You Want Thai Massaaaaaaaage?

After the dangerous journey through the jungle, and weaving through Thai rush hour traffic, we met up with Tony, and Tim and decided we were aching for a massage. Now in Thailand, massage's are not hard to find, in fact the girls will grab you and do anything to get you inside.

The hard part in Thailand is finding a legit massage place, with no uhhhh funny business. After consulting with a hotel they told us the only place they could think of was called Let's Relax.

Not the most legit name, but we checked it out, and it seemed nice enough so we booked four thai massages, 1 hour for 500 baht. It was my first real massage, and it was as good as you can imagine. They bent me into shapes that are not natural, and really hurt, but felt so good later. It was funny because they kept making fun of us because we were so out of our element, every time they cracked one of our bones, they had a nice thai giggle.

After the massage we went to the Aussi bar, watched some AFL (like a combination of rugby and football) and called it a night. Tim and Tony caught their boat, so we said our goodbyes, but will hopefully see them in Australia soon!!

Yesterday was our first day at PADI. We went in at 8AM and after a long day of classroom and pool we were pretty tired. So we kept it pretty chill last night.

We went to the movies, which was so great. 140 baht for a premium reserved seat. Like a big lazy boy in the best part of the theater. Before the movie everyone stands to watch a movie of the King and hear the anthem. Being in Thailand really makes you love the King, I feel a big brother kind atmosphere.

Pictures coming when we leave Phuket, the internet is too slow on the island! Also there is no spell check at this terminal, forgive the typos!!

Club Lime

Big night in Phuket last night. Met up with our buddies, then got some excellent Pad Thai from a restaurant. It was the best I have had yet, and yes Pad Thai just tastes better in Thailand. We started the night slowly with some Long Islands at the Aussi Bar, then hit up Club Lime. It just happened to be foam party night, which is as much fun as it sounds. And when you add foam party with 100b shots, the night is defeinitly going to be good. Though there were far more guys, then girls at the club we managed to have an excellent time. The DJ was from Estonia, and "spun" some good tunes, and looked exactly like Lady GaGa. Got back to the bungalow around 4, and went to sleep.

Phuket Paradise

After our encounter with the vicious riptide Jed and I got ready to hit then town. We met up with our Aussie friends, Tim and Tony, and got some dinner at their hotel. It was a good meal, and we got some drinks at the bar where the singer asked us for requests. We didn't have any but it was nice to listen, even if all of her words weren't perfect.

We then hit the town, and started at the Austrailan bar where we sipped on long island ice teas, and met up with a bunch of other travellers. Good fun, good drinks, and good times were had by all. We have got pretty used to the culture in Thailand, and are really enjoying it here.

We decided to switch hotels this morning, and ended up in a Bungalow on Kata Beach. It is a HUGE upgrade and only 700b a night. I can only describe it as a place two people might spend their honeymoon. It is a bit seculded, and there is no tv/internet, but I still love it.

We booked our PADI course today, I am so excited to get certified. It is a four day course, two days of class/pool (kinda boring) and then 2 full days of diving at four different dive sights inculding the Phi Phi Islands, which is where they filmed The Beach. I think it is a really good idea to get our certs, that way we can SCUBA anytime the we get the oppurtunity!!

Spent the rest of the day relaxing, a much needed break. Believe it or not we are not getting as much sleep as we should. Tonight we are meeting up with out Aussi friends, and hitting the clubs.

Watch out Phuket.

Will post tons of pictures tomorrow, as this internet cafe does not have an SD slot for my memory card.

Phuket… tres love

We left Bangkok on Saturday morning then quickly and easily caught a plane to Phuket. The Bangkok airport was arguably the easiest airport experience I’ve ever had. Not a ton of security and 50 dollars to get from Bangkok to Phuket on a one hour flight. Once we arrived we used our Lonely planet guide and tried to find a guest house. Our taxi driver didn’t speak a word of English and we could find the guest house we wanted. Eventually we ended up in Karon beach at a descent guest house for 450 baht a night.

