i have thai'd and gone to heaven

so lets start with today, and then i will backtrack to when we first arrived here in thailand..

we woke up with the birds chirping at 6:40am to get on a boat out to phi phi island (which was in fact leveled by the tsunami just over a year ago) only to find out that they didnt have room for us on the trip.

bummer, right?

HAH! we picked our shit up and rented motor bikes. it was sweet. we were rocking and rolling all over this island of phuket checking out all the different beaches (kata beach pictured at left which was our first beach of the day and then we made it our last for sunset), even managed to make it through some villages which was a real eye opener. on a sort of a downer side of it, we did manage to see a lot of the areas that were nailed by the tsunami and that was pretty sobering stuff. from the evacuation routes that are still posted, to the leveled villages, all the way to the construction that is actively going on-- the tsunami's effects are still felt.

BUT we are back to being badasses on motor bikes.

by day we were touring the beaches, but by night managed to get in good with with a local biker gang and were kicking it straight gangster through the main drags--poppin' wheelies and throwing up gang signs. you know the drill. boys in 'da hood shit.

just kidding mom, no wheelies or gangs-- we are safe. love you!

so that was today, now i will backtrack allllll the way back to our arrival in bangkok just under a week ago.

the plane ride over was smooth. and by smooth i mean drunken. yeah, i thought it would be a great idea to revel in the beauty that would be my first taste of thai beer (and whisky, and wine).. and well, not a bad decision i have to say. about 5 or 6 beers later, some whisky and after dinner wine i felt like a million bucks. then i slept. easy peasy.

we arrived and i felt fresh as a daisy-- even though it was 1am local bangkok time and pushing 5 am sydney time.

ok, so we checked in to a guesthouse and that was cool. we immediately flocked to the backpacker haven that is kho sahn road. it is just a big street in bangkok with everything from illegitimate thai massages to bars open all night.. fake cd's and all the fake handbags and gucci that any woman could handle (for some reference here.. you may as well call canal street in NYC childs play-- kho sahn road is serious shit folks), and well... lots and lots of pad thai carts and backpackers. fair enough?

its a fun place, i promise.

we toured bangkok for all that it was worth-- we even managed to get toted around the city in a "tuk-tuk. a cart of sorts with a carriage in the back for people to ride in. haha, and with that description-- driver, toted-- you would think we were living like kings. and we certainly thought we were, but all for a measly 20 baht each (thai currency) which translates to roughly 50 cents.

its cheap here folks, yes indeed.

the tuk-tuk driver took us to every temple in the city-- we saw standing buddha, sitting buddha, golden buddha... hell, get this-- RECLINING buddha. thats so "urban hipster" of them isnt it? lots of temples!

we even managed our first taste of thai food whilst in the country. i loved it, cant get enough even to this day. and yes mom, we even got the vegetarian crap so that we can avoid bird flu at all costs..

however, now is a perfect time to say that all that crap about bird flu is complete bullshit. its so silly. its such a governmental hype. i feel like old GWB didnt pick up the bill on the whole hurricane disasters down south, didnt quite cut it with the relief effort and we werent prepared as country to deal with such crisis. so now, in the face of another POTENTIAL disaster (what... p90.. MAYBE?!) why not scare the hell out of everyone in the world so that IF shit hits the fan--- "well, i told you so!" ahh, bologna and cheese i say! STUPID.

alright, enough of that.

so the food is good, and HOT! spicy as hell, and i couldnt be happier about that.. although, softer toilet paper would make things a bit more comfortable.

the thai people are an incredible lot of friendly peeps. i cant believe how many times people-- in a pure state of altruistic behavior-- took a lot of time to help us out. it wasnt odd to have someone talk with us on a street corner for 20 mins asking about the USA, our families and telling us what to do in thailand-- just lovely. so that is incredibly nice as compared to a lot of places that want to take a big dump on any american they lay eyes on.

bangkok as a whole is a busy city-- it puts any metropolitan city or innercity commute i have ever done to shame with regard to traffic. taking a 7 km cab ride during rush hour could EASILY take nearly 2 hours. ridiculous. the city is smothered in a thick layer of smog and pollution which certainly tarnishes your thought of it.. i mean to the point where you pick your nose before going to bed and when you take your finger out all your buggers are black and grimey.

a very gross way to put it-- i know. but now you really get the point.

now, having said the above.. bangkok seems like crap. but truly, the bona fide sweetness of the people that inhabit the place make up for any issue with inflated amounts of car exhaust in the atmosphere.

the style is a redeeming quality of the city in certain parts, namely siam square. it is what i would like to think the modern portion of the city (its huge geographically speaking by the way-- the entire city that is.. you could NEVER walk it all.) with avant-garde shopping malls that give harrod's in london and macy's in NYC all a run for their money. im talking malls that i even liked-- really sweet stuff. siam had a unique contemporary asian style-- something similar to what i saw in tokyo years ago. the asian "pop" culture (music, clothing, etc) mixed with business professional style that would please those aged 30 and up. really an interesting area.

but on to phuket!

the ride over on the bus was supposed to be 12 hours-- it took just under 24 in total after it was all said and done. i managed to make friends with a swede who slipped me some sleeping pills-- that made it slightly easier. but then again, it was pretty shitty when they unloaded us from the bus at 6 am to tell us a new bus would be picking us up in 2 more hours to continue on to phuket. my eyes still definitely wanted to be shut at that point. we sat and waited, eventually the bus came and we were on our way. 9 hours later (and 2 more buses) we made it fricking phuket.

we immediately went to the beach.. funny we all walked off feeling "small stings" all over our body whilst swimming and afterwards. turns out they were minor jellyfish stings-- no wonder not a single person was swimming then.. hah i believe our words were something like:

"ahh! this water is so refreshing.. it makes just no sense that people dont swim in the peaceful waters while watching the sunset at 7pm!"

well, i guess the jellyfish are the reason. but fear not mom, i am ok now.. no marks or abrasions. remember.. i said they were "minor. "

we are staying in sort of a seedy beach town called patong beach wich is just outside phuket town. it is certainly not a favorite of any of ours. there are tons of what we like to call "package tourists" flocking about and it seems every man here has a goal to shack up with one of the billion thai prostitutes inhabiting the island. and for some, thats cool... but it just gets overwhelming at a certain point.

needless to say, other parts of the island.. namely day trips to OTHER islands and motorbiking across to OTHER beaches make phuket pretty sweet.

the plan is to stay here a few more days and then on to koh samui where we are told we have a reservation at a "quiet little place."

i can only hope.

(i am having trouble uploading pics.. so more later when i have some more time)