Amazing news!
I am officially part of the World Race, a yearlong missionary program and trip around the world. Starting in September, I will be living out of a backpack and traveling through 11 different countries in 11 months: Zimbabwe/Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, India, Philippines, China, Ukraine, Moldova, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica/Panama.
I started a new blog for the trip and you should check it out. I would love it if you could join me on this upcoming journey! :)
isaacberg.theworldrace.org
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Biking From Seattle to Portland
Riding up “the hill” (AP Photo)
I spent the weekend on a bike seat, pedaling from Seattle to Portland in the STP Bicycle Classic. This crazy idea started a few months ago when my friend Alex and I were using the exercise bikes in our school gym. I had been starting to bike more after Ecuador and he enjoyed it to. Why not try and ride together for over 200 miles?
Overall it was a great experience. About 10,000 people ride the event every year and it’s a pretty big production. The route winds through the small towns off of the interstate, and it showcases the valleys, forests, and farmlands of Washington and Oregon. My legs were pretty tired on the second day but it was worth it to get to the finish line and see my girlfriend, Lauren for the first time in six weeks! It was amazing to see so much of the Pacific Northwest in one bike ride and I want to do more events like this in the future.
--We saw just about every type of wild bike you can imagine, from unique recumbent combinations to odd shaped tandems and triples. A couple of crazy teenagers completed the route on longboards and there was even an old guy on a unicycle. There were riders from all over the US and the world and every age was represented between 9 and 85.
--There were periodical food stops with lots of free handouts including sandwiches, wraps, fruit, and granola bars. There were also some pretty good sponsored freebies like Clif Bars, Odwalla drinks, and Jamba Juice smoothies. We enjoyed everything, except the unpopular Nuun, an electrolyte beverage that smelled like acne medicine and tasted kind of like furniture polish. But it started to grow on us the second day when we accidentally filled our bottles with it.
--The two-lane Lewis and Clark Bridge brought us into Oregon halfway through the second day. Traffic was periodically halted so bikers could pedal up the steep, 1½-mile span that rises over 200 feet above the Columbia River. Another difficult part of the ride was “the hill,” an infamous uphill mile of road that climbs over 300 feet and has to be conquered in the middle of the first day. Both obstacles are before lunch when the desire to keep pedaling is the lowest. There are a lot of rolling hills on the route, but these two are the worst.
--I learned that a lot of people hate bicyclists. There were a lot of crude things yelled at us from both drunken passengers and soldiers at a military base, but some jerks went too far when they scattered tacks over a stretch of highway in Oregon. For such a huge event with riders from all over, it only takes a few losers to make the northwest look bad.
--Since we signed up late, it was difficult to find a place to stay the night. With thousands of bicyclists passing through the small midpoint towns, every place of lodging was booked and we were laughed at when we called and asked for openings. With luck we ended up finding a homestay option in nearby Chehalis that offered a bed, meal, and shower, so that seemed like a sweet deal. We didn’t realize how long it would take to get there because we had to pedal around an airport and pick up our own bags. Later we learned that the house was on top of the tallest (and probably steepest) hill in town. Our hosts were friendly hippies who welcomed us into their old-fashioned home. We stayed in a creepy room upstairs in the attic, but it was nice to have a bed, shower, and meals with interesting and odd conversations. Staying there was definitely a cultural experience for both of us.
Left: Seeing Lauren for the first time in six weeks! :)
Right: One of the professional shots from Marathon Foto
While not much has been happening at home, I’ve been biking a lot and found that I really enjoy it. The San Juans are great to pedal around because there is some great rolling terrain and coastal scenery through all the rural islands. Some memorable summer biking experiences have been riding through crazy rainstorms, getting stuck behind a flock of sheep in the road, and trying to master the art of the clipless pedal. (I have had a couple wipeouts when I stopped and forgot to remove my feet.) I also live at the top of a beast named Whiskey Hill, so my work commute takes me 300 feet up a set of switchbacks that are 13% grade.
