Woah.
Thailand is certainly something else.
I've been having an absolute blast here in Phuket and Bangkok. I'm finding it hard collecting the energy require to update the blog. I'll quickly whiz past my last 8 days or so.
There's been plenty of vegan places to eat about Thailand. As I mentioned in my last post, plenty of places hail the yellow Vegetarian Festival flag around their stall or the like. Unfortunately it's quickly dissappeared now that the festival is over (Finished on the 19th). Every place I've been to has been very accomodating however.
I've been eating all over the place in regards to venues. From nicer restaurants, to very Thai local places on the side of the road with friends. I was initially very worried about getting sick here from road side food, however as yet (touch wood) I've yet to get sick at all - And some of the places I've ate at look pretty dodgy, hahahha. But when a full meal and drink (coke etc) costs 40b ($1.25) how can you resist?
The prices here are so incredibly vast as well! You can have a fully fledged meal with soft drink for about a dollar, or go to one of the hundreds of places offering meals at Grange pricing. Alcohol is very cheap here if your not buying it from a bar. A beer is about 30-50b ($1.00 - $1.66) and mixed drink about 47b. In bars drinks are full priced at about 100-140b (Still not too bad considering in Australia you pay more still, and get no 'entertainment'...)
And speaking of entertainment here, it certainly is of a mind blowing degree. Unfortunately it requires alot more time that is currently unavailable to be able to even start to dip our feet into it. Not only that, but I'm using an utter piece of shit to write this, to which encounters a 3 second delay to see my own writing come up. Plus I'm justabout to head off to Soi Bangla (Patong, Phuket) for a drink and watch something pretty.
I was planning to go on a liveaboard to the Similan Islands on the 21st, but unfortunately 20 minutes out of dock, one of the motors blew and we had to wait until morning to be able to dock again and let the engineers have a alook at it. They came to the conclusion that the motor is indeed fucked and the trip was cancelled and put on hold to recommence tomorrow (the 25th). We have been put up at the Royal Phawadee Hotel in Patong, which is quite nice compared to what I've been staying in.
One final bit of bad news too is that unfortunately I've been in a solo motorbike accident. I was going around a corner too fast when wet (I was pissed as a skunk as well) and crashed. I got stitched back up in Patong Hostpital and grazing on my legs and left arm. I've got 2 internal and 8 external stitches for a hole just above my eyebrow. Because of both this and being forced to stay in Phuket I will more than probably extend my stay in Thailand by a week or 2. To be confirmed.
Anyway, I'm going to go as the delay is incredibly irritating. Will update more as I can (hoipefully a bit before I leave for the Similans tomorrow.
Cheers,
Wade
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
One Night In Bangkok
Bangkok.
Wish I didn't bring my jacket now.
I was planning to post about my SCUBA adventures previous to arrival, however time simply slipped past me. I will, at a later date, update about how my SCUBA study and instruction went. Needless to say it went swimmingly (hah!) and I'm now a certified Open Water SCUBA diver. Woo. I can dive without an instructor now, and just with a buddy down to a maximum recommended depth of 18m below.
Anyway, I arrived in Bangkok last night. My flight was delayed by a bit over 2 hours due to the emergency inflatable ramp blowing up or something causing them to install a replacement. Luckily enough, that was the last of the worries; The flight itself and the plane was pretty good. It was quite roomy for economy; They gave us free headsets which was advertised as being a cost of $5.00 for (even thought I used my B&O A8's); The toilet was nice and clean; Plenty of monitors to watch the movies if you wished as well (Of which the new Die Hard was the main feature).
So I arrived here at about 10 pm or so, and proceeded to immigration. I went to the line to declare my food just in case, and got it out for the people. They were incredibly nice, and pointed to it (noodles I made the night before) claiming (both of them) something something 'jey!' 'Jey' in Thai means vegan/vego, which was the only thing I understood. They seemed really impressed and were both smiling and asking if I was Buddist etc. The reason behind it is that the Vegetarian Festival is on at the moment. A time when Thai's give up the evils of meat, alcohol and sexual activity to cleanse the body and soul. (www.phuketvegetarian.com - I'd hot link, but everything is in Thai, so I'm lucky I can figure out the 'New Post' button)
Changed some cash into Thai Baht. The exchange rate in incomparibly better here. In Adelaide they were going to charge me $10.00 and 2.5% and only give me 24.80b to $AUD. As soon as I arrived, the price was 30.14b no fees at all. Amazing.
Change $500.00 for 15,070b. In Australia I would have got under 12,000b. I'm sort of getting 3 nights accomodation in BKK for free. Very nice.
I met my wonderful Thai friend Hnon at the airport as she offered. It's great to meet her in person finally. Luckily enough she checked the internet to see if my flight was delayed.
Unfortunately my suitcase had been cracked through the top; seemingly through a good sum of man-handling; so we went to report it. No JetStar or QANTAS office was manned, so after 20 minutes of wandering around we just left it.
