Pictures - Here!
 |
| Sunset over Bangkok, day one |
On that note, I will try to go in chronological order of events but knowing myself, I will likely get sidetracked and lost in memories so bear with me because this is going to be a doozy!
December 23rd - Day One
S and I woke up bright and early to meet our ride to the station so we could set out on our adventure! We took a train to Fukuoka so we could catch our 11AM plane to Bangkok. After a short 5.5hour flight and lots of (free) booze to keep the jitters away [not to mention the best airline food I have ever had - fly Thai airlines!], we touched down in Bangkok in the late afternoon. Grabbing a taxi from the airport we headed straight to the hostel to meet up with JB, a friend from college who flew from Osaka the night before. Once the 6 of us were finally together, we checked in, settled in then immediately headed out for dinner. This first meal in Bangkok marked the beginning of a theorem we would try hard to find evidence of the in the days to come, as well as the first of many "inside" jokes which S would later turn into an entire album of songs to describe our, as they referred to it, 'epic journey'.
 |
| Khao San road |
It was on this night as well where S got assaulted by a small girl selling roses and another showed up a short time later to do my hair. it was all very strange and poor S looked about ready to die between the embarrassment and the alcohol.
 |
| D and my's bucket of beverage |
So, a ping pong show is called such because one of the acts involves a woman shooting ping pong balls out of her vagina. The other acts included smoking cigarettes, pulling out strings of decorations and drawing pictures, all using a vagina (which we should now just call the woman pocket). The most grotesque award was easily won by the woman who removed razor blades from her woman pocket (and smiled almost gladly when she proceeded to use the razors to cut up a sheet of paper) while most Guinness-like involved opening a non-twist top Coke bottle (she passed it around for the audience to try to open) using vaginal lips. [I am pretty convinced she had a can opener stowed away up there but still impressive and disturbing...] While most parts of the show were disturbing, some were also impressive. One woman pulled blacklight party streamers from her woman pocket to the thump of rock music and neon lights which was followed by a couple who had sex on stage (he wore a dildo with a condom on it) in a fit of crazy acrobatics. He literally did what we would later refer to as a 360 degree f#ck. Oh, I neglected to mention that this ping pong show (and what I learned later, all ping pong shows) was filled with older, chubby, unattractive women who looked as though they were like to either hurl or fall over from boredom while completing their acts on the stage. Although I can't blame them since they are literally cycling though the exact same stage events all night every night, it just added a whole new level of depression to the whole environment.
 |
| um... yeah. |
Once the show was over I was ready to go home and although D (S's high school friend's Thai girlfriend) had told the cab driver to take us back, he still tried to get us all to a Go-go bar. The boys were pretty drunk by this point so I just told him I did not want to go so take me back first and if they wanted to go, fine. He still overcharged us to get back (Thai price vs foreigner price will be mentioned in a bit) but we all made it in one piece and of course the boys climbed out after me into the hostel.
December 24th - Day Two
Waking up pretty early the next morning, S and I headed out for a bit of exploring and ended up grabbing breakfast at an American diner not too far from our hostel. Although I had not envisioned waking up on Christmas Eve morning to a tomato Swiss cheese sandwich, it provided a very nice settler for an upset stomach and got the two of us started off right. S's high school friend from the night before (and the girlfriend D who I got along really well with) were planning to meet us in the afternoon to take us to the weekend market so we could get started off right in the city (and because most of us had not brought enough clothes to last the trip knowing things would be cheaper on this side of the world) so once the rest of our party got up and ready we headed out for the day. I got to do public transportation in Thailand (taxis and trains are so much cheaper than Japan!) and we spent most of the remaining afternoon haggling with shopkeepers and munching on Thai goodies and fruit.
 |
| Thai snacks - egg pancake |
 |
| I still can't get over the special sign for the monks :-) |
D's family invited us to dinner in the evening for Christmas eve and so S, JB and I went while leaving the other three boys to their own devices for the night. We had KFC, spaghetti, Thai curry, unrefined rice (long grain version of brown rice) and Thai pasta. We followed that with a bottle of vodka since everyone decided we were going to relax and I thought I might enjoy my vacation. Once we finished with dinner the six of us decided to hit up downtown Bangkok, particularly Patpong night market. D and I dropped the boys off at a strip club while we did a little more girls time (snacks and shopping) then when we were headed back on our way to another end of the market about an hour later, we found the boys drinking on the side of the street along with JC (another of my Oita boys). They said they had been kicked out of the club for not tipping enough (a pretty common experience here as like I said, the locals really try to get as much money from foreigners as possible). We decided then to go and meet D's sister at a club in another part of the city for a Christmas party. Clubbing for Christmas? My kind of fun!
