Today has been quite relaxing. Last night, however, was insanity. I haven't mentioned it yet but Ko Phangnan is best known for its Full Moon Parties. According to some island natives the party actual started out as a ritual performed by monks who resided here nearly 600 years ago. Since then the ritual has evolved into a full fledged beach party! The party happens once a month on the night of the full moon and brings on average 10,000 partiers. Although there are a lot of drugs, among other vices, I can assure you Jeff and I are taking precaution and steering clear of any questionable situations.
Anyways, last night we found out that the beach we had been at that afternoon, Rin Nok beach, is actually the location of the Full Moon Party. We ended up just hanging out there meeting some "Euros" and dancing with the fire baton performers, (just like mom).
Like I said today has been pretty relaxing. As soon as we woke up we walked into the Haad Rin shopping area and booked our ferry and bus tickets to get to Phuket. Once we got that all figured out we dropped out gear back off at the hotel and returned to Rin Nok Beach. Besides lunch and dinner at the beach at the "Family Guy Bar," (a bar that plays the TV show Famly Guy episodes all day), we also played volleyball, read our books, hiked down the northside of the cove during the day.
Tonight we plan on going to the, not as popular, Black Moon Party which. The party is located at a different beach called Ban Tai Beach and is done on nights when the moon is not visble. Supposedly it isn't as chaotic as the Full Moon but it should still be exciting. Other than that we leave tomorrow around noonish to head over to Karon Beach in Phuket, (10 hour trip). See ya guys!
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Day Fourty-Six
Woo hoo, I'm in Ko Phangnan! After enduring 11.5 hours on a train from Bangkok, 2 hours in a crowded bus in Surat Thani, 3 hours on a rickety ferry across the Gulf of Thailand, and another half an hour in a hot taxi on the island we arrived to Ko Phangnan in the early afternoon. Although the trek took a lot of energy and patience it seems to have been completely worth our efforts.
The name of our hotel is the Drop In Hotel. I know it sounds a little "shady" but it's actually one of the nicest places I've stayed at all trip. Our hotel is located between the Baan Tai and Haad Rin beaches. It's own beach is actually called Rin Nok beach. Rin Nok beach is a white sand cove lined with beach stand bars and restaurants.
Jeff and I relaxed at Rhinnok beach for a couple of hours and got back to our hotel around six o'clock. Tonight we plan on going into Haad Rin where there are supposedly a lot of American and Euro expatriates our age. Anyways, we don't have any big plans for tomorrow but we may do a hike or two. Love you guys!
The name of our hotel is the Drop In Hotel. I know it sounds a little "shady" but it's actually one of the nicest places I've stayed at all trip. Our hotel is located between the Baan Tai and Haad Rin beaches. It's own beach is actually called Rin Nok beach. Rin Nok beach is a white sand cove lined with beach stand bars and restaurants.
Jeff and I relaxed at Rhinnok beach for a couple of hours and got back to our hotel around six o'clock. Tonight we plan on going into Haad Rin where there are supposedly a lot of American and Euro expatriates our age. Anyways, we don't have any big plans for tomorrow but we may do a hike or two. Love you guys!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Day Fourty-Five
Today has been quite interesting but not as interesting as I expect our train to be tonight. The first thing we did this afternoon was lunch on Khao San. We walked around and browsed through the shopping stalls. Jeff and I also stopped at a suit tailor shop. I got fitted for a suit jacket and Jeff got fitted for an entire suit.
After we got fitted we hired a taxi to take us around the city. We just looked out the window and soaked up Bangkok. Our train leaves tonight at 7PM and we should arrive in Surat Thani tomorrow morning. Peace!
After we got fitted we hired a taxi to take us around the city. We just looked out the window and soaked up Bangkok. Our train leaves tonight at 7PM and we should arrive in Surat Thani tomorrow morning. Peace!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Day Fourty-Four
Leaving China
Hey everyone! I'm leaving China in a matter of hours and then I'm going to be in Thailand. Unfortunately, I won't have internet for most of the trip in Thailand so I am formally making this my last blog for you guys until I get back to the U.S. I promise I'll bring it back up to date once I get back. Love you guys and I can't wait to come home.
