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sorry for the lack of posts. internet is expensive here in the islands. since bangkok, i’ve been to ko phi phi (it’s truly paradise!), railay near krabi (for climbing), ko phagnan (for the full moon party), and i just got to ko samui this afternoon.
full moon was really all that it was cut out to be. it was basically a ridiculously big rave (my first one ever) – probably upwards of 10,000 people, maybe 15.
it was great because i basically got to catch up with so many of the people i had traveled or chilled with in the past 2 1/2 months, save for maybe one face that i really wish i could’ve seen. it was one big reunion.
basically, everyone was either really drunk or fucked up on drugs. i was only a little bit of both, but pretty lucid, which was great because i could witness it all and see all these masses of people dance their night away like zombies. (it’s what i imagined spring break would be like, except with more techno/house/electronic music and minus the girls-gone-wild stuff – the europeans and aussies are a lot classier than americans, i guess.) saw some pretty shitty things too, like drunken weirdos and people getting hurt. i guess that’s full moon for ya..
ko samui is quite a different place from it’s sister island ko phagnan. it’s most filled with vacationers rather than tourists, and this actually has made me a bit homesick. i think i’m headed to ko tao next..
i’m considering coming back either before or right after christmas. hmm.
… about liking bangkok. i appreciate being in a first-world-ish city again, but bangkok just doesn’t leave the same impression on me as it did a month and a half ago. (i will say though that my mood sways depending on who i’m with.) it’s also starting to become high season, which means LOTS AND LOTS of tourists and lots and lots of street hawkers. so much so, that it’s probably easier to get scammed. for instance, one of my friends 2 nights ago was set up by the cops in a scheme in which they took $700 from him.
last night, khao san road (the backpacker road) was packed like i’ve never seen before, with gazillions of street stalls and shops. it was a zoo, and i’m starting to get the sense that the locals here are going to start hassling for money like in vietnam and cambodia, although nowhere nearly as bad. i love that the tuk tuk drivers only hassle me like twice a day instead of like, 50 times a day. i actually miss vietnam though, because it was nowhere like i’ve ever been before. the experience was totally new and different, and definitely harder work and more of an adventure than thailand and lao (2 very friendly countries - the former being a really easy country to travel in).
that said, i think southeast asia in general is pretty easy to travel through and navigate. after having read eli b’s blog post about getting mugged in south africa, this part of asia seems like a piece of cake comparatively. knock on wood, but i haven’t yet gotten anything stolen, although i did lose a bra and a pair of underwear on two separate occasions (story to come later? there isn’t much of one though). it’s a well traversed area, and although asia seems pretty young on the backpacker circuit to most american, it really isn’t very new at all. and as i’ve said many times before, it’s so easy to run into travelers you’ve met at different points along the way in your travels since everyone generally goes to the same places and travels the same route either clockwise or counterclockwise. (for instance yesterday, i randomly ran into my american friend alex who i met a month and a half ago here in this said city. and just today, i ran into my aussie friend who i traveled with in lao.) anyway, the point is, it’s not too difficult.
referring back to eli’s post, i was wondering about the safety of south africa, because two of the guys i had been traveling with are from there. they claim there’s hardly any racism left and that it’s not very dangerous at all apart from jo-berg (they’re from cape town). i suppose i get the same questions too and answer in a similar way about the states and new york. but for some reason, i’m not totally convinced of them 100%, just because they also come from money (and as also mentioned before, they drink tons of alcohol, get wasted nearly every night, and blow money left and right) and yeah, they’re white. one is also conservative and is one of the only people i’ve met on this entire trip who’s rooting for mccain (his mom’s from nevada). screw that.
here is a motley collection of thoughts. but first, let me just update you on my location. i’m back in bangkok (after a month and a half of being away), and boy, is it good to be back in a first-world-ish country with street lights, traffic lights, orderly traffic!!! (no darting through whizzing motorbikes!), crosswalks, metered taxis, smooth paved roads, highways, billboards, skyscrapers, 7-elevens (with price tags!), and plush busses that i took for granted and thought were shitty compared to the busses in korea and the states more than a month ago.
