Bangkok

After leaving Phuket late yesterday afternoon, we were finally back in Bangkok again to get a chance to see the city, and meet up with the tour group we had joined for the duration of our journey. As the venture into Northern Thailand could easily cause you to lose your direction in the sea of historical and cultural sites, we went with a tour for this leg of the trip to help guide us into the lesser travelled and lesser english-speaking areas...   

We arrived in Bangkok and after meeting the group, we all set out for a group dinner. Our tour guide is from Bangkok originally and currently lives in Northern Thailand and having her along for the ride has been a huge bonus and it's only been a day. She can negotiate prices, speak to the locals, and better than all the rest she knows some amazing locals restaurants. One of these we happened to visit for dinner and with a view of the river and waterfront seating it was a pretty amazing intro to the city and that isn't even including the spectacular bridge view included as well...

After that we were off to explore the infamous Khao San Road, the mecca for all backpackers coming through Bangkok. The road was like a blown up version of Patong with street vendors, local shops and more, just with a few less hookers along the way. The street was pretty impressive and you could buy just about anything you wanted from shirts and dresses to fake passports and diplomas. The picture below I would like to dedicate to my sister... for a mere 100 baht I too could have had an education degree from the internationally acclaimed Arizona State University... who needs to go through the real thing when a 100 baht here could save you so much time?!

Following the tour and a ride in a tuk tuk packed full with six people although only intended to carry three, we were back home for the night and getting ready for a day in Bangkok to follow. 

Our morning began a visit to the main temple in Bangkok. Inside was the spectacular Reclining Buddha exhibit built to honor those born on Tuesdays including yours truly. Apparently, in Buddhism, being born on a Tuesday equates you to being short-temper, stubborn, slightly irrational when frustrated, and one who needs to listen and think about what others say and do rather than just reacting... That description couldn't be further from the truth if you ask me... :)

As a disclaimer, if you aren't into Buddha, monks, temples and probably elephants too the remainder of the blog to follow may not be for you...

After the temple we were taken on a river tour of Bangkok in a jumbo-sized longtail boat. To say that the water was dirty would be putting it mildly... the water was disgusting-trashed filled and pollution tarnished we all came to fear any sort of water splashing that may occur. As we went through the various canals of the river we passed by many temples built right on the waters edge. All the water in front of these temples is considered holy and because of this fishing is illegal. Due to this, the fish flock to these regions and at the site of a simple piece of bread hundreds of catfish surface at once... it was terrifying.

Last on our Bangkok exploration was a stop at the Flower Market to check out the stands. Filled with gorgeous flowers and jewelry on all types made from their petals, the market was pretty spectacular to see. Overall Bangkok proved to be just the polluted, congested city that we had read it to be, but if you know where you are heading, there are some pretty amazing sites to see. Unfortunately our time was brief here and we were onto a six-hour bus ride to our first destination of Northern Thailand.

Patong Beach

As our adventure of Phuket continues, we were off to Patong for the day to explore the area and see the sights. I think we were both going there believing it was to be this amazing city, with a gorgeous beach, and a fun beach town, but we were also both wrong. 

In its defense, we did not visit Patong on the nicest day possible, but it is monsoon season over hear so you just have to take what you can get. Weather forecast aside, Patong is gross...

Patong Parasailing, involving a
little Thai man hanging onto the ropes
for the duration of your ride

The city is hectic and crowded, the beach is dirty and the water full of trash, and if we thought that the items for sale on Samui was bad, here it is worse... Nonetheless we set out to make the best of the city since we had the day here, and after grabbing some food seafront, we rented a lounge chair and enjoyed the overcast day by the ocean. 

After this, it was off to get massages and explore the sights of Patong. Fun fact about Patong, there are in fact 7 McDonald locations in the city limits, one of which we got to visit! I promise the request for McDonald's was entirely Jonathan's but I certainly didn't protest... Thai people are actually quite lucky as they have McDelivery here, call 1741 from anywhere and they are there, McDonald's in hand, lucky bunch they are!

After this we set out to explore Bangla Street which is the center of all nightlife that takes place in the town, but we probably made it about 15 minutes there... Although you expect to run into your fair share of hookers in this country, the amount on the street was a little much... that combined with men with exotic animals chasing you around to pet them and in turn pay them and finally the 'massage' girls which by no means are offering pleasant beach side massages for 400 Baht were a little much. We left the street and set off to find a recommended bar from our guide book which we were unable to do, so settled instead upon the giant mall area that had been built dead center in all the madness. Here we had some drinks, browsed the stores, ate some food, and still got to experience all that is Patong but with a little less debauchery along the way...

The ever talented room service group can make swans too...

(The views of this blog are not entirely endorsed by Jonathan David Riff, aka McDonald's) 

Koh Phi Phi

We were off to Koh Phi Phi, or as the locals called it, PP Island for the day to explore and take photos galore of what paradise truly is here in Thailand. We set off on a trip to explore the Phi Phi Islands, and those in the nearby area for the day to see some beaches, monkeys, and gorgeous water.

First stop was Mosquito Island (which fyi is a horrible name for an island firstly because who would ever want to go to somewhere named after mosquitoes, secondly because we did not see a single mosquito... false advertising). Here we got to explore the beaches, check out the applicable tsunami evacuation routes and most importantly swim. All the turquoise waters and fluffy white sand beaches that you hear about in reference to Thailand were coming to light on this trip, and this was just the first stop.

