Friday, January 30, 2009

beyond rangoon

Well, made it back into Thailand after 21 days in Myanmar; so now I have email access again. This post could be a bit long to cover what I did over my trip there and some myanmar thoughts and impressions. I could just write some thoughts here, but I've kind of started using this blog as a journal (I can type much faster...and neater than I can write), so I want to make sure I kind of get the highlights in for me personally as well.

Just some interesting notes and observations from Myanmar first before I go onto what I did.

Bush put a trade embargo on Myanmar in 2003. Bush gave me 600 dollars as a stimulus plan to buy back into the American economy. I took Bush's 600 dollars and spent it in Myanmar...

Some background. Myanmar was controlled by the british until the 50's. Then several military governments have controlled it. in 1988, the people fed up with their declining life conditions and the government took to the streets in protest saying that on 8-8-88, democracy would begin in myanmar. However, the millitary stopped the protests by gunning down thousands of the protesters. In 1990 with the help of Aung San Suu Kyi, the national league for democracy won the first election that had be held in over 30 years. However, the millitary didn't give up power. More protests and more deaths. Aung San was put under house arrest where she still is today. She is the one who has asked the western nation to boycott visiting myanmar. George Bush put a trade embargo on myanmar in 2003 causing all foreign banks in myanmar to close up shop and leave. The EU and japan soon followed with the embargo. Tony blair and the UK as well as the EU called for an official tourism boycott later that year, and the US declared it on the same level as iraq, afghanistan, etc as far as travel goes. Recently there were more protests as you may have heard on the news this year with many of the monks who were peacefully protesting being shot. Then they had the huge cyclone and refused all foreign aid resulting in 80,000 deaths from sickness and starvation. Of course there is a huge debate as to whether one should visit myanmar and you should read up on it before you go. Supporters of the boycott say that if you go, you are supporting the gov't. Those opposed say that if you go and are responsible, little money goes to the gov't (they make most their money from oil, mining, and timber), lots goes to the people, and it's the best way for people to talk to westerners and get information. Every burmese I talked to is against the boycott and those in the tourist industry have been hit quite hard by it. Also if you visit, the government is less likely to be abusing burmese in tourist areas.

true to what people told me, going to burma was trully like stepping back in time 50 years.

--internet is available in yangon and in mandalay, but extremely slow and most sights are blocked including hotmail, cnn, espn, youtube, blogs.
--the government has the ability to read all outgoing emails in myanmar
--all outgoing letters are read as well. I wrote a nasty one about the gov't to my parents, so we'll see if it gets through
--most places only have electricity for about 4 hours a day, unless they are a richer place in which they have a generator.
--you can only visit 18% of the country. The rest is closed off for foreigners. Most likely b/c bad things are happening there.
--they have many friendly monkeys. as one guide said, "we have natural medicines for not shitting, for shitting, and snakebite, but nothing for monkeys. monkey bite is normal"
--the guidebook said, talking politics can get not only you but also the locals you're speaking to in trouble. Some locals told me there are gov't spies all over, so you have to wait for the locals to know it's safe and bring up such subjects before talking.
--myanmar is the only country in SE asia were the majority of the population wear non-western clothes as part of their everyday dress as well as paint there faces
-cell phones are not allowed to be brought into the country by foreigners, not that is matters, as there is no cell providers in myanmar. They have pay phones that are monitored, and as aung san said, "approach the telephone with a prayer"
--rumors are the domestic airplane fleet has not been updated since the 50's, and as a yangon travel agent said, "air routes change in the air, that's how domestic we are"
--they tell you to wash your hands before sleeping so that the rats won't lick your fingers at night
--almost all of the busses and cars are world war II era (mostly japanese, but a few american jeeps). They drive on the right side of the road to protest the original british rule, but all their steering wheels are on the right side as they have japanese cars.
--the official exchange rate of dollars to kyat is 1 dollar =6 kyat. a cheap meal costs 1000 kyat...so what gives. The airport counter gives 400 kyat for 1 dollar, a local banks in yangon give 600 kyat for a dollar, the black market gives about 1100 to 1200 per dollar depending on who you go to. I tried to avoid the sketchy street people and went to the market shops
--the first country I have ever been where the locals liked bush. possibly b/c the news they get is definitely sensored. They said bush is a strong man and makes decisions. True I guess. Though they are all excited about obama too, what little they know
--I watched a news cast (they do have TV as of 3 years now). It was in burmese, but it was quite hilarious. All the stories were about opening new schools, new roads, new factories and showed a smiling happy militarry officer. Definitely an attempt to try and make them look good.
--the people said that the government is very scared of western nations especially america. Goes to show that the government isn't really that strong is they're so scared.
--the people really love americans. The most I would say of the countries. On treks with other nationalaties or when I was travelling with a canadian and a dutch guy for a while, the people would ask in burmese to our guide where we were from. You'd here him say, American, Holland, Canada. And they'd always reply back...ahh, america. felt kind of bad for the others. Asked some of the locals about it, and they said they really respect our country and power is important to them. Unfortunately they don't see many americans any more b/c unlike the other (already more wordly travelling countries of europe), we listened a little more to the boycott. I think it was more of a scare tactic thing though. I think most americans thought we were boycotting out of danger as opposed to financial reasons. So many people including my foreign vaccination doctor, eye doctor, and boss, said "promise me you won't go to myanmar" (I had my fingers crossed). Myanmar was actually the country I felt safest in of anyplace I've travelled besides canada. The people are incredibly nice, they don't appear overly concerned with wealth, thus stealing isn't an issue. And the government goes out of its way to make sure tourists are safe and happy b/c they want good press in the western world. In fact, the lake I went to, a westerner had drowned in, so tourists were no longer allowed to kayak by themselves. The road, unlike most asian countries is very safe b/c there are few cars and speeds are very, very slow. I think the danger would be if you joined in a protest against the government.
--if you go to some of the more off the beaten path areas, but still open to foreigners, the government often has a soldier shadow you.
-The capital as most people know it is Yangon (rangoon); however this year the gov't apparently moved the capital. Most people have no idea where it is, but a few of the more educated told me the vicinity they think it is in. I wonder how many western countries even know the capial has been moved. Speculation as to why the gov't moved the capital ranges from keeping the government away from the people (most likely) to the fact the new area as many caves (good hiding places as bin laden showed in case of an american attack), and that yangon is at sea level and with global warming will be underwater in the years to come.
-the people in myanmar treat you as a guest to their country as opposed to a dollar sign like the thais see you. I was often invited into their houses and even treated to meals at houses and at restaurants.
-other than the obvious block of email, information, etc, it was difficult to see that the people were suffering from a terrible gov't. In the areas I was visiting it just seemed more like a very poor country. However, once you get talking to the people you realize how oppressive the gov't is, and of course we're not even allowed in 80% of the country
-the people are deathly afraid of the gov't and will do anything it says, however.
-a priest I met told me that the gov't has no regard for human life and will kill at anything. They could care less about the average burmese. Interestingly, the catholic priests and some protestant ministers have had the best luck protesting the gov't. The buddhists monks often get shot. I wonder if this is because the major buddhist countries like thailand and china very much support myanmar b/c they make lots of money through trade with them, whereas christianity is alligned more with the western world. It seems like to me if there was a protest where 3000 priests were murdered for peaceful protests, there would be stronger reactions by western countries.

