It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
– Henry David Thoreau
Wednesday, September 4, 2013 (DAYS 549 - 560)
Since they forgot to mention that the hostel I would be volunteering at when I first arrived in Bangkok was shutting down after only being there 10 days for renovations for two weeks–even though they didn’t seem necessary, nor were the larger priority issues considered, I’ve decided to take advantage of this plus I knew I would need to take care of a visa run since you only receive 30 days when arriving via flight and it’s shortened to 15 days if you come in overland. A much different experience than Central & South America where you most every country granted you with 90-day tourist visas and most of the time there was no visa cost’s associated, but maybe a minimal entry or exit fee. With the knowledge that the hostel would be a construction zone for two weeks I decided to head South to Krabi and some of the islands since I could do an overland crossing into Malaysia where there was no entry fee or visa restriction. This morning I woke up at 6:30am and took the airport skytrain to Suvarnabhumi Airport better known as BKK, for my 9:30am flight. I’ve also sided on the cautious side where I would rather be waiting a bit more time at the airport than feeling rushed through security even for domestic flights in foreign countries, and since I knew the train would take roughly 30-minutes plus at this time on a Wednesday I had no idea how much more traffic there may be during morning rush hour. Since the one-hour flight was only about $10 more (1200 THB or $38) than the 13-hour bus ride there with two transfers, I figured this was a good choice. And I’ll tell you what, Bangkok Airways is exactly what they promote themselves as–Asia’s boutique airline that has excellent customer service. Since I was unaware of all of the amenities they offered, I ate breakfast at the airport just after clearing security since I was doubtful a meal would be served on such a short flight. Not only was I wrong, but the terminal where the Bangkok Airways flights depart from there is a pimped out lounged that looks as though it is only reserved for business and first class ticket holders. But oh no, anyone that has a ticket with their airline, as I just had a simple economy ticket, it was as though the keys to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was given to me without punching out an Oompa Loompas. Not only did they have large comfortable chairs with individual USB chargers on them, there was also free high-speed Wi-Fi, which yes there is free airport Wi-Fi after you pass through security, but this was incredibly fast. There was also a full buffet of free food, coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and they personal announced each one of their flights so you didn’t have to bother staring at the screens in case of any changes to your flight. After stuffing myself with free food and cappuccinos I boarded the flight and strangely enough I think the plane was about 20% full. I took what I thought was my assigned seat against the window, until a Dutch couple informed me I was in their assigned seat. Pausing, I looked up and stared around the plane only to notice that they had their pick of empty row after empty row, but for whatever reason they just had to be in this specific row and seat. After changing I moved and lounged out to and entire 3-seat row for myself and took a nice nap. I even declined the free meal, which I never do normally, but I was too stuffed from the delicious chicken salad sandwiches and seaweed wraps from the amazing waiting lounge in the airport.
Since they forgot to mention that the hostel I would be volunteering at when I first arrived in Bangkok was shutting down after only being there 10 days for renovations for two weeks–even though they didn’t seem necessary, nor were the larger priority issues considered, I’ve decided to take advantage of this plus I knew I would need to take care of a visa run since you only receive 30 days when arriving via flight and it’s shortened to 15 days if you come in overland. A much different experience than Central & South America where you most every country granted you with 90-day tourist visas and most of the time there was no visa cost’s associated, but maybe a minimal entry or exit fee. With the knowledge that the hostel would be a construction zone for two weeks I decided to head South to Krabi and some of the islands since I could do an overland crossing into Malaysia where there was no entry fee or visa restriction. This morning I woke up at 6:30am and took the airport skytrain to Suvarnabhumi Airport better known as BKK, for my 9:30am flight. I’ve also sided on the cautious side where I would rather be waiting a bit more time at the airport than feeling rushed through security even for domestic flights in foreign countries, and since I knew the train would take roughly 30-minutes plus at this time on a Wednesday I had no idea how much more traffic there may be during morning rush hour. Since the one-hour flight was only about $10 more (1200 THB or $38) than the 13-hour bus ride there