The place turned out to be amazing! The girls got us into the club for a great price and it included two drinks a person so everyone was feeling buzzed and happy in time for the clock to chime in Christmas day. Santa even made an appearance and threw out little gifts. The night passed swiftly from there and before I knew it, we were headed back to the hostel, exhausted and happy.
 |
| Christmas eve dinner party |
December 25th - Day Three
Although I woke up pretty early (I had planned to go for a run in the park), Aunt Flow kept me crippled in bed until early afternoon which was around the time the boys started getting up and moving. After the late start we all got going toward the dock where we had planned to take a boat tour around Bangkok for the day. The boat was fine and we got the tickets and boarded no problem. But once we got off the boat and headed toward the palace the complications arose. Apparently was had moved a little too slowly because by the time we arrived at the palace (3:30) it was closing/closed. Next to a sign warning us to be wary of 'wily strangers', a stranger dressed like a palace official offered us a ride in a tuk tuk for the "cheap money" price of 20baht (about 50 cents) which would take us to three major hotspots in the city.
 |
| Boat ride to palace - this monk was on facebook. |
Long story short, the tuk tuk driver took us to a famous big Buddha statue in the city then once we finished looking at it (and in the case of JB, S, and the rest of the boys, defiling it) and got back to meet the driver she insisted on taking us shopping next. I told her to skip that because I did not want to go then when she kept arguing it would only take a few minutes and that she could get a gas stamp [it was just like that guy at the hostel said! - alarm bells ringing] we knew it was a tourist scam. I asked her the name of the place just to confirm and when she said James' fashion the boys and I hit the streets throwing the pre-determined amount of money into the tuk tuk. Well, it was not exactly thrown but we did high tail it out of there when she refused to skip out on the fashion visit.
Video of tuk tuk ride
 |
| Giant gold Buddha |
That evening the hostel had promised us free Christmas dinner for those who wanted to partake so while S and most of the boys (SH stayed behind with a bit of hangover as I recall) left to entertain themselves for the evening, I enjoyed a quiet night of fireworks and sweets at the hostel with the other misfits who had no other plans for Christmas day. I actually went out with a couple of my fellow backpackers to a movie just to make the celebration complete (No, I am not Jewish but usually my family gets sick enough of each other that once I was able to drive I would be forced out of the house with my sister and cousin to reign terror down on the cinema instead of the family). I discovered later that S and JB had met up with D and spent the evening doing actual fun stuff but I think I might have been better off for the rest since the next day...
December 26th
... we woke up pretty early to catch a flight to Surat Thani so we could begin our jungle adventure.
 |
| Thai Elvis |
We embarked on our jungle adventure to limited fanfare but as the Japanese would say, with 'high tension' (we were excited). On the way to the dock where we would depart for the river hut where we would spend the night we stopped at a small street-side market to pick up snacks and parkas for the boys since it looked like rain. Rainy introduced us to some local fruits (Lychee, Rambutan, Langsat and Dragonfruit) and showed us how to peel and eat them so we could munch in the car and on the boat (she ended up buying us way too much and we were left with fruit stores for the rest of the trip which despite my best efforts eventually had to be thrown away).
Once at the dock we met our boat driver who would replace the bus driver as our primary means of transport for the next day and a half and there we were introduced to his boat which was fashioned in the traditional Thai style but had a strange engine clipped onto the back. Despite our reservations about riding in a 'vehicle' which looked to be propelled by half of a car engine missing some torques, the ride was pretty nice. The area of the river where we were staying was about an hour away from the dock and although it sprinkled and was cloudy most of the way, there was a lot to see.
 |
| Some of the mountains rising from the remains of the jungle |
Rainy informed us that about 22 years ago, they moved all the villages out of this rain forest and then built a dam in order to provide power via hydroelectricity to the neighboring cities. Before that time, the area we were currently floating on was a sprawling, wild rain forest complete with lions, tigers and bears. Since the dam was built and water flooded into the area, the architecture of the land has undergone a complete metamorphosis. Now there is over 30m of water (much deeper in some parts) and all that remains of the rain forest is the mountainous areas and higher elevation plateaus sprouting up throughout the river. As you looked down over from the edge of the boat you can see the steadily decaying outline of the higher trees which once reached toward the sky but now reach only for some escape from the water as they brush gently against the bottom of the boat.