-the people either shower in the street from water they pump from wells or in the rivers or lakes

-at night the cities are nearly completely dark on the streets due to no electricity.

-the major ways the people get around is via walking, biking, ox cart, or horse cart

-the government only allows any person, taxi, bus, or the like to get 1 litre of gasoline a day, which means they buy it from a black market: people selling petrol from various waterbottles on the side of the road

-because of the trade embargo, american and western products such as coca cola and sprite are incredibly expensive as they are smuggled in.
-many movies are illegal in myanmar, including the newest rambo. If the locals watch this, they will get 5 years in a myanmar prison.
-on the roads, especially off the main tourists roads, there are outpost checks almost every 15 miles for both locals (ids) and tourists (passports)


Most powerful quote of my time there: "When is america going to help us. We have suffered enough. They help bring freedom to iraq and fought for democracy in other asian countries like korea and vietnam. All we want is a chance at freedom. America is are only chance"
-a monk
I had no answer for him, but likely b/c myanmar is not very important to us unfortunately for them (no oil, etc), and I think we are scared of what the world would think if we attempted another war in SE asia for democracy.

My trip:
day 1: flew into yangon after spending the night on the freezing marble floor of the bangkok airport. Met a french canadian and a "regular" canadian (actually harvard grad and ski bum at aspen for two years "it's like never neverland in aspen, I love it. Screw a harvard degree, I'm staying in aspen" on the plane. They napped out most of the afternoon. I walked around yangon and got a nice tour of several places by an aspiring teacher monk. I got to visit several of the master monks at his monastery and was invited to teach english the next day, but I had to decline as I was leaving
day 2: changed money at the black market and then bus tickets for the overnight bus trip that day. It left at 2pm and got into mandalay at 8am. On the busses they stop every 2 hours, even in the night, play chanting monks or karaoke the whole time. pretty interesting. On the bus we had 1 flat tire and 1 engine repair
day 3: arrived in mandalay at 8 in the morning. Taylor (the canadian) and I took a tour of 3 of the old cities surrounding mandalay. We did it in this cool tiny japanes pickup truck type thing. Visited Amarapura (worlds longest teak bridge), Sagaing (sagaing hill), Inwa/Ava (leaning tower), and of course lots of temples

day 4: biked around mandalay with taylor. He got kind of tired and went to take a nap, so it gave me more freedom to go farther and see more things I wanted to. Just a tiny bit on the outskirts of mandalay and I was already in villages and villages that obviously didn't see many white folk. I was buying something at one village, some fruit, and all the kids and women came to just kind of stare and point at me. In the outskirts it could smell quite terrible as they really had no sewage or anything like that and trash everywhere, but is was very unique to see this part of the city. In the city where there was more traffic, biking was quite fun. You just kind of weaved in and out of traffic as traffic was a mess. The city was set up in a grid like system by the briths with perpendicular avenues and streets (like manhattan), so there are lots and lots of 4 way intersections. But there are no stop signs or street lights. Basically what you do as a car or cyclist is just head right through without so much as slowing. You would think this would lead to lots and lots of accidents, but rather I never saw one, and not really any close calls either. Seems like the opposite of murphy's law applies here. At night we went to watch the moustache brothers. They are a group of 3 brothers who used to perform for the burmese, but they got in trouble for making jokes about the government and have been jailed 3 times. They are now under house arrest and can only perform to tourists in their house and their jokes have been considerably cut down (one of note: the huge tsunami wave that destroyed the thailand coast right next to myanmar, failed to even touch myanmar. the conclusion: the government has already destroyed myanmar enough, no need for a wave). They are very proud of a refrence to them by hugh grant in about a boy, where it mentions you can be jailed in myanmar for making jokes about the gov't.

day5: slow boat to bagan on the ayerwaddy river. took about 14 hours, but very cool. The stops at local villages along the way to let villagers on and off were fun and always a good way to get fresh food. I napped it out a bit on the deck with the locals

day 6: first time I have been sick in asia. A bit of the runs and a feeling of puking, but it only lasted until about 1pm. But b/c I was sick in the morning, instead of renting bikes, taylor and I took a horse cart around to view the temples. the cart was very comfortable and I was thankful for that, but after our lunch stop I was feeling much better, especially after I bought a $1.50 can of sprite, as momma would have liked. I later learned they have a ripoff version for 25 cents. watched a gorgeous sunset from one of the temples.

day 7: taylor was sick, but he just wanted to stay in bed, so I was able to go explore on bike the huge temple complex of bagan. There are about 4000 temples in a 42sq km radius. It's really quite amazing to see the whole valley full of temples from atop some of the taller temples. I enjoyed being by myself b/c I could bike fast and far and see almost the whole area in the day. Taylor is a bit more lazy and slow, so I wouldn't have been able to do it with him if he had been there. watched the sunset from the famous sunset pagoda

day 8: taylor was still a bit sick, but we got up early to watch the sunrise from a pagoda. Taylor went back to the room so I biked a bit more, then he came out for the afternoon. We found a nice deserted temple and read atop it and waited for the sunset. There are hardly any tourists in bagan even though it's a world famous site. Definitely way more temples than tourists, so you can always find a nice temple to yourself. Got a flat tire at the last temple, so I had to bike the 10km back home on the dusty road with a flat on a too small single speed bike. quite difficult.

day 9: bus to kalaw. leave at an annoying 3:30 am. Arrive around 4pm

day 10: Started a trek to Inle lake from kalaw with Harri the guide, Taylor, a german couple, and paulina a russian american (using her russian passport to get into myanmar). Stayed with a nice family at a cool little hilltribe village. Tons and tons of delicious food!!! walking along the way was nice as well watching the different types of tribes at work in the fields and on the trail. The night was completely freezing however. The terrain and vegetation was very similar to new mexico in the santa fe area.

day 11: trek to a monastery through lots of old "primitive" villages. Spent the night at monastery. Went to bed at 9pm to monks chanting and woke up at 4am to monks chanting.