My favorite local ride was along the mainland coast. My sister, Larissa is the master of public transportation, and she figured out a way to get to downtown Bellingham with a ferry and three buses from different counties. One day I took my bike with me and rode home through a 60-mile journey of multiuse trails and a winding scenic highway. Among the small rural towns, I stopped at a shellfish farm, a buffalo ranch, and an organic cheese farm. I also rode through an oil refinery, a fish cannery, and an “island” which was actually connected by land.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Photos of Southeast Asia
When I got home from our trip I uploaded pictures to my computer but not anywhere online. I put some Thailand pictures on Facebook a couple weeks ago but I recently remembered that I have not added any pictures from Cambodia. As I was going through them on my laptop and piecing together a selection, I realized I have not shared any of them on this blog. Throughout all my travel entries in May I promised some pictures, so here are (finally) a few to look at.
Street food and temples in Bangkok
Monkey incident and cave, the Thai coast
Chaing Mai, Laos, and eastern Thailand
Scenes from Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Other pictures from Cambodia
More pictures can be viewed here:
“Welcome to Thailand, Have a Nice Day!”
The Kingdom of Cambodia
These two albums are selection of trip photos. I like to go through them and pick a small sample so the resulting albums are closer to photo-essays. Looking back, I see that I took 1539 pictures and videos in Thailand and 826 in Cambodia. I am always seeing things I like to photograph, but the high numbers are skewed from using a multiple shot continuous mode.
My summer so far has been slow, but as it continues I will write about interesting things that happen. The weather has not been so great here, but I have still been able to see a lot of island beauty including the stormy sunsets. I'll end this blog entry with a picture I took from our deck last week.
Cloudy sunset over Saltspring Island, British Columbia
Street food and temples in Bangkok
Monkey incident and cave, the Thai coast
Chaing Mai, Laos, and eastern Thailand
Scenes from Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Other pictures from Cambodia
More pictures can be viewed here:
“Welcome to Thailand, Have a Nice Day!”
The Kingdom of Cambodia
These two albums are selection of trip photos. I like to go through them and pick a small sample so the resulting albums are closer to photo-essays. Looking back, I see that I took 1539 pictures and videos in Thailand and 826 in Cambodia. I am always seeing things I like to photograph, but the high numbers are skewed from using a multiple shot continuous mode.
My summer so far has been slow, but as it continues I will write about interesting things that happen. The weather has not been so great here, but I have still been able to see a lot of island beauty including the stormy sunsets. I'll end this blog entry with a picture I took from our deck last week.
Cloudy sunset over Saltspring Island, British Columbia
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Siem Reap & Phnom Penh
My last blog left off at Sisophon, the city we drove to after crossing the Thai/Cambodian border. After I wrote it there was a massive thunderstorm in the area and our hotel flooded in the middle of the night. Each floor had a section open to the outdoors and soon there were a bunch of hotel workers in their pajamas running up and down the floor to wipe it up. The lightning was incredible to watch and the thunder rocked our hotel throughout the night.
The next day we left by bus to Siem Reap, the city near all the Angkor temples. The bus ride was only a few hours and the driver was booking it too. We got pulled over on the highway for speeding and our ticket was 10,000 riel. That sounds like a lot, but in US dollars that's only $2.50. The riel is weak by itself and Cambodia uses it with the Thai baht and US dollar. It is confusing to use three different currencies because you pay with American and Thai bills and get back change in riel. They do not accept or use any coins and the riel bills start at 100, which is less than three cents. These quickly fill up the wallet but I found they can be lifesavers as emergency toilet paper.
The Angkor temples were probably my favorite part of the trip. They are the remains of the Khmer Empire that lasted between the 9th and 14th centuries. A lot of them are in the same area, which was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. I can't even describe how beautiful everything was. Our group visited Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple, and Ta Phrom. Afterward, I stuck around with a couple guys and we visited Ta Keo and a few others I don't remember the names of. It was really fun getting off the tourist trail and exploring these lesser known places. We hiked, crawled through broken rocks, and climbed steps that were over a foot high and only a few inches long. We even had our pictures taken with monks we met on the trail. We found a tuk tuk driver to drive us around and bring us back to our hotel for $10.
