BACK IN BANGKOK


The train ride from Nong Khai to Bangkok was uneventful. I'm now staying with a friend at the D&D on the Khao San until he leaves on Monday. Then, it's back to the dirty little "Good Luck Guesthouse" for 120 baht a night.


I went to buy my plane ticket to Kolkata, India yesterday. All the super-cheap flights are booked up until the 25th, so I'm stuck in Bangkok again...this time until next Friday. I picked up a Lonely Planet India at the outrageous price of 1150 Baht (~$38) along with two new novels to hold me over, Mark Haddon's 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime' and 'Forrest Gump'. I've been reading abouta book a week since I left Korea and it's really putting a strain on my funds...because the stupid bookladies always try and rip me off. Whatever...


Anyways, if you're reading this and you're in Bangkok and you want to do something, let me know. I'm bored out of my mind. I've seen everything here and am just trying to waste the days away until I can get to India.


Oh yeah, and I've kind of made an itinerary for India and maybe I'll be spending two months there, instead of just the one. I'll do a U-shape from Kolkata, down to Chennai and Pondicherry in the south, across to Mumbai and upwards through Rajasthan to Delhi. There's all kinds of cities and towns with big long names that I'll never remember until I actually go there, so I won't bore you with them.


Lonely Planet says there's lots of internet connections, so I'll try and keep everyone updated with photos and stories as I go along.


And as for photos, I'm experimenting with some Photo Album generators, as I've found I'm spending way too much time on the internet setting up my gallery, not to mention the cost. My new albums...starting from Laos (I think) will be in PHP generated albums.

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PHOTOS GALORE

Well I'm back in Thailand right now. I stayed a couple of nights in Vientiane and crossed over the Friendship Bridge on the Mekong to Nong Khai yesterday.


I've been working hard on getting up all of my photos and I've managed to make a hefty dent in them.


I've now completed Cambodia and Thailand, all the way from the South through the Gulf.


www.thesecondlayer.com/gallery/main.html


I've still got to sort through another 300 or so, from Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pai and Laos, and I hope to have them all done by the time I leave for India in about three or four days.


I'm going... going... back... back... to Bangkok... Bangkok...

by train this evening and will arrive tomorrow morning, then a couple of nights on the Khao San and off to Calcutta.


So check out the pictures, enjoy, and I wanna read some comments here!!!


PS: I'm having serious problems with the amount of allocated bandwidth I get from my host. I've only got 1 gig and it looks like I'm gonna go over this month, especially with all this photo business. If my site goes down, it should be back up by March 1st. And this will keep happening, until I find a host that will give me a decent amount of bandwidth at a reasonable price. If you have any ideas, send me the details.

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SKATERDUDE

to find bumpin from gangneung city centre, head to the mcdonalds (the only one in town), walk north about two blocks on the same side of the street as mcdonalds, then turn right at the bank (i think it's a FineBank) then walk up the street a bit more and tuwn right again at the family mart...you'll see BlackBar on you left and then just after that is BarBumpin....go late otherwise it might be empty...say hi to Mr. Lee!!!

To find the warehouse, tell your gangneung cab driver to take you to Sun Plaza....you'll have to pronounce it like "Sun Pul-Rah-Jah" or Boss Night, and then walk across the street, you can't miss it...

to say: "please take me to ___" ---> "___ gajuseyo"

Good Luck! Have fun in Gangneung!

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DAYS IN LAOS


After a short flight from Chiang Mai on Tuesday I landed in Luang Prabang, Laos. The town is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site and I guess that's why it looked like I was flying into the smallest town to ever have an International Airport. Tiny houses with tin roofs and a few wats. From the ground, things were'nt that much different, the French Colonial past does show, in the streets and architecture and bakeries. I met a couple of German girls on the plane over and we all stayed at the Sysomphone Guesthouse on the Nam Khan river. Luang Prabang sits on a small peninsula created by the convergence of the Mekong and the Nam Khan rivers.