Arriving in Thailand
So I said I won't have internet but I think I may have access every once and awhile so I will unofficially try to keep you guys posted. Last night my flight didn't get into Bangkok until 9:30 PM, about an hour after I was supposed to. I wandered aimlessly around the airport trying to figure my way to the city when I happened upon the tourist bureau. The tourist bureau set me on my way in a bus.
I got to my hotel approximately an hour later to find my partner in crime waiting with beers! Our hotel is situated on Khao San Rd. Khao San Rd. is an expats paradise! The promenade is lined with cheap souvenirs, hair braiding Thai hippies, bars, and even some of Thailand's coolest clubs. I was really missing white people so we people watched while drinking Tiger beers until two in the morning...it was great!
Hey everyone! I'm leaving China in a matter of hours and then I'm going to be in Thailand. Unfortunately, I won't have internet for most of the trip in Thailand so I am formally making this my last blog for you guys until I get back to the U.S. I promise I'll bring it back up to date once I get back. Love you guys and I can't wait to come home.
Arriving in Thailand
So I said I won't have internet but I think I may have access every once and awhile so I will unofficially try to keep you guys posted. Last night my flight didn't get into Bangkok until 9:30 PM, about an hour after I was supposed to. I wandered aimlessly around the airport trying to figure my way to the city when I happened upon the tourist bureau. The tourist bureau set me on my way in a bus.
I got to my hotel approximately an hour later to find my partner in crime waiting with beers! Our hotel is situated on Khao San Rd. Khao San Rd. is an expats paradise! The promenade is lined with cheap souvenirs, hair braiding Thai hippies, bars, and even some of Thailand's coolest clubs. I was really missing white people so we people watched while drinking Tiger beers until two in the morning...it was great!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Day Fourty-Three
Writing three blogs in a day is overwhelming. I'll give you guys a quick run down of my day today, my last full day in China. We slept in until noon. We got up and did some planning for Thailand. We went to lunch at Subway on Nanjing Lu. We came back and did some more planning and I did my blogging.
Tomorrow Jeff has to leave really early so we're probably not going to do much tonight. Anyways, glad to bring you guys back up to date as I bring my China chapter formally to a close. Love you guys and see you in Thailand.
Tomorrow Jeff has to leave really early so we're probably not going to do much tonight. Anyways, glad to bring you guys back up to date as I bring my China chapter formally to a close. Love you guys and see you in Thailand.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Day Fourty-Two
Yesterday was and experience to say the least. We woke up early, around 6:30am, and headed out to catch our train out of the city. Our destination, Suzhou, unfortunately, was completely booked until 10:30am. Since we had nothing else to do we booked the tickets for the late departure and adventured the Shanghai area north of the Shanghai's Suzhou river.
During our delay we meandered over to the Jade Buddha Temple. At the Jade Buddha Temple, also known as Yufo Si, we also had an awesome tea tasting experience. Upstairs on the perimeter of the temple we were given a great presentation of the different Chinese teas and herbal medicines. Our guide and waitress was well spoken in english and friendly as well. I ended up buying a small supply of medicinal green tea, (the proceded of the purchase were to go to the temple). On our way out of the temple we stopped at the feed the koi fish at the temple's pond. Supposedly, if a golden koi ate your food you'd get rich and if a larger koi ate your food your family would live long. I made sure a massive golden fish ate my fish pellets.
The train ride to Suzhou was only half an hour. Our first stop in the city was its Silk Museum. The Silk Museum exhibited ancient silk artifacts. While there we learned that silk was created nearly 6000 years ago. Although the museum wasn't that amusing we did get to see some silk worms at work and how silk products are made.
After lunch we visited a popular temple called Beisei Ta. The temple is best known for its nine story pagoda which we climbed to the top of. From the top of the pagoda we got a great view of Suzhou. Unfortunately the weather was pretty grimm and we couldn't see Suzhou in its magnificence.
Next stop was the Wangshi Yuan Garden. The Wangshi Yuan Garden was a mulititude of courtyards with rock gardens, ponds, plants, and trees. We relaxed near its central pond before walking back out onto the busy streets.
Before going back to the train station to come back to Shanghai I got a haircut, Jeff went to an english pub, we both had a snack at a nearby restaurant, and then we walked north through the city. Once we got back to Shanghai we relaxed and had some McDonald's. It was great.
