Bangkok and Ko Samui

I awoke to an incessant quacking and immediately wondered how heck a duck managed to get into my room. Rapidly deeming the offender's origin irrelevant I rolled out of bed intent to remove it from my room. Sadly the culprit wass not some horribly wayward waterfowl but rather my iPhone alarm. This was a far more unnerving realization I must add, as it can not be resolved by simply placing the transgressor in the elevator, but rather meant the morning d arrived and I must depart for the airport. As far as problems go I must admit having to get up at 4:45 to head to Bangkok is a rather good one.

Bangkok is a mix of new and old. It is not a with a towering sky line but rather is one defined by urban sprawl and winding streets. Old Bangkok, where I spent most of my time is absolutley stunning. The water front there is absolutley stunning, flanked on both sides by numerous temples and the old palace, a walk along the Chao Phrya river is a great way to see the old city. On my way into the old city I came across the lottery market in Bangkok, stall after stall all selling lottery tickets of varying max prize amounts. In Thailand the lottery tickets are sold by independent vendors with the numbers already selected on them. It is certainly a to behold, row after row of stalls filled with people haggling trying to get the best price on what they hope is the lucky ticket. night the entire city changes, and all the backpackers descend upon Koh San road to relax and share stories, after a day of exploring the city.


Evening of day two and it felt like I had just gotten into Bangkok but it was time to embark on the next leg of my trip to Ko Samui in the south of Thailand. The 13 hour train ride down to Surat Thani was an interesting experience, as traveling by train is a great way to see the scenery while still having the comfort of a bed to sleep on. Overall it made for a great trip and considering that it only cost 609 Thai Bhat (~$20) I can't complain. From there I had to take a bus to the port and a boat over to Ko Samui.




Ko Samui abwassolutley beautiful, great beaches, amazing curry overall couldn't ask for anything better. One of the most fun things I did while in Ko Samui was rent motor scooters with some friends and spend the day driving around the island. The island is about 100km around the outside and there were plenty of cool things to pull off to the side and see. Some of the views around there are absolutley breathtaking. The freedom to explore on the scooters was awesome and I have a feeling I will be renting them again in the future.

The post on Siam Reap will be coming soon.






Ko Samui Parking Lot

Boracay

After a day and a half in Manila it was time to head off to Boracay, and getting there is an adventure in itself. After the half hour flight from Manila into Kalibo we boarded a van for an hour and a half ride over to Caticlan, from there it was a 20 minute boat ride to Boracay. Once in Boracay the only way to get to just about anywhere is walk or take a motorized tricycle called a tuk-tuk, and after a brief ride on the tuk-tuk we arrived at the hotel. Total transportation costs after the plane 290PHP ($6.59)! I love developing world prices.


The next morning we slept late, got some breakfast, and went out to explore. The white beach on Boracay is absolutely beautiful and is the heart of most tourist activity on the island, so getting places almost never required leaving the beach. After a bit of exploring we found a nice spot to lay out and read. Later on in the day I ran into a couple of people I had met back in Manila, Dave and Dani, who were very cool people.

From Boracay

From Boracay

From Boracay

Boracay was absolutley fantastic, great scuba diving, good people, and beautiful views. Overall it was a fantastic trip, and I think this whole travel thing is getting rather addictive as I can't wait to go and do it again.

Chinese New Year (Manila)

Come Chinese New Year those who celebrate pack up and make the journey home to be with their families. Young and old, rich an poor all come home to be with their families no excuses. The mass migration takes over a week and a half in each direction, or so I have been told. Its got all of family and togetherness of Christmas just without the whole Jesus thing. Come the actual week of Chinese New Year and the country shuts down. At the start of the semester I was quickly advised if you don't have be in China for the New Year then don't hang around for.

For those of us who do not celebrate Chinese New Year, read as exchange students, this becomes travel week. After Tuesday classes I garbed my stuff threw it in my newly purchased hiking backpack and set off for the airport and Manila to spend a day and a half before heading to meet about a dozen friends on the resort island of Boracay.

Manila in many ways seems out of place within its self. Unlike many cities which have clear and defining elements to them Manila seems to have been cobbled together out of a spare parts bin, a Spanish Cathedral here, an American building there, some Rio style slums over there, and Asian minimalist commercial architecture to fill in the rest. The people here are extremely friendly here and they must not get many white tourists as many people were amazed to see white people there. After a little while though the dirt and poverty start to get to you and you are ready to move on.

Some of the slums in Manila



Apparently In Manila the sidewalk is an acceptable place to graze your rooster.




To see more of my photos from the trip check out this link.





To be continued in the Boracay entry...










After a day and a half in Manila it was time to move on to Boracay.

What happens in Macau stays in Macau

Macau is where Asia comes to gamble, party, and live larege. It is essentially the Asian Las Vegas. So after two weeks in Hong Kong a group of us decided that it was time to go and see Macau. Getting there was relatively easy with ferries leaving Hong Kong every half hour for most of the day. Once we got into Macau at arround 12:30, after about an hour ferry ride we explored the old Portuguese city and had some great local food. I had the pig's neck, which tasted like good sweet BBQ, and one of my friends had the Ox tail soup. After this we continued our exploration and seeing the mix of architectural style, between east and west. Then it was time to go and check out the casinos. There are many of the same big names that you see out in Vegas: Winn, Sands, Venetian, MGM, and there are also some others. Three of my friends pooled money and put in HK$200 each on roulette, and ended up walking away up 300%. The night turned out to be rather epic as we took the 3am ferry home. It was an absolutely amazing way to spend a day.

Two weeks

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time can fly by, I am already two weeks into the program and in many ways it feels like I just got here, yet in other ways it feels like it has been far more than two weeks. When I came here I expected that the students would be super intense and studying all the time, and yet that isn't always the case. When I got here the local students cautioned all of the foreigners about how we would be cometing for grades against students who do nothing but study all the time. While students here do strive for exceptional grades they too often choose to stay in bed rather than go to class (although the weekday hangover does appear to be uniquely western affliction), or browse facebook rather than listen to the lecture. The dorm rule banning alcohol obviously must not be enforced as there are three cases of beer in the common room of my floor, and I saw someone walk by the security desk drinking out of a bottle of red wine. Slowly I am coming realize that college students will be college students no matter where they are in the world.

Overall I am having a great time here. Going out and exploring the night life is still nearly a nightly event, which has made this whole place so much fun. The people who I have met here are awesome people are just so much fun to be around. The next couple of weeks like they should be an experience I will remember forever. This weekend I am going to Macau and then next Friday I should be headed out to Bangkok for the weekend.

The other side of Hong Kong

When I got off the ferry at Lamma Island, it was hard to believe I was still in Hong Kong. Here everything is different. The ubiquitous sky scrapers and city buses which dominate the Hong Kong city scape are nowhere to be found and beautiful beaches and superb views exist in their stead. Here we went to a sea food resturant and had an amazing meal consisting of 10 courses of extremely fresh sea food for under US$20 per person. The hikes around the island was superb. I will certainly have a lot more exploring to do in the hear future.

Arrival and first full day

Before I left for Hong Kong, I though I had done most of the hard part, getting all my stuff together responding to all of their emails but this was not the case. Once I got here there was a mountain of paper work to be done numerous runs between offices to get seemingly simple tasks accomplished. Upon arrival I also learned the major disadvantage to packing light... which is that you have to go out and buy the stuff when you get here. My dorm has a beautiful view, and the bathroom even overlooks the water which is incredibly nice. the bus system is going to take some getting used to but shouldn't be all that hard.