One hour and many pictures later, we arrived at the river huts to find a cute floating island of huts, toilets and kayaks complete with small dining area and snack counter. The boys saw to immediately buying beer while S decided to take a short nap until dinner time and our next adventure. Over the course of the rest of the daylight hours I explored the neighboring areas in a kayak, helped a local woman cut down and transport a tree, swam in the river and met a huge group of Thai college students. The latter occurred more out of coincidence than anything I did personally since the boys were hanging around and came to talk to me when I smiled at them, but it led to vast cultural exchange (see picture) and a couple of new facebook friends. Keep in mind the boys stayed out of all these activities except for the final one (I introduced the Thai boys to my Japan boys :-P) so I spent most of the day in personal mode.Dinner time came and the boat house really impressed. They brought out this gluttonous feast for the six of us ranging from fresh caught fish fried in egg to huge bowls of rice and curry to sweet fresh fruit. It was incredible and easily the most delicious thing I ate in Thailand. [Sorry there are no pictures of this dinner but JC took them that night and his camera got lost before we made it back to Japan).
After dinner we were relaxing on the patio when I had to make a bathroom trip (this is quite a hike) and thus had to walk past the students sitting outside their communal hut (we had three two-person huts). they hollered greetings to me and invited me over for a drink. I conceded and then they invited the boys over for some partying and liquor. JB fit right in grabbing the bottle of rum and swigging it down and the night passed pretty quickly from there. Once the booze began to run dry we moved back to our table where we talked over lightly playing music from JC's ipod until I got too tired and eventually retired (well I also was not intoxicated and the boys had begun to take a route in their conversation I found distasteful - mainly the idea that woman don't deserve rights). I found out the next day that the boys got yelled at about their music being too loud at too late of a time by a German couple which would eventually also be added to S's growing list of musical literature to be made into a song.December 27th
The next day we planned to wake up around 5 for a boat safari but Rainy came later than planned due to the sun rising pretty late and cloudy weather. We still got to see some cool stuff including lots of monkeys, really fast but beautiful kingfishers and a small bear. Also got to enjoy the sunrise over the mountains and a happy morning on a boat in the water. Man I am really at home on the water.
 |
| We saw a bear on safari |
Waiting on our boat was a monkey to guide us back. In case you didn't know (I didn't), Thailand is full of monkeys. They are simply everywhere. On roofs, in houses, in boats, on and under cars... I could go on. This particular monkey ran away after another group of tourists tossed it a banana and then we headed back to the boat house for what was sure to be a delicious last meal before setting off into the jungle.
With full bellies, full hearts and full luggage we began our boat ride back to the dock where we would grab our car and head to the new location about 30 minutes away (our guide and the car driver all came along and slept in the river huts with us). Before arriving at the tree houses we stopped first for a kayaking trip through the Khao Sok National park. It was less eventful than I thought it would be considering the most exciting thing we saw was a baby river monitor (it's mother ran away from us) and a couple of Kingfishers, but the boys got the chance to nap on the river and I got some eye candy in the form of the guy who paddled S's canoe. Tehe. About an hour into our ride we stumbled upon a rope swing hanging out over the water. Of course S and JB wanted to play so we stopped for a bit so they could jump in. Much to my delight, their kayak paddler also jumped in, yay!
 |
| Boat men! |
Once we arrived at the end of the river, Rainy was waiting to pick us up in the van and after a short stop at a waterfall, (it was pretty dry on account of it being summer time but not rainy season) we finally got checked in. The tree houses were pretty awesome and included such amenities as a huge, cold shower (as in no hot water) room, three beds (I shared the room with JB but three was still a little unnecessary) and mosquito nets. They also came complete with monkeys who enjoyed jumping on roofs and cicadas whose mating calls sounded like the screams of fighting monkeys. Because it was a little late by the time we got settled in, we were forced to eat dinner at the lodge (although it did not have plastic chairs) and the boys sent Rainy on a beer run in the van since she had to get a few things anyway.
