Hey folks, I haven't written much about my experiences here in the last....three (whoops!) months! The new school year started, and my class load is pretty heavy, so I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to keep up with the updates--well, actually, I have, but I have spent a lot of that time doing some personal things, like relaxing, running, hanging out and watching pointless tv shows. But, I'm going to get over that for the next couple of days to start some updating!
I went to Thailand for my winter break--It was AMAZING! Here's what I wrote recently in an attempt to start an e-mail:
Since I last wrote I have slowly turned into an adrenaline junkie—and a proud one at that. Late January and early February saw an amazing 15 day vacation to Thailand. This is where the addiction started I must say, and it’s rather insatiable.
The Southeast Islands, Gulf of Thailand
I met my friend Tom in Bangkok and we headed down to the East Coast of southern Thailand, in the Gulf of Thailand. We stayed on the notorious party island, Koh Phangan (where full moon parties are held) for three nights with our friends Sarah and John (also teachers in SK). While we were not there during a full moon, we still got to participate in the revelry of the island. Our first two nights were spent in what would have been the perfect bungalow on the rocky shore at a place endearingly called “Mellow Mountain.” While the setting was extremely mellow, the view excruciatingly beautiful, and the furnishings all a dirty hippy on the shores of the turquoise waters of a Thai island could hope and dream for…the pounding house beats until 5 am every night were a little hard to handle (especially since there were THREE different DJs’ music blasting straight into our room). It sounded like we had a huge speaker system at the foot of the bed, making sleeping rather difficult. The beach was also pretty trashed—I would collect debris while I was swimming, making a minute dent in the refuse left behind by the not so eco-conscious partiers.
(On that note…the tourists in Thailand are mostly European and Australian. I heard numerous complaints about Americans, which was to be expected; they were more often than not about how disrespectful Americans are in foreign situations. Many of the Europeans, and definitely the Australians were the worst travelers in terms of respect that I have ever witnessed! Drunk Germans and Scandinavians are especially adept at trashing beaches—literally just leaving piles of beer cans and dozens of cigarette butts where they had been laying—hairy, fat and topless--while Aussies and Brits excel at hitting on the Thai women and embodying other forms of misogyny, Judge not before your judge yourself, I guess.)
On Koh Phangan we hiked up the Phaeng Waterfall in the middle of the island. A small dog, that we called Ashley, followed and guided our way through the skinny trail and entertained us by chasing little jungle critters. The waterfall wasn’t very exciting, but it was great to get away from the party atmosphere for a bit and get on some trails. The Thai flora is especially impressive, with huge stands of bamboo, interesting symbiotic plants, orchids, cool grasses and palms etc. Since it was the “winter,” there weren’t many flowers, but everything was still beautiful.
We also checked out the Black Moon party—a smaller “rave” than the Full Moon Party that occurs every new moon. It was pretty fun, with some cool black-light scenes, decent music and the alcoholism-in-a-pail known as the Thai Bucket. It is a sand pail that comes with a fifth of liquor (cheap rum or vodka), a can of pop, an energy drink and straws. This is all mixed together and sipped through said straws. Mmmmmm, leads to intoxication, dancing, and a trashed beach. So, we boogied in the rain. It was fun.
After getting the partying out of our systems, we floated north to the island of Koh Tao, which is gorgeous. We couldn’t spend much time there (only one night), but I wish we had moved up there earlier. We stayed off of a quaint little walking street with tasty restaurants, pancake stands, dive shops and beautiful flowers that was lit up by seed lights at night. This place is actually known for eco-partying, so that was refreshing. The music, while still loud was more tasteful and didn’t overlap into a hodgepodge of unintelligible crap (think Marley, Sublime and 90s grunge). The reefs on this island were so close to shore and in such shallow water that we could just swim out a few meters, look down, and see some great little sea creatures. We had oil massages at this island, I was particularly happy watching the little lizards on the ceiling of the parlor peering down at us with their lime green curiosity.