Day12: Finish up the trek to inle lake. Drank and ate a ginormous coconut at the lake! From the lake to a boat to Nuangshwe on the other side of the lake. Took a sunset traditional canoe ride in the canals with taylor and paulina

Day 13: Taylor had to leave in the morning to make his way back to yangon for his flight (on traveling with Taylor: He was a nice guy, a bit lazy, and a bit negative at times. It was both a good thing and a not so good thing travelling with him. It was great to share costs of taxis, tours, hotels, boats with him which saved me quite a lot of money. Also nice to have someone to talk to, to share my amazement of the country, to discuss it's politics, etc with. Nice to have someone to eat with. Nice to have someone to deal with transport worries, logistics, etc. The not so good part was he slowed me down a bit. Not tons, but mainly during exploration stuff. He'd rather sit and drink while I wanted to do and see. Also we had different restraunt style tastes. Me cheap and local, him more expensive and westernish. In the end I think I was mostly happy I travelled with him as there were hardly any tourists and I would have been by myself most of the time, but it was nice when I did get back on my own. The reason I travelled with him so long is we met up on the taxi from the airport to yangon and shared a room. The thing about myanmar is since there is only a bit open for foreigners and almost a designed imposed tourist tract by the gov't, you can just say, hey I'm splitting and going this way to this place, see ya later.)

-Did a tour of inle lake with paulina on a longtail boat. Inle is quite cool b/c its a big town built on this lake with stilted buildings and floating gardens. We toured the market, floating gardens, weaving areas, blacksmiths, silver smiths, cigar makers (and of course tried a banana flavored one), long neck karen tribes (the ones featured in national geographic with the gold rings around their necks and stretched necks), jumping cat monastery (had cats that jumped through hoops). The fishers out netting fish had a unique style of rowing. They kept one foot on the boat, both hands on their nets, and rowed with their other foot using a thing paddle. quite the feet...err...feat. The boats and fisherman were beautiful sillouhetted against the rising and setting sun. Sometimes in the lake you'd see waterbuffalo swimming around. Inle lake reminded me of how the aztec capital of tenochtitlan must have been like. I remember learning about them in present day mexico city with the lake, floating gardens and all that...and even the terrain around here was like mexico.

Day 14: There was floating market on this day of the week, so Paulina and I took a longtail to it. Then I explored a bit of nuangshwe and it's market before taking a pickup to schwaungu junction and then hiring a car back to kalaw. Back at kalaw, I had my favorite drink yet, strawberry's ala kalaw at sam's restaraunt. His family and their little boy is also so amazing and they loved practicing english with me.

Day 15: Started a 2 day/1night trek in the kalaw area with guide rambo (harri's brother) and a dutch guy named phil. In many of the villages along the way, the locals would invite us in for tea and fruit. We stayed at a nepalese' house in a village high on a hill. They had amazing chapati and curry, delicious fruits, and very friendly cats

Day 16: The nepalese family gave me chai...and more chai...and more chai. I love it so much, especially the real stuff. We visited the house of a shaman (medicine man). He gave me some powder for my recent bee sting. Back in kalaw I went to a man's house who made local wine from grapes, plums, and grapefruits. A very nice man, and had actually met pope john paul. Probably a great experience for both of them, even for the pope to meet a burmese man. I bought a bottle of grape wine for $1.20. It was 750mL and bottle in an old myanmar rum bottle. The man gave me a present of a second bottle of plum wine and invited me for dinner.

