Phuket – Being a tourist, alone.

It’s sometimes awful to be alone, but often it’s great. Today was one of those days. I’m in Phuket now, in a very nice room (with a jacuzzi) of an excellent hotel. I’m shamelessly going soft – recharging before I hit Malaysia.

I’ve booked a bunch of tours so I can see as much of the islands as possible. First thing I thought of when flying in to Phuket International Airport was the amazing view of the islands! Of course, my camera was in my overhead luggage instead of my hands, so no pictures. I’ll have to do it on the way out.

Next thing that hit me as I exited the airport is that this is definitely the most humid place I’ve been to so far. Thai paper money doesn’t really suit this place. No paper does.

Driving into Patong Beach (totally destroyed by the tsunami) I felt a little more like I was in Fiji again. Poor local village housing combined with tourist-related shops, agencies and hotels, and to my total surprise a place called Rock City. More of that amazing place in the next post.

As soon as I reached my hotel the heavens opened. Tropical rain has been constant since I’ve been here. We’re possibly feeling the effects of the Philippine typhoon. I hope it clears up before my tours of Phi Phi, Krabi and something else start (June 26).

Today I decided to be a real tourist and chose to do the Phuket adventure tour.

Heavy storms stopped half of the activities from being available (many snakes are out and roads are blocked by fallen trees and flooded rivers), but instead of being unhappy about it (no refunds) I was perfectly OK because the remainder of my tour group had canceled thinking it wouldn’t go ahead, leaving me in the unique position of being able to stay at locations for as long as I wanted and ask any questions I wanted. The tour guide was rapt (and surprised?) to find out I was easy going, and opened up to me about everything. So in the end I got a personal tour guide which, after Bangkok, I’m learning is what I really need to be comfortable. Whilst the entire 5-hour tour was entertaining and informative, a few locations really stood out, and I was able to photograph most of the day as I had put my camera into it’s waterproof housing beforehand.

The ATV ride was supposed to be about getting the guest to a spot on the mountain where the view was spectacular. Today it was more about riding on an open four-wheeler, through driving rain, on wet main roads followed by very dodgy dirt tracks that looked more like rivers with canyons running through them. My guide hated it (they think 25 degrees on a wet day is cold) and was shivering terribly, but I loved it! Got a bit hairy at one point on the way down the mountain, as my brakes became fairly useless in the slippery mud. I’m only showing you a photo of these things in case you don’t know what an ATV is, because I can shoot in the rain, and so you can see the conditions.

During the day’s activities we checked out rubber tapping, which was freaky. Rubber being poured straight out of a tree? I know that’s where it comes from, but actually feeling it turn to rubber in my hands was weird. Another local industry is cashews. Did you know they grew at the top of an apple? I didn’t! The apple juice is really nice, too. We also dropped into a massive jewelry designer showroom. I bought Mishka and Mushroom a small cat statue made from fish bone or resin (depends which lady you asked) each.

The elephant ride & monkey show was a lot of fun, especially when you could interact with the animals so intimately. My ride (below) was very happy to raise her trunk onto the platform and watch me as I stroked her tough skin and thanked her for the gentle ride. Watching her eyes move around to match my movements, I could instantly see that within that massive frame is a very gentle creature that trusts humans and enjoys their company.

This baby elephant is brought out to “massage” guests. She’s three and makes the most adorable squeals. I was allowed to hang around with her for a while after the massage. I think she liked me too, as she kissed me for quite some time! Her kisses threatened to suck my entire ear off at one stage.

It seems that Thailand is full of attractive women just wanting to spend time with you. After the baby elephant came Samlee, who is apparently the reigning Miss World. She loved to hold my hand, have her belly rubbed, or if she was feeling shy, cover her face with my hand. For a creature that spends it’s entire time running around rough ground and climbing trees on all fours, she sure had soft hands!

I’m not a temple fan, but it is interesting to watch how the many Buddhist tourists interact when they visit these temples. This is Phuket’s most important temple – Wat Chalong. You may not have seen inside one before, but they allow photography here.

Finally, the snake show was excellent. Once again, improved out of sight because of the fact that I had everyone’s undivided attention. Holding a large python was really quite nice, and I wouldn’t mind one. Patting a King Cobra was thrilling – apparently the chances of seeing one around town are quite good right now. Hearing the story about the guide’s friend who lost a baby to a python last week wasn’t so good.

Gold-ringed cat snake

I was photographing this King Cobra (not realizing I’d be a lot closer to one later) when it saw me and raised it’s head in a defensive pose. It was quite unnerving. It turns out he could see himself in his reflection on my camera housing.

I think this is the mouth of a python.

Snake kissing. He also allowed it to latch itself onto his finger.

Kissing an Asian cobra

The fangs of an Asian Cobra

The King Cobra about to turn my direction.

