seen a cleaning cloth in ages. Same with the lady cutting fresh fruit one stand over. There seemed to be dirt/dust on everything. I give it a hyginic ratin of 2/10. Street food is my favorite thing in the SE Asian countries I’ve visited, but this was a whole different level!

At the end of my stay, the sandwich lady grabs a meat clever and starts mauling a coconut. When she’s done cutting through the thick, fibrous outside and making a hole to the inside, she grabs a plastic bag and flips the coconut up-side down into the little baggie. She handed it to the mom of the child who had been screaming. The mom tied the bag, tossed a straw in it and that was that! Tons of things are served in plastic bags. There’s absolutely nothing wrong or even weird about drinking from a plastic bag, but it sure looks funny at first.

I’m back in the bus. The driver turned the music back up. I went catatonic earlier and asked him to turn it down before I pulled all my hair out. I give myself about another hour before I’m just a drooling vegetable. It’s Cambodian karaoke. I guess it’s cool to follow along as though you were singing, but you’re not.

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January 18, 2007 by zankbennett.

Temple jumping. Self-timer shots. Bring it on Justin and Danny!!!

================================

I met some children at the highest point in Angkor Wat. I was teaching them the art of Temple Jumping! This guy caught on quickly!!  Mom offers encouragement.  Sister watches on.

Then the kid just launches one.  What a rocket.  Righ over the onlooker.  SWEET, this kid was a natural.

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January 14, 2007 by zankbennett.

This is like Cairo.  No words come to mind to properly describe this place.

Getting here:
-Wake-up call: 4 am.
-Taxi to bus 5 am.  (I took 3 1/2 minutes to get ready!  What was the lady at the reception thinking at 4 am?!!!
-bus takes 3 hours to get to border.  The usual bus for tourists takes 6 hours.  I got lucky with an inside tip.
-got off bus and eventually found the line to leave Thailand
-wait in line to get visa for Cambodia.

The Cambodian visa is an elusive creature; the visa guys try to overcharge everyone.  The police are in on it too.  Throughout this trip, a quick mention of police gets things moving along quickly in the right direction.  That’s largely because the appearance of a country to tourists as a whole is usually quite important.  This is not the case in Cambodia.  Come.  Go.  They just couldn’t care much less.  Eventually with the third request to an officer I got my visa and was off on the back of an open truck.  250 meters later, got passport stamped.  100 meters later took a bus to the taxi/bus station…or dirt lot, really that’s what it was.  The bus takes 6 hours + and would leave in 2 1/2 hours.  The taxi was $5 more, but left right away.
So, I piled in with three friends I made in line and we were off.  This 162 km dirt road cannot be described.  Instead, some facts:

-vehicle of choice is a Toyota Carola sedan.  Jacked up about 5 inches.
-we had 2 flats.
-pot holes?  It’s not like that.  It’s so much worse.  A pot hole would be a smooth part in comparison to what we were driving over.  At times I thought the car would disappear.

Entrance to Cambodia.  Visa station just out of picture to right.

Typically overloaded truck.

Main temple of Angkor Wat in BG.

View from Angkor Wat temple back to entrance gate.

Hanging 10 off the top of Angkor Wat.

Looking outside window in Angkor Wat perimeter structure.

In Banyon Temple.  I believe there are over 200 of the faces seen in BG.  My favorite of the 15+ I visited in three days.

Another temple.  The roots of some of these ingrown trees were breathtaking.  There were 50 people standing in awe just outside the frame of this pic.

Another temple.  My favorite travel pic in quite some time.

One of the statues built into a temple.

Another temple.  More of the intricate stone work.

Workers climbing up a crane tower.  Why?  I had no idea.

Another temple.  The view directly up from the center out the top of the tower.  This is one of the more “organized” openings.  Some looked ready to collapse at any moment.

A boy searches for something in the mud pit.  They did this all over Cambodia.  Just what the harvest from these man-made pits I don’t know.

A girl sits high up on a temple and reads as the sun sets.  I rested at many of these temples in a similar way.  This picture really captures the mood of many of us at this point in the day when legs are tired and escape from the many sales pitches is so very welcome.

That same temple from the ground level.  Sun is setting.  Dusk made the temples so much more special.  It would be quite something to visit each one at this time of day, a task that would certainly require more than a month here.

