Misc Notes

Internet even more expensive here (3 baht/min!!) so this will be brief i hope. I'm about to go to a national park that might have no internet (oh the humanity!) but i'll be back in cheap internet + disposable time land soon after that. For now, here are some notes:

• I went rock climbing today. That is me possibly upside down climbing. It was pretty cool. I was the only one in the class to do the "long climb" up 100 feet. I have blisters on my toes and limited mobility on my arms now though.
• There clearly is not Thai version of the American with Disabilities Act. All sidewalks are discontinuous and I literally thought I broke my toe the other day from a massive stubbing. Why?
• On a related note, the bathroom door in my current hotel is approximately 5' 9" tall. Not a good thing for a 6' person that occasional using the facilities at night. You only make that mistake once though.
• When I checked into the hotel here, the attended killed what he said was a "dangerous" snake just outside my from door. This is the second place I've stayed at in a row that has had a snake at the front door. (I saw the other one when I was alone. It was big and green, but not sure if it was lethal or not). Now I take me flashlight with me when I'm coming home late...
• I'm starting to master the art of eating-alone-and-looking-like-you-don't-care. I'm almost fooling myself now. Especially strong test here in Railay as everyone else here seems to be on a honeymoon.
• Another reason to travel with a partner. I literally have a sunburn on my back that perfectly reflects/illustrates the spots on your back which you can not self-administer sunscreen. nice white arcs on the shoulders (like a windshield wider coverage pattern) over a pinkish lower-back. Ouch
• All that lonely complaining aside, I'm actually starting to get into the soliDude groove a little. Invited myself into a beach frisbee throwing game today. Had an ice crean cone with a (honeymooning?) Canadian couple last nice.
• Finally almost not sick.
• Ok, must stop the baht-clock. More later. Also, when I get back to a 1 baht/min internet sight, I will post gobs of new photos...

Seeya!

-erik

ps: What happened to all the blog view comments? Anyone still reading this??

Sweat

This picture should tell you much about Thailand. Two primary take-aways: (1) it is frickin' hot here. (2) restaurant health codes are, uh, different. This shot is actually from a restaurant I've had 2 very good and very cheap meals in. (I've decided to try to stop saying how much/little i'm paying for things. It's like a Prius owner telling you their millage; no one wants to hear that...). Last night I had the basil and chili chicken. When ask if i wanted "hot or medium" I thought I was making the wise choice in saying medium. It didn't occur to me til later to wonder why mild wasn't a given option. Needless to say, it was extreme. I was able to more of less finish the dish, but I was sweating out of pours that I didn't even know that I had. My lips were sweating. I think my tongue was sweating. (Tongue side note: my laundry soap spilled in my toiletries back the other day and got on lots of stuff. I didn't realized until too late, that one thing it got on was my toothbrush. In case you ever need to know, it appears that laundry soap will make your tongue completely numb for approximately 45 minutes....)

Anyway, I'm about to hop on a fairy for Railay on the mainland. Hopefully the internet is cheaper there than here on the islands. These blogging costs are killing me...Before I go, here is one more picture that i took at a restaurant last night. I'm not sure, but I think this might NOT have just been a joke...

Cough...Ack...

Pretty sick now. Just a cold, but now a somewhat nasty one. Felt pretty good yesterday and went scuba diving (which was pretty awesome) but seems as if it might have set me back a bit. Gonna take a little hike to a viewpoint today, but that's about it I think. Probably shouldn't even do that...

The water was pretty rough on the dive (at the surface anyway) thus the visibility was also compromised. "only" 15 meters or so. The water temp here is ridiculous: 84 F! Wow. you really can stay in the water all day. Probably won't be able to dive again here though because of this cold. Darn...

I'm probably here in Koh Phi Phi for 2 more nights, then on a fairy to Krabi/Railay: on the mainland, but another beach spot. A few nights there I might head to a national park for some off the beaten track stuff plus jungle, waterfalls, etc. Then make my way back to Phuket for another night or two before flying to Kuala Lumphor (Malaysia) for a few days then another flight to....Borneo! I think i'm going to opt for a Borneo adventure rather than Sumatra. Sounds a little more exciting and a little easier to get to. More to do, not as many pot-holed roads to get to it. Currently looking at around Aug 8th for the flight to Borneo (I haven't found a flight yet that is more than $100 including taxes!). This will give me almost a month in Borneo plus where ever else I might want to explore fore meeting Katie in Singapore in early Sept.

Ok, that's all I got for now. I've been slowly adding some picts to my picasa account when I find places with good computer connections, so keep looking there....

laters...

The water is warm at Phi Phi island

Sorry for cheesy title. Too easy. The water is very warm though... Arrived on Koh Phi Phi yesterday (this is the island group made famous by the movie "The Beach"....)

Pretty amazing here. I have caught a bit of a cold though, so that's sucks some. I stepped on a sea urchin yesterday, while i would strongly advise against. So I think I'm gonna move to a nicer hotel today (last night was borderline disgusting) and try to lay low. Raining pretty hard and steady today anyway.

Diving is suppose to be great around here and there have been frequent whale shark sightings lately. How cool would that be! But gonna try to get a little heathlier and then go for the scuba, perhaps tomorrow or the next day.

Got a chance to do a skype video call with Katie and Zipper this morning! Was great to see them both! See:

Anyway, gotta run. pretty tired... More soon I hope...

