From Elephant Isle to Thrilla in Manila

The last time I left off I had arrived on Ko Chang (chang=elephant in thai). Didn't want to write on the blog there b/c internet was crazy expensive.





Day 1: I lounged a bit on the beach, finished my book and floated in the almost too warm water. Felt that I needed a bit of a R&R day after myanmar and bangkok. But I grew restless quick and ended up swimming out to this island about a km away. It was nice. only two people on it (american hippies) who were living on it eating fish and coconuts and sleeping just on mosquito net covered hammocks. A nice change from the very crowded lonely beach I was at. Lonely beach is a very big backpackers place and at night it is CRAZY with parties. They have gimmicks like free bbqs to come to the party. That night I went to a free bbq and sat in a hammock feasting on the bbq, drinking a mango shake, and listening to live music (overwhelmingly bob marley as is tradition in any nonwestern country I think)





Day 2: Rented a motorbike and toured a bit around the island. Went to a nice beach on the southern portion of the island and then to some scenic lookouts. Ko Chang is a marvelously gorgeous island with turquoise water, lots of surrounding islands and a lost world of jungle, waterfalls, and steep mountains on the interior. Then I hiked to 3 different waterfalls. 2 were good for swimming and cliff diving. It's quite fun to drive a motorbike on ko chang b/c the roads are steep, windy, through the jungle and along the coast





Day 3: Took a snorkel boat tour. Went to 4 other islands in the ko chang marine park. The corals were just ok, but the food on board was great. Got lucky b/c most the europeans prefer to sit on the beach. The boat was not one of those intimate zodiac snorkel trips you get in hawaii with 8 people or the bangcas in the philippines with just a handful; this boat could fit 80 people, but only 20 were on it, otherwise the snorkelling would have been real crazy. Anyways, people need to tell the tourists not to step on and touch the coral. So many people were it was making me sick. Probably why the coral was bad and no big fish indicating heavy overfishing. I randomly ran into Stefano from Italy who I had trekked with in chiang mai! It was nice to hang out with him and he was flying back the next day. crazy I had been with him on his first day in thailand and his last. We played some pool that night and went to the huge beach party they were throwing for a bit. He was very excited to get back to italy for pizza and spaghetti.





Day 4/5: Hired a guide to do an overnight trek from the west side of the island to the east side. The annoying thing about thailand, and probably asia in general is they never let you do anything on your own and don't mark trails, so you always have to hire a guide, but it was worth it! Only person on the whole trail. First day hiked to a waterfall, then camped at a stream high up in the mountains in the interior. Along the way saw some big lizards and a copper mamba (very poisonous) as well as a couple of species of monkeys. Took my bath in the stream, and the fish, probably b/c of lack of fishing were very friendly. They'd come right up and nibble on my skin and they were very easy to catch. Spent the night in a hammock watching the full moon rise over the jungle. I was reading the book congo on my hammock in the afternoon watching butterflies and monkeys overhead in the canopy and listening to the jungle sounds. My first true night in wilderness jungle ever i think! I'd always been in some sort of hut, or nature resort or research center or something. Made a small fire and laid out ferns to sit on as the floor. slept on the hammock and put banana leaves overhead incase it rained. The next day we hiked down along a stream for a while to the next waterfall. saw another copper mamba and the even worse green mamba. beautiful though! Had a good time at the last waterfall swimming and cliff diving and such. Got back to lonely beach about 3pm and just hung out reading and watching the ocean. got away from all the people on the beach though and hiked up to a bluff overlooking the ocean to watch the sunset.
I had been very fortunate my first few nights in lonely beach b/c I had found amazingly cheap hotels. I had walked all over the beach and main strip and all the places were between 9 and 15 dollars, which isn't too bad b/c they're bungalows so two or 3 people can split the cost and sleep in them. but i am solo of course and my budget is on the 2-6 dollar range. I was a bit discouraged at first as I walked along but the last place i checked was 6 bucks for a bungalow! I later found one for 4 bucks that I moved to. but they don't do reservations so i had to check out for the trek and on coming back the cheapest left was 12 bucks, which I just didn't want to pay b/c of what I had gotten before, so I decided to sleep on the beach as the beach was quiet at night with everyone partying on the main strip. I of course hung out at a bar with some live music for a bit first and then went to camp around midnight. set up my sarong as my "pad" and hooked my mosquito net up over a palm tree. around 1 am I woke up to my harms and feet just burning. I turned on my headlamp and my entire arms were covered and swollen with bug bites, which I couldn't quite understand why with the net and all that. I then figured out they were sand flies and had come up from the sand. I had never experienced that before I had slept on a few beaches before in california with kaitlyn, ali, rick and the crew and in australia with lucas and scott. hmm...maybe had something to do with the incredibly high tide and full moon or just the area. so i instead wrapped myself in a cacoon in my net and was fine the rest of the time.