Day 17: The family at the golden lilly guesthouse where I stayed and trekked with (brothers Rambo, Harri, Tony, and aunt and mom: all sieks (sp?)) were incredibly nice, knowledgeable, and welcoming. I had tipped both brothers for the treks (something the europeans and aussies despise americans for doing, but I thought they did a great job), and I also spent a lot of time talking with them b/c I thought they were great. When I left they gave me a going away gift of a ruby from the mine where their father works. Very generous of them! This day started a string of days of helacious travel, but perhaps the best times I had in myanmar. The plan as of that morning, the 26th of jan was to bus to meiktilla, catch the night bus there to pyay and then a quick bus to thandwe which is near Ngpali beach and be at the beach midday of the 27th. I would then have the rest of the 27th, most of the 28th (the last bus back to yangon leaves at 3pm) to hang at the beach. I would take the overnight bus on the 28th and arrive in yangon early on the 29th for my flight early on the 30th. But travel in myanmar is not like america...or europe...or even thailand. The roads are all single laned with patchings of pavement on them, but mostly ruts and dust. I waited at the bus stop in kalaw at 9 for the 9:30 bus. It didn't show until 11. Arrived in Meiktilla a mere 80 miles away at 3:30pm. It went over a beautiful but incredibly bumpy pass. The bus to pyay from meiktilla was supposed to pass through at 5:30pm. So I read my book and waited. The first bus (of 3 that come by), came at 6:30. It was scared to take a foreigner, so it wanted 3x too much money, so the woman who helps with the bus tickets, said no, we'd wait for the next one. The next one absolutely wouldn't take a foreigner. The last one broke down halfway there so a new bus had to be sent. It arrive around 10:30pm. In the meantime I had eaten with a very nice burmese man having curry and lots of la'pezi (the yummy tea with milk and sugar...in burma chinese/burmese tea is given for free at every place for an unlimited amount, but for a little money you can get chai like la'pezi). The restaraunt was showing iron man, which we watched for a bit until power was cut. Well because the bus from meiktilla left at 10:30 instead of 5:30, I arrived at 8am and thus missed the 6am bus to tangou. The next bus to tangou wouldn't leave until 5:30pm and apparently took 12 hours and didn't go directly to thandwe, so I was a bit perplexed. I thought about just spending the night in pyay and going back to yangon in the morning. But I don't give up easily on things and asked around and found out a tourist bus from yangon passes through pyay quickly on a passport check bridge and I could maybe get a seat there and go direct to thandwe and the the beach. At this point I was pretty exhausted from a crammed overnight bus. I was incredibly dirty. There is no A/C so the windows are open and hordes of dust comes in, so much you get covered in cm's of it and your lungs ache. I started walking around pyay to check out the river and some sights. A nice boy came up to practice english and we walked around together. On top of a hill with a pagoda some monks invited me in for tea and biscuits. It was a great town, no other tourists, and my guess is hardly any tourists ever visit b/c it's kind of in the middle of nowhere and most people go direct from yangon and by pass it when going to the beach. All the locals loved to look at me, smile at me, and just kind of stare in amusement, and often would come up to squeeze my biceps. Apparently they all think I'm very strong in myanmar (I can assure you I am not, I have not swum or done any arm things for a while...I can only imagine what they would think of conrands huge cannons he carries around!) After that we were on the way walking to the boys house to get his bicycle so he could bike me to the bus station to see if there were any way of getting advanced tickets when I stumbled upon a catholic church. I always like to take a look when I see one to see when mass is b/c you hardly see any in asia. As I was looking at the church 3 very jolly priests came running over greeting me. An italian man was with him from a church in italy who was helping this church as kind of a sister church and was here helping to build stuff or something. They were getting ready to go out for some errands, but they welcomed me into their quarters and gave me a towel and a place to shower, which was great, b/c I was basically brown with dust. After the shower I headed out to check out the major pagoda there up on a hill. As I was beginning the descent back down, I saw two men running up the stairs. It was two of the priests, and they had driven their moto to the bus station and ended up getting me a ticket that would get me to thandwe quicker, but it left sooner than the one I was going to be on. They wouldn't let me pay for the ticket, which was 10 dollars (quite expensive for the burmese) The poor guys had run around town up up the temple to find me. It was easy tracking me down though since I was the only foreigner in the town, minus the italian missionary guy, and as the priests are well dressed, the locals they asked feared they were the police, so they were quick to give info. The priests drove me back to the church to get my stuff and then to the bus station, which was nice since it was 3km out. Of course, as is the case in myanmar, the bus was very late. The priests bought me dinner and then got three pitchers of beer, one for each of us. Imagine that some of the most I've drank on this trip was with two priests!! The bus finally showed up several hours late and I hopped on board. Right before I left one of the priests ran up with 3 liters of water and some snacks for my journey. Just incredibly nice men! I kept expecting them to make like a donation pitch or something, but none at all, just being very kind to a tired traveller.
The road from Pyay to Tangou is very windy, through some jungle and over a mountain pass. If this tells you anything about it, it's 97 miles between the two towns, but it took 13, yes 1-3 hours to get there. I'm most certain I could bike there quicker!! Lonely planet says this about the route. "Only the heartiest travellers travel to/from here by bus. From Yangon, the ride goes over the mountains to Tangou. The 18-20 hour route between tangou and yangon via pyayhas the reputation of being the hardest, bounciest, most stomach churning trip in myanmar. One traveller from Switzerland said, 'it was worse than training camp for the swiss army' One local complained about bags of dried fish filling the aisles and floors and left it: 'my daughter will vomit all night'. the busses hand out vomit bags. The roughest part, between taungou and pyay, winds mercilessly in the arakan mountains at night, when most passengers close up the windows for the cold keeping the fish stench contained" And this is talking about the ride from yangon to tangou which is flat to pyay, I had just come over 2 mountain passes the day before. So I guess I can now be considered a hardy traveller. I didn't get sick on the bus, though lots of people did throw up, in fact I even read a bit. I guess i'm just used to mtn passes from CO. But believe me, I've had my days of vomitting on winding roads. I still feel sorry for the poor guy in the big thompson canyon where Jake O'dell, Byron Dill, and myself used to make frequent stops to puke on the way to early morning swimmeats on loveland and ft. collins when we were mere otters. The bus was incredibly uncomfortable, and I got little sleep. The bus was filled with cargo, so the distance from the seat to the "floor" the sacks of vegetables or fish or whatever was only 6 inches, and sitting like that my knees were slammed against the seat in front of me. It was definitely a grinding ride. And of course we had to stop continually for passport checks, the bus broke down once and had two flats. Which means I of course got into tangou much later than expected. I got in at 8am.
Day 18: From tangou to thandwe (the town of Ngpali beach) takes 4 hours by bus and the next bus was supposed to leave at 10, which meant best case scenario I get in at 2, giving me an hour to catch the bus back to yangon, not exactly much time for swimming and enjoying the beach. So I shelled out some extra cash to take a moto, especially since I figured the bus would be late anyways in which case I'd miss my bus to yangon and thus flight to bangkok. The moto guy said he could get me there by 10:30. Semi joking, but not, really, just knowing how transport is here, I said that if I wasn't to the beach by 11, he wouldn't get paid. Apparently he actually understood it, and was followed was 3 hours of the most exciting, scary six flags thrill ride...except that it was real. I had my large backpack on, holding onto the back of this motorbike. I often found myself completely airborn on the bike, just barely holding on as we went over potholes, elevated bridges, etc. Thank God my backpack has a suspension sytem that works with the body or I would have had trouble staying on witht he backpacks inertia too. The first 30 minutes was very scary, and my hands hurt they clenched so tight, but after a while I settled in, remembered to just flow with the bike like mountain biking, and it became a much more relaxing ride. We nearly made it by 11 and we would have if he hadn't gotten in trouble for being outside his zone without ID (a costly 5 dollar fine on a 16 dollar motorbike ride), but I still paid him. It was a bit past 11 and I was all excited to hit the famed pristine and empy Npali beach, but I decided first to book my bus ticket for 3 with a guesthouse before going swimming. Well all 3 companies were booked solid for 3pm. I was beginning to worry now. I told them I'd sit on the floor, on the top, whatever b/c I needed to go to get to yangon in time. It was past the time you could reschedule an air asia flight, so I would have had to pay an expensive 200 bucks to book a new flight. After asking some help from the locals nearby I was able to secure a spot in the aisle of a local bus. Unfortuanately it left at 12:30pm, so by the time I got it all sorted out, I had only 5 minutes on the beach. It was gorgeous and empty though, and I wished I could have stayed as the thailand beaches I hear are crazy full of people. And what was nearly as bad was I was about to embark back to yangon via the same road through pyay for my THIRD overnight bus in a row. So I must have looked something fierce to the locals. Covered in dust, smelly, not having slept for several nights as I was on completely uncomfortable overnight busses (even the nice busses headrests come up to about my lower shoulder so it's difficult to sleep b/c you can't but your head back. In the aisles, they set up these tiny seats which reach about midback height. I sat next to a very nice man from pyay. He was actually a baptist minister but had grown up in the family business of catching elephants. Now, however, there are hardly any elephants, and he wants to work in something environmental related as well as ministering. On overnight busses you make several stops for food and snacks and bathrooms. I only had the equivalent of 4 dollars in kyat left as I hadn't expected the expensive moto ride, and you're basically forced to guess how much kyat you need early in the trip when you're at the blackmarket, b/c rates elsewhere are terrible, and if you have extra kyat, there's nothing you can do with it, no way to get dollars back. But 4 would be plenty b/c guesthouses and taxis in yangon take dollars. But b/c of that I just got a very small snack, so I'd have money to eat the next day. The minister questioned this, and I told him why. And against my protesting, he bought me a huge meal and some tea, and then as he got off the bus for his stop in pyay (I was going on to yangon on the same bus), he dropped the equivalent of 18 dollars in my lap in kyat and ran off before I could give it to him. Yet another amazing individual from myanmar. The new guy I sat next to was also very nice and helped me get the local price for a taxi when we finally got to the yangon bus station.
Day 19: Finally after 20 hours we reached yangon. There were two other westerners on the bus, Johnny and Helen from the UK and we shared a taxi. They were splurging on a nicer hotel with hot water and electricity after their travels in myanmar. When I got into yangon I took a quick shower, but then went out to explore the city and eat some fresh fruit. explored china town and the infamous shwedagon pagoda. There was a movie, eagle eye, playing at the theater that night, so I caught the late showing (only 80 cents) with the wine I had left over and a myanmar beer with the last of my kyats and relaxed in my last night in myanmar
Day 20: flew to BKK. Flight was quite delayed as it was very foggy and they probably have limited radar at the airport. It's a huge airport, but only a few flights a day come in and out.
Day 21: I was there 21 days, so I must have missed one somewhere...oh well!