Another temple.  My antics.  The view from here was worth it.

Mtn biking was a great way to see the temples.  Even on a BEAST like this one

“Hey Mistah!”  Ten postkahd, one dollah!”  EVERYWHERE you go….

The last sign of a great day…

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January 11, 2007 by zankbennett.

Final days in Bangkok! Sad/relieved to be leaving. For the last five weeks part of my belongings or I were/was stored there. The A-1-Inn. Ha ha, if ever a name were designed to mislead… There was a shrill, on-again, off-again drilling sound just outside my window…no matter which room I stayed in…every morning starting at 5 am. I think, actually, that 5 am is still night time. No, for sure it is. Especially to a traveler. For anyone who hasn’t experienced noise-reducing (passive) in-ear headphones, they’re life savers and don’t physically interfere with sleep. Hardly useful at “home”, these things are saving my small remaining thread of sanity while traveling. They’re firmly among the must-pack items.

So, it’s been officially > five weeks since I last slept in a dorm room. SE Asia is so inexpensive, it’s just not necessary to keep the cost down that low.

While back in Bangkok, made plans to meet up with the two Aussies from Phuket. Went down to Koh San Road and shared a drink, out of a bucket…a french guy and his wife walked by. We’d originally met on Ko Sai island while snorkeling…such a tiny place, and there they were, two days later. It was hilarious. We we’re then seven and as a group made our way to the revered petrol station for the next bucket. The pictures from the menus at the petrol station were hilarious to read and this time I got pictures…will post.

Managed to wrestle a Vietnamese visa out of the nice people at the Vietnamese Embasy.
“Nice”. Yeah, like how the people at the DMV are “nice”. Sort of like, I wonder who would win a fight to the death, me or those three behind the counter holding my visa until 4 pm for no reason and laughing at me for wanting it earlier, or at all, “nice”. Anyway, I now have a visa good for one month past 16 Jan. Got the malaria prophylaxis pils. Bring on those little blood-sucking death-bugs of the far north!

On a bus now from Bangkok to the Cambodian border on my way to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I decided last night to do it today. That still has to be one of the oddest feelings, unique to travelers (or pre-depressive lottery winners), just picking a place within striking distance and going there as soon as possible. Cambodia? Sure. It’s bizarre. It would be like waking up in San Diego and saying Yosemite… then thumbing through a guide book for the route and getting on a bus two hours later with little or no idea what’s in store.
It’s brilliant.

Farewell Thailand and:
Bye pad thai. I will miss you dearly. May we meet again…in my kitchen!
Bye $5 Rolexes and Breitlings and Ray Bans and, well, just about anything’s $5 in Bangkok if you look long/hard enough.
Bye $2, one-hour taxi rides.
Bye street food!! (the best, for real)

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January 9, 2007 by zankbennett.

For EVER bus ride from Pattaya…

Made it to the bus station in Pattaya. The guy there points down the road and says to wait (somewhere) over there for the bus. Sure. Love to! Turns out the bus (only 4/day) was just about to leave. Sweet. Bus to truck to ferry to truck to hotel. Best accomodation yet in Thailand…and, of course, the cost scaled accordingly. Stayed at Saffron on the Sea. And it was awesome. Best food here in Thailand…by far. I have a couple recipes I was able to talk out of one of the cooks, Matt. I’ll post pics of the recipes: pad thai and papaya salad, two huge thai staples.

Days on Ko Chang were mellow. Scootered around the island. Kayaked. Took a 1/2 day snorkel trip to nearby Koh Wai island. It was poor to just barely fair. The island was beautiful, but the howling night winds killed the underwater visibility. This was the perfect excuse for me to spend the day nearly maiming myself jumping the pier railing into the shallow, fish-filled water.
It sure made for good pictures.

Last night got sick from the pork in the pad thai the night before…that’s four times on this trip. Fine today. It was just a small one…not the type that takes my legs from me for 3 days and hurts for the better part of seven!

Some of the island roads were crazy. During a trip CW and nearly around the island, went up some hills so steep that the front wheel of the (pink) scooter was just hovering over the rocks. It was a blast and surely a small-scale primer for the Vietnam trip to come.
Bought a Vietnam guide book and am preparing plans for that monster….

In Bangkok now.
Hanoi on 15th.
-Best, z

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January 6, 2007 by zankbennett.