I spent the first day doing the Lonely Planet's walking tour, seeing most of the wats in town, including the wat and golden stupa high on the hill that sits right in the centre of the city. Early in the morning, I also went to the Grand Palace, which was nice. I especially liked the room that had cases containing gifts given to Laos from foreign countries, grouped by whether they were Socialist or Capitalist countries. Russia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Canada, the US, Poland etc. The United States gave this cool plastic model of the Apollo moon lander that looked like a kid made it for their science project, as well as two Laotian glags carried to the moon and back by different Apollo missions and some mmon rock encased in lucite brought back. I couldn't tell what Canada gave, our gifts were in a big case with stuff from 4 or 5 other countries and none of it looked, well, "Canadian." I was looking for cheese or maple syrup, or even a Celine Dion album, but no...I took a slow boat up the Mekong to the "Pak Ou" caves, set in a cliff just off the river and filled with thousands of ancient Buddha statues, and then took a tuktuk south of town to the Tat Kuangxi waterfall. It was really nice, and the landscaping was so good, it looked like it could've been some sort of indoor adventure pool made to look natural. The pools at the bottom contained so much dissolved limestone that the water gave off an eerie creamy turquoise glow.


Now, I'm in Vang Vieng. I arrived yesterday afternoon, 7 hours by bus. It's a small town, much smaller then Luang Prabang, in a big valley surrounded by limestone caves and massive limestone cliffs that tower straight up into the sky around the edges. There's also a small river, the Nam Song. But I guess the only things to do here are smoke opium and marijuana and go caving or inner tubing on the river. I'm by myself again (the two Germans went north to Nong Khiaw) so unless I meet some people, I don't know how long I'll be able to stay here without going crazy of boredom.

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GOODBYE PAI


Well these last couple of days haven't been as crazy as my earlier ones in Pai, definitely because we weren't allowed to drink legally and all the bars have been closed. Glyn and Raphaelle showed up on Saturday morning and we went out for dinner and watched Shrek 2 and a bit of Lost in Translation. Glyn and I managed to score some beers from a local shop on the down low and had a good time reminiscing about Korea on the deck of the restaurant at my bungalow.


On Sunday, we headed up to the hot springs with a few more beers on the down low and stayed until after sunset to see the stars, more candles and met up with Lars (one of the guys from Germany). That night, we drank on Anna's deck and made it to bed early.


Today is Monday. I just bought my plane ticket to Luang Prabang, Laos from a travel agent this morning. God, she was the most annoying woman I've ever met. And this all seems like the perfect time to bring up one of my pet peeves about a lot of Thai people I've talked to for information....they can't just answer a question, they have to hit you up with one back until you're frustrated and just do whatever they want you to do. The converstation went something like this:


Agent: "Whatchew want? You want get motorbike?"

Me: "No, yesterday, remember we talked about getting a flight to Laos?"

"Oh yah, ok hold on. When you want go?"

"Well, is there a flight on Wednesday?"

"When you want go?"

"I'm just wondering if there is a flight on Wednesday...and maybe also on Tuesday?"

"Well....when you want go? You want go Tuesday or you want go Wednesday?"

"No, I just want to know if there is a flight on those days and then I'll decide."

"You want go Wednesday or you want go Tuesday? Wednesday Thai Air. Tuesday Air Laos."
"OK, so there are flights those days. How much do they cost?"

"When you want go?"

"Well it depends on how much they cost?"

"Thai Air more expensive, Lao Air good, cheap."

"OK, but how much cheaper?"

"Well, when you want go?"

"OK, I'll go Tuesday, how much?

"You want go Tuesday, now?

"Yes."

"OK...3100 Baht."

"OK, I'll take it."


Damn, she was exhausting, we could've maybe reduced our ramblings to two or three lines, if she just knew how to answer a fricken question.