with two transfers, I figured this was a good choice. And I’ll tell you what, Bangkok Airways is exactly what they promote themselves as–Asia’s boutique airline that has excellent customer service. Since I was unaware of all of the amenities they offered, I ate breakfast at the airport just after clearing security since I was doubtful a meal would be served on such a short flight. Not only was I wrong, but the terminal where the Bangkok Airways flights depart from there is a pimped out lounged that looks as though it is only reserved for business and first class ticket holders. But oh no, anyone that has a ticket with their airline, as I just had a simple economy ticket, it was as though the keys to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was given to me without punching out an Oompa Loompas. Not only did they have large comfortable chairs with individual USB chargers on them, there was also free high-speed Wi-Fi, which yes there is free airport Wi-Fi after you pass through security, but this was incredibly fast. There was also a full buffet of free food, coffee, lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolate, and they personal announced each one of their flights so you didn’t have to bother staring at the screens in case of any changes to your flight. After stuffing myself with free food and cappuccinos I boarded the flight and strangely enough I think the plane was about 20% full. I took what I thought was my assigned seat against the window, until a Dutch couple informed me I was in their assigned seat. Pausing, I looked up and stared around the plane only to notice that they had their pick of empty row after empty row, but for whatever reason they just had to be in this specific row and seat. After changing I moved and lounged out to and entire 3-seat row for myself and took a nice nap. I even declined the free meal, which I never do normally, but I was too stuffed from the delicious chicken salad sandwiches and seaweed wraps from the amazing waiting lounge in the airport.
Arriving in Krabi, which truly is crappy, around 12:30pm I decided to rent a scooter since it was only 200 THB ($6.40) for 24-hours. Since the traffic is no where near as dangerous or hectic at Bangkok, I took a nice leisurely ride out to Ao Nang, one of the neatest beaches that is still almost 30-minutes away driving. Walking the beaches and enjoying the incredible landscape it turned out to be a great solo day of serenity. The next morning, however, was the beginning of a hellish few weeks. Directly after breakfast I began feeling awfu–stomach in knots, harsh cramps, visits to the toilet almost every hour, and I knew I had got my first case of food poisoning. Great! And earlier when I thought it was just a bit of discomfort, Nate, the owner of the hostel that I was volunteering at and had tagged along on my travels in some ways, had signed up to do an all-day tour of some of the islands including Maya Bay where they filmed The Beach. Even though I wasn’t feeling well and was popping Imodium pills like they were Pez, it definitely didn’t add to the joy that the entire time Nate just complained about the cost, how touristy things were, the crows, etc and etc. I waned to say, seriously why did you even follow me on this then? And don't let the above photo fool you, this was probably the only smile I mustered up for the day, the other times I was cringing over riding through some rough waves. Anyways, this was only the beginning. I do feel a bit bad about complaining about how he was acting, but the build up to what happens later will come full circle as well as I have always wanted to set out and be honest about my feelings and experiences since many friends and family back home are curious about what it’s like living this type of lifestyle, especially for such a long period of time. Anyways, the rest of the day I was able to hold it together and keep my insides on the interior, but as soon as we were back to the hostel it was game over. Which on a side note, if you do decide to stop in Krabi, first of all stay only a nigh and get to the islands because they have better scenery and are even surprisingly cheaper, but for a night or two Pak Up Hostel is probably the cleanest hostel I have experienced and has everything from comfortable beds to huge individual lockers for each bed in their 8-bed dorms as well as reading lamps and outlets. I suppose that if I were to get sick and have to be immobile for 10-days this was a Godsend of a place to find myself. The next several days I couldn’t keep much down, spent most of my time in bed trying to fight off cramps or spewing from both ends, and what made it worse was every afternoon and evening Nate would drop by to check on me, but more than anything he would ask what I was doing later. What was I doing later? Being sick and trying to make it down the hall to the toilet before embarrassing myself, what do you think? Every time this answer seemed to annoy him, as if I should be the social one ready to hang out and do things. I eventually told him to just go on to Malaysia without me because I couldn’t take handle not being near a toilet.