In Siam Reap we also visited a giant culture center which Lauren lovingly referred to as the "Disneyland of Cambodia." There weren't any rides, but there was amazing scenery and interactive exhibits that included housing complexes and an underground museum of horrors. There were also a lot of dramas that took audience participation to a new level. One guy on our trip was married in a traditional Cambodian wedding, another guy went courting and danced around in his underwear, and another pulled a bow out of stone and became king. These were really amusing to watch.
The food in Cambodia is slightly different. It is like a combination between Thai and Vietnamese food and it is a lot less spicy. There are still a lot of soups, rice, and noodle dishes, but there are also plenty of weird options as well. One interesting delicacy is the fried tarantula. I was skeptical to try one at first but they aren't bad. They have a nice crispy and chewy texture that is really juicy. I ate three of them for a snack, but Lauren wouldn't let me sit next to her afterward. My "spider breath" made her gag so it took a piece of gum and some convincing to get my seat back. Insects are popular here too. I tried grasshoppers, crickets, and silkworms, but none were as good as the tarantula. The silkworm is chewy and gross tasting.
Another thing I noticed in Cambodia is how intense the street vendors were. They all know English and follow tourists around like zombies. They wait by buses and will hound people to purchase anything from handicrafts to fruit. In the most touristy of places there are a lot of kids that beg you to buy from them in repeated, broken English. The vendors in the markets were less intense and the prices were cheaper than in Thailand. I knew pirated movies and music were commonly sold, but I never knew you could pirate books. Guidebooks and other types of reading are sold on the street for cheap, wrapped in plastic to disguise their poor quality. Another thing common in Cambodia are bands of land mine victims that sell music CDs.
The last city we visited in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh. Here we did some last minute market shopping and visited two genocide areas. Cambodia experienced a period of genocide between 1975 and 1979 under the regime of Pol Pot, and two million people died in the killing fields. We started at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Known as S-21, this was a high school that was turned into an interrogation center and prison. Next we visited Choeng Ek, a killing field just outside of the city. There are lots of mass graves and the rain is constantly washing up more bones and fragments of clothing. This was by far the most impacting part of the trip.
Update: Friday, May 27
We got back to Oregon this week after three flights and layovers in Taiwan and Seattle. The weather seems freezing cold here, but it is welcomed after weeks of uncomfortably hot and humid weather. I also got back to my island last night. It's hard to believe our trip is over. Three weeks is plenty of time to travel and experience new cultures but I wanted to keep going. Nevertheless, going to Southeast Asia was a great way to start the summer! I will upload pictures from the trip soon.
The next day we left by bus to Siem Reap, the city near all the Angkor temples. The bus ride was only a few hours and the driver was booking it too. We got pulled over on the highway for speeding and our ticket was 10,000 riel. That sounds like a lot, but in US dollars that's only $2.50. The riel is weak by itself and Cambodia uses it with the Thai baht and US dollar. It is confusing to use three different currencies because you pay with American and Thai bills and get back change in riel. They do not accept or use any coins and the riel bills start at 100, which is less than three cents. These quickly fill up the wallet but I found they can be lifesavers as emergency toilet paper.
The Angkor temples were probably my favorite part of the trip. They are the remains of the Khmer Empire that lasted between the 9th and 14th centuries. A lot of them are in the same area, which was the largest pre-industrial city in the world. I can't even describe how beautiful everything was. Our group visited Angkor Wat, the Bayon Temple, and Ta Phrom. Afterward, I stuck around with a couple guys and we visited Ta Keo and a few others I don't remember the names of. It was really fun getting off the tourist trail and exploring these lesser known places. We hiked, crawled through broken rocks, and climbed steps that were over a foot high and only a few inches long. We even had our pictures taken with monks we met on the trail. We found a tuk tuk driver to drive us around and bring us back to our hotel for $10.
In Siam Reap we also visited a giant culture center which Lauren lovingly referred to as the "Disneyland of Cambodia." There weren't any rides, but there was amazing scenery and interactive exhibits that included housing complexes and an underground museum of horrors. There were also a lot of dramas that took audience participation to a new level. One guy on our trip was married in a traditional Cambodian wedding, another guy went courting and danced around in his underwear, and another pulled a bow out of stone and became king. These were really amusing to watch.
