Ah...the islands. Koh Tao is beautiful. It is warm, a little rainy right now, but the sun is out a lot too. The mosquitos are kind of bad, but it is still very, very nice.
Everyone here is really nice and we met up with a couchsurfer named Wilfried from France. He is a dive instructor at one of the resorts on the island. We stayed with him a couple of nights (at his resort which was really nice), but then I found out that I couldn't SCUBA dive because of my lungs. If I can find a dive physician (whatever that is) and he clears me, then I am good to go. Too bad I don't know any. Oh well. Lily and I will find something else to do with our time.
We ate some great Pad Z You at a place called Fishy's. The guy that works there (and I am assuming owns the place) works 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not quite the island life I would expect there. He was very friendly and let us watch movies when we were there. They had a good cheap breakfast there too!
We later moved more toward the "cities" of the island and had a really nice, cheap place (about 7 dollars a night). The lady there was really nice too and we stayed for a few days. We ate some good food, walked around a bit and hiked some too. It was a good time.
Next, we are on to Koh Phangan, the "party island".
As always, check facebook and Lily's blog for pictures.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Bangkok is loud, big and a lot of fun
The trip to Bangkok was a good one. The plane ride was about 7 hours long or so. Uneventful, except they showed Swing Vote on the plane. I stopped watching after about 10 minutes of Kevin Costner. :)
We got in late at night and got a taxi to Khoasan Road. Where all of the backpacking tourist like Lily and I stay. It was fairly cheap, but we had to get a double room the first night because it was so crowded. The road was packed at 1 am. It's like the happening place. It was pretty cool.
The next day we got up and started to explore. We took a Tuk Tuk ride to the Travel Authority of Thailand and booked tickets to Koh Tao which is where I am now. We got them for a few days later so we could explore Bangkok. Tuk Tuk rides are super fun. It is basically a 3-wheeled motor bike with a big place to sit in. The driving here is crazy, but fun. The tuk tuk drivers will drive in the opposite direction lanes whenever they want. I didn't see a single accident though.
There are a lot of things to do in Bangkok. There are Buddhist temples, shrines to Kings, and all sorts of other neat things. One of the royal family died a few days before we got there, so there was a brand new temple set up in her honor that we checked out.
We checked out the floating market and that was pretty cool. Ate some pineapple that I bought from another boat which was fresh and delicious.
I got drunk on a single beer somehow. It was crazy! It is only 6.6% alcohol and 24 oz, but I haven't drank anything since I had left, so my tolerance must have been down. Lily thought it was funny.
We left Bangkok right before the protests got bad. We heard they were getting worse, so we decided to get out of there. They did stop me from going to the zoo though. Grrr...
The train ride was pretty fun. I have never been on an overnight train before, but the beds were pretty comfy and the ride was decently smooth. I was reminded of Darjeeling constantly.
The boat ride was not fun. It was crazy wavy and everyone on the boat got sick. I stayed in the bathroom for over an hour enjoying the fine porcelin that Thailand has.
I will update more about Koh Tao when I get a chance, but for now, enjoy the pictures that I will try to get up here.
We got in late at night and got a taxi to Khoasan Road. Where all of the backpacking tourist like Lily and I stay. It was fairly cheap, but we had to get a double room the first night because it was so crowded. The road was packed at 1 am. It's like the happening place. It was pretty cool.
The next day we got up and started to explore. We took a Tuk Tuk ride to the Travel Authority of Thailand and booked tickets to Koh Tao which is where I am now. We got them for a few days later so we could explore Bangkok. Tuk Tuk rides are super fun. It is basically a 3-wheeled motor bike with a big place to sit in. The driving here is crazy, but fun. The tuk tuk drivers will drive in the opposite direction lanes whenever they want. I didn't see a single accident though.
There are a lot of things to do in Bangkok. There are Buddhist temples, shrines to Kings, and all sorts of other neat things. One of the royal family died a few days before we got there, so there was a brand new temple set up in her honor that we checked out.
We checked out the floating market and that was pretty cool. Ate some pineapple that I bought from another boat which was fresh and delicious.
I got drunk on a single beer somehow. It was crazy! It is only 6.6% alcohol and 24 oz, but I haven't drank anything since I had left, so my tolerance must have been down. Lily thought it was funny.