So final impressions of Myanmar: incredibly difficult transportation, especially compared to thailand; scenery and activities not near as good as thailand, but the people and the culture were amazing!! The people were so genuine and caring. And it was great to see what SE asia was like 50 or 60 years ago. Because of all that...I loved it there...and the difficult transport I think made it better b/c it gave me a better chance to meet and experience the people of myanmar and bond with the very few foreigners there.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Dark Side of the moon

Made it back into bangkok this morning. It was much, much better this time! Maybe b/c I was sightseeing and not running tons of errands. All I really had to do was change thai baht to 1000 us dollars for myanmar since they don't take baht or any other currency. Since I wasn't way out in the boonies trying to get things done I found transport much easier and cheaper. Came in on the bus and took a public bus to the skytram and that to the subway to get to the train station where I had some stuff being stored and some mail to pick up. Thanks mom and thanks guys at work for the christmas presents and care packages. Then I headed out to explore the city. It was much nicer this time as I was more relaxed and in tune with what was going on. Walked to the large river and took the river ferry up to the old city. It's pretty cool going along the river and checking out the city. Then walked to a couple sites....the golden mount and the democracy monmument and a couple forts. And then just kind of explored the back city streets a bit. I still can't believe how much food is always available on the streets! It's crazy. Then I took a canal longboat around a bit. This is definitely no venice or amsterdam canal trip. As the lonely planet says, this is true bangkok and to be prepared. Back in the day the canals used to be the main form of transportation as the pedaled trickshaws and horse and human drawn carts were slower. Now they're still pretty good b/c of the horrendous traffic. But the canals are incredibly polluted and smelly. And when you get on you hold a tarp up to keep the nasty water from splashing onto you. After the canal ride I hopped aboard the sky tram again and headed to a cool bridge to watch the sunset. I ran across a catholic church today and I'm going to see if I can make mass, but it might be cutting it close to catching my bus that leaves for the airport. The bus is nice, it's about 9 bucks cheaper than a cab, though 1.5 hours longer. I'll just be sleeping in the airport tonight b/c of the early flight and it saves on lodging too.

So I'm off to Yangon, myanmar tomorrow. Several people have asked, including my mom, why go there? B/c as the news tends to point out its had its uprisings and violence and of course their junta millitary gov't is quite bad. But, right now it's safe in all areas except the very northeast border which I obviously won't go to. And everyone I have talked to who has done extensive travel in Asia says that myanmar is by far their favorite place in asia. They say it's like stepping back in time 50 years. All those old travellers from the old hippy and backpacker trails through thailand who complain about how touristy and overrun thailand has gotten, say that myanmar is like how thailand was in the 60's. Still very authentic asia, not one that acts just like the western world, empty beaches, friendly people, etc, etc. A lot like the asia that people dream about or think of due to movies. So I'm very excited about that. It's rare to get a chance to see a country or culture before it is "spoiled" by western culture descending upon it.

Of course with the crazy millitant government that is running it and that has kept it from becoming more western, there will be some big differences from thailand. They don't allow any news from the western world, so no radio or tv from them, also most .com websites are blocked (where they have internet) especially ones related to news (even ESPN.com I read!). Apparently only 2 cities even have internet and you're unlikely as a westerner to be able to access it accept in yangon. They have what is called marshall law and often time a strict curfew is enforced for 7pm. And apparently they'll light up brilliantly all of the government buildings and the towns that do have electricity are shut off from electricity. Of course a lot of them just don't have electricity anyways, or a generator. So it should be interesting.

Anyways, tomorrow I leave for the darkside of the moon, so you likely won't be hearing from me for a while. If I get a chance I will definitely make sure mom knows I'm ok. My flight back to bangkok is scheduled for the 31st of january, though I would still have 8 days left on my visa, so if I'm really loving it I could change my flight for 8 days later.

Auf Wiedersehen

Thursday, January 8, 2009

bridge over the river Kwai











Had an uneventful bust trip from khao yai to Kanchanaburi. Except that unfortunately I had to make a stopover in bangkok. Back to the city where they are always trying to rip you off, get your money, and scam you. From khao yai I had taken the bus that would take me to the ne station in bangkok (there are 4) b/c the people in my guesthouse said I wouldn't have to transfer from there to another station and pay the 3 bucks to get there. Well when I got in there's the typical horde of taxi and tuk tuk drivers "where are you going" trying to take you somewhere. In these situations if you're connecting to another bus it's always nice b/c you just say the town you're going to and they stop bothering you and usually even point you in the right direction for it. but not bangkok. about 4 of them told me I needed to go to the south station to catch the bus to kancahnaburi and they'd be happy to take me there. I was getting a little worried b/c I didn't think I had to transfer (the lp said I didn't either). But I decided to go check just to see if there was a bus, and sure enough...there was. They were just trying to scam me of course. I'll be back in bangkok tomorrow. The first time I was there was kind of tiring and difficult. Partly b/c I had so many errands to run with all the passport and visa stuff. I actually did a good job avoiding the scams and haggling with tuk tuk and taxi drivers to get fair prices. But I could have done better. Before this trip I had done a lot of looking into places I wanted to go by reading up on guidebooks and the internet, but hadn't looked specifically into places. I wanted to read the huge chapter on bangkok before I came in, but I was in belgium and then morocco right before I ended my job. So I got back and had 4 days to finish up work stuff, pack up all my junk, say goodbye to friends, have thanksgiving, etc. Then I drove home, had to unpack the trailer, go shopping in boulder for the necessary stuff, hang with friends and family at home, and pack up. It was just crazy the last two weeks, so I never got a chance...and the movies were too good on the plane. But now I have read up on my guidebook. I know the public transport better (still a ripoff to get to the airport though), the neighborhoods better, etc...so I'm looking forward to getting back to bangkok and dominating.

Have had a great time in Kanchanaburi. Wish I could stay longer, but I've got to get back to bangkok to catch my plane, pick up some stuff, and change baht for us dollars. Kanchanaburi is home to the famous death railway bridge over the river kwai (actually Mae Nam Khwae Yai) from the movie. It's been kind of nice to get back to more civilization. I've been sure to partake in getting some icecream and fruit smoothies. Fruit smoothies the size of jamba juice, but with fresher fruit are only 30 cents!! So I've been having quite a lot. As well as some cheap icecream and lots of fruit.