Then Joe and I hit the beach around 3pm. The beaches are beautiful. The water is a jade green instead of the light blue like in the Caribbean. The sand is so fine it makes a strange squish sound when you walk on it. After this we headed to Patong beach which is the main tourist area of Phuket. The Tuk-tuk ride was 300 baht WTF. No taxis here.

Once at Patong we walked on Bangla road and basically we were treated like fresh meet. People grab you saying, Cheap strong drink!, You wan’t massage?’ Ping pong show? and Tuk Tuk. It was kind a weird experience but not bad. Joe and I had a couple of drinks and headed home.

The next day (today)…my favorite so far. We rented motorbikes!! They are the best thing ever! They are 200 baht a day are a lot of fun to drive. We met some New Zealand guys who said they were headed to a giant marble Buddha on the highest point in Phuket. We went with them and after getting a little lost we got there. The drive was straight up a large mountain with forest all around. Once there the Buddha was huge and the view was indescribable. You could see all of Phuket and the perfect beaches all around it. We went inside the Buddha which was scary baucause there was no light and the stairs were steep as hell. Not good idea. No tourists do this which we didn’t know. We left the Buddha, got some drinks at this cool bungalow, and headed back to Patong. About a 20 minute drive.

For lunch we had some much needed subway. We met four really cool Australians who seemed to love our American accents. After some time we decided to all head to the beach. They rented a motorbike and the 2 girls road on ours. The beach was the same as yesterdays because the one we wanted to go to was closed. Once there we jumped right in the water in the non-swimming area and had a scare. We were all laughing and talking we ended legitimately getting sucked out. Joe realized this before me and the three others and quietly headed back. He made it in and I was swimming as hard as I could to get back in and help the girls. After being out there for about 5 minutes I told everyone to relax and conserve energy. When a wave came we swam and when there wasn’t we didn’t . Everyone was freaking out yelling to Joe. I knew the lifeguards would come because I saw them starting to run towards us on the beach. Eventually with the wave strategy we were able to touch and get back in. Yeah sorry Mom and Dad about that story.

We left the beach after a little while after drove everyone back to Patpong and now are about to head to a diving place to see if we can get our Padi certs.

I love Phuket and miss you all!!

Goodbye Bangkok

Well it is the last morning we have here in Bangkok, and I can't say I am sad to be heading out from this city. It has been an awesome five days, but Bangkok is probably not a place you want to spend more than 5 days in. Glad we got to see all the sights, and have a blast along the way.

We started the night back at our favorite mall, and I am pleased to report that we finally got our good dinner!! 150 baht for tom-yum soup, pad thai and a drink. And it was so delicious!

Then we headed to the Patpong night market. I have to say this is the sleaziest place I have ever been, but had a blast bargaining for all sorts of goods. The counterfeit designers merchandise looks much more real over here, and I got some t shirts, sunglasses, and a ton of Buddhas. Also some souvenirs for everyone back home.

Took a 100b tuk-tuk to Khao Sarn RD. We started the night with a "very stong" cocktail, and decided that wasn't enough, so we upgraded to the cocktail bucket. For 300Baht it made the night a lot more fun. We hung out with some teachers from Belgium and South Africa. The girl from South Africa hated Americans, but I made her like me, or at least she said she did when I asked her. Later we were hanging out with some Brits, and Jed got into talking about politics, while I schmoozed with the rest.

Leaving for Phuket (1600 baht airfare) in an hour of so. Don't know what the internet situation will be but will try to blog often.

Chinatown, Sarongs, and Muai Thai

Long day today!!! We left the hotel around 10, and decided go get some food. One thing we have learned about Bangkok is that although there is food everywhere, there are no restaurants, except for fast food. And unfortunately ordering food from the street is not easy, and you never know what you are getting/how clean it is, we have been eating fast food (with the exception of my 1500 baht fish).

We settled on DQ Grill and Chill, and after some nourishment we were ready to explore. We explored a seven story mall, which is as boring as it sounds. Then we found our way to Chinatown, which was a bit hyped. What it basically ended up being was narrow sidewalks, and 100 copies of the same store. And as much as I love dragons, I did not feel like carrying a statute of one around. So we left Chinatown empty handed, and headed to what we thought was the Kings Palace.