my notions are true, it’s been confirmed. thailand IS much cheaper than most of the southeast asian countries, considering it’s 10 times more developed than its neighbors. cambodia and lao were somewhat expensive, as they tried to milk as many dollars off of backpackers and pure tourists alike as was possible. vietnam was actually pretty cheap considering that it’s developing (and having heard that it wasn’t), but that involved sharing rooms with other friends or staying at hostels which were awesome, and eating at a lot of street stalls (great food, mind you). i think i was also totally turned off by the rude hawkers, and the more they said “you buy something lady? you buy from me lady? buy here lady?” or “tuk tuk? tuk tuk? motorbike?” at every turn and step, the more i didn’t feel like buying from them. (literally, you couldn’t walk down a street with a stall, store or tuk tuk/motorbike driver in vietnam without EVERY SINGLE one of them saying at least one of those things. that was the part of that country i was disgusted with. feeling like a walking atm machine.) what wasn’t thifty was that i spent loads on getting clothes tailored (some unnecessary in hindsight) in hoi an, the town known for their tailors.
price comparisons: scarves cost a dollar more in cambodia than in thailand (but i bought 3 silk scarves anyway – probably a dollar or 2 too much, but i didn’t know if they’d have the same variety in thailand). besides, i’d like to think i’m contributing to cambodia’s economy, one of the poorest nations in the world. interesting side note: laos is supposedly poorer than cambodia and it was one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world. however, the people there seemed very content and satisfied living a pastoral lifestyle, which differs from the outlooks of cambodians it seemed, as they were all about money, money, money. i never saw a beggar in lao and very few prostitutes. in cambodia, beggars, amputees, children, and prostitutes asking for money were everywhere. bottles of water and snacks are cheaper here in thailand compared to cambodia also. so are food and fruit shakes (almost by $2) and bracelets too (was quoted $3 for a bracelet in cambodia that’s 60 cents here!).
when i’m by myself, i’m borderline ridiculous in frugality. i’d rather skip a meal or walk for 30 minutes finding a street stall rather than spend $2 or $3 (expensive by SE standards) on a meal at a western restaurant. and i’d rather walk a half-mile with my heavy pack and daypack in the boiling heat under the scorching sun than get ripped off by annoying tuk tuk drivers pestering me with “tuk tuk lady? where are you going?”
that said, i love traveling with other people i’ve met on the road and actually prefer it, although i usually can’t be as thrifty as i want to be (though i was on the same page with most girls). i’ve found that traveling with girls is much much cheaper than traveling with guys. girls are generally overly conscious of their spending, especially if it’s not on clothing and jewelry. we’re cheap with food and accomodations. we’ll skip a meal and shop around multiple stalls rather than settle for the first place we see. yet guys, who i find are actually better traveling companions in terms of conversation and humor and what not, do generally settle. if they’re hungry, they’re hungry, and they’ll go wherever there’s good food. they generally prefer comfort over thrift. they eat 3 square meals a day, if not more. just my observations.
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i arrived in bangkok last night from siem reap, cambodia. i spent 2 (or was it 3?) nights in phnom penh (creepy town), 2 in sihanoukville (a quiet beach town, though still very touristy and lined with bars and cafes with thatched roofs and deck chairs), and 2 more in siem reap. the angkor temples, needless to say, were extremely impressive. but surprisingly, i enjoyed angkor thom and the other temple where tomb raider was filmed (forget the cambodian name) much more than angkor wat itself. it rained when i got to those two temples, and they had a charm and enigma that was far greater than the super touristy, overly commercialized angkor wat. i loved that angkor thom had large contented, smiling heads carved on the temple and tiles of the dancing vishnus (or shivas?). the tomb raider temple, overgrown with trees and accessorized by monkey screeches high up above, were simply surreal. loved it.
after one day at angkor, i walked around the city of siem reap alone the following day, having seen mark, my dutch travel companion of more than a week, off. i was slightly disturbed by cambodia though, and find that i couldn’t think clearly. i don’t know what it was. maybe it was phnom penh, visiting the s-21 prison museum and having had nightmares for a few nights afterwards, or maybe it was all the beggars and desperate people i saw on the streets, or the high tourist prices everywhere. or maybe, even, it was the slow internet connection that i couldn’t bare! or still yet, maybe it was the slight sadness i felt after breaks and goodbyes with friends leaving, traveling elsewhere or on a different schedule and feeling cerebral traveling alone with so much time to myself. but the point is, i really wanted to leave cambodia. and now i kind of regret it! i wish i could’ve done another day at angkor too. well, i suppose it’s a good thing that i’m in want of having seen and done more. you can’t do everything everywhere, i know. and even the days that were a waste were still better than not having done them at all…
but the biggest reason for this regret actually is that i wanted to volunteer in cambodia (which i knew i might’ve wanted to do even before getting there) either at an orphanage, hospital or school. but because of my personal selfishness to get out of the depressive poverty and to meet up with people in bangkok, i left early. i say this now after feeling relief last night at getting back to bangkok (as my first paragraph in this post tells). but now that the consumerism, materialism and commercial mini-culture shock has set in, i’m longing to do something productive. i’m not sure that i can find any good opportunities in thailand. regrets man, they suck.