Today I went up to Erawan falls. Completely amazing! Might almost rival the biggest one in thailand that I saw up my umphang. The one in umphang was about 5 tiered, but much bigger drops and you could see all the tiers from one place. This one they say is 7 tiered, but it's more like 100. It's in the jungle and you just keep hiking up and hiking up to more and more falls full of the beautiful emerald water. It reminded me of the 1000 falls hike in rocky (minus all the raspberries and this water is warm and swimmable and the amazing emerald blue green as opposed to the transparent clear that colorado streams are). Just falls upon falls with cool little pools you can swim in and rocks you can slide down. After the 1st two falls I was wondering why they didn't film the beach waterfall jump here (probably b/c they're not high enough to be so dramatic) but sure enough when I got to the 3rd tier, they were filming some sort of movie. Don't know what it was but the actress looked western and all the film crew and guy in charge were speaking english. I had thought the falls were small and just in one place, so I had only allotted 3 hours for them which typically would be enough for one falls and pool, so unfortunately I had to leave before I wanted b/c I had booked a tour for the afternoon. But still, I really loved them and might go back if I ever have 2 or 3 days in bangkok that I need to sit around for for some reason.

In the afternoon I went to this tiger temple where some monks raise and protect orphaned tigers who had their mothers poached. Definitely a big tourist thing, but I felt like going b/c tigers are one of my favorite animals and I always feel like supporting organizations helping endangered species. I guess partly b/c they're hand reared and partly through meditation and buddhism, the tigers are quite tame to people, so they let you pet them and get your photo taken with a few. The monks will even snuggle right up to them.

Dad would really love it here. The town is full of history and nature just in the hills nearby. They have lots of world war II museums and cemeteries. I would have liked to check out a couple of the museums, but just didn't have a chance. And of course the big star is town is the bridge over the river kwai and some museums on the building of the death railway from thailand to burma by the japanese, and on trains in general. I guess, about 100,000 asians died building it, and 5,000-7000 allied POWs. 356 of which were americans, but mostly dutch, british, and australian. Walked across the bridge this evening and whistled the tune from the movie. haha. Also managed to walk the entire bridge on just one track that I was very proud of...and maybe nastia leukin too! Rather scary to do so, b/c unlike a bridge in the US (that probably wouldn't even let you on it), there are huge holes to fall through , no railing or fence to keep you from falling or jumping, so if you overcompensate too much, you may go tumbling 50 feet into the water. If a train comes (which it did) you have two choice, run to one of the safety points (areas that are wide enough the train won't hit you, or jump the bridge)...I opted for the safety point not knowing how deep the river was. It's very cheap here, I'm staying at a place that's only 3 bucks a night, there was one for 2, but it was full, but for 7 you can get a nice ACed one that either overlooks the river or is actually floating on the river. Mom would also like it here b/c the there are lots of nice bars with 80's music and karaoke and cheap drinks. 25 cents for a shot or 70 cents for a whole fifth of whiskey or rum. A can of beer for 50 cents or a liter for a 1.10. And the river is very peaceful and I saw my first catholic church of the trip (a memorial to the fallen soldiers), but they only have mass on sundays (3rd christiand church of the trip).

Met a couple of middle aged french guys, one of which works in seattle now. When I told one of the guys I was travelling for a year, he said, "is something wrong with you, why aren't you trying to work, to make money" He was joking of course, but americans aren't known for travelling, especially to foreign countries and for long periods of times. Usually you tend to see the 6mo or more people from NZ, australia, or germany. They had been going for 8 months and they said the longest people travelling they had met were americans though and they had been going for an incredible 2 years and 3 months!

I'm off to bangkok tomorrow (friday) and have to catch a plane to rangoon (yangon) at 7am, so due to the nasty traffic in bangkok at all hours I would have to leave at like 4am by expensive taxi, so I'm going to try and take the friday 11pm bus which is much cheaper and then just sleep in the airpot. slept in airports before, no biggie.

the above pics are from my trek in chiang mai that Guy sent me. I haven't downloaded any photos myself here yet.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Monkey see monkey do!

Had some errands to do in sukhothai so I didn't get out of there until
around 2pm. Ex and his family were so nice, didn't even charge for
any of my 3 days there, including my night in the fancy bungalow and
sent me off with fruit and bottled water for the journey, and Ex gave
me a scooter ride to the bus station so I didn't have to walk there (I
refuse to pay for taxis or tuk tuks if the station is in walking
distance). Got to phitsanolouk an hour later, but the next train to
lopburi wasn't until 7:30pm (read at least 8:30pm with thai train
schedules), so I wouldn't be getting into lopburi until 2am. I was
taking a pretty big risk getting in that late considering lopburi is
off the main toursit track too, so I was kinda worried. I was also
worried b/c this was the first time on a train where the final
destination of the train wasn't my destination. Which means I had to
read the signs (mostly in thai) in the dark very quickly. If it was
your stop you had only seconds to grab your gear and get off. I was
pretty nervous about this too, afraid I would miss it. But I timed
how long it was supposed to take to get there, and then basically hung
off the train looking after that time was reached. Ended up finding
it and finding a great and cheap room even at 2am!

Lopburi is one of the oldest towns in thailand and has some very old
ruins and temples, which are inhabited (and run) by macaques
(monkeys). It is quite crazy, a whole section of the town is taken
over too with the monkeys running across buildings and electrical
wires. They get quite aggressive and they jumped on my backpack
several times. One got away with my CU hat for a while before it lost
interest, but people have been known to lose purses and cameras to
them. It is quite funny to see the monkeys crawling over the temples
and buddha statues.

Of course checked out the market in lopburi looking for good food. The markets are always interesting b/c there can be such weird stuff there. Pig heads, chicken toes, cockroaches, fish and squid of all kinds. Tried 4 new fruits I never had before. One was a dragon fruit, but don’t know what the other 3 were, and had the cheapest meal yet. Pad Se Euw for 10 baht (30 cents)!

After lopburi I had another crazy travel experience to pak chong near
Khao Yai NP. 3 hour ride and standing room only, so that got quite
tiring, plus since I was one of the last ones on I was standing in the
front of the bus and anyone and everyone getting on or off had to
squeeze by the rather larger western, which posed more difficulties
than you'd think as the aisles are so narrow I bump each seat when
it's me walking alone, let alone squeezing by someone. I got dropped
off seemingly in the middle of nowhere...turns out it was the
intersection for the highway to khao yai, but i needed to get into pak
chong to look for a guesthouse, so I was able to catch a saegnteaw
into pak chong. Called up a guesthouse and got picked up b/c the guesthouse was halfway between khao yai and pak chong.

Khao Yai is supposed to be the premier national park in Thailand and is apparently rated in the top 5 NP’s in the world (have know idea how they come up with a rating for parks, there are so many good ones in so many different ways). It’s the largest tract of pristine monsoon forest in Thailand and the best place for spotting wildlife, so obviously I was excited.