The food in Cambodia is slightly different. It is like a combination between Thai and Vietnamese food and it is a lot less spicy. There are still a lot of soups, rice, and noodle dishes, but there are also plenty of weird options as well. One interesting delicacy is the fried tarantula. I was skeptical to try one at first but they aren't bad. They have a nice crispy and chewy texture that is really juicy. I ate three of them for a snack, but Lauren wouldn't let me sit next to her afterward. My "spider breath" made her gag so it took a piece of gum and some convincing to get my seat back. Insects are popular here too. I tried grasshoppers, crickets, and silkworms, but none were as good as the tarantula. The silkworm is chewy and gross tasting.
Another thing I noticed in Cambodia is how intense the street vendors were. They all know English and follow tourists around like zombies. They wait by buses and will hound people to purchase anything from handicrafts to fruit. In the most touristy of places there are a lot of kids that beg you to buy from them in repeated, broken English. The vendors in the markets were less intense and the prices were cheaper than in Thailand. I knew pirated movies and music were commonly sold, but I never knew you could pirate books. Guidebooks and other types of reading are sold on the street for cheap, wrapped in plastic to disguise their poor quality. Another thing common in Cambodia are bands of land mine victims that sell music CDs.
The last city we visited in Cambodia was the capital, Phnom Penh. Here we did some last minute market shopping and visited two genocide areas. Cambodia experienced a period of genocide between 1975 and 1979 under the regime of Pol Pot, and two million people died in the killing fields. We started at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Known as S-21, this was a high school that was turned into an interrogation center and prison. Next we visited Choeng Ek, a killing field just outside of the city. There are lots of mass graves and the rain is constantly washing up more bones and fragments of clothing. This was by far the most impacting part of the trip.
Update: Friday, May 27
We got back to Oregon this week after three flights and layovers in Taiwan and Seattle. The weather seems freezing cold here, but it is welcomed after weeks of uncomfortably hot and humid weather. I also got back to my island last night. It's hard to believe our trip is over. Three weeks is plenty of time to travel and experience new cultures but I wanted to keep going. Nevertheless, going to Southeast Asia was a great way to start the summer! I will upload pictures from the trip soon.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Chaing Mai to Cambodia
Thailand has been awesome and we saw a lot of the country. Last week the overnight train into Chiang Mai turned out to be a good experience. The beds were a little small, but we were blessed to have second class tickets with air conditioning. Chaing Mai turned out to be a really cool city and we did some neat things. Our group visited a missionary school, a temple, and a palace, but best of all was an elephant sanctuary where we rode elephants and saw them perform. They are really smart animals and can even paint pictures!
We also did a lot of touristy shopping at the famous night market, where I bought some artwork and other souvenirs. I went to a tailor with friends and we had suits custom fitted. I got a three-piece, gray cashmere suit with pinstripes for 6600 baht, which is about $200. I also got another shirt ($22) and pants ($30) from the same place. It's hard to find good stuff in my size and this would have easily cost a couple thousand in the US.
On a free morning I visited the Chaing Mai Zoo with some friends, and that was a neat experience. We were able to feed a lot of animals, including hippos, giraffes, elephants, and leopards, with raw meat attached to a pole. The aquarium there is the biggest in Asia, and it has the longest underwater viewing tunnel in the world. We also briefly stopped by Tiger Kingdom, where you can play with tigers and get pictures. But unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do that.
The north part of Thailand is really rural and we've pretty much road tripped the entire country by bus. Two of the trip legs were over 12 hours long, which is an uncomfortable amount of time. The bus travel didn't exactly start off on the right foot either...
As we were leaving Chaing Mai I was in the back of the bus and fell asleep smelling what I thought were the brakes. Later I woke up to people yelling and realized smoke was spreading from the back of the bus. In panic, I tried to get my seatbelt off and it took a few tries. (I was laying on my side and wrapped myself in such a way where I wouldn't roll out of my seat.) I took off toward the front of the bus and fell over on the way out, but once I got outside I realized I had taken my shoes off before I fell asleep. It turned out the air conditioning on the bus busted. It was right under me and the smoke spread through all the vents. This was scary, but looking back on this we can all laugh now. We waited near a swamp on the side of the road until another, less-comfortable bus came.