anyway, after bangkok, i’m headed south to the islands of ko phi phi, krabi (not an island), ko phagnan and ko samui (these last two for the full and half moon party). then after, i think i’ll head to malaysia and indonesia i think, where perhaps i’ll find volunteer work. but if i can afford it and have the time, i’m actually considering going back up to cambodia to fulfill that guilty desire i have… not sure if i will, but it would be nice.
here’s an email i wrote to some friends. sorry if i forgot to add you to the list, or i probably just didn’t have your email and was too lazy to look it up on facebook.
anyway, here’s the email:
hey folks,
i’m now in thailand! it’s feels like a guilty pleasure to be here – i’m enjoying it so much that i feel it’s wrong. i haven’t seen, been near, or heard about the protests, though i hear it’s big news in the states right now.. the media hyping things up as usual? don’t know, but i haven’t felt unsafe other than from the predatory eyes of the old, fat western male sex tourists (more on this later).
most of you have probably read my blog at some point, not sure, but i thought i would write a more personal email, especially because it’s less work to write an informal email rather than a blog post… ok, so this isn’t really brief. LONG essay to ensue.
i’ve been in bangkok since tuesday night. so about a week. (it’s currently monday at 1 pm right now). it’s so easy to lose track of time here – i think i’ve spent most days not knowing or being confused about what day and time it is. it’s kind of like i’ve escaped all responsibilities. in fact, i’m a little afraid for myself. i could easily see myself just staying here for months and not coming back for a while, which isn’t and hasn’t ever been part of the plan. i DO NOT want to become a travel bum, but it’s SO easy to get sucked into this kind of lifestyle. (it’s a vicious cycle, really. the more you postpone coming back, the more delayed you are on catching up on ‘real world’ goals and plans, like jobs and school, and so you’re tempted to stay away even longer…) but i AM considering traveling for more than a month or two. still considering china, india, australia, but now bali, turkey and germany are in the works. we’ll see…
the one thing that sucks about traveling is that you meet new people and make many new friends, but they leave just as quickly as you’ve met them. at least there’s facebook to keep in touch these days. so far, most of the people i’ve met have been amazingly awesome. my god, i love the aussies. even when your first impression of them is only all right, they end up being just so cool. europeans are great too. i think there are loads more of german and aussie backpackers than people from any other country. supposedly, 60% of thailand’s tourists are japanese, but other than on day trips, i haven’t seen too many of them – they must stay in fancy hotels or only travel in groups.. americans and canadians are hit or miss. i’ve met a few, a couple of women and a guy, who are cool. but many of them, especially nearly all of the canadians, suck. but those are just my experiences.
speaking of foreigners, there are three types of prices when shopping. there’s the japanese price, the european price, and the american price. japanese price is the highest price. i guess they pay the most of any traveler bc they tend to be the richest tourists. most locals do think i’m japanese, but i’m trying my hardest not to get so ripped off. they quote like 300 to 400% of the actual price, and you try to get it down to like 150 to 200% if you’re good. they respect good bargainers here. i’ve been successful about half the time. it’s actually really fun, and you have to smile and have a good time with it. water is like 7 baht (33 baht to a dollar, so that’s about 20 cents), my hostel is 180 baht a night, food on the street is around 35 baht. clothes are really cheap too – $2 to 5… i really should’ve brought an empty suitcase (or no suitcase at all, and just bought that here too for a quarter of the price you’d pay in the states), and thought to buy an entirely new wardrobe. you want everything you see, because things are just so cool. but i haven’t gotten much yet, since i still have a long way to go, and i’m trying to save the shopping for the very end of my trip.
the thing that’s sort of expensive are cabs, because they will take you for a longer ride to get more money off of you. you also have to say “meter” to have them turn the meter on – otherwise, they’ll just charge you a ridiculous price. it does get frustrating, because even though you’re paying only a dollar or two more sometimes, you know they’re taking advantage of you as a foreigner. plus, it does add up when you’re on a budget.