Khao Sok
After five days on the Gulf of Thailand side of the peninsula, we cruised to the mainland, hopped in a “bus” and ended up at Khao Sok National Park in the middle of the peninsula. Unfortunately Tom was pretty sick while we were there, so that put a little damper on the excursion, but it was pretty cool. The park is part of the largest remaining stands of virgin rainforest in Thailand and is older than the Amazon rainforest at a remarkable 160 million years old!! The park is famous for its wildlife—gibbons, barking deer, and elephants, as well as the presence of the huge stinky flower the Rafflesia kerii. It’s the one that we learn about in elementary school when learning about rainforests—the one that smells like rancid meat so that flies will come and pollinate it. Pretty cool.
We had our best meal in Thailand here due to the location. One of the bungalows in the area made food out of produce grown in its very own plot of land, and it was phenomenal! I had “jungle leaf sauteed with oyster sauce”—I have no idea what it was, but the flavors were perfectly balanced between the bitterness of the greens, the garlic saltiness of the oyster sauce and the bite of the som tam sweet/spicy salad.
The Southwest, Andaman SeaThis was by far the best part of my trip, and where my adrenaline fix started. After leaving Khao Sok and escaping near death in a three or four hour long journey with a driver that had to have been on speed, we made it to Krabi on the Andaman Coast of Thailand. We took a long tail boat (funny looking boats that are long and gondola like with an outboard motor consisting of old car engines with propellers attached at the end of ten to fifteen foot poles) to our destination…Ton Sai!!
Ton Sai is my version of heaven, I must say. First, we had to pass through the ritzy resorts of the neighboring bay, making me nervous (this was the purgatory part of the journey to heaven). But, once we heard that we either had to crawl over treacherous rocks along the shore or hike up into the woods a few kilometers to get to our destination, I was totally relieved (we could also opt for the option of another long tail, but scampering is more fun, and way cheaper!).
We arrived at this little crescent of heaven to be greeted by the glistening, tan, ripped backs of dozens of climbers on the rocks; chill music pouring from some bars; kayakers along the horizon; slack liners balancing precariously amidst the lush vegetation; dazed, beautiful, shaggy boys snoozing in hammocks; not a car in sight and delicious smells pouring from the restaurants and porches. It was painful leaving this place…really, really painful. I will return there someday, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Apparently this beach has escaped the call of tourists because of the unattractive state the beach takes at low-tide. In the early afternoon and early morning, the beach extends for a mile or so of muddy rocky terrain, which I found oddly pleasing. We could go out amongst this “mess” and search for little crabs and other crustaceans and rock hop, attempting not to slip on our asses. The low-tide also allowed for easier access to the nearby beach, Railay, in case some more modern amenities, like an ATM or laundry facilities, were needed. Furthermore, the state of this shallow beach protected the island from the Tsunami of 2002. Ton Sai sustained little or no damage while other beaches in Thailand were ravaged and many people killed.
It is here that we rock climbed—the first time I had gone out for a couple months—and it was fabulous. The rock felt great, our guide was a witty, afro’d 21 year old willing to put up with our weakened states, and the view from the top of the climbs was absolutely breathtaking with the cliffs hugging the navy waters of the bay and the islands in the distance silhouetted by the setting saffron sun.
We were planning on SCUBA diving on this leg of the journey as well, alas, I was the one who was sick—and SCUBA-ing after illness is a no-no (especially for your first time!). Luckily, we were still able to snorkel (or skin dive, which sounds way cooler) off of a boat that the group of SCUBA divers used to get to their reefs. Snorkeling was awesome!! The reefs were surreal—crystal clear turquoise waters, huge schools of fishies, malevolent looking sea urchins, and corporeal sea slugs slugging about the sandy bottom. Most notably, we saw a moray eel (super cool!!), a huge jelly fish (kind of scared the shit out of me), and a black tipped reef shark (they are timid, so SCUBA-ers rarely see them). The weather was paradisiacal that day, and I came home with a nice pink back on account of floating and swimming on my stomach all day. After being out at sea all day, we chilled out with the SCUBA master and the three divers at one of the beachside bars, sprawled out on the sandy triangle pillows littering the platform, drank some beers and slack lined a bit. The master, a French speaking Swiss lady named Marie was incredible. She has lived at the beach for seven years, climbing and diving; and she lives in a little hut in the woods with no plumbing or electricity. Her life is spent teaching others to do what she loves—what she described to me as the closest to flying one can feel, without gravity pushing you down, like a bird. She urged me to stay at the beach for the rest of my vacation and get certified in diving…I didn’t, but I wanted to terribly!! I have a distinct feeling that if I had stayed, I would still be there...reveling in the beauty of Ton Sai.