So we caught a cab to town. Took about 30 minutes or so, and cost 230b I think. We went straight to my hotel (www.majesticsuites.com) and checked in. Very nice hotel for the money, and quite clean. Large bathtub too, which is great. Even got a complimentary cocktail of juice when we arrived :D
Went for a bit of a walk, with a subway (food) stop along it. I'm staying in the Nana area, which is well well known the world over for it's red light. Bars everywhere. Farang (foreigner in Thai) everywhere with nice Thai girl. O_o Sooo many pro's it's amazing. In a 5 minute walk up the street, I must have been asked, pulled to, followed by Thai girls at least 20 times.
"Take photo of me?" ; "I love you much, good time?" and every manner of the previous. The prettiest of the girls I think were actually guys, so if one were to dabble, look for Adams Apples.
So went back and slept after a short walk as I was pretty stuffed. Only 2 hours sleep the night before, and I didn't really sleep on the plane.
Woke up in the morning, had breakfast (Just a 'continental' breakast of juice, coffee and toast). And unpacked properly. But now it's lunchtime! So I'm off to find some vegan place to eat. Hopefully not too hard as it's the vegetarian festival now and many places advertise they have vegan food available by placing a yellow flag on their menu.
Will update soon :D
Wade
Wish I didn't bring my jacket now.
I was planning to post about my SCUBA adventures previous to arrival, however time simply slipped past me. I will, at a later date, update about how my SCUBA study and instruction went. Needless to say it went swimmingly (hah!) and I'm now a certified Open Water SCUBA diver. Woo. I can dive without an instructor now, and just with a buddy down to a maximum recommended depth of 18m below.
Anyway, I arrived in Bangkok last night. My flight was delayed by a bit over 2 hours due to the emergency inflatable ramp blowing up or something causing them to install a replacement. Luckily enough, that was the last of the worries; The flight itself and the plane was pretty good. It was quite roomy for economy; They gave us free headsets which was advertised as being a cost of $5.00 for (even thought I used my B&O A8's); The toilet was nice and clean; Plenty of monitors to watch the movies if you wished as well (Of which the new Die Hard was the main feature).
So I arrived here at about 10 pm or so, and proceeded to immigration. I went to the line to declare my food just in case, and got it out for the people. They were incredibly nice, and pointed to it (noodles I made the night before) claiming (both of them) something something 'jey!' 'Jey' in Thai means vegan/vego, which was the only thing I understood. They seemed really impressed and were both smiling and asking if I was Buddist etc. The reason behind it is that the Vegetarian Festival is on at the moment. A time when Thai's give up the evils of meat, alcohol and sexual activity to cleanse the body and soul. (www.phuketvegetarian.com - I'd hot link, but everything is in Thai, so I'm lucky I can figure out the 'New Post' button)
Changed some cash into Thai Baht. The exchange rate in incomparibly better here. In Adelaide they were going to charge me $10.00 and 2.5% and only give me 24.80b to $AUD. As soon as I arrived, the price was 30.14b no fees at all. Amazing.
Change $500.00 for 15,070b. In Australia I would have got under 12,000b. I'm sort of getting 3 nights accomodation in BKK for free. Very nice.
I met my wonderful Thai friend Hnon at the airport as she offered. It's great to meet her in person finally. Luckily enough she checked the internet to see if my flight was delayed.
Unfortunately my suitcase had been cracked through the top; seemingly through a good sum of man-handling; so we went to report it. No JetStar or QANTAS office was manned, so after 20 minutes of wandering around we just left it.
So we caught a cab to town. Took about 30 minutes or so, and cost 230b I think. We went straight to my hotel (www.majesticsuites.com) and checked in. Very nice hotel for the money, and quite clean. Large bathtub too, which is great. Even got a complimentary cocktail of juice when we arrived :D
Went for a bit of a walk, with a subway (food) stop along it. I'm staying in the Nana area, which is well well known the world over for it's red light. Bars everywhere. Farang (foreigner in Thai) everywhere with nice Thai girl. O_o Sooo many pro's it's amazing. In a 5 minute walk up the street, I must have been asked, pulled to, followed by Thai girls at least 20 times.
"Take photo of me?" ; "I love you much, good time?" and every manner of the previous. The prettiest of the girls I think were actually guys, so if one were to dabble, look for Adams Apples.
So went back and slept after a short walk as I was pretty stuffed. Only 2 hours sleep the night before, and I didn't really sleep on the plane.
Woke up in the morning, had breakfast (Just a 'continental' breakast of juice, coffee and toast). And unpacked properly. But now it's lunchtime! So I'm off to find some vegan place to eat. Hopefully not too hard as it's the vegetarian festival now and many places advertise they have vegan food available by placing a yellow flag on their menu.
Will update soon :D
Wade
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