oh, speaking of people thinking i’m japanese, no one believes i’m american. really. europeans and aussies will mostly understand and nod, and not ask too many questions after that. but none of the thais do, they just don’t get the concept that america is a diverse country. for instance, one woman at this street food stand ask if i was from japan. i said no. then, she goes, china? no. malaysia? no. taiwan? no. singapore? no. hm, thailand??? no!! she literally ran through every single asian country (except korea actually) until finally, she says america? and i said yes. then i add that i’m korean by descent. and then she has that look in her eye that said, “ohhh! of course you’re korean, not american.” or other times, when i say i’m american, they’ll say, “but you look same same.” (they love saying same same.) i’ve had a few situations like this in korea too, and i’m realizing people who haven’t been outside of their own country have a fairly narrow view of what america is like… but i guess you could say the same about us americans too and our views sometimes.
as far as diversity in this country, i’m actually very surprised by how diverse/colorful this place seems, at least compared to super homogeneous korea. there are indian-, arab-, east asian-, and southeast asian-looking people. i don’t think i could ever pass for thai, but it’s suffice to say that there are many different shades of asians here. in korea, i was a darky. really. i was so dark in korea (they love pale skin over there and in most of asia), that i could not find make-up my shade in cosmetic stores. yes, really. there were only 2 shades – pale and very pale. nothing my shade.
oh, one funny side note. in korea, there were some stereotypes about certain foreigners. the americans were obviously the soldiers or english teachers, the russians or blondes were the prostitutes (i think this is a universal one around the world – if you’re blonde, you’ll often get asked if you’re russian, i.e. a prostitute), many of the indians worked at samsung electronics, and the nigerians were the drug dealers. as far as drugs, oh man, the laws in asia are so strict! a friend of a friend of mine (an american guy) in seoul was arrested for dealing some hash (but not much, he was small-time) and now he’s in jail for about 6 months, but who really knows how long. he had no way to get closure on his job or his apartment, which is just sitting barren. there’s no real trial, as he’s simply guilty. my friend himself found out only because he got a call from the bar-owner of this expat bar who told him not to answer any phone calls he didn’t know, because the cops would simply go through this dealer’s cell phone, make calls and arrest anyone for being associated with this guy. needless to say, my friend was really paranoid.. anyway, weed is considered a serious drugs in almost all asian countries (although not india, i hear), but especially in se asia.
now back to being in thailand. being a single asian female traveler is really interesting. i’ve seen a couple of them but not too many. there are a lot of couples here, which i was very surprised to find out. hopefully, i’ll keep meeting lots of good people along the way. being an asian female is REALLY interesting. if i want to talk to or meet another traveler, i feel that i have to go out of my way to befriend them, only because they won’t approach me first thinking that i don’t speak english. also, as mentioned earlier, there are a lot of disgusting older white men. it is fucking disgusting. i get disgusting looks all the time from them. they’re just so gross, dude. i don’t get the sex tourism here.
additionally, there’s a shit ton of infidelity among travelers here to the point of being disturbing. by this i mean that girls and guys who are seemingly single as they’re traveling alone or with friends might actually have significant other back home that they don’t mention until you find out after friending them on facebook! a couple of the girls i’ve gotten to be friends with have hooked up with some guys, and it turns out they all have girlfriends back home. what does one make of this?
back to the sex tourism. the other day, i went to a pingpong show with some friends. have you guys heard of it? i don’t want to describe it in detali at the moment, so you should look it up. but oh man. you see the strippers do all sorts of weird things with their netherregions and pingpongs and darts and coke bottles. crazy shit. dude, there was also sex on stage! ack. but it’s sort of one of those things you have to see when you’re here. go-go bars, pingpong shows, and ladyboy bars.
speaking of unsightly things. there’s a lot of poverty here, a lot of beggars too, which was rare in seoul. other than for tourist purposes, most of the city isn’t very well maintained. the rivers and canals are totally murky brown or dark green. the social services here could probably be better all around..
um, what else. it’s really hot here! high 80s and 90s. i sweat like a dripping faucet from every pore of my body. but the thais, interestingly enough, do not seem to sweat. i don’t know how that works…
anyway, that’s all for now. i would love to hear back from you guys! i’m taking a bus up to chiang mai, thankfully with an aussie friend tomorrow, and from there, i’ll go to laos on the slowboat.. if anyone wants to meet up with me anywhere around the world at any point, let me know! i would seriously consider it.