SukhothaiAfter an overnight bus ride to Bangkok and bidding adieu to Tom, I set off for the ancient capital of Thailand, Sukhothai--solo. This was my second favorite leg of the trip after Ton Sai. In my little procrastinating, indecisive world, travelling solo is awesome! I love being able to change my plans at the last second without the fear of ruining someone else's time on vacation. I really enjoy being free of the stress of planning for multiple people and the opportunities to meet new characters in foreign places.
I stayed in an adorable bungalow here, run by a man who spoke wonderful English and gave me helpful tips on where to go and how to get there. The bungalow was in New Sukhothai, about 12 km from the ruins of Old Sukhothai--the first capital of Thailand. The room had a magenta covered bed, a nice porch overlooking the tropical garden, and the thai triangle pillows to lounge on the porch benches. However, I didn't spend too much time at the bungalow--resting my bones here was well worth it though.
I stayed here for two nights, and rented a motorbike to get myself around for the three days I had. My motorbike was beautiful and awesomely fun--I kind of want one now. I dubbed her Raja, and I had a silver helmet to match the bike. She was the best form of transportation I had in Thailand by far, and I put on a whopping 150 km on her (and I only had to pay about 8 bucks in fuel!)!
Day one: Raja and I sped out to Old Sukhothai and wandered around the ruins for a while. They were beautiful and numerous...There were many representations of Buddha here--from an older tradition where the buddha is skinnier and already in a zen like state (rather than searching for nirvana). The sculptures seem almost boneless...very ethereal for statues consisting of tons of stone. There was walking Buddhas, standing Buddhas, and Buddhas in Mara. There were also numerous elephants, little devil monkey guys supporting the statues and queus of stone monks praying to the buddhas. To tell you the truth, the number of Buddhas got a bit mind-numbing after awhile; but it was very peaceful to walk amongst the ancient rocks, thinking about the hands that had built the structures and about long past people worshipping in the area.
After Sukhothai, I set out on the long haul travel to Suratthani, an even older and more remote ruin site north of Sukhothai. It was 60 km away, and the ride there was very meditative. This part of Thailand is fairly flat--making it great for farming, and even better for novices on motor bikes trying not creamed by the insane thai drivers. The roads weren't busy due to the agricultural communities and the stretches of road were long, straight and flat. Traveling by mo-ped or motorcycle is such a different experience than in a car, and worlds away from traveling by bus. The smells, sounds, feelings and sights one experiences while zooming with nothing but sunglasses and a helmet protecting one from the elements speeding by is exhilirating. I was at the same level as farm workers riding in the beds of trucks, able to smile and wave at them. I narrowly missed hitting long slithering snakes crossing the roads and I saw the remains of others that were not so lucky. Dogs fighting on the curbs, other dogs lazing away days in their yards, dirty kids kicking around soccer balls, old farmers crouched over rice paddies, with their triangluar paddy hats bobbing up and down, and the homes of the Thai agricultural comminities graced my path of sight. The smells of road-side food stands wafted past as the stench of farms hung low in the air in places. It was wonderful and inspiring (inspiration being something I hadn't felt in a while).
Suratthani was very zen-like, there were verrryyy few people there, I only saw two other tourists (who were from Bangkok) and a few kids on bikes while I was there. The ruins were more impressive as well, nature had taken more of a toll on the structures than in Sukhothai and less restoration had taken place. There was a little dude on a bike who followed me around for a while, I said hi and smiled, and he eventually got up his courage to ask me the questions that most school kids know: What's your name? where are you from? How old are you? Then, he rode off with a big smile...It felt good to make a kid happy with such a simple task.