day 6: Rented a motorbike again and scooted out to the east side of the island. the eastside is very undeveloped and rural. Hiked to a waterfall. After getting to the first tier, there was a small trail to the next two tiers. I hiked and climbed up to those. On the way back; however, at a stream area, it was hard to determine where the trail kept going to go back. I didn't spend too much time making sure what I picked was the actual trail b/c I wasn't too worried, but after going for about a 1/2 hour through dense vines, rocks, forget-me-not thorns, etc, I realized I hadn't picked the right path, but had picked a sorta dried stream bed or something. No worries, just do what I tell people in the park to do if they get lost. Fall the stream down b/c it eventually goes to a town or the ocean. In my case it intersected with the stream that had the waterfall on it. I was quite sweaty, dirty, and tangled in vines when I got down, so the refreshing dip in the waterfall was nice. After that I drove through a coconut plantation to a small stilted fishing village, took a walk on a mangrove plank walk, then hiked to another waterfall. This was a gorgeous falls, which disappeared under the ground after it landed. After that I drove to the very southern tip of the island on a crazy dirt road, taken out in a few places by landslides and washes to a beach called long beach. There was a small cheap bungalow area here that if I came back, i would stay here b/c I loved this beach. not too many people, very scenic, and still natural. Ghost crabs and hermit crabs were running around everywhere. brought me back to my days of catching them with my bro in rarotonga. I left a bit before sunset so I could watch the sunset from high up on the road and then drove back towards lonely beach. I stopped along a way at a buffet I had been eyeying for a while. I typically budget myself 3-5 dollars a day for meals. 1 dollar for each meal and then some fruit, snacks, or smoothies. This buffet cost a little more than 4, so I had only eaten a small breakfast that day. It was an awesome one: thai bbq which is a bit like fondue where you cook meat and vegetables; lots of fruits; and icecream. I definitely took the buffet to town, and probably ate 4 dollars worth of icecream alone.

Day7: I had decided on a whim to fly out to the philippines and not go to lao yet, so I took the ferry and bus back to bangkok and then took an overnight flight to the philippines. I had just bought a one way ticket but was informed at the ticket counter that some new policy for filipino immigration requires you have proof of an onward or return ticket. I really had not idea at the moment when I wanted to come back. Depends on if I get lost island hopping and stay for a while or get bored or whatever. I tried to tell them I was taking a boat from the philippines to malaysia (not exactly true), but they wouldn't do that. In the end I guessed when I wanted to come back and booke a flight, but you can change it for 30 bucks later. I was a little steamed about this, but later cooled down realizing the ticket had only cost 80 bucks anways coming back which was cheaper than the 140 going out.