One of the professors traveling with us lived in Thailand for five years, and this is her first time back in twenty years. It has been really touching to see her reconnect with old friends and we were able to visit a couple of the small villages where she lived and worked. I loved seeing this third-world aspect of the country and we have met some really generous people. I like interacting with the villagers, especially little kids, but it is hard not being able to communicate with them.
Our trip took us along the Mekong River which is the border of Laos. Originally we were going to spend a day there, but the visas became too expensive. We were still able to take a boat along the river and we saw some of the country as we drifted through it. It was cool to see Laos even though we didn't get to physically go there.
This morning we reached the Cambodian border after an overnight bus trip. The crossing itself was fairly easy and only took about an hour. Cambodia will be a really interesting experience. It is completely different from Thailand and it feels completely third-world like India or the Middle East. There is a whole new language to learn here and the food is a lot weirder, which excites me. One thing I've noticed is bathrooms here are "water rooms". There is no shower curtain and the whole floor drains, so you can be using the toilet and sink as you shower.
Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Siem Reap, which is next to Angkor Wat. I have always wanted to go there because it looks so awesome. We have another six days in Cambodia and then we are heading home. I am excited for the last few days, but it will be good to get back home to cooler weather.
Until later! (However you say that in Cambodia...)
We also did a lot of touristy shopping at the famous night market, where I bought some artwork and other souvenirs. I went to a tailor with friends and we had suits custom fitted. I got a three-piece, gray cashmere suit with pinstripes for 6600 baht, which is about $200. I also got another shirt ($22) and pants ($30) from the same place. It's hard to find good stuff in my size and this would have easily cost a couple thousand in the US.
On a free morning I visited the Chaing Mai Zoo with some friends, and that was a neat experience. We were able to feed a lot of animals, including hippos, giraffes, elephants, and leopards, with raw meat attached to a pole. The aquarium there is the biggest in Asia, and it has the longest underwater viewing tunnel in the world. We also briefly stopped by Tiger Kingdom, where you can play with tigers and get pictures. But unfortunately we didn't have enough time to do that.
The north part of Thailand is really rural and we've pretty much road tripped the entire country by bus. Two of the trip legs were over 12 hours long, which is an uncomfortable amount of time. The bus travel didn't exactly start off on the right foot either...
As we were leaving Chaing Mai I was in the back of the bus and fell asleep smelling what I thought were the brakes. Later I woke up to people yelling and realized smoke was spreading from the back of the bus. In panic, I tried to get my seatbelt off and it took a few tries. (I was laying on my side and wrapped myself in such a way where I wouldn't roll out of my seat.) I took off toward the front of the bus and fell over on the way out, but once I got outside I realized I had taken my shoes off before I fell asleep. It turned out the air conditioning on the bus busted. It was right under me and the smoke spread through all the vents. This was scary, but looking back on this we can all laugh now. We waited near a swamp on the side of the road until another, less-comfortable bus came.
One of the professors traveling with us lived in Thailand for five years, and this is her first time back in twenty years. It has been really touching to see her reconnect with old friends and we were able to visit a couple of the small villages where she lived and worked. I loved seeing this third-world aspect of the country and we have met some really generous people. I like interacting with the villagers, especially little kids, but it is hard not being able to communicate with them.
Our trip took us along the Mekong River which is the border of Laos. Originally we were going to spend a day there, but the visas became too expensive. We were still able to take a boat along the river and we saw some of the country as we drifted through it. It was cool to see Laos even though we didn't get to physically go there.
This morning we reached the Cambodian border after an overnight bus trip. The crossing itself was fairly easy and only took about an hour. Cambodia will be a really interesting experience. It is completely different from Thailand and it feels completely third-world like India or the Middle East. There is a whole new language to learn here and the food is a lot weirder, which excites me. One thing I've noticed is bathrooms here are "water rooms". There is no shower curtain and the whole floor drains, so you can be using the toilet and sink as you shower.
Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Siem Reap, which is next to Angkor Wat. I have always wanted to go there because it looks so awesome. We have another six days in Cambodia and then we are heading home. I am excited for the last few days, but it will be good to get back home to cooler weather.
Until later! (However you say that in Cambodia...)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Dolphin Bay and Monkey Island
Saturday we drove down to Dolphin Bay, which was about a three hour trip. It's a picturesque little vacation spot on the coast that overlooks the Gulf of Thailand. There's not much here except for a few local resorts and small shops on a road that traces the shoreline. Right now I'm sitting in a small internet cafe on the beach. It is still really hot here, but it is bearable next to the water. The green seawater is surprsingly warm like a bathtub and it's really shallow. Our hotel has a pool which is colder and nice to lay around. My farang skin is definitely getting darker. We've been able to do some cool things here like kayaking, boating, exploring, and eating amazing seafood.
Our kayaking experience was interesting. Lauren and I rented some with Brandon and Danika and we all decided to paddle out to a nearby island. The boats were 50 baht an hour, which is less than two bucks. Once we made it to the beach, a huge male monkey found us and the rest of his family joined him. Brandon and Danika had their boats taken over and we all retreated to the water, trying to figure out how to get them back. Meanwhile, the monkeys were playing in the captured boats, grooming each other, and trying to eat the plastic seats. We managed to get Danika's boat back, which had been pooped in, but Brandon's was a challenge. I ran up the beach to distract the monkeys but I was chased off. We didn't know if they were friendly or not, but they were acting somewhat aggressive. So we watched them explore the kayak, hoping they would leave. Gradually, they left one by one and we escaped the island with our boats intact.
The next day we went back to Monkey Island, which turned out to be it's actual name. Our whole group went in local jet boats, and the drivers brought bags of mangoes to keep the monkeys busy while we explored their beach. They were a lot nicer than we thought, but once they ran out of fruit, they went for our water bottles and cameras. The boats also took us through the islands, which were lush and beautiful in contast to the green sea. They had a really primative feel, like Jurassic Park. We also went to a giant cave off the beach, which is a national park. We hiked up the steep mountain and then went down into the giant, collapsed cavern. One of the kings had a shrine built in the middle of the cave, which was quite the site to explore. This has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.
Another thing that has been memorable here is the amazing food. We found a couple small restaurants on the beach that served some of the best meals I've ever had. One night I ate curry on the beach in a bamboo chair, and another I ate crab, squid, and coconut soup in a tiki-style lounge. The seafood was so fresh and caught by the fishing boats that frequent the bay. Finding good food has become a hobby, and I definitely plan on learning to cook Thai food back home.
Another night rode in the back of a truck to Hua Hin, the nearest town about thirty minutes away. There was a night market there, which had some pretty cool things to buy. I'm realizing that all of the markets have the same stuff though. It's just like in Ecuador where the street vendors are the middlemen. Our last few hours in Bangkok were similarly spent at the enormous Saturday market. We witnessed a monsoon storm there, with crazy rainfall in between spurts of 90 degree weather. I bought three really cool watercolor paintings, but afterward realized I'd been ripped off. I bartered them to a low price, but when I got out in the light they looked pixelated. What a cheap printing job!
This afternoon we're heading back to Bangkok and taking a night train to Chang Mai, a city at the far north of Thailand. I'm hoping there will be enough legroom, and room in general for me to sleep. That and air conditioning.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
Our kayaking experience was interesting. Lauren and I rented some with Brandon and Danika and we all decided to paddle out to a nearby island. The boats were 50 baht an hour, which is less than two bucks. Once we made it to the beach, a huge male monkey found us and the rest of his family joined him. Brandon and Danika had their boats taken over and we all retreated to the water, trying to figure out how to get them back. Meanwhile, the monkeys were playing in the captured boats, grooming each other, and trying to eat the plastic seats. We managed to get Danika's boat back, which had been pooped in, but Brandon's was a challenge. I ran up the beach to distract the monkeys but I was chased off. We didn't know if they were friendly or not, but they were acting somewhat aggressive. So we watched them explore the kayak, hoping they would leave. Gradually, they left one by one and we escaped the island with our boats intact.