The first day I signed up for a wildlife tour with the guesthouse. On the road at the beginning we saw lots and lots of macaques (monkeys). We then did a 5km walk through the jungle looking for wildlife. We didn’t see much, but the different trees and strangler figs were quite impressive. The hike ended at a wildlife watch tower overlooking a salt lick and lake. We saw a couple of otters there. On the way out to the truck, we spotted a family of gibbons. Cute and cuddly and amazing swingers in the trees just like the one and only true Gibbon. In the afternoon we drove to the waterfall that was featured in the movie the Beach. Ya know, the one where Leonardo di caprio jumps off of. Looking down from the top to the pool below, it was quite impressive someone jumped (a stunt man of course) as the water looked a bit shallow. Of course it’s much higher in the rainy season when the jump was filmed. They no longer allow jumping off or swimming in the pool b/c a few too many people have died trying to emulate that scene. But a very picturesque waterfall indeed. The late afternoon and evening was taken up driving along the south part of the park looking for elephants. No luck, only saw a pretty cool snake. I hadn’t really thought about it til I got here, but it was a long 5 day holiday weekend for the thais b/c they got new years eve and new years off, then the king gave them Friday off and of course the weekend, so the park was very crowded with thai tourists and campers on Saturday and they said that a lot of the animals had been scared deep into the jungle during that time.

Met a good group of people on the trip. A French couple (actually from a small island off Africa that france owns), who unfortunately didn’t speak great English, a very nice german couple who had first been to Thailand 17 years ago and can’t believe how much it’s changed with the tourism and all, a funny guy from Malaysia and an American ex-pat, Anne, who now works for a tour company here. Anne was from, who da thunk it, Greeley and Boulder. She actually grew up in the east coast, but went to UNC for undergrad and grad b/c it apparently has a great program for sports agents and she got a good scholarship that intended to promote women as agents. She also swam for UNC and of course had been to the estes park aquatic center and know’s sam hewson (who doesn’t in the swimming world) But after a few too many broncos that she was an agent for who got career ending injuries, she moved to boulder and worked to travel. She then ended up getting a sweet job while she was traveling in Thailand. She met some random guy who offered her a job. She basically organizes and takes groups of Canadians, Americans, and Australians (size 6-15people) around asia for anywhere from 9 days to 2 months. She doesn’t do the actual touring, they have guides at each place for that, but helps to organize transport, accommodation, food etc along the way. Sounds like a pretty sweet gig b/c she gets to travel and eat for free and see all the cool stuff. Plus, she says usually the group is pretty cool. I might have to look into that when I get back. Definitely made sure to get the info on the company from her.

Khao Yai is known as the best place in SE asia to see Asian elephants in the wild and I really wanted to see them b/c a. I love elephants and b. I really don’t think asian elephants will be around much longer (khao yai has the largest pop in SE Asia at 200 elephants, which isn’t much considering poaching still occurs and genetics become quite the issue with such a small population cut off from other elephant populations.), I decided to stay longer to see if I could see more wildlife and also the elephants. Now that I knew the spots to look I decided to go at it by myself.

Sunday was still quite crowded with thai tourists, but hey I was here, so I had to make the best of it. I hitched a ride up to the park HQs (hitching in thai NP’s is such a cinch, usually the first car picks you up!). I then rented a bike and biked 28km down south (in elephant territory) to a spectacular waterfall down there. After visiting the falls and getting some lunch I biked back. I still had some daylight left, so I biked 15km back towards the falls again looking for elephants and then back again. Believe you me, I was quite tired b/c it was very hilly and my steed was of course many sizes to small and had no easy gears. Unfortunately all I saw were some monkeys, squirrels, deer, and hornbills. By the time I got near the picnic areas I was tired and pretty dehydrated. I don’t often do this, but I was craving a pop. When I got to a small lake, a few miles from HQs I stopped just for a quick break, and lo and behold, this little thai girl came up and gave me an ice cold pepsi! Heaven! Of course it meant I would be photographed with each member of the family for the next few minutes, but who cares. And throughout the day I was in many a photograph with many a thai lady or family. It’s so weird. They must really think I’m goofy or something. I was getting especially asked today being on the bike I think. It’s a lot like westerns photographing the long neck tribesman or the masaii or the tribes with huge rings in their ears. Pretty funny. It was turning dusk, so I biked the few km’s to the wildlife overlook as dusk and dawn are the best times for watching wildlife. No luck, just more deer (barking and sambar). I then took the night safari, using spot lights from a truck. We saw some cool stuff…a civet, a mongoose, and 4 of these nocturnal tree mammals. They didn’t know the English name, but I think they’re called lorises.

It’s winter here at this park and it’s pretty high elevation, so I was freezing that night. I stayed in a dorm b/c it was only 2 bucks a night. I pictured like the bunkbeaded research dorms typical in our parks, but it was basically just a wall with 3 sides of screen and then you slept on the wood floor. I had asked for a mat and blanket. The mat was just an incredibly thin straw mat and the blanket was quite tiny and thin. So needless to say the sleeping wasn’t great. It’s not that cold there (the low when I checked the thermometer at the park was 45), but it’s so humid you get wet and sticky and then when it gets cold, it really gets cold. I got up at 4:30 to walk to the wildlife blind (I no longer had my bike). Again no luck. Just deer and some giant hornbills. I walked a few jungle trails until around noon when I was just starving and thirsty. Got a big OJ and a big tub of icecream! There was a 10km trail that went through the jungle to get to the big waterfall from the beach, and another waterfall as well and that had the best chance of seeing wildlife.. Apparently it was a difficult trail and tough to follow (lots of huge downed trees and intersecting wildlife trails) so they said you needed a guide. Lonely planet said you needed a compass and to be experienced or hire a guide. A problem with traveling alone is that you have to pay the whole guide fee. 15 bucks…which isn’t too much, but a lot for me on a 15-20 dollar a day budget. It would be just fine splitting it with 3 or even one other person. But there were no western tourists around and thais don’t hike. So I decided I could do it by myself. If it got too sketchy and I feared getting lost, I could simply turn around. I would also time myself, so that I would no when I was reaching a point of no return in terms of turning back before dark. I started off on the trail, or at least what I thought was the trail, but after hiking for an hour I realized it was just some other random trail. I thought it was the correct trail b/c it had bridges (a good sign), although rickety, and some random nature signs. Well, I went back to the visitors center and re-assesed their terrible map. Started again, and this time for sure found the trail. Now I didn’t have ton’s of time as it was 2:30, so I definitely made sure to keep track of the point of no return. I had to walk faster than I would like for a trail I was looking for wildlife on, but what could ya do. Hear lots of things crashing into the jungle and saw a few brown blurs, but it’s difficult to see things much further than 10 feet away in the jungle. Did come across a very fresh pile of elephant dung, but no elephant. I was pretty nervous for a lot of the trail (even though it was easy enough to follow) just b/c I was by myself and running short on time. Wish I had had the bro with me as he has been on many of those return late at night in the dark trips (remember: lion lake to sandbeach lake, mtn biking in Carlsbad, NM, and mtb in Buena vista bro!?). I ended up making it in plenty of time, time to see both waterfalls and an hour and a half to spare of light. Took me two hours to do the trail (the visitor center says 4-5). I had the waterfall made famous in the beach all to myself though. Not a soul, which was very nice!! I would take the road back to the visitor center which was 15km by road away. I had hoped to hitch, but as there was no one there I had to do it myself. I had booked a night safari for 7pm, so I had two hours to somehow cover the 15kms. I started to jog, though I likely wouldn’t make it at a job. But in a half hour I passed a campsite and there were people coming in and out of that, so I got a ride. The night safari was again pretty good. The highlight were 4 huge asian porcupines. It was 8:30 and I now needed to get back to the guesthouse as I didn’t want to stay in the freezing park again. As it was Monday, there was not near the traffic as the weekend, so I was worried I would have to stay. But first car that came by picked me up and was able to take me the 20km’s to the entrance. Now I had another 20 to go. It was a bit more difficult getting a ride outside the park, but eventually after a half hour of walking I got one. My guesthouse was booked, but I just went next door. A bit more expensive, but nicer and free internet (thus the post now as it has been too expensive up here otherwise). I was super exhausted and thankful this place was nice enough to have a warm shower! Bought some junk food and warm noodle soup b/c I felt I deserved it!