Anyone want to come ride a motorcycle around northern Vietnam with me? I’ll be in Hanoi on like the 15th and spending a few days getting used to the language and culture and figuring out how to read street signs and getting used to the medication that is supposed to cause psychotic episodes and dreams where you wake up pretty sure you’ve become a serial killer and the world ends Thursday. The trip will last about two weeks. You’ll get to visit mountain tribes that live now as they have for hundreds of years…if we can find them. I don’t think these are listed as trail-side attractions of the main dirt road.
You must feel confident dodging massive bolders on a 1960’s Russian-made 125 cc motorbike and be proficient in begging for help in Vietnamese when flats, broken chains…you name it…occur.
You must enjoy dirt. Lots of it.
This is a trip of a lifetime and not for the timid.
If you would like to be the primary beneficiary on my life insurance policy, please see my eBay auction.

—-

I bought this toothpaste. It’s Colgate. It tastes like mint…a good thing. It also, however tastes like some weird grass. It’s not lemon grass, my first guess. It tastes like I just grabbed a half-chewed handful of pasture-grass out of the mouth of a milk cow and threw it on my toothbrush. It’s absolutely terrible, but at least it’s not spicy!

—-

Hi, I made a reservation. I’m just calling to confirm and say that I’m on the way.

-oh. You have a reservation?

Yes.

-when do you want a room?

Well, I made a reservation for tonight and tomorrow.

Click

-hi, how can I help you?

Ah, yes, I have a reservation for tonight.

-you want room tonight?

I’m on the bus. Z-A-N-K.

-ok, what dates?

Tonight and tomorrow.

-Check in on six?

Yes. You have my reservation?

-where are you calling from?

I’m on the bus. I have no idea where I am. There’s a good chance I got on the wrong bus anyway.

-From six to seven?

Yes. So, you have the reservation?

-how many nights?

Um, two. How much is the room?

-[some amount]

Oh. That’s 300 baht more than the girl told me yesterday.

-whats your name.

Huh?

-where are you?

CLICK.

…..that happens daily! I’m developing skills that I may never need again, but there coming along none the less.

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January 6, 2007 by zankbennett.

Left the beautiful nature reserve at Khao Sok via mini-bus to Surat Thani and flew to Bangkok…then took a bus to Pattaya. Pattaya is famous for having the worst/most sex tourism in the country. It was a stopover on the way to the picturesque island of Ko Chang. Went out with a couple Kiwi guys, Ben and Sam on their first night in Thailand. What a crazy town. It’s really more sad than anthing else. There are lots and lots of middle-aged (read: 55+) walking around with skinny Thai girls who appear to be 15. Viagra is sold on every corner.
…in other words, I’m happy to be on a bus right now, halfway to the island…
The bus is riding a little high on the left side…that’s because it’s jacked up on that side so the tire-guy can change a tire. Ha ha. We’re all on the bus and the engine’s running. Why wouldn’t we just pull over and get some maintenence done? What’s an extra hour tacked onto the already FOUR-hour ride. I think the whole trip is about 100 miles :~)

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January 4, 2007 by zankbennett.

Reserved a tree-house in a place just on the outskirts of the KS national forest. They had given it to some other people so it was off to a normal hut…250 baht/night (about $8!).
Woke this morning and did an elephant safari! It was great. At the end of the trail, did some serious diving into a narrow pool with a small waterfall at one end. Have pics.
The elephants were friendly and much better behaved than the camels in Aswan, Egypt.

In the afternoon watched a movie under a hut and ate some pad thai (duh!). Worst pt yet…I think the lady was British! Ha.

Sitting on the bank of a creek right now. Just went for a post-nap swim complete with a rope swing and a good visit to the hard, rocky bottom. No broken bones, but some good bruising and a bit of blood.

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January 3, 2007 by zankbennett.

Patong Beach.
It was bananas!  This place is easily one of the craziest places I’ve ever seen.  It’s like some sort of spring-break mecca with the capacity to house and provide drinks for thousands of partiers.  The endless rows of beach-style bars was daunting.  Thai girls, unfortunately for sale, were omnipresent as we walked through the endless maze of neon-lit streets in search of the “right spot”. Ha ha.
On the beach there were people selling cylindrical hot air balloons.  They came in two sizes: 2-foot diameter and 4′ tall or just smaller.
We bought the larger one for 100 baht (about $3) and lit the fuel source, waited for it to generate enough lift to fly and….it was gone.  It flew into the sky along with hundreds, no thousands of others. I’ve never seen anything like the sky that night.  With the full moon as a backdrop, the brightly glowing balloons dotted the sky as far as any of is could see.  It was really a special new years, seeing the fireworks amidst the balloons alongside the thousands of onlookers.

