The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: The first place we landed in Thailand was a beautiful resort island of Koh Samui. We got an amazing deal at the airport, paying only about $35.00 for a comfortable, clean, air-conditioned and fresh looking room at a nice resort. We, having no idea how cheap things really are in Thailand, thought this was the biggest steal! We still do, although we now know that it's all pretty cheap. Our hut had everything we could ask for, plus hot water. Here it is:

Good Thing Number 2 was our amazing scuba diving experience. I have to admit, both of us were nervous. We had taken a course in Belize for one day and enjoyed it enough, but were apprehensive about going much deeper into the ocean. Jack has had problems with his ears popping properly, and I, well, I get nervous snorkeling sometimes! I mean, there is always the possibility of a shark encounter, or jelly fish sting... the list goes on. After our first day of diving, taking those precious breaths underwater and realizing you can get neutrally buoyant, you could say that we were both hooked. Underwater views were spectacular, and nothing quite beats the feeling of swimming with the fish, coral, and all the miraculous sea life. Our visibility in Koh Tao, where we took our Padi course, was about 15 meters! You can't get much better than that. We did look ridiculous in our wetsuits though.

Good Thing Number 3 was our two encounters with Buddhist Monks in Bangkok. We visited a Wat on the first day, and just so happened to get there right as the Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej, arrived. Because of his visit there were members of the media and a few Monks. Jack and I, as two of only a handful of tourists, got to speaking with a Monk while we waited. He kindly offered us two bracelets made by the Monks. He struggled to get it over Jack's wrist and let Jack put mine on, as Monks are not allowed to touch woman. It was very special.

Our second encounter was at a Wat in Chiang Mai, where we sat at a "Monk Chat" to talk with two young monks. Their stories were interesting and enlightening for me; Jack unsurprisingly knew a great deal about Buddhism, and seemed to know much more than they were prepared to answer questions to, at least in English. Both, however, did not seem convinced that being a Monk was the life they were going to chose to lead, at least not in this life time, and talked of one day having a family. They said that studying as a monk was often the only way for a young boy to get a good education, and a great honor for a family.

Thai food ended up being scrumptious. Despite any hesitations I had on spiciness, I am getting much better on handling spicy foods. This leads us to Good Thing Number 4: our day learning to cook Thai food. A company called Thai Farm Cooking School, an organic farm which teaches one- three day courses, was excellent. Check out their website at http://www.thaifarmcooking.net/. We chose 6 dishes to make. Jack and I picked different things so that we can have more to make later in our kitchen. Mine were fabulous, (no boasting here) the first of which was a green curry paste, followed by a chicken curry, then a chicken in coconut milk soup, a papaya salad, spring rolls and a dessert of pumpkin in coconut milk. YUM!

Although we agreed mine were better, despite any contrary opinions to my general cooking ability (mentioning no one by name), Jack made a wonderful yellow curry paste, a chicken curry, Tom Yum soup with shrimp (not so good), chicken and cashew nuts, Pad See Ew (large noodles), and mango and sticky rice for dessert. The mango dish was the crème de la crème. If any of you choose to visit us once we get back to the states (and we welcome visitors), maybe we can whip up one of these!

Good Thing No. 5 was our day bicycling around the ruins at Sukkothai. This city is unspoilt by tourism and the ruins were beautiful, both seen from the bike and just walking off. A few highlights:

Good Thing No. 6 was a dinner we spent at a Sukkothai buffet. Raw meat labeled in Thai was a dime a dozen here. We picked out anything that looked remotely appetizing and took it over to our hot pot, a charcoal filled metal pot with a grill on top, to cook up! Jack did all the meat touching while I just played with the vegetables and noodle dishes. We also scored some pineapple. At that same dinner we saw our first elephants - babies too! Sadly, they were being used as work elephants, and we gave money, good or bad, to feed them sugar cane and take their photos.

Finally, this leads to Good Thing No. 7, our day at Lampang and the National Elephant Institute. We went on an elephant ride, watched elephants of all sizes bathing and watched an elephant show. And man are they talented! They can play musical instruments, raise a flag, walk on logs, bow, and even paint a picture! The day was packed with fun.


The Bad:
On our ferry ride to Koh Tao from Koh Samui (both small islands on the Gulf of Thailand) we experienced something I hope none of you ever have the misfortune to experience first hand. For some reason almost everyone on the boat got sea sick, and clung to their plastic baggies passed out by staff. Jack and I had seats near a window, so we avoided most of the unpleasant views, but the smell was hard to ignore. In a Christmas package from Jack's parents I received a small battery operated fan (Hello Kitty to be exact). This saved me from loosing it - literally!!!

Bad Thing Number 2 was our cab ride from the bus terminal to our hostel in Bangkok. Our driver had no idea where he was going, despite the exact address given to him, and repeatedly asked for directions from tuk tuk drivers to women on the street. We decided at some point to get out and walk.

Bad Thing Number 3 was the sign posted in the lobby of our hostel, so named Hostel Thailand. See for yourself.

Bad Thing Number 4 was a night we spent in Sukkothai. At first, the room looked fine, sparse, but fine. That night, however, we realized that the sheets were just not that clean: ants and hairs littered the lot. I was so freaked out that I slept without covers and used my blow up neck pillow. You could say that was not my best night's sleep.

Bad Thing No. 5 was the tremendous number of tourists in Chiang Mai. For some reason the sheer number of people and exhaust in the city did not sit well with us. Despite the many beautiful things the city has to offer you could say that our expectations were not met. So, we decided to ditch our planned trek and go to Lao instead. This turned into the best decision we could have made. I'll write about that in another posting.


The Ugly:
So I mentioned Hostel Thailand. Well, on our second day in Bangkok I noticed all these itchy bumps all over my body. I thought they were mosquito bites. But, you guessed it, BED BUGS! Ew. Ew. Ew. I will not share a photo of this hideous experience. I will report that they have gone away, well mostly, in the week and a half since we've left.

So now that you know the good, the bad, and the ugly of Thailand, now we're going to share the joys of Lao with you! Sorry the photos are not up, we rarely get to a computer that can support photo uploads and it takes forever. I will get back to it though, I promise.