Anyways, I'll head to Laos tomorrow from Chiang Mai and spend the night in Chiang Mai tonight. It's sad to be leaving Pai....it's been great.


I'm no longer taking the boat because it's really dangerous. Soutthida just told me that at least one person dies a month during the trip. And I was talking to Spanish guy here who told me his boat sunk while he was one it and they barely made it to shore before getting soaked.


NEPAL COUP


I can no longer go to Nepal, which is very unfortunate, as it was going to be one of the highlights of my trip and I had been really looking forward to it. The King of Nepal has staged a coup and ousted the government. He plans to rule for three years and return the country to stability. I don't exactly know what has been going on with the political situation in Nepal for the last who knows how long, but this has really put a damper on my plans.


Instead, it looks like I'll fly straight to either Calcutta or Delhi from Bangkok (whichever is cheaper) and should be in India by the second to last week of February if everything goes as planned.

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PAI is DRY


Once every four years, Thailand holds an election. The day before the election, it is illegal for any Thai person to drink alcohol and thus all drinking establishments close, some for the whole weekend.

This happens once every four years...and it's happening now...to me...in Pai.

Glyn's coming tonight and we'll have to find a way to get some alcohol and maybe head to the hotsprings. All the bars will be closed....god I wonder what it'll be like on the Khao San...all those poor kids, nowhere to go, nothing to do.

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BOYS in the BUSH


A guy that I met in Beijing is cycling from Perth to sydney Australia with his friend. They'll cover a total of 5472 km (3400 miles) in 38 days raising money for cancer research. If you are interested in donating money or if you'd just like to follow their journey, you can view photos and read a diary that they'll update along the way. They're off April 2nd.


www.boysinthebush.org

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PAI in the SKY


months ago when kate called this town PAI-radise, i couldn't imagine what would make this small thai town in the mountains a paradise.


it's three hours northwest of chiangmai and close to both the laotian and myanmar borders, surrounded by green mountains, with the little pai river running through the middle.


i'm into my fourth day here and i could easily spend a month. there's just something special about it. the town itself is small, there are numerous cafes and restaurants, the most popular being the "bebop cafe" with nightly live music: blues, jazz and rock belted out by farang and thai alike. people tend to spend the days at either the taipai hotsprings or the waterfall.


there was a big "art party" last night halfway to the hot springs. fire dancing, belly-dancing, barbeque and live music. good times!


the hot springs are nestled in the jungle about 8km southwest of town. some of the upper pools are almost 85C, but people have consructed shallow sand filled bathing spots further down stream, where the water is like a hot-tub. as long as you're in the park by 6am, you can stay as long as you like. we bring beers and candles, plant them on rocks around the pools and relax...

after that it's usually off the bebop cafe, later to an afterhours place called the bamboo hut and is alittle restaurant just on the edge of town, perched on stilts high above a rice paddy field and looking out over the river...


the other day, a bunch of us got inner-tubes and floated down the river for an hour, past palm trees, rice fields and under little wicker and bamboo bridges...


i'll be heading to check out the waterfall today. apparently, there's a rock waterslide near the top, with jumps and bumps...and some nice pools for swimming at the bottom...


there's a lot of tribal people in town, and it feels very casual, art galleries and little shops. nobody on the street yelling at you to come in and buy. you can just walk by and they're quite happy to sit and read their books or sweep the floor, or drink some tea, chew on a beetlenut and ponder the sky...


i love it here!


glyn should be around on saturday and if i can convince him we'll hang out here in pai, or i'll be back to chiang mai to see him there on saturday afternoon.


by monday or tuesday i'll be in laos. i'm now doing a north-south itinerary. i'll enter the country from chiang kong thailand to huay xia laos, just near here. then a speedboat to luang prabang for a few days. then by road to vieng vang and eventually vientiane before re-entering thailand at nong khai. from there it's a one day trip back to bangkok where i'll spend a night and then fly out to nepal!

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