Whoa ho, this is rich….The road to excess not only leads to the palace of wisdom but to Bangkok. No moderation in this whirlwind of swindlers, shopaholics and sex tourists. At first I was enticed by the warm air, food vendors and bustling street activities, then it simply became a game of avoidance, constantly trying to escape the quick grabs, exhaust fumes, and murmurs of disgruntled salesmen. I was a tad disappointed in how many tourists there were in Bangkok and in Thailand for that matter. For a second, I thought I was in Vegas or a codified version of Epcot Center’s Southeast Asian tour. It comes at no surprise to me (after visiting) that the coup, which overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra would have no intention on stopping the flood of tourists coming through. To cut off that amount of money would be like cutting the main artery to their economy. For any travelers headed to Southeast Asia, I would recommend staying in Bangkok for about a night before venturing off to the fantastic spots throughout the region. I was very impressed by the new airport that just opened. I had read that it has been a logistical nightmare for travelers but I had no problems with luggage, delays or over-crowded terminals. The place is enormous and has a first-rate duty free shopping mall throughout the international wing.
Other than the air pollution and “sketchballs” throughout Bangkok, there were some great sites to see including The Royal Palace and other Buddhist temples (otherwise known as wats) sprinkled throughout the city. The Royal Palace is an enclave of ornate buildings that once served as the official residence for the king of Thailand. The main feature is the Emerald Buddha contained in the Wat Phra Kaew Temple. The Buddha is actually carved out of jade stone, adorned with garments made of gold and was stolen from the kingdom of Laos in 1779. This theme of stolen treasures is ubiquitous in Asia and well, all over the world. After all, almost all the treasures in Japanese museums come from Korea.
Before meeting up with friends, I bummed around Bangkok trying various Thai cuisines and venturing off to the weekend market, an enormous and I mean enormous market where you can easily get lost. This place had every western product you can imagine and advertised accordingly with “ Western Import Shops” bannered all over the place. The food in Thailand was a real treat. At the markets and street vendors, I could get a great Pad Thai for around a buck. The highlight for me was heading to a local favorite called Vientiane Kitchen where I proceeded to hold a cold wet towel to my face for about an hour. I’m sure you can guess why. I call it the masochistic culinary experience. Nevertheless, It was nice treat to meet up with some familiar friends on this trip. Accompanying me was my good friend Rory (the first person I met at Michigan), his girlfriend Carla, and Mike Pink (another friend from the college years). On to Laos -
Luang Prabang, Laos
Out of all my travel experiences, Luang Prabang ranks up there as one of the most special places I have ever visited. Situated in a valley between large emerald mountains at the junction of the Mekong and its tributary, the Khan river, Luang Prabang is considered the jewel of Indochina, and a UNESCO world Heritage Site since 1995. Although it is considered a city, to me it feels more like a large village. The city is deemed the best architecturally preserved city in Southeast Asia with French colonial-style buildings that dot the streets. Walking and traveling by bicycle seems to be the best way to see the place and coming from Bangkok, it felt like I had stepped into an oasis of charm and tranquility, a sort of sanctuary. We stayed at The Tum Tum Cheng Guest House, which is run by a Hungarian woman and her Lao husband who also set up a cooking school as part of the business. The guesthouse was designed by the UNESCO Heritage House and is situated next to a wat in a quiet part of town. Something my friends and I kept questioning was, “how can we ever describe this place in words to people back home?” I suppose it was the heightened awareness of calming sounds, exotic incense, and beautiful sights that coalesced into a daily lesson in subtlety and nuance. Most places I’ve been to have some sort of pulse or rhythm on the streets while this place exudes the ancient sound of “OM” or A-U-M- Silence. Luang Prabang is home to a large monastic community. It is estimated that out of a total population of 16,000 people some 1000 resident monks and novices live in the city and wake up every morning at 5:00 a.m. to collect rice for their daily meal. I remember waking up to soft gongs and drums that sounded as if a wooden ball was being dropped on the ground with exponentially increasing thumps only to fade out into silence.