I really, really wanted to see an elephant and who knows when I’d be in Thailand again, so I ponied up the money (33 bucks) and hired another wildlife tour. Apparently on the tours they see elephants one day a week. I had already been on 1, and the tour by myself on bike, so I figured I had a decent chance. Plus it was Tuesday, so less people. This time I went with the tour company out of the new guesthouse I was staying at. On the drive up we saw another nice family of gibbons. I love watching them. They are so graceful in the trees. They mainly are swingers and do not use their feet. You can see where the name monkey bars comes from… On the nature walk we saw yet another family of gibbons. Then eating figs high up on a fig tree we saw a binturong (bearcat). It was a pretty incredible find. The guide who guides every day only sees 1 or 2 a year. It was definitely not a mammal I would see anywhere except in a zoo. We also saw a bear of giant squirrels. Again we did the waterfall thing. This time I was with a group of 3 from Italy, 2 from Holland, 1 from deutchland, 1 from schweitz, and an elderly german ex pat who just loved the macaques on the side of the road. On the way up to the waterfall, we saw the other of the species of gibbon in the park. This one is quite rare and endangered and I could tell it was a good find b/c even the guide got out his camera. After the waterfall, we drove to the top of the highest peak in Khao Yai. There is a military outpost on the top with a big radar antennae that the thai royal army uses as their main airspace defense. Interestingly, it was donated by the American army. After that we went for the elephant safari, and sadly, no luck. Shoot! Well, I could stay another day, but I won’t b/c I can’t waste all my time and money looking for something that is only a 15% chance of seeing. I may see one tomorrow, in 5 days, or in 2 weeks, so it’s unfortunately not worth it for me now. Before the hour long, freezing (we’re in the back of a truck) drive to the guesthouse I bought some breakfast porridge at the cafeteria to warm the innards. Hmm…it was rice based, pork and fish flavored porridge! Well, it was definitely a very great time in Khao Yai. Saw some awesome wildlife, some fantabulous waterfalls, and some beautiful monsoon, rain, and dry forest scenery.

Speaking earlier of all the thai tourists at khao yai for the holidays. I also ran into a bunch of thai tourists in pai over the weekend more towards the beginning of my trip. That is the only time I have run into much tourists. In fact, due to a few issues, I have been extremely lucky with the amount of western tourists here. There just hardly are any! This makes things nice b/c it keeps prices down, makes bartering for guesthouses easier, makes finding the good guesthouses with available rooms even late in the night, or even finding them. When I got into Bangkok my first night at 2am, I was originally planning on just sleeping in the airport b/c there was no way I’d find a place, but I found one easy, and very cheap. It’s also nice b/c it’s just great to not have tourists crawling all around. Thailand is probably the number 1 “exotic” destination in the world, so it can be quite crowded. In fact, a lot of the more experienced, jaded se asia backpackers don’t even go to Thailand anymore unless they go to remote spots b/c it apparently makes them sick compared to 20 years ago with all the tourists around as they remember empty beaches with no bungalows or people in site and hidden hilltribes.. And prices have skyrocketed even in the last 10 years; one of the reasons, along with incredible rainforest/coral reef destruction and increased spoilage due to tourists that I wanted to go to SE asia as soon as I could before it became too expensive like say Europe (my parents backpacked in Europe way back when for 5 dollars a day, now the lonely planet Europe on a shoe string suggests to budget 100 dollars a day for budget. When I was there I struggled to keep it under 70) and before all the natural beauty was gone. But yea, it has been great, I really don’t see that many farangs (foreigners) at all. Just enough to meet some cool people. According to the T.A.T. (tourism authority of Thailand) guesthouses in Thailand are anywhere from 50% capacity (chiang mai) to a lowly 15% capacity (Bangkok). This is mainly due I think to the struggling euro/American economies, but more so b/c of the untimely closure of the two main international airports in early December. For someone like me with no job to come back to, it wasn’t a huge worry, knowing it would eventually open up and I could go. But people with only 2 weeks, 3 weeks, even a month, could not spare to waste vacation time waiting for it to open, or fearing it wouldn’t, so they rescheduled trips elsewhere, and it’s main more people nervous about Thailand as well. And of course the thai government isn’t the brightest always. Instead of offering huge deals like they did after the tsunami nearly ended tourism, they have done nothing, and instead changed people coming in overland (via laos, Malaysia, Cambodia) only 15 day visas instead of the usual 30 days. This is insanely short when you consider you need a day to get to the border, and a day to cross and go back for a visa run, leaving you with only 13 days. This means that people’s who’s 30 day fly in visa expires, that would typically go to laos or Cambodia or Malaysia for a visa run, but then come back to Thailand to spend their money in Thailand are just staying in the other countries. Hmm…the new ruling might kind of effect me to, but I’ll probably just spend the extra money while in laos to get a 30 day tourist visa so I can have 30 days down in the southern beaches without worrying about a visa run.

Well, tomorrow it’s off bright and early to Kachanaburi (home of the death bridge over the river kwai made famous by the movie), one last stop before going back to Bangkok so I can fly to Myanmar.

Hope everyone is well back home!