-erik

Today, I inhaled underwater...on purpose

Finished my scuba certification today. Was very fun and I definitely will be doing more scuba on the trip. I finally feel pretty comfortable underwater breathing and all.

Still a little freaked if I need to take my mask off underwater for some reason. (can't convince my brain that my lungs are not connected to my eyes for some reason...)

But the water was great (warm, clear) the instructor was good (was just me and his assistant for all dives). Fish & coral amazing. We saw moray eels, a sea snake, an octopus, scorpion fish, garden eels, leaf fish, and much more. Nothing "big" though. Still pretty fun. My 2 dives today were both down to 60 feet.

Not sure what to do tomorrow yet. Might leave Phuket for Ko Phi Phi. Might do a sea kayak thing (either as a day trip or a multi day). Or might just stay here and sleep some...

More when i figure it out. Also, will upload the dive photos soon....

-Erik

Yesterday I ate a bug. On Purpose...

Part of the motivation of this trip was to experience new things. Yesterday I certainly did that. I ate a fat little grub for my own personal "man vs. wild" experience. As bad as you might think eating a grub might be, I can now verify that it indeed is probably worse than that. Cross that off of your collective "things to experience" list. I experienced it for you all and it was dreadful. I thought it was safe (or safe-ish) because it was deep friend (and everything deep fried is good, right?). But is was still rather gooey on the inside. not good texture. Not good taste. And the only thing near by to wash it down with was a durian, also an acquired taste to say the least. Think its back to pad thai tonight...

Pictures

Here are some links to my pictures. I haven't commented on them because I wrist is now sore from 1.5 hrs on a Thai keyboard and I'm really hungry. Might comment later...Also, might edit out the crap photos in the future to reduce the bore factor...

http://picasaweb.google.co.th/erki666/SoliDudeJapan

http://picasaweb.google.co.th/erki666/SoliDudePhuket

Settling In...

Ok, so haven't quite gotten to the relaxed state of this friend I met on the beach last night, but I'm getting there. My hotel is great (it should be at $55/night, including breakfast!), and I'm learning my way around. Signed up for a 4 day scuba class yesterday and started today. Finished the "classroom" session today, hit the pool tomorrow, then 2 days of boat dives. I'm the only person in the class, which is a great student-teacher ratio, but sort-of lame as I was hoping this my be my first chance to actually meet some people. The instructor seems good though (Nick, a young-ish French guy) and there should be others on the boat dives. I bought a SIM card for my Thai phone number, but haven't had a chance to try it out yet to see if it works. Skype is working great though. Thanks for the voicemail Nathan!

I went into Patong (the "party" beach) last night and it confirmed that I had the right decision to not stay there. Holy crap, what a crazy and bazaar scene! It was like a major red-light district of Bangkok was ripped out of the city and plopped down on the beach. It went on for what seemed to be miles in all directions. I'm gonna go see if it's the same deal tonight (just kidding...).

Today it did rain most of the day. Not a problem when I was in the classroom and it also had the positive effect of convincing me to take a nap this afternoon. The rain shouldn't really be much of a problem for me for the next 3 days either as I will be in the water anyway.

Internet cafes are pretty cool here btw. This one has quality computers & monitors and sells beer. I haven't had any yet here today (not sure why, now that I thing about it...) but look for the tell tale signs of (even more) typos and embarrassing stories in future posts.

Ok, getting hungry. Think I'm gonna hunt out some Tom-Ka-Gai soup. Perfect thing for a rainy Thai night...

-erik

I'm never coming back...

Well, Ok, I'll probably come back but it will be a long, long time from now. I'm Thailand now and it is just as incredibly amazing as I remembered...ahhh......

The trip has gotten off to a quite a start. Travel was all smooth, but exhausting. The day and 1/2 in Tokyo was great. Noriko picked me up a 9am and dropped me off at 9pm. In between we saw some great stuff all over town (shires, temples, views of the city, Japanese gardens, went on a river boat ride, when to a festival, and more!) , ate wonderful food and I developed 3 blisters on my toes from all the walking. I'll go into more details and post some Tokyo picts (don't have my camera cable on me right now...) later. Was a great side trip though. Noriko was a great guide and really maximized my limited tourist-window.

Yesterday was a travel day (left Tokyo hotel at 5AM, arrived Phuket hotel 7pm). Today is a take-care-of-business day (laundry, call Katie, book Scuba class (I start 4-day class tomorrow), get 2 hour massage, try to figure out cell phone deal, let blog-readers know I made it though might never come back, etc...) My scuba class should fill a decent chunk of the next several days. Looking forward to it. The visibility is suppose to be "OK" (30-40 feet), probably fine for a beginner. Weather is pretty good; generally clear, then dramatic downpours. OK, well, I'm talking about the weather, so maybe I should wrap this up. Just wanted y'all to know I made it. more later when i settle in.

laters...

-erik

Miss Family Already...

4+ days to go...starting to panic a little. Still so much to do! Work stuff to work on still, trip prep to prep for still. Been so busy that I've barely had time to mentally prepare, but maybe that's OK. The shock of all the sudden being on the plane might a good introduction to all the travel shocks that I'm sure are in store for me. The one thing I am realizing though I'm gonna miss my family. I wanted to add this picture to is could see them whenever I want!

I might blog again if i wrap everything up and have time (not likely...) otherwise, look for my first "real" travel blog from Thailand in the about 8-10 days!

-erik