Min
why did i bring clothes to thailand? or anything for that matter? why didn’t anyone clue me in on this before? for instance, why did i buy two $25 guidebooks in the states when i could have gotten the same books here for $3?? i could’ve saved myself quite a lot of dough if i’d come with an empty suitcase and bought everything here.. or really, i could’ve come totally empty-handed, bought a suitcase, clothes and everything else for a fraction of the price i paid in the states.
i don’t understand how the economy works here. last night, i tried my hand at haggling.. i was browsing scarves, and the woman selling them said 150 baht. that’s a little under $5. i smiled and said no way.. she then took it down to 100. still no from me. she asked, how much? 40, i said. that’s a little over a dollar. i guess the scarf took like a couple of cents to make, but gosh. i think she was very happy with the 40, because she didn’t blink once before she said okay. i think she would’ve been happy with even a 30. moral of the story is never pay more than a third or a quarter of the asking price. holy cow. in seoul, you could easily blow $100 in a night. here, it’ll probably last you a couple of weeks without a problem.
i found a free internet cafe in an israeli travel agency. yesssss. i will be coming here frequently.
it’s 3:40 pm right now, and to be honest, i haven’t done anything productive yet. moved into a guest house on rambuttri st (i was crashing with a couchsurfer – look up couchsurfing if you don’t know what it is, i’ll explain it at some other point- for the past couple of nights.) then, walked around a bit around khao san and around the block, and ate lunch at a street stall – green curry, delicious! 30 baht. that’s less than a dollar.
have i mentioned how cheap bangkok is yet? ’cause yeah. as i said before, it’s easy to get ripped off, and no matter how much you bargain down, it’s never going to be as low as the prices the locals pay. but a little preview of expenses here: 180 baht for a dorm-style room in a guest house/hostel for a night (that less than $6). subways are more comparable to the states and korea, 40 baht one way (a little over a dollar). food is usually around $1 to 3 depending on the quality. i see why so many travelers stay here for so long. (there are a lot of western ‘bums’ here.) the only thing is that the guest houses and hostels can be somewhat dirty sometimes. bathrooms can be uncomfortable. but you get what you pay for.
other than getting ripped off, another discomfort is the water situation. to be safe, i brush my teeth and rinse my mouth with bottled water. washing hands almost seems pointless since the water’s most likely bacterial. i regret not having brought hand sanitizers, though i guess if i looked hard enough, i could probably find them here. related to this is my stomach situation. i feel a little queasy right now. in fact, i have been for a few hours. i don’t know why. i mean, i think i do – food or water related? i hear some people feel this way constantly throughout their entire trip. this could hamper the fun a bit…
oh, 2 other minor complaints. i really shouldn’t complain so much because i’ve already been having a lot of fun so far, but i need to vent somehow. everyone assumes i’m from asia – obviously. but they really find it hard to believe i’m from the states. “no, i’m not from [china, japan, korea, insert east asian country here]. really, i’m from the us. THE US. US. yes. america. AMERICA.” is how some of the conversations have gone. one (indian-looking) woman was like, ‘oh you must be chinese american then,’ thinking she caught onto me. close, but no really, i’m not. and second final issue is the coffee situation. yes, as many of you know, i’ve been addicted for some time now. and although coffee can be found here, i’m getting the feeling they serve a lot of decaf, which could be a huge problem for me. i’ve had a headache for most of the day today. it sucks.
one surprise. thailand is very diverse – at least compared to korea. there are a lot of different types of people here – thai, chinese, indian, middle eastern. there are also a lot of westerners/travelers, though this ISN’T a surprise.
i’m not lonely yet, although i’ve been mostly on my own except for yesterday. this is my first REAL travel experience alone (in a totally unfamiliar foreign place by myself), so i’m still trying to find my bearings. i haven’t taken advantage of the small number of opportunities to meet new people. i don’t know why this is, but i need to start making friends fast or this could be a very boring trip.
dude, i still have overdue posts about korea to write about, but for now, i’m in bangkok! limited internet access makes for posting blog entries tricky.
um, where do i begin. i’ve been getting ripped off left and right.
things are SUPER cheap here. bottled water is 7 or 8 baht (30 baht to a dollar). but then, when you get ripped off, it can add up. DUDE, i did not need to buy my guidebooks in the states for like $25. they sell used ones in good condition for like 3.
haggling is hard. but i’m working on it. i can be a stingy witch, so i’d rather not buy something than get ripped off.
in other old news, i got paid from my hakwon. i was afraid i wouldn’t because i was actually working under the table (didn’t mention it till now bc i didn’t know if it was all going to be cool and work out). but it did, so i’m glad.
i have stories. i just don’t have the energy or the words to tell them right now. maybe later.