We were all concerned about Mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever in Laos since many of the books advised using the necessary malaria prophylaxis. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that at this time of year it is a very low risk because of the temperature. The weather was absolutely fabulous. During the day, it was very dry and reached a high of 80-85 degrees while at night it dropped significantly to the low fifties. We could even see our breathes at night. The highlight every evening seemed to be the night market that sets up shop at around 6:00 p.m. and closes shop at around 10:00 p.m . There is a curfew of 11:00 p.m. in Laos so everything shuts down early though some of the bars somehow circumvent the rule and stay open later. The night market is really beautiful. Along the sides of the main drag lay an array of intricate textiles, jewelry, and antiques. Contrary to my experience in Thailand, there was no heckling, arm grabbing, or swindling in this town, just eager looking faces hoping to grab the attention of the strolling tourists. Speaking of tourism, a small part of the reason why this place is so special is because there is a minimal onslaught of tourists. There are roughly two small planes that come in everyday to Luang Prabang airport. To reach the city by bus is precarious with dangerous roads, buses that break down, and the small risk of getting assaulted by guerilla militia. Others arrive by slow boat on the Mekong, which could take days while the long-tail boats, or speed-boats are very dangerous. The long-tail boats are very narrow boats whose passengers have to wear helmets because the accidents are so prevalent. During the dry season (when we were there), long-tails crash off unseen rocks or capsize on wakes at fast speeds killing passengers roughly every week. Hopefully, UNESCO and the government will preserve the charm of the place by not increasing the amount of flights into the city.
We ate lunch at a charming place called Tamarin run by an Australian woman who is very knowledgeable of Lao cuisine. The food is different than Thai food with a lot of lemon grass and spices. The way Laos people eat is by rolling sticky rice into a ball and then sticking pieces of the side courses in with the rice. The big hit in Laos is Beer Lao, which is actually owned by Carlsberg. I’m a huge fan of Beer Lao Dark, which packs a punch of 7 % alcohol. After lunch we grabbed some beers and headed down to the river to negotiate for a boat ride up the Mekong. This was one of the highlights of the trip as the ride was peaceful and the scenery stunning. There was one peculiarity up the river when we stopped for gas. Two Australian fellas in a nice Kodiac dingy with fishing poles rafted up to the gas dock in the middle of the river and started speaking with the locals in their language. It was a Seinfeld moment as we turned to each other with the look of “who the hell are these people?” Do they actually live here? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow we made it up to the Pak Ou Caves, saw some ancient statues of Buddha and cruised back with a beautiful sunset ahead of us.
We had a little bit of a problem with Laos Airlines that turned into a comedy. First of all, Laos airlines doesn’t really give you any sort of secure reservation. I tried to book a ticket from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai, Thailand and all they do is email you a message saying, “You have a reservation, come see us to pay for it”. This casual exchange worked for me but unfortunately did not work for my friend Pink. So Pink had to go all the way back to the guesthouse, pick up his passport and book a new ticket from Luang Prabang to Vientiane (the capital) then back to Luang Prabang and then to Chiang Mai. Everything from Luang Prabang to Chiang Mai was booked. This screwed everything up for our trip in Chiang Mai since we were planning on doing a 3 night jungle trek in northern Thailand. On our way back to the Laos Airlines office, our tuk tuk (type of taxi) broke down in the middle of the road. We got out and walked the rest of the way back to the travel office. Then, on our way back to the guesthouse, the same tuk tuk driver gave us a ride back again with car engine noises I’ve never heard before.