The next day we went back to Monkey Island, which turned out to be it's actual name. Our whole group went in local jet boats, and the drivers brought bags of mangoes to keep the monkeys busy while we explored their beach. They were a lot nicer than we thought, but once they ran out of fruit, they went for our water bottles and cameras. The boats also took us through the islands, which were lush and beautiful in contast to the green sea. They had a really primative feel, like Jurassic Park. We also went to a giant cave off the beach, which is a national park. We hiked up the steep mountain and then went down into the giant, collapsed cavern. One of the kings had a shrine built in the middle of the cave, which was quite the site to explore. This has been one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.
Another thing that has been memorable here is the amazing food. We found a couple small restaurants on the beach that served some of the best meals I've ever had. One night I ate curry on the beach in a bamboo chair, and another I ate crab, squid, and coconut soup in a tiki-style lounge. The seafood was so fresh and caught by the fishing boats that frequent the bay. Finding good food has become a hobby, and I definitely plan on learning to cook Thai food back home.
Another night rode in the back of a truck to Hua Hin, the nearest town about thirty minutes away. There was a night market there, which had some pretty cool things to buy. I'm realizing that all of the markets have the same stuff though. It's just like in Ecuador where the street vendors are the middlemen. Our last few hours in Bangkok were similarly spent at the enormous Saturday market. We witnessed a monsoon storm there, with crazy rainfall in between spurts of 90 degree weather. I bought three really cool watercolor paintings, but afterward realized I'd been ripped off. I bartered them to a low price, but when I got out in the light they looked pixelated. What a cheap printing job!
This afternoon we're heading back to Bangkok and taking a night train to Chang Mai, a city at the far north of Thailand. I'm hoping there will be enough legroom, and room in general for me to sleep. That and air conditioning.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Reflections on Bangkok
Bangkok is awesome. We made it to the Thai capital on Tuesday after 28 hours of travel. It took three flights, including a 12-hour plane ride from Seattle to Taipei (Taiwan). The first thing I noticed in Thailand was the heat. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, the 90+ degree temperature and humidity just about knocked me over. My last semester in Oregon was sun-deprived and this change was extreme, but I love it now that it's tolerable. Most places have air conditioning, including our hotel. This luxury is wonderful beyond words.
My favorite part about Thailand so far is probably the food. It is unbelievably better than the Thai food I thought I knew in the US and it's much spicier. I have finally found a culture that likes it's food as spicy as I do! Street food in Bangkok is both amazing and cheap and brings many spices and flavors together. There are a lot of delicious meats, stir frys, and soup combos that are blowing my mind. With the weaker baht currency you can get just about anything for less than a dollar and a full plate of food won't cost more than two. I've found there is nothing like eating really spicy food on a hot day. It's quite an experience to be sitting outside in the heat and sweating profusely while you're digesting fire. Fruits are also popular as well and there are lots of different tropical varieties. The most (in)famous is the durian, which the locals say "tastes like heaven and smells like s**t". Vendors cover it up so it doesn't reek up the streets and there are signs that tell us not to bring it into buildings. It reminds me of mushy onions and old cheese.
One big part of Thai culture is massages and foot massages are perhaps the most popular. Lauren and I went to get one together this afternoon and it was awesome. While her masseuse was gentle on her feet and legs, mine was really rough. I learned how soft my legs were and many knots my feet had, but through the pain I enjoyed it. The best part: an hour massage only cost me 220 baht, just over $7. The girls tried to speak English to us and were hilarious. One said I looked like an army soldier because I was "big sexy man". I have had some interesting encounters and Lauren calls me Asian meat. Another type of massage is from fish. You put your feet in a tank of feet eating fish that like to nibble on dead skin. They swim over and suck on your toes until they are smooth and clean. I found this to be a unique experience that tickled like crazy, but I won't do it again after hearing why they aren't allowed in the US.
The transportation in Bangkok is fairly modernized because it is such a big city with 10 million people. There is a sky train and new subway system, but the old school way to get around is in a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motoried taxi that flies through the streets. These are really mobile and fun, and the drivers have great personalities. Taxis are popular too, but they can scam tourists. The other day, I went to hand a taxi driver some change and he dropped it under the seat. Then he got mad and made us pay him more while the meter was still running. Here vehicles drive on the left side of the road.