The Aussie guys with Aly.  Notice all the illuminated hot-air balloons in the background; some are just about to take off and the other are cluttering the dark sky.
Back on the streets, people were lighting giant strips of firecrackers (some up to 10,000 long!). The idea was to unroll the strip as quickly as possible while people passed close by, so as not to draw too much attention to the miniature BOMBS.  Then light the fuse and watch people jump out of their skins.  It worked!  We’d be walking along and a machine gun would start going off at our feet.  Soon a big circle would clear where the strip was laid until the bangs were done and the procession would continue normally, if not a bit more leery than before.
These guys would never fully get the whole roll laid out and when the explosions reached the clump there was a HUGE bang.  It was really fun running around trying not to get our toes blown off!  Really

One of the top new years ever!

Me, the two Aussies and Aly.

This terrible picture was taken when I picked up a real police helmet from the scooter-backet of his official police scooter.   It HAD to be done.  I’m not in jail, so I guess it was ok…not my general rule of conduct

What would a new years be without a homelessZank photo?  That stuff on my face is from getting mauled by silly-string at the festivities.  Ha ha.  Please ignore the man-pris.  I think I was doing some wading before the pic was taken.

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January 3, 2007 by zankbennett.

From Krabi, it was on to Phuket for another four days.
Phuket is bigger and I booked a hostel outside of town, a but closer to the beaches…close being a relative term!
There was another night market there and, of course, pad thai to be had…along with various grilled seafood, dim sum, and coconut desserts.

Day trips from Phuket:
Nai Harn (or Han, depending on the map) beach- a tranquile, open beach with lots of reclining beach chairs for rent and a a relaxing atmosphere.  Apparently there’s good surf there, but not that day.

Patong (must be Thai for CHAOS) beach-for new years with two Aussies from the hostel.
Kata beach-got a free ride from a local.  Sweet.  Had an evening swim…sunset…some reading…dinner…does it get any better?  …more on New Years post…
Island trip from the hostel near Wat Chalong to the Royal Phuket Marina (about 25 km, 3 hrs!) and from there took a long boat to Ko Yao Noi island.  The island was fair, but refreshingly incrowded.  We had a coconut drink at a great viewpoint off the eastern coast looking out to scattered islands stretching straight towards the sky.

Here’s the view…amazing!!!

That night, came home and met up with the two Aussies from new years and went to Cobra pier.  We played guitar for a while and eventually jumped into Chalong Bay, doing flips, exchanging stories and having another unforgettable time.  The water housing for my mini digital camera has been a huge asset.
Really good pics of that night…

Playing some songs before the swim…

This type of notice can be found all over.  I don’t see anything about flipping off municipal piers

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January 3, 2007 by zankbennett.

Bus-ferry-bus from Ko Samui to Krabi.
Nice town.  Not much to report.  Stayed at City Hotel, directly across from Krabi’s well-known night market.  Ate fish and pad thai and all sorts of fresh fruit.  The food selection was awesome!  I was eating so much pad thai (I still am) that I became known around the pad thai stand.  The cook would see me coming and just fire one up for me.

Took a few day trips to the local islands/beaches including Ao Nang beach, Railay beach, Chicken (it looks just like a chicken!) and Poda islands.  It all sounds much more impressive than it was, but the water was warm, mildly clear and there were many caves and interesting coastline features to explore.

 
Going DEEP…

 
White-boy crossing the distance between Railay and the nearby island.  Carrying my bag above my head to keep the video camera dry…

Going inside a cave…

 
At Railay beach there are wild monkeys living along the path connecting two long beaches.  It was really cool to get within inches of these tame monkeys.  We saw four adolescents and a mother.
Ate pad thai right off the bow of a longboat at Railay beach!  :)

The long-boat driver.  Note the rock overhang in background…we drove right under it.

Aly and I take a taxi ride…the camera’s view is from front looking out the back of the mini-truck-style taxi thing.

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