From here, we were off to Bamboo, aptly named due to the large amount of bamboo trees at the top--they're super creative here--- for some snorkeling. As we anchored, they threw bread into the water and what followed was madness. "Piranhas of Thailand" flocked to the bread and after a few moments, they were so dense you couldn't see through, it was chaotic. Here we got to jump in and snorkel for a while, seeing some more aquatic life in its natural settings minus the bread and surveying the reefs. Unfortunately, the flocks of piranhas remained and if you stopped swimming for a period of time you became surrounded and it was terrifying...

After this experience, off to Phi Phi Don, the larger and inhabited of the two Phi Phi Islands for lunch, followed by a stop at monkey beach. Here our guide didn't allow us to get off the boat as the monkeys had a reputation for attacking humans so we got to watch as he fed them bananas from the bow of the boat. Interestingly enough, while we were there, a tourist from one of the boats that did allow them to get off and walk amongst the monkeys was chased into the water by an angry monkey that wanted more banana... Jon and I were both perfectly happy to stay and watch from the boat from that point on.

After watching monkeys attack people it was off for more snorkeling along the shores of Phi Phi Ley where they managed to withhold the bread and the fish were in much less of an attack mode...

Underwater James Bond

Phi Phi Ley

Swallow Nest Caverns

After this adventure we got a history lesson of the island formations, and passed by many caves along the way to the next beach. In particular, we passed by a cavern that was home to locals with a license to harvest swallow nest's for exportation to China. Apparently, it is quite the delicacy over there however the practice is extremely illegal without a government contract to do so.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that Mother Nature got mad at us all and decided to take away the perfect day that had been bestowed upon us thus far. It started to rain... Double unfortunately, rain on a boat hurts as denoted by Jon's face below. It was like little bullets and there truly wasn't a place to take cover on the boat so the only option left was to suck up and take it like a man which Jon did, I complained a wee bit though...

Thankfully, by some grace of Buddha, the skies did clear up just enough for us to have the opportunity to enjoy Maya Beach, more famously known as the filming location for the film 'The Beach' with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Maya Beach 

The beach would have been gorgeous if it weren't for the insane amount of tourists and guide boats at the location. Undoubtedly, the location had gained fame through its Hollywood debut and the tour trips were going to take absolute advantage of it... 

La Sala Bay

With a little exploring, we were able to come upon La Sala Bay not far from this location was about as picturesque as you could get, long-tail boats, turquoise water, cliffs... it had it all.

This was the last stop on our tour around the Phi Phi Islands sadly and it was indeed time to head home to Phuket, even sadder was the fact that the very storms that we had outrun before had now caught up to us and the weather had taken a serious turn for the worst.

Reading 'The Beach' on the
beach of 'The Beach'... oh the irony. 

The crystal clear, smooth waters that we had made the hour long journey from Phuket on had indeed developed white caps and swells during our time at Maya Beach, and the ride home was rough to say the least. Given the choice between the angry and irritable French and Indian family in the cabin or the amicable German group on the open bow, we went with the latter... The waves were intense and while the captain did an excellent job of navigating and not losing any of us in the process it was a rough ride to say the least. Furthermore, while the majority of travellers in the cabin were putting on life jackets, our first instinct was to go for the masks and snorkels to help protect our faces and allow us to both see and breath in the downpour... 

The first half of the journey involved us grabbing the sidebars with our lives, and complaining in unison as we took a hard landing from the top of a swell. Yet the second was distinctively quieter due to the swells shrinking just a bit and exhaustion undoubtedly. While during no part of the long trek home did either of us feel unsafe or unsure of the course ahead, the trip did in fact certify our journey to the Phi Phi Islands as an adventure. The islands and surrounding areas were absolutely pristine and gorgeous, and the day was going too perfectly for there not to be some sort of bump in the road, in our case a monsoon.

Old Town Phuket

Sunset at the Marriott, one of the best we have seen yet...

Sunday evening, our plane touched down in wonderful Phuket, and we were off to our accommodations at the Marriott (thanks Jon's dad!!!!). The resort is absolutely amazing as you can interpret from the image above and it was great to be able to settle in somewhere for more than a couple nights, not to mention get some laundry in! Additionally, our extended stay here in Phuket gives us a chance to actually explore an entire place without having to rush off to the next destination...

towel statue in our room... this one is for you ms. emerson rose (my two-year old niece) 

On the agenda (hopefully) is a Thai cooking class, a day trip to some islands, a trip to Patong Beach, and exploration of Old Town Phuket. We were essentially playing it by the book for this leg of the journey--Lonely Planet Phuket Encounter book to be precise.

We started off with the Old Town Phuket trip one our first day on Phuket.

Old Town Phuket is a hypocritical little place. Stuck in the heart of the ever populated Phuket Town, Old Town is home to stark contradictions of old and new as new businesses and residents have made home in some of the oldest buildings in Phuket, some with pretty amazing architecture. To start things off, we ate of course... at the China Inn recommended by Lonely Plant of course. What you are seeing below is the world's most amazing spring rolls.... total I think we have about 12 pictures of these things because they were so amazing, not to mentioned the flower made of a pepper that was included. Stuffed with pork, crab, prawn, and a myriad of other forms of delightfulness, these things were amazing and in all the meal was probably some of the best we have had on this whole trip.

World's Best Spring Rolls 

Some of the buildings I had mentioned previously... plus an adorable ambulance that anyone could enjoy a good ride in... 

After meandering through the city streets, and dodging scooters and taxis from every direction (Jon is quite the wimp about walking out in front of moving vehicles...) we stopped by the recommended Chinese Shrine to get a little culture in our spare time. It is dubbed the Shrine of Serene Light, and was mentioned as the most impressive Chinese shrine in town... while beautiful and colorful, we both were expecting something a whee bit more grandiose... 

Following this and a few more pit stops along the way, it was back home for massages, drinks and of course the sunset which was truly spectacular.