Thai is an interesting language to say the least. The alphabet has 44 consonants and 15 vowels and looks like a bunch of squiggly lines. It is hard to speak but I have picked up words here and there. I know a handful of Thai phrases including 'how much does it cost?', 'I like spicy food', and 'it's very delicious'. I like to try and learn new words, but I am still very much a farang (gringo). I also learned a few Mandarin words when we were in Taiwan.
So far we have visited the urban downtown, some temples, and the riverfront. We also went to a resort with elephants. There are a lot of street markets too and I've been bargaining for good deals. At night it is easy to see the effects of the prevailing sex trade industry. There are some sketchy streets and just about anywhere people will try to get you involved. This is really sad to see as such a big part of the culture.
Tomorrow is our last day in Bangkok. We are going to the Saturday market in the morning and then travelling south to Dolphin Bay. This is on the coast and we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach. I am stoked for this.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
My favorite part about Thailand so far is probably the food. It is unbelievably better than the Thai food I thought I knew in the US and it's much spicier. I have finally found a culture that likes it's food as spicy as I do! Street food in Bangkok is both amazing and cheap and brings many spices and flavors together. There are a lot of delicious meats, stir frys, and soup combos that are blowing my mind. With the weaker baht currency you can get just about anything for less than a dollar and a full plate of food won't cost more than two. I've found there is nothing like eating really spicy food on a hot day. It's quite an experience to be sitting outside in the heat and sweating profusely while you're digesting fire. Fruits are also popular as well and there are lots of different tropical varieties. The most (in)famous is the durian, which the locals say "tastes like heaven and smells like s**t". Vendors cover it up so it doesn't reek up the streets and there are signs that tell us not to bring it into buildings. It reminds me of mushy onions and old cheese.
One big part of Thai culture is massages and foot massages are perhaps the most popular. Lauren and I went to get one together this afternoon and it was awesome. While her masseuse was gentle on her feet and legs, mine was really rough. I learned how soft my legs were and many knots my feet had, but through the pain I enjoyed it. The best part: an hour massage only cost me 220 baht, just over $7. The girls tried to speak English to us and were hilarious. One said I looked like an army soldier because I was "big sexy man". I have had some interesting encounters and Lauren calls me Asian meat. Another type of massage is from fish. You put your feet in a tank of feet eating fish that like to nibble on dead skin. They swim over and suck on your toes until they are smooth and clean. I found this to be a unique experience that tickled like crazy, but I won't do it again after hearing why they aren't allowed in the US.
The transportation in Bangkok is fairly modernized because it is such a big city with 10 million people. There is a sky train and new subway system, but the old school way to get around is in a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motoried taxi that flies through the streets. These are really mobile and fun, and the drivers have great personalities. Taxis are popular too, but they can scam tourists. The other day, I went to hand a taxi driver some change and he dropped it under the seat. Then he got mad and made us pay him more while the meter was still running. Here vehicles drive on the left side of the road.
Thai is an interesting language to say the least. The alphabet has 44 consonants and 15 vowels and looks like a bunch of squiggly lines. It is hard to speak but I have picked up words here and there. I know a handful of Thai phrases including 'how much does it cost?', 'I like spicy food', and 'it's very delicious'. I like to try and learn new words, but I am still very much a farang (gringo). I also learned a few Mandarin words when we were in Taiwan.
So far we have visited the urban downtown, some temples, and the riverfront. We also went to a resort with elephants. There are a lot of street markets too and I've been bargaining for good deals. At night it is easy to see the effects of the prevailing sex trade industry. There are some sketchy streets and just about anywhere people will try to get you involved. This is really sad to see as such a big part of the culture.
Tomorrow is our last day in Bangkok. We are going to the Saturday market in the morning and then travelling south to Dolphin Bay. This is on the coast and we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach. I am stoked for this.
แล้วพบกันใหม่ (Laaeo phohp gan mai)
Until we meet again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)