Of course when we got there and saw that gate was open, and they were waving us in we knew we were mistaken. The Palace we went to ended up being a Museum, but they wouldn't let us in because we had shorts. But they said if we purchased a Sarong, we could come in. They were only 40b so of course we went for it. They even tied them nice, and we looked very pretty. The Museum was really cool, no photographs were allowed but we took a nice audio tour.

After we left that, we walked the grounds, and some how stumbled upon the Zoo. Admission was only 100b so we went in, and it was the best decision. Zoos in underdeveloped countries are more fun, because they have less rules, and more elephants to feed. We could literally touch 50 percent of the animals, and it was nearly empty. At the end we bought a bushel of bananas and fed the elephants, which was awesome and disgusting at the same time. When you see that 5 foot trunk coming from your hand, dripping with mucus...well it's a bit unsettling.

After the zoo, we of course had to go see the Thai national sport, Muai Thai! We bought 1000b seats (the foreigner price). The seats were alright, and we met a bunch of other backpackers so we had a lot of fun. Muai Thai boxing is very boring though, and we didn't bet and the contenders weigh only 100 lbs. So knockouts are slim. But it was a great experience, and we got to heckle the red corner (the favorite to win).

Back at the hotel now, so tired, wondering what we should do tomorrow. We leave for Phuket on Saturday...I want to get my PADI certificate. We shall see.

Out and About

So it was our first night out in Bangkok last night and it was quite the experience. We headed to Khao Sarn Road which is basically a hodgepodge of backpackers, locals selling random stuff, and sleazy Tuk Tuk drivers trying to get you to a "ping pong show". But it was amazing! We ended up at this bar and had some cheap beer with a couple of Israeli girls and a couple of guys from Jersey. Yes, we came all the way to Bangkok to meet more people from New Jersey.

After having a couple drinks Joe and I ended up at a ska club called Brick Bar. Here we were basically a novelty because we were literally the only white people out of the 500 people in the packed club. I realized that my dancing skills are somewhat comparable to the Thai locals. Instead of being the goofy guy with two left feet I could just run in place and look like I knew what I was doing. Yesss! After many high fives and cheers from random Thais we were feeling pretty good and we decided to end the night on a high note and get pizza and call it a night.

Bangkok Dangerous

Finally our first day in Thailand! We woke up around 8:30, and were out of our hotel by 9. First we tried to find somewhere to eat, but we learned quickly that even though all signs are in English, the Thai people don't really speak it. So we ended at McDonalds...which wasn't ideal but delicious none the less.

We took the sky train to Siam Sq, which was a huge mall. Like the fanciest I have ever seen. Even better than the Short Hills Mall in NJ. But we didn't stay long, and hired a Tuk-Tuk to take us to the grand palace. We also learned today tuk-tuk drivers are all scammers, as they do not take you where you want to go right away.

The grand palace was so cool. Had a blast exploring for like 2 hours, and got to see the famous Jade Buddha. Then we went to a thai restaurant, and I got the fish which I thought was 100 baht, but ended up being 100 baht per 100 grams. So it was a 1500 baht dinner!! Learned my lesson...

sitting in the hotel now, going to hit the town tonight.

500 Baht

We made it! The flight from Tokyo was the best flight of all time. The middle seat was empty which allowed me to stretch out. They also served sushi, ice cream, and free alcoholic drinks. And the Japanese flight attendants are just so nice, they are like geisha's who just want to make you happy.

We got to Thailand at like midnight, and went through immigration and picked up our packs with no problem. Our taxi was 500 baht...or like 14 dollars, which is definitely the tourist price, but considering it cost us 2100 Baht to get from Jed's, to JFK, I still think it's a steal.

Staying at the Imm Fusion hotel. It's is decorated in the style of traditional Indian. Jed asked me why we traveled to Thailand to stay in an Indian style hotel. 30 dollars a night for 4 stars! Going to sleep now, pictures are coming tomorrow.