A trip to Koh Chang

So about ten days ago, I had a chance to get out of town. I'd been working my booty off, as many as 10 hours per day, and my morning class finally finished. In addition to that, my night class was canceled on both Friday and Monday. So, it was a long weekend, and I decided to go to Koh Chang (Elephant Island, ) the same place I went to see in the New Year for 2006 (see January 2006 postings on this blog.) The rainy season has arrived two months early this year (the climate is just as screwed up here as it is in the rest of the world - we had street flooding a few days ago!) , so I was a bit worried about the weather. However, despite a few downpours, it wasn't too bad, as none of them lasted more than a half an hour, other than a few in the late night or early morning. This did, on the other hand, have a bit of a negative effect on the last day, when I went on a fishing/snorkeling trip. The seas were quite heavy, and at one point, I nearly sacrificed my breakfast to Lord Poseidon - I even had my head hanging over the side of the boat! But I did get to do some good snorkeling, and I did catch a fish. The other days, I would run into the surf, get wet, come out, dry off in the sun and read Salman Rushdie, and when I was dry I just repeated the process. It was glorious. To the pics!

The moon over Koh Chang at about 5:30 am. I left BKK at 11 on Thursday night, and arrived in Trat city at 3:30 am. Hung around there for a while, took a pickup to the pier, and then the ferry to Elephant Island.

The sun rising, back over the mainland, toward Cambodia.

I may have the winner for next year's photo contest, pops! This was a guy fishing in the Gulf of Thailand as the sun was rising over the mainland. I took a lot of this guy. Pretty nice image. Lookout, Minnkota Photo Contest, 2008!

I arrived at my bungalow at 7:30 am. This was the view out my door. A massive storm was rolling in, and the air was cool. The beach was nearly deserted, the tide was low, and the surf was heavy for the Gulf of Thailand. At 7:35 am, I was in the water. At 7:55 am, I went back to my bungalow and showered. At 8 am, it started pouring, and I slept until 11. It felt absolutely glorious to have a morning like this after spending 6 weeks teaching 6 days a week. Ah, I'm gonna miss Thailand.

More views of the storm coming.

A man and his son, watching the storm roll in.

Orchid.

This is the pier from whence the fishing/snorkeling boat I was on left.

Another view.

Fog on the peaks of Koh Chang in the morning.

People snorkeling on a reef near a small island. The reefs were pretty cool, with lots of live coral, urchins, colorful fish, anemones, etc, but there were so many people snorkeling that everyone was bumping into everyone else, so it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been.

Another small island, shrouded in mist.

This is the fish I caught. I snagged him by the gill, so as I was reeling him in, he felt a lot bigger than he was. We used bits of squid as bait. This is ironic, as I had really wanted to go squid fishing, but it would have costed 2000 Baht (over $60.) Also, it could be the only time I've ever fished where the bait actually probably tastes better than the fish that was caught. This trip would have been a lot of fun had it not been for the seasickness, and had I not cut the soles of both of my feet and been sloshing around in the salty sea water. Ouch!

The guys on the ship were pulling in a net here, as you can see. There were loads of scallops, as well as some small fish, a few squid, and crab in the net. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat any of it! Bummer.

Ah, lovely.

Just before I left.

The view of the beach I was staying on, as seen from the top of the mountain. I didn't wanna leave.

Three times at Three Pagodas

So I know I haven't posted in some time, so I thought I'd post a few pictures I took a couple of weekends ago when Blochistan and I went to the fabled Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burmese border. I've been there twice before - see April 2006 postings for more on the Three Pagodas. I didn't have time to cross into Burma, but I did get some nice pictures. Here they are!

When one comes into the Three Pagodas area, this mountain is the first view of Burma that one has.

Some of the huts on the Thai side of the border.

The Border Peace Temple, with remnants of the WWII Death Railway in the foreground.

The Three Pagodas, with Burma in the background.

Two young Children at the Three Pagodas, hamming it up for the camera.

A peaceful, hazy morning on the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi.

The Red Badge of Courage

So the New Year did not get off to a terribly auspicious start for the Dude, with break-ups, bombings, cancelled trips, and what have you. On January 3, Bee came to get all of the things for her shop from our house. She told me she would come at 4 pm, and I had everything outside and waiting for her. She said that a guy with a pickup going to her home village would come by between 4 and 5, but that he had a worse record for puncuality than even United Airlines does, which is hard to believe. We waited and waited and waited and waited. She called him, and he'd say "one more hour!" Finally, at midnight, he came. I got to spend eight quality hours with the ex. Oh boy! But in the end, we seemed to make peace, and there was a nice feeling of closure to what had been a great relationship until that point. However, she since hasn't seemed to feel that closure, but I digress.

Anyhow, the day after this fiasco, as I still had over a week of midterm break left, one of my friends and co-workers, Colin Harrington, and I decided to get out of the city, which was something I desperately needed to do. We went north, to Chiang Mai, and then checked around a little to decide what to do. We decided on Pai, a little town nestled in the mountains of Mae Hong Son province, the northwesternmost in Thailand. And a great choice it was.

Pai has experienced a tourism explosion in recent years, due to its idyllic setting and pleasant climate (although it did get into the 50's at night - pretty chilly when you're used to 90's all the time!) Lots of people are beginning to retire there, and there are several artists who base themselves there. It's really a lovely place.

The thing to do when you go to Pai is to rent a motorcycle. So, that's what Colin and I did. It's not too expensive, and there are lots of things to see around the town - waterfalls, hot springs, and scenic overlooks. This was a great idea, and was great fun, until we had about an hour left on our rentals, and were headed back into the town on the main highway, Route 1095. I was in the lead, with Colin following behind me. All of these cars, trucks, and vans were whizzing by our little 125 cc motorcycles, so I was doing my best to keep to the left (as traffic here moves on the left.) Well, the road was not in such good shape, and there was a bit of a chunk out of the side of the road that my front tire caught. I started driving on the gravel, going at about 40 - 45 kph, and I tried to get back onto the highway. Well, the gravel had other ideas, and gave way underneath me. I was thrown from the bike, with some pretty nasty scrapes on my right forearm, shoulder, back, and both hands. The motorcycle lost a bit of plastic, but was okay. Colin went and got help, I put some hand sanitizer on my wounds (man, did that hurt!), and then the people from the company we rented the cycles from came and picked me up and took me to the hospital.

At the hospital, I was shuddering in pain as they cleaned up my wounds. The doctor, who I think was younger than me (they say that you don't feel old until you have a doctor who is younger than you, so now I feel old,) perscribed me some antibiotics, gave me some ibuprofin, and sent me on my way. A week later, the wounds are starting to heal nicely. This all could have been much, much worse. I picked a relatively flat place to fall - could've been on the edge of a road with a 1000 foot drop, after all! So I'm pretty grateful, actually, for my red badge of courage.

To the pictures!

A picture showing the HM The King of Thailand (second from the right) with the King, Elvis. What a great picture! This is on display in Chiang Mai.

Colin enjoying sheesha, or Egyptian tobacco, in Pai.

A street scene from Pai town. This is a popular area to retire, and lots of artists live here, from Japan and Western Countries at well.

A lovely sunset, just out of Pai.

Another lovely sunset near Pai.

A view from a scenic overlook we motorcycled to, only twenty minutes before the big wipeout.

Funny spelling, and my shadow.

Hot springs in a national park near Pai.

A mountain stream on a hike we took one of the afternoons while we were there. The sign said that there was a waterfall. By looking at the map, we guessed it wasn't too far, and we could even ride our motorcycles there. But it turned out to be a four hour hike. It was already 3:30 by this point, and we had hiked for about one hour, and since it gets dark at about six, we decided not to go on. In addition to that, on the one day I didn't wear flipflops, we go on this hike that required us to repeatedly cross this stream. Taking the shoes off, putting them on, then taking them off again, it got pretty old. But it was a nice hike, and a nice area.

A really cool looking lizzard at a national park we rode our motorcycles to.

Here is my red badge of courage, on my right forearm, taken only minutes after the fall. I also have scrapes on my right upper arm, shoulder, back, and the heels of both hands. Other than a couple of scratches, my legs were not affected. The wound you see here was the worst of them all.

Me at the Pai hospital after having my wounds cleaned up and wrapped. Man, did that hurt! But it could have been much worse.

The bungalow where we stayed was about a fifteen minute walk from the town. This was our view on the way to the town.

On the rickety little bus from Chiang Mai to Pai


Hail progress!