Finally after two days of him sitting around the hostel, he found another person that was headed in that direction and so he jumped on his travel plans. Thank God was all I thought. Even Christophe, an awesome German guy with a great sarcastic sense of humor who had also spent time living in the States and was in my dorm, kept asking me why he was bugging me so much when even he could tell that I was obviously sick. My last night in Krabi, I began feeling a bit better and had built up a good friendship with Christophe and he had a friend, Ashley, that had arrived earlier in the day and that evening we found ourselves sitting around a table with a group of Norwegians. How do I explain Ashley Jones? She is a ball of energy and laughter from Oregon that is up for anything, whether it’s diving or random dance-offs to cheesy music, and she's got the biggest heart and is always there to get you anything you need even if it's an insult that ends with stop being such a Nancy. A perfect candidate for the wolf pack, of pure awesomeness. Quickly, Ashley and I began talking and realized we were both on the same traveling route almost, as she had also spent a month in San Juan del Sur, just before I left and had plenty of mutual friends. Since I was still not feeling the greatest and had booked my bus for 7am the next morning I called in an early night but knew that I would meet up with both Christophe and Ashley again soon.
The next morning I left on what was supposed to be a 7-hour bus ride to Penang, Malaysia, but turned in to 12-hours. Arriving in the evening, I the spent the next few days taking short strolls through the bustling port town admiring the colonial architecture as Britain's first settlement in Southeast Asia, and debating if I could handle the 350km 9-hour bus ride in two-days. Since my flight was out of Kuala Lumpur I mustered up the energy and arrived in time to couchsurf with a group of young people for three-nights that were all Muslim. We took part in some very interesting conversations regarding, religion, cultural differences, but they seemed to have more questions for me than I had answers for them, but it was a great three days and they told me that I am always welcome to come back and stay with them any time I am in KL. I did a bit of touring the city, especially the world famous Petronas Towers (in the photo), that between 1998 - 2004 were the world's tallest buildings, but still being ill I still did not explore as much as I would have liked too, plus the weather was not very cooperative on the days that I did seem somewhat healthy enough to walk around for a few hours. On a side note, Adrian, a backpacker and friend from Switzerland, had us watch a film that centered around Penang starring Vince Vaughn Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix from 1998 titled Return to Paradise. If you have the chance, it is an interesting and has a lot of very realistic ideals when it comes to the harshness of how they view drugs as well as just the sort of stereotypical Eastern type of thought when it comes to crime and punishment. Another one to watch is the BBC World Documentary, The Bangkok Hilton – BangKwang, Bangkok, Thailand Prison. Talked about being scared straight for anyone considering these things, and even just as think pieces to check out.
The next morning I left on what was supposed to be a 7-hour bus ride to Penang, Malaysia, but turned in to 12-hours. Arriving in the evening, I the spent the next few days taking short strolls through the bustling port town admiring the colonial architecture as Britain's first settlement in Southeast Asia, and debating if I could handle the 350km 9-hour bus ride in two-days. Since my flight was out of Kuala Lumpur I mustered up the energy and arrived in time to couchsurf with a group of young people for three-nights that were all Muslim. We took part in some very interesting conversations regarding, religion, cultural differences, but they seemed to have more questions for me than I had answers for them, but it was a great three days and they told me that I am always welcome to come back and stay with them any time I am in KL. I did a bit of touring the city, especially the world famous Petronas Towers (in the photo), that between 1998 - 2004 were the world's tallest buildings, but still being ill I still did not explore as much as I would have liked too, plus the weather was not very cooperative on the days that I did seem somewhat healthy enough to walk around for a few hours. On a side note, Adrian, a backpacker and friend from Switzerland, had us watch a film that centered around Penang starring Vince Vaughn Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix from 1998 titled Return to Paradise. If you have the chance, it is an interesting and has a lot of very realistic ideals when it comes to the harshness of how they view drugs as well as just the sort of stereotypical Eastern type of thought when it comes to crime and punishment. Another one to watch is the BBC World Documentary, The Bangkok Hilton – BangKwang, Bangkok, Thailand Prison. Talked about being scared straight for anyone considering these things, and even just as think pieces to check out.
RSS Feed