On Euro Sunworshippers and tourists:
The lonelyplanet and other guidebooks mention all about the sunworshippers. how in thailand you're not a swede or a german or an israeli but a universal sunworshipper. This was no joke. What 99% of the people do there is wake up around 11am, grab beers and cocktails and migrate to the beach. sit there until sunset. shower, eat, then go hit the bars and clubs and then do it again. My 4 days in the national park away from the beach I only saw 2 westerners (and there were hundreds on the beach). There were just a few on my snorkel boat, and none in the other towns. Basically they don't leave the area of the beach and the club strip. And this is no exaggeration b/c several of the people I chatted with on the bus said they had not gone any farther than the beach, the hotels, and the bus stop. To me, this was very weird. The beach is great, but I like to explore! I wonder if this is a european thing?? It seems to me at the places americans go to hit the beach like hawaii, mexico, florida, they go out and do things still, (even if it's only fishing or mini golf)...but usually waterfall hikes and parks were popular. Maybe b/c most of europe seems to have about as much sun as seattle, they just love it. the truth is that many of the europeans are darker and more tan than the local thais (thais themselved view being pale as beauty). It was a bit crazy to me to think that's all they did: Party all night and lie on the beach all day.
This was the first time I had been to southern thailand where the MASSES of tourists go and it was a bit overwhelming (and it's actually low this year), and i think it was worse for me b/c I had just come back from non touristy burma.
This was also the first time I had ridden a tourist bus. In the past I had always chosen to ride the public and government busses b/c they tended to be cheaper, you met the locals more, saw more of real thailand. I had avoided the fancy, reclining, movie playing super tourist busses that go to chaingmai, the south etc. But this time b/c there would be several transfers and a ferry to get to ko chang it was easier and cheaper to ride the tourist busses. I have to admit they were nice, but full of lots of sunworshippers. On the way back to bangkok though I asked the driver to drop me off at this intersection where I knew I could catch a public bus to the airport instead of having to go all the way into central bangkok to khao san road and then take a taxi or express bus. the people next to me thought I was crazy and dumb to do that. it's much easier to go to khao san they said. I saw them later at the airport: I had arrived 2 hours earlier and for 10 dollars less, enjoying an icecream with a fraction of my saved money!
I think there is a difference between the tourist and the traveller and in southern thailand it is mostly the tourist. the tourists have bigger budgets, pamper themselves, are not so concerned with the culture or meeting the locals and are really just there for parties, beaches, and maybe a few sites. They eat at the tourist places (that serve western food or local food at 3x the price). Travellers however are less concerned with the hedonistic are more about seeing the people, the landscape, and the culture of the country. The tourists tend to be on 2week to 2 months holidays while the travellers are on longer than 2 months. I think I much prefer the travellers over the tourists.

While on ko chang I had the most difficulty i have had on the trip emotionally. For a several of reasons I think. I had just come from, pure travelling burma where the people view you as guests and not as dollar signs (thai people are very nice, you just have to get to where the "real" thai people are and that's not in the tourist areas. the best ones I've met are the ones on vacation themselves at national parks or in non touristy towns), and the travellers are all there for the same reason I am. It was difficult readjusting to this complete party and sunworshipping culture. Also compared to burma and even northern thailand, it was quite expensive (though it was affecting those people on short holidays) and just so touristy. And then something about being at a beach place reminded me a lot of my family. I missed hanging out at the nice little restaurants with my jovial family, going on little adventures with them, etc. etc. And I am used to having somone with me (typically my brother, or lucas, scott, and morgan in australia or cory in maine) on islands and beaches to explore, to go climbing into the jungle, to look for hidden waterfalls, to kayak to islands looking for cliffs to jump off of, to swim long distance with me, or just throw the football and frisbee around on the beach. A lot of those things you can't do by yourself or are more scary or not as fun by yourself. It's a lot easier to battle the currents and wind to kayak long distance with my bro and then jump off a 50 footer when it's the two of us. sigh...and I just couldn't find anyone around there like that!

So yea, being in an area where the tourists aren't doint much but partying and beach sitting is tough for me b/c I want to go explore. Don't get me wrong, I like to party, but I can't really afford to do it everynight (nor do I want to). I'm on the about 15-25 dollar a day budget. When you throw in 6 bucks for a hotel, 5 for food, and maybe 3 for misc like water, internet, you're sitting 14 bucks, which is plenty to buy alcohol (beers in 7-11 are about a dollar, in bars about 1.50, or the infamous huge bucket of hard a mixed is 6-8 bucks); however, that's not all I do, I have to factor in expensive tours, national park fees, boat rentals, kayak rentals, motor bike rental, scuba, snorkel trips and overland travel, etc, so I can't be partying like 24-7 like the plain tourists. Plus, I figure I have more fun typically partying with the gang back home (where huge packs of coors aren't that much more expensive), but back home don't have much access to snorkeling, tropical waterfalls, etc, so i'm here to see things, not be wasted on the beach all day, but it can be difficult b/c that's what most the other people in s. thailand are here for so it's actually more lonely than in burma b/c in burma everyone is there for travel even though there was probably less people in the whole country of burma at a given time than on lonely beach.

Well, I have arrived in manilla and now in Naga, PI, so I am very excited for this as the philipines in my experience are much less touristic and a whole a lot cheaper, etc.