We passed the night playing cards and drinking (tea in my case) until everyone finally was tired enough to block out nature. Well, I say that but actually I loved the sounds of the trees blowing, monkeys jumping and bugs hollering but I could see how some people would find it annoying and the boys mentioned many times how it was quite difficult to fall asleep for all the noise. Lucky for me I have a few videos of the noise that I can hopefully listen to when I am feeling nostalgic.
 |
| The tree house |
After a short run with S to get our blood pumping, we got started on our day pretty early so we could be there first since this was the much awaited elephant riding day! I would love to go into immense detail about the feel of the elephant between my thighs while I clutched onto his coarse skin prickled with rough, plastic like hair in place of any discernible rein. But, I don't have the vocabulary or the stamina. Haha. Regardless, the trip consisted of two parts - there and back. I rode on the elephant's neck on the way there and SH had it on the way back. Otherwise, we sat in the saddle on his back. Riding an elephant bareback feels much the way I would imagine riding any other animal bareback would feel. I tried my best not to put my knees all over his ears and keep my feet away from his legs (my inseam spanned the whole of his head such that my sandal fell just below his leg joint) but the position took some getting used to. As did having nothing to grab onto!I am so happy I got to have this experience because it was really wonderful and I thanked the elephant profusely with lots of banana's when we finished the trip. I also tried to thank the trainer but found out later I was supposed to thank him with money. Oops.
Once we got back to the tree houses, we trekked to a cave not too far away. A guide from the lodge led the way and the path took us through plantations and fields in what looked to be some banana tycoon's backyard. I got my first and last injury on the trip there when I got caught by a vine around the ankle and couldn't escape before it tasted my blood. That sounded a little carnivorous but since I saw my first real live carnivorous plant (see video) while on this walk, the imagery felt appropriate.
The cave itself was pretty dark and dank offering nothing too special except once you descended to the bottom. There we found an underground pool which the guide said stretched for miles underneath the mountains but due to the possibility of flash floods (a group of tourists, guide and all, died just a few years prior in a flash flood when they got trapped in a cave) and the temperature of the water, no one can explore the water. I suspect discovery channel will get in there with their fancy cameras and cave divers someday.
Outside the cave we found some very tame monkeys and when we purchased food from a nearby stand at Rainy's request, we proceeded to feed and pet them. I immediately fell in love with the adorable baby monkey hanging onto mommy's tummy who I managed to get two pictures of before she was whisked away.
Although we had planned to spend the rest of the afternoon swimming, when I touched the water at the swimming area, I changed my mind and decided instead to wander off by myself and get a massage. It was everything I had hoped for and an hour later I went off to explore a bit of the area around our hotel that I had run by in the morning (mainly searching for a flower I had been hankering to take a picture of). I eventually stumbled upon the boys at a convenience store/restaurant/massage parlor getting a treatment of their own and helped myself to a smoothie waiting for them. We stayed there for dinner and the plastic chair theorem held true yet again as we enjoyed wonderful, homemade food and company before returning to our pleasantly noisy rooms.
I again excused myself early since I prefer sleeping to drinking on vacation and found out later the boys stayed up late talking.
Elephant Riding!
December 29th
The next morning we checked out of our adventure tour and took our bus on it's final journey to drop us off in Phuket. Rainy suggested a few touristy places that the guys jumped right on so we ended up spending the day with her again while she told the bus driver where to take us. We saw the giant Phuket Buddha (which was actually a gift for the 60th anniversary of the King of Thailand's rule) and went to a gift shop where they sold more expensive versions of local made products, then we dropped the boys off at a gun range and cobra show while Rainy and I sat outside.
 |
| The students and CT! |
During the time the show was going on (about an hour), Rainy kind of broke down and told me the long and sad story of her life up to now. Not knowing what to say or how to react I simply listened and did my best to respond with all the expected small talk I had learned from studying Asian culture. I won't repeat the things she told me because that is her private business but suffice it to say that she reminded me of some principles I knew as a child that I find difficult to keep at the forefront of my thoughts. Basically that 'everything really does happen for a reason' and 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. These phrases are so cliche but so true. She has been through a lot of things I can't really relate to, and she continues to fight against enemies both real and imagined to carve a place in her harsh landscape of inconsistency but overall she maintains that she is and will continue to be happy. Both for herself and her daughter.
 |
| Expensive but pretty lunch |
 |
| The Big Buddha Phuket |
And, back to topic... the boys finished their cobra show while I was swallowing down my epiphany and we headed out to lunch. I think Rainy wanted to get a little bit more out of us before she dropped us off so she took us to an expensive seafood restaurant where she got to eat downstairs in the kitchen. the food was not even very good though as the pictures will show you, at least looked pretty. We are still pretty convinced she must have gotten a gas stamp and this trip was somehow related to our dodging out on the tuk tuk/James fashion scheme.
 |
| The water was a beautiful below as above |
After doing a few more errands with the van, mainly money changing, we said our goodbyes to Rainy and got all checked into our hotel in Phuket. The night passed uneventfully as we were all pretty tired and most of the shops and the like outside our hotel closed pretty early.