We left Bangkok right before the protests got bad. We heard they were getting worse, so we decided to get out of there. They did stop me from going to the zoo though. Grrr...
The train ride was pretty fun. I have never been on an overnight train before, but the beds were pretty comfy and the ride was decently smooth. I was reminded of Darjeeling constantly.
The boat ride was not fun. It was crazy wavy and everyone on the boat got sick. I stayed in the bathroom for over an hour enjoying the fine porcelin that Thailand has.
I will update more about Koh Tao when I get a chance, but for now, enjoy the pictures that I will try to get up here.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
It begins
Hey everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a while. It has been a bit hectic here in Japan. We got in at about 5 or so Tokyo time, but we were dead tired since neither of us really slept on the plane. It was warmer there than in Wisconsin, but not by much. We got to the hotel, but not after a slightly long bus ride that was not great for my car sickness. I didn't enjoy it. The hotel was really nice for about 90$. We had two kimonos and slippers set out for us. We took a picture, but couldn't get it on to a computer, so we will have to put that up some other time.
Also had some problems with the credit card right when we got there, but once you find the right ATM, it works ok.
We stayed with a couchsurfer named Yuji. He was hosting around 11 people with us there. It was pretty crowded, but the other surfers where nice (a bunch of french and german people). We spent more time riding the subway in Tokyo than anything else. The city is ridiculously huge. I did enjoy that part of it. However, the city was also pretty nice. It was super clean and a lot of people were very helpful.
Lily and I got what I really went to Tokyo for. RAMEN!!! It was delicious. The bowl was the size of my head, but I ate it all. Lily couldn't finish hers, but I can hardly blame her for that. :)
After that...Thailand.
Also had some problems with the credit card right when we got there, but once you find the right ATM, it works ok.
We stayed with a couchsurfer named Yuji. He was hosting around 11 people with us there. It was pretty crowded, but the other surfers where nice (a bunch of french and german people). We spent more time riding the subway in Tokyo than anything else. The city is ridiculously huge. I did enjoy that part of it. However, the city was also pretty nice. It was super clean and a lot of people were very helpful.
Lily and I got what I really went to Tokyo for. RAMEN!!! It was delicious. The bowl was the size of my head, but I ate it all. Lily couldn't finish hers, but I can hardly blame her for that. :)
After that...Thailand.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
To a warmer climate
Tonight is my last night in the good ole town of Madison. Hitting up Bluephies with some friends for a good meal and some drinks.
Packing has been hectic, but still fun. I enjoy being constantly busy. That might be hard when I go the beach in Thailand for days at a time, but I think I will enjoy that too. Packed everything I have left into my car (with room to spare) except for my grill, my bike and my bed (three very important things!, food, fun and relaxation). I kept more dishes and pans than anything else which makes me think that food is pretty important to me. :)
Said goodbye to most of the family last weekend. Only a few of them cried...I won't mention names, but you can probably guess who they were. Also played a sweet game called Mexican Train Dominoes or something similar. It was a lot of fun. Check it out sometime. My family is always playing cards or dominoes or some other fun game. That's one of the reasons I love them so much!
I will update again when I get to Tokyo. Staying there for a couple days, but don't know how much internet connection I will have.
For all of you that are worried, I will be safe. For those of you with well wishes, Thanks! and I will let you know how amazing Thailand will be.
Packing has been hectic, but still fun. I enjoy being constantly busy. That might be hard when I go the beach in Thailand for days at a time, but I think I will enjoy that too. Packed everything I have left into my car (with room to spare) except for my grill, my bike and my bed (three very important things!, food, fun and relaxation). I kept more dishes and pans than anything else which makes me think that food is pretty important to me. :)
Said goodbye to most of the family last weekend. Only a few of them cried...I won't mention names, but you can probably guess who they were. Also played a sweet game called Mexican Train Dominoes or something similar. It was a lot of fun. Check it out sometime. My family is always playing cards or dominoes or some other fun game. That's one of the reasons I love them so much!
I will update again when I get to Tokyo. Staying there for a couple days, but don't know how much internet connection I will have.
For all of you that are worried, I will be safe. For those of you with well wishes, Thanks! and I will let you know how amazing Thailand will be.
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