During our delay we meandered over to the Jade Buddha Temple. At the Jade Buddha Temple, also known as Yufo Si, we also had an awesome tea tasting experience. Upstairs on the perimeter of the temple we were given a great presentation of the different Chinese teas and herbal medicines. Our guide and waitress was well spoken in english and friendly as well. I ended up buying a small supply of medicinal green tea, (the proceded of the purchase were to go to the temple). On our way out of the temple we stopped at the feed the koi fish at the temple's pond. Supposedly, if a golden koi ate your food you'd get rich and if a larger koi ate your food your family would live long. I made sure a massive golden fish ate my fish pellets.
The train ride to Suzhou was only half an hour. Our first stop in the city was its Silk Museum. The Silk Museum exhibited ancient silk artifacts. While there we learned that silk was created nearly 6000 years ago. Although the museum wasn't that amusing we did get to see some silk worms at work and how silk products are made.
After lunch we visited a popular temple called Beisei Ta. The temple is best known for its nine story pagoda which we climbed to the top of. From the top of the pagoda we got a great view of Suzhou. Unfortunately the weather was pretty grimm and we couldn't see Suzhou in its magnificence.
Next stop was the Wangshi Yuan Garden. The Wangshi Yuan Garden was a mulititude of courtyards with rock gardens, ponds, plants, and trees. We relaxed near its central pond before walking back out onto the busy streets.
Before going back to the train station to come back to Shanghai I got a haircut, Jeff went to an english pub, we both had a snack at a nearby restaurant, and then we walked north through the city. Once we got back to Shanghai we relaxed and had some McDonald's. It was great.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Day Fourty-One
Sorry for not blogging the last couple of days but I have been unable to reach a computer. The first day that I missed my blog was because I hadn't planned the day out far enough in advance to get to the business center before it closed. On that day we slept in and switched rooms at our hotel, the reason being that we decided late in the trip that we were going to stay in Shanghai for the entire 7 days we had left in China.
After we got resituated Jeff and I walked south to the Chenghuang Miao area, ( near the Yu Yuan Gardens and tea house). In Chenghuang Miao we had a small lunch and walked around the souvenir bazaar. When we finished in Chenhuang we headed over to the Pudong district to visit a very special museum.
The museum we visited was called the Chinese Sex Culture Museum. It exhibited the history of sexual differences dating as far back as 1000 B.C. We hung out at the museum for about an hour before coming back to the hotel to relax before dinner.
For dinner I took Jeff to a Hot Pot restaurant. I can't remember if I mentioned my hot pot experience in Chengdu but I'll give you guys a run down of how it works. During a hot pot meal the customers pick out the "flavor" of hot pot that they want. The flavors are what constitute the stew in which you cook your food. In our case we ordered a double flavor, a boiling pot that was split down the middle, one side was spicy the other not spicy. Once the hot pot gets back to boiling, as it sits on a stove in the middle of the table, the customer orders different raw meats and vegetables. There you have it, Hot Pot!
After dinner we came back home to get to sleep. The next day we had planned out was going to take a lot of energy and we knew it.
After we got resituated Jeff and I walked south to the Chenghuang Miao area, ( near the Yu Yuan Gardens and tea house). In Chenghuang Miao we had a small lunch and walked around the souvenir bazaar. When we finished in Chenhuang we headed over to the Pudong district to visit a very special museum.
The museum we visited was called the Chinese Sex Culture Museum. It exhibited the history of sexual differences dating as far back as 1000 B.C. We hung out at the museum for about an hour before coming back to the hotel to relax before dinner.
For dinner I took Jeff to a Hot Pot restaurant. I can't remember if I mentioned my hot pot experience in Chengdu but I'll give you guys a run down of how it works. During a hot pot meal the customers pick out the "flavor" of hot pot that they want. The flavors are what constitute the stew in which you cook your food. In our case we ordered a double flavor, a boiling pot that was split down the middle, one side was spicy the other not spicy. Once the hot pot gets back to boiling, as it sits on a stove in the middle of the table, the customer orders different raw meats and vegetables. There you have it, Hot Pot!
After dinner we came back home to get to sleep. The next day we had planned out was going to take a lot of energy and we knew it.
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