December 30th
As Rainy's final favor to us, she helped us book a beach tour for this day. It was an all day boating adventure which would take us around to a couple of major tourist spots and let us snorkel and relax on the beach. Or so we thought. It turned into this horrible tourist driven time trial where every location had an exact time table and hundreds of people crowded onto the beach at the same time to soak in the tropical sunlight.
 |
| Despite the boats it was incredibly beautiful |
Anyway, after a long and surprisingly stressful day, we got back to the hostel full of nothing more than fruit and tainted pictures of other tourists in time to shower and take a quick nap before our night out - watching Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing).
As a side note real quick, S still found it in his heart to make the trip complete by offending the most German looking man and his family such that the man cornered him in the bathroom and confronted him about it. Sigh, boys and their imaginary fight with Germans (if you recall it all arose from the raft house when they got scolded for having their music too loud).
 |
| The famous Maya Bay beach |
Muay Thai
December 31st
 |
| Shopping at a Thai market |
Leaving the market with lighter wallets but not much fuller bags, we went back to the hostel to make plans for how to ring in the New Year. The boys all voted to ditch the beach idea because of the fear of fat, speedo-clad tourists lounging on the beach and instead hit up a local Thai hotspot to ring in the new year. CT (the last of my boys who I have not mentioned by initial yet :-P) returned from his cooking class with directions to a local Thai New Year's party where foreigners would not be going. We arrived after getting a ride from a guy who worked at a convenience store beside our dinner restaurant (no plastic chairs but still a pretty delicious dinner complete with mushrooms the Thai call 'Jew's ears'). After joining the swarming flood of Thai people in what looked to be a huge night market, we let ourselves get lost in the smells and crowds, content to simply let Thailand be.
As the New year approached, we found ourselves thankful for S's friend making skills, as he had made friends with people in a shop down a less crowded street where we ended up celebrating the beginning of 2012 with their adorable little girls who ran circles around us with sparklers. Although I would have been happy to hit the beach after that for a last minute dip in the ocean, due a ridiculously early flight the next morning, we opted to head back.
January 1st
After negotiating a ride in the back of a stranger's van, we spent the majority of our last morning singing S's new album (he wrote an entire album about our trip in Thailand) outside the hostel. I left the boys pretty early (past 2 AM) to get a little shut eye since we had to catch our taxi at 5:30 in the morning to get to the airport for our plane.
It seems as though someone was out to get us because I didn't wake up (miraculously no one's alarm went off) and we would have completely missed the taxi and our flight if it had not been for the hostel lady who pounded on our doors for a while until I eventually left dreamland behind and instead dashed off in all directions getting the boys together to depart. I will never forget S's face as he sprinted down the hallway in his underwear to make sure the boys were awake (I didn't have the heart to tell him I had already done much the same thing about 2 mins prior). To our great fortune, we made the plane with plenty of time to spare after heartily tipping the taxi driver (since we were over an hour late meeting him) and got into Bangkok uneventfully.
Once we arrived into Bangkok, we saw JB off for his morning flight then headed into the city to pass the day at D's place with her sister and mom. Although I had hoped to be able to visit the castle for the day, I was still unable to do so because it was closed on account of it being a weekend. Bummer! Instead, I did get to spend some time with D while we did a bit of last minute shopping and gluttony. I even got to ride a bike taxi for the second time (the first was when me, S and JB took one to D's place to Christmas Eve dinner)! Since everyone was pooped, once D and I got back to the house we just played a couple of board games with whoever wanted to play and passed the time munching on food provided by her mom and talking. It was a nice way to pass what would have otherwise been a likely poor final day in Bangkok.January 2nd
Because we had a 1AM flight we technically left D's house on the 1st but I wanted something to write here. I slept the entire plane ride back to Japan and woke up in time to watch the sun rise over the land of the rising sun. Nice way to begin the year and a nice way to end this incredibly long blog entry! Love!
 |
| My favorite picture from the trip <3 |