After exhausting the site of its ruins, I hopped back on Raja for the 60 km ride back to my bungalow in New Sukhothai. Along the way, I came across a small fair of sorts alongside the road and stopped in for a bite and some browsing. I partook in a juice drink that had floating gummy things in it (kind of like that Orbit drink we had as kids) and some fruits. It wasn't too eventful until I was sitting on the sidewalk, minding my business, chewing on my juice and a group of twenty something guys came up to me. They asked the "where are you from? where are you going?" questions. Once they heard I was heading to Sukhothai their demeanor changed drastically. It was approaching dusk, so they were like "Oh my God! Driving in Thailand at night is dangerous! you should go NOW!" They seemed to be over reacting but I heeded their advice...and I obviously made it back safe and sound. I felt a little better once I saw other mopeds with kids and old people on them...
The next day, I headed out on a solo climb of the nearby mountain, Khao Luang. It reaches a height of 1900 Meters after a 4km hike--aka, there are no switchbacks, and the grade is steep...very very steep. Asians totally need a crash course in trail building. Like Korea, large portions of the climb consisted of stairs. Unlike Korea, the stairs were made of Mud, instead of huge metal stair cases. Upon arriving at the park I had to register in a foreigners log, and I noticed that I was among only five foreigners who had climbed the mountain in the previous two weeks...I was also the only one to go solo. It turned out to be a difficult, albeit fully enjoyable hike. I saw some awesome buttressed trees and rock formations, and I met some delightful and surprisingly energetic school kids along the way.
The vegetation was most notable...amazing how obviously the floral make-up of a mountain changes with elevation. The first km or so saw what I had witnessed in most of Thailand--semi-tropical plants, a lot of vines, large leaved water loving, evergreen plants. As I got higher, the trees progressed to harder woods (I think..?)...Maples and the like. And as I got within 300 meters of the peak, the trees totally died back, giving way to shrubby dry land species and grasses.
I was the only person on the peak...It was amazing and so rewarding. I don't think I've ever been on a peak all by myself. It does make one feel like the center of the universe...or rather on the very edge of it. My only companions were the swallows that flew around freely, the undulating breeze and the warm rays of sun that would peak out from the haze every once in a while. Monks go to this peak to find Dharma, and I think I might have gotten a small glimpse of my purpose in life while there, alone (but not...). These experiences with nature, in places totally foreign to me and most of the people I love in this world are what will aid in furthering my purpose. How can one teach and spread knowledge when it only comes from a book? From a professor's power point presentataion in an auditorium? We can't, and almost all of us know this...but sometimes the urge to start a career and spread your own Good Word surpasses our instinctual awareness that experiential knowledge is more valuable than rote knowledge.
Ahh! this is getting so long. Finally, I ended up in...
Bangkok
Oh mannn, I'm getting sick of writing. Good thing this was the last leg of the journey...
Bangkok is a big city...it is smelly and has poor slums, expensive business and shopping districts, historical sites and a lot of traffic. I met my good friend from high school, Catherine Wicks, there. It was so great to hang out with a familiar face. We also met there under rather interesting conditions--She is living in India, and has been for the last year and a half (almost two now...!), and I'm living in Korea--two Minnesotans, living in India and South Korea respectively, meeting up in Thailand...pretty cool.
We had a good time romping around the city for a couple days. We did the usual Bangkok Touristy things like visiting the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha and Reclining Buddha (all very ornate and beautiful). We got some massages, ate good grub, checked out the aquarium and caught up on life. I also got a new tattoo, and Catherine proved to be a superior partner in moral support!
Fin
After Bangkok, I made the long, depressing journey back to the dreary South Korean late winter landscape...and to the poor children who had been at school for the majority of their winter breaks. To be perfectly honest, I was depressed for a few weeks thinking about the places I had left behind. I was constantly plagued by the fear that I had abondoned a place that fit me and my ideals and that I was returning to my social antithesis. These feelings waned however, and I'm now back to enjoying my time in SK--albeit with dreams of the crystal blue waters, delicious grub and gorgeous rock or Thailand.
Again, I'm sorry for the loooonnnggg delay, and my lack of more current events. I will be heading on an expedition to Nepal in August, so you can expect a full report of that trip come next February or so!!
I miss you all and wish you well,
Peace and Love, Alex
