Thailand

Just got to Thailand (Jan 2010) and the bus system is crazy, they pack way too many people in a bus, they stop for random reasons, ie picking up fruit and vegies to transport for freinds, they dont susually speak any english so there is no explanation what your stopping for and then they also stop at tour shops so they can try and get you to stay at a freinds hotel or a freinds taxi or a freinds boat ride. One guy had the music blaring from his D-lux system with equilizer that he made special adjustments for each individual song. I waited at a stop with a huge many groups of tourists on a kind of bus layover, they pick you up at your hotel early then drop you off to wait for an undertermined amount of time then you wait attentivally for your destination to be called then you get cramed into a van w/luggage, i was proping a piece of luggage up with my head on the way here. etc etc etc This place is great! Its REAL, its not all prepackaged, you gotta stay awake so you dont get hit by a motorbike going the wrong way when crossing the road or so you dont get knocked in the head from falling luggage.

If the sweet spicy smell of Thai food was any less amazing then it might not cut through the random sewage smells that wonder around reminding me of socks boiled in piss.

Nauseous winding bus rides after a (too) long night of drinking

Met up with some CSers in Krabi and went on a short trek to Tiger Temple. Its a huge limestone cave with statues and monks living areas. I climbed into one of the caves and found some monks exploring deep into the cave. I would have gone further but some bats started flying at me and the CSers where waiting for me so I left it at that. The little huts on stilts that the monks lived in had electricity ran up to washing machines and to their huts, I saw some on laptop computers! Times are a changin. Tons of monkeys everywhere at the entrance, one of the girls bought some fruit to feed them and as soon as she took it out they all rushed her. She threw out some of the fruit and hid the rest in her shirt. We got a couple of pics but its not easy cause they are quick little guys.
From there we went to Phuket (Patong Beach) to visit our friend Carlos who now lives in Thailand and owns a Mex food place and guest house. He owns a guesthouse and he showed us around a couple nights. There are Thai ladies all over looking for travelers to hit on in hopes of a sugar daddy. Carlos showed us some games they play to pass the time and just hang out. One was connect four, you know the game that stands up and you drop your pieces down the slots to get four in a row, Im pretty ding dang good and would have liked to try my talent against the experts but not this time. There was also this hammer and nail game (mear coincidence?) there are these hammers with a wedge end and a big slice of tree, you take turns hitting, one hit each, who ever nails it flush first, wins. The girl we played with was pretty damn good, she could finish it off in about two hits, while I missed a majority of time. Im sure it takes alot of practice to polish off a nail the quickest, actually Im not sure if thats good or bad. Patong is a crazy place. Known for the nightlife. Hadn't really gone out much till here. Main street with bar after bar after bar with lady boys everywhere. Some of them looked more lady then boy, which is kinda scarry. Most of the clubs stay open till like 6 in the mornin. Had a blast and met some really cool people that we wounded up hanging out with the next few days.

Ko Phi Phi was next, a really small island with lots of scuba diving, rock climbing, parties, and really great looking tourists with not a car in sight. Just a huge walking maze of shops, bars, restaurants, etc. Took a 1 day snorkling tour to surrounding islands which was really great. Even went to the beach they filmed "The Beach". But on that trip I saw some of the best snorkling!

There was some night time fire dancing shows with guys spinning sticks, jumping rope on fire, and some limboing (w/ the lite stick). They asked the audience to join in and some people I was with jumped in, I was tempted to join but I watched when the guy tourists tryed it, they would speed up and lift up the rope to make it more difficult for the guys. A couple of them landed on the lit rope and scrambled to get away from the fire. Not my thing without med insurance, but the participation bucket of mixed cheap alcohol was very tempting.

I moved to a dorm room for a few nights and it ended up being party central, I got woken twice in the same night by couples "quite wrestling". It was fun to party for a bit but there is hardly any culture there just parties and tourists. If you really like parties and beaches then this part of thailand is heaven. I think i got burned out with partying for the moment, which is too bad cause Ko Phi Phi is the place to do it. O well, cant have everything, so then I headed south back toward Kuala Lumpur island hopping.