A general observation – the world is a very strange place. In Melbourne we have the cleanest drinking water you can get, yet it hardly ever rains. Here in Phuket it buckets unimaginable amounts daily, yet they can’t provide a natural, clean drinking supply. Whilst on the ATV I collected about a litre a minute in the lap of my poncho, and one giant raindrop actually dislodged my right contact lens, reducing me to one eye for crevasse and flash flood negotiation. I’m writing this, so it must have been perfectly safe.

Finally, after a wet day being a tourist I headed off to Rock City. On my way out I saw this large green creature on the wall of my hotel room.

Bangkok – Day 2, blisters and a twisted ankle

Aaargh!!!

It didn’t take long. I’ve ended today’s adventures with a twisted left ankle (which I initially thought was a lot worse) and, at last count, five blisters on my left foot and one on my right. News about that later.

Seasoned travelers will probably be disappointed, but I have to say I do NOT like Bangkok. I am quite disappointed that I booked another couple of nights after I get back from Chiang Mai. Don’t get me wrong, there are endless things to see and do, however I am incredibly uncomfortable here. I struggle with the money, the lack of English (I can’t grasp Thai at all), the streets, the weather, the pollution and even the people. I can’t wait to get out of this city, and tonight I have come home early and am staying in my hotel with Burger King. Yep, I haven’t even had a go at the street food, and I don’t think I will until I am with a guide who understands what things are.

Some images of Bangkok street-life follow. Below is a very typical lane or alley. Crowded, smelly and old. Every building is dirty, run-down or derelict. I don’t know what is in the water on the ground, but it is everywhere and I’ve already dropped credit cards and put my backpack down into a puddle of the disgusting stuff.

So many people work on the street. This happy lady with most of her teeth missing didn’t seem to have a corresponding business. I couldn’t see how you engaged her, but perhaps she was just doing her own mending? Nice machine. I think my grandma had one just like it.

Construction workers building the new Skytrain work right on the edge of their massive concrete structures, with no safety railing, ropes or other form of protection. This air conditioner mechanic (who will never be out of work given the number of air conditioning units I saw in one tiny block) also lives on the edge. It kind of looks like fun, though…

I booked a four-hour tour to see some temples and take a ride on a riverboat. Instead I ended up in a taxi on my own with a driver who spoke no English. As a result I decided to just see Wat Arun (once Thailand’s seat of power and probably the best known temple in Thailand) and call it a day. It actually took a couple of hours to get there anyway as the traffic was appalling. On the way we drove through the protest to throw out the current Thai president. I couldn’t get a shot as the taxi driver didn’t understand I wanted him to stop. I couldn’t be bothered trying to make him understand – I thought pointing a camera at a rather large protest about something this important would be self-explanatory.

I think this monk was rostered on to ensure farangs (foreigners) don’t fall. I’m not sure if achieving enlightment introduces the ability to levitate large Americans. Fortunately there were none around. This guy was very patient, silently acceding to the demands of Japanese men wanting photos of their wives draped all over him. I chose to shoot quietly from half a kilometre away.

Carefully edging my way down from the top of the tallest tower I made it to the very last step when CRACK! Down I went as I had only momentarily looked up to watch a group of Japanese tourists. I do this a lot, but this one hurt more than I can remember and I had also damaged a spot halfway up my foot. In a tribute to genuine Thai helpfulness (a trait I have previously attributed to the possibility of making money), a group of four teenage girls immediately came to my aid. When I waved them off with a smile, they continued to look concerned for me, but continued on their way ahead of me. I rounded a corner only to run into their leader, who had come back to me with a glass jar of something green to rub on it. I don’t know what it was but I assured her I was OK and gave her a nodded “khawp khun” (thank you) and another smile. The group wisely chose not to follow me home, and reluctantly moved on. Reckon that would happen in Melbourne?

Hopefully this next image shows just how intensely “gold” this gold finish on the roof of one of the temples is. On a pretty dull day, where most colours were muted, this stood out dramatically.

Everyone’s a model. These two were at it for a good 10 minutes with their little point and shoot, and “Fashion TV” moves. I hope they took a timeout for long enough to understand what the actual structure stood for.

I also got the feeling they hardly ever left their air-conditioned coach, and that is probably a good thing given what I’ve experienced in such a short time so far. A blind and rabid dog staggering along the street only inches away from a river of traffic, beggars with signs asking for a specific donation, people living inside demolished apartment blocks, shanty towns where the dogs seem to outnumber the people (tough in Bangkok, I tell you!).

OK – on to tomorrow. Getting up at 6am to be picked up for an organised tour of the floating market and some tiger thingy. Back at 6pm for a Chiang Mai tour group meeting followed by a suit fitting. I’m yet to decide if I got a good or bad deal, but I know I got a LOT of clothes.