Luang Prabang was definitely the highlight of this trip for me. If anyone heads over there, then bring a large wad of U.S. one dollar bills. They accept U.S. currency but if you give them a 20 $ bill then you’ll get a bucket of Laos Kip in return which is pretty much worthless. We were all trying to leave the country with as little kip as possible because nobody would exchange kip into any other currency. On to Chiang Mai –
Chiang Mai, Thailand
I arrived in Chiang Mai on my own because of Pink’s flight screw-up. Rory and Carla headed to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. I booked a hotel and started to walk into town when I suddenly found myself surrounded by about 300 Thai police officers. I said to myself, “This is definitely an S.O.S.” Otherwise known as a SERIOUS OH SHIT. At first I thought is was some kind of military coup standoff but it turned out to be some bizarre royal ceremony with the thrown and the whole nine yards. A parade proceeded to come down the street with all sorts of bizarre looking people dressed up in what looked like theme park mascots. Then, a group of nurses, boy scouts and students started to file into rows. Finally a huge flatbed truck with a completely wrecked car on top shuttled in and promoted responsible driving. I finally eased myself out of that spectacle.
Chiang Mai is a small city surrounded by some of Thailand’s largest mountains in the north. Long ago, the city built moats and high walls to protect it against raids from Burma. Chiang Mai is also part of the golden triangle, an opium-trading route between Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. The main reason for coming here was to see some of the natural beauty in the north. Eco-tourism is a huge business in Chiang Mai and trekking companies advertise everywhere. I went on a one-day trek that included a hike, an elephant ride and a white water rafting trip before Pink arrived from Vientiane. I really enjoyed the elephant ride. They are magnificent animals and it was a real treat to be that up close. After Pink arrived we experienced some great night-life at Heaven Beach Bar with some Thai cover band. This Thai guy sounded exactly like John Lennon and played Beatles songs. They also sang Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” in Thai…a real hoot. Pink and I were supposed to go on a 3-day hike up mountains and sleep under mosquito nets in the middle of the jungle at night. Does that sound like a vacation or what? : ) Instead, Pink and I got ourselves involved with something a little over our heads. We headed out with skilled mountains bikers up a 6000 foot mountain at the famous Doi Chiang Dao “the last tooth of the Himalayas”. The only way up this mountain was by 4x4 jeep that took 2 hours on dirt roads that might not even be considered “roads”. At the top, pine forests surrounded us and we could definitely feel the change in altitude. We decided to take the “intermediate” trip down. It was still difficult and Pink flipped over his bike. Three ours later we made it down through the jungle and into the valley without breaking any bones. That was truly an amazing way to spend Christmas Day.
Ko Samui, Ko Phangan, and Ko Tao
The rest of my trip was spent in the Gulf of Thailand on the island of Ko Phangan. We were advised to stay out of Ko Samui because of the excess in tourism and overdevelopment. We actually stayed in Chawenga Beach on Ko Samui the first night to see for ourselves. Yeah, don’t go there. You’ll get the same experience at Venice Beach, Los Angeles. The next day we took a Ferry to Thong Sala, Ko Phangan and then hopped in a cab to the northeastern part of the island at a spot my friend recommended called Ao Thong Nai Pan Noi and Yai. The cab ride there is a not a fun experience. There are no paved roads so the taxi-truck is going 5 mph the whole time over ditches, and massive potholes. Though once we arrived we approached a really cool area with bungalows perched right up on a beautiful beach. The whole place reminds me of Gilligan’s Island with tons of palms trees and thatched huts. This was the most relaxing part of the trip for obvious reasons. Rory and Carla spent some time on Ko Tao getting certified to scuba dive before eventually meeting up with me for NYE.
Great News! Shortly after my return to Korea, I was welcomed with the good news of a promotion here at the University. I will be working on research and teaching some different classes…and moving into a nicer apartment ☺ so this means I will be here until December 2007. I welcome all guests who feel the urge to come visit me (especially in the Fall when the weather is perfect). After my experience in Thailand, I have to say that the southern coast of Korea (including Jeju Island) is an excellent place to check out. There are no tourists here, it’s beautiful, the food is great and it’s also a true cultural experience. It’s the best-kept secret of Asia in my humble opinion. The Korean Tourism Agency didn’t pay me to say this. I swear! Happy New Year everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment