| Zach's Travels |
| The Adventurous Travels of Zach "the Zoracle" Turner |
Finally at long last after arduously going through over 2600 photos, I have uploaded the good ones for your viewing pleasure. You can go through each post and see the pics attached to them or go to the photo albums page to see them all.
phew.
Well it’s the end of the trip peoples and I am back in Austin. I’ve been home for a few days now trying to get back in the swing of reality and catch up to life. Only takes a few days really, but I’ve been on batman time for those few days and still am. Jsut can’t seem to sleep during the night… ever! And now it’s 7:30am and I still can’t sleep.
Let’s take each country on its own merits:
Tokyo, Japan: F’in awesome city. I’m not sure if it was the people I met, the hostel, or the city itself, probably a combo of all, but I had the most fun here and will definitely go back, probably to the same Ninja hostel. There’s so much to do in this city, i could stay there a month. I have to be thankful for those Thai protests, otherwise I would’ve never even gone to Japan. Happenstance hits another homerun.
The people there are so interesting and different. There’s a sense of identity there that is difficult to describe, it’s not individuality and it’s not conformity, it’s a sense of understanding that they are a unit, cogs working in a giant, beautiful machine that they all love; to differing extents of course, but they are devoted to it. There are strange contrasts like their open sexual programming versus their relational prudity. There’s an overwhelming need to be productive. In fact, if you get fired from work or even laid off, there’s a place where men go everyday just to hang out while they look for another job so that they never have to tell their wives or friends and neighbors and can get up in the morning and go to “work” as they normally would just as a friend of a friend has actually done. Perhaps there’s a sadness to it, but I can’t feel it when I’m there. You might say there’s a loss of individuality or creativity, afterall, all their animes are about spirits, robots, or martial arts or a robot using martial arts to fight a spirit. But when compared with the formulaic US exports, are we so different? Besides, some of the most messed up stuff comes out of Japanese cinema, so you can’t say they’re bland or formulaic.
In short, loved Japan, there’s so much there to see and experience and I hear that surrounding rural communities are very different then the big city of Tokyo.
Thailand: didn’t spend a lot of time in Bangkok, but loved trekking outside of Chiang Mai in the north. The culture is very relaxed and know one sees anything wrong with you waiting 20 minutes for one plate and then 20 more minutes for your companion’s plate at dinner. The food in the north is definitely blander then the south. You can see old white men with their thai girlfriends all over the place. Guys who couldn’t get anyone in their own countries so they go to thailand to pick up a beautiful girl easily. As Mr. Noi told me, “Thai women all very beautiful, but many ages.”
GO TO RAILAY BEACH near Krabi. Can’t stress that enough. So beautiful. If you want a romantic fairy tale getaway, go to Mai Pen Rai in Ko Phanang.
Cambodia: The poverty here is the most obvious. With 4,100 real equally one dollar, it’s no surprise. The streets are hardly paved and there are many people, adults and children walking around without limbs due to landmines. But there is also an interesting culture here. If you’re an alligator farmer, you’re a wealthy man. You can afford a nice house on columns rather then stilts but it will still be right next to your poorer neighbor whose house may be falling apart.
The temple ruins although some less then ten centuries old are already relics of an almost forgotten culture and it feels like it decayed so quickly. Bayorn was the most interesting because of the Buddha heads and the fact that you can climb all over it. I suggest going to see it soon before they restrict that.
Despite their poverty, they are still a happy people, many smiles can be seen everywhere, more so then any of the other countries I went to.
Singapore: A big city. Not a whole lot to do here, but more then Kuala Lumpur. Spend maybe 3 days here. The night safari at the zoo is cool and I loved the science museum. Sentosa is an amusement park island, but the song of the sea show is not bad. I loved Singapore because of the people I met AAAAND for the Indian food. Oh man, so good. I ate that everyday. STAY IN LITTLE INDIA. Don’t mind the Indian people, they’ll stare at you, but they won’t touch you… unless you’re a girl, then get pissed at them and go off, they don’t know how to deal with a yelling woman.
Malaysia: There’s so much more of Malaysia that I didn’t get to experience but if I must judge by KL, I wasn’t impressed. If I judge based on the food of Penang, then I was greatly impressed. Kuala Lumpur is a huge city but there’s really very little to do there, the twin towers and that’s about it. The rest of it is either dirty or can be found in any other city. Plus, not a fan of the Malay (malaysian muslims) people. Not only do their prayers thunder over the city on loud speakers five times a day, but they’re just not happy people. if you try to smile at them or get them to join your merriment, they just look at you confused. That said, I had a great time with Gerald and Maddie and their friends (they were not Malay). They took me to some nice restaurants and a fancy wine bar and we talked for hours and had a great time.
Penang was delicious. I would put that island on a platter and eat it with clam sauce if I could. It was really cool seeing how Elena’s family lives as well, you really get a first person view of life there and it makes me wonder how Elena has adapted so well and so quickly to life in the States. Most impressive. But seriously, I want the recipe for that clam sauce!
So anyway, what have I learned from this trip? I learned more about traveling in a group and how you really have to do your own thing and just hope people come along. I also learned that my travel instincts are pretty good and I should trust them.
I like smaller towns rather then big cities, even though that’s what i’m used to.
I’ve learned a lot of things which I cannot share, some I’m ashamed to admit, like how I’ve become increasingly indifferent to the pain and suffering around me. I guess it started in LA when I was barraged everyday by the same homeless people. Nothing you give them will change anything, so I ignored them, didn’t even acknowledge them. This has carried over into other countries like Cambodia when children missing limbs (having them blown off by landmines) ask you for some money but you pretend not to see them. It feels wrong, but you know as soon as you give him money, five other kids will come up to you, and then ten more, while you’re eating, while you’re walking through the streets, when you’re drinking at a bar. You can’t cure all their pain and even those without impairments have perfected the sad look with tears as they ask you, in the few english words they know, for money. When they turn away, their faces are normal again, like they’d never been crying. I know they say that you can’t change everyone, but you can make a difference for that one child or person. I suppose from now on, I can decide to only give money to the happy ones. To those who are still suffering but can somehow manage a smile and even a laugh, to have fun despite their horrible lives, to rise above it in their own way. This is most difficult thing and deserving of some reward.
I’ve learned that I think I’m ready to settle down, maybe take things a bit more seriously. I think it’s time to go to Australia, some of you might know what that means. So that is next on my itinerary for 09.
Hope you enjoyed the blog, and don’t worry, pictures are coming soon. Peace out yall!
I just had to come on and tell you about this airport that I am sitting in right now not only because the internet is actually free here, but also cause it truly is the nicest one. I love these open air airports, like the one in Tahiti, but this one in Koh Samui is even better then that. There’s a whole street of shops, almost like a mini 3rd st promenade before you go through security, then once you’re in the gate areas (only 6 gates), the waiting areas are lavished with cushions, nice couches, free water, juice, tea, coffee, orderves like vege rolls, pumpkin cake, apple strudel, bakliva, and more, and free papers to choose from with nice music playing. Oh, so nice. If this were the Austin air port, I would arrive like 5 hours before a flight! 
sigh, back on dryland in Ko Samui, it’s time for me to get to the airport and get to Bangkok. Lucy and Mark should be there already since they left yesterday. I’ll meet them for one last night of drinks on Kohsahn Rd and then head out back to the States.
| We stayed only one night in Ko Samui, but happened to arrive on all you can eat BBQ night for 259 Baht so that was pretty cool. It was kind of cook your own though, just grab a slab of meat and throw it on the huge grill. Sebastian had never grilled out before (I know, how is that possible!) so Anne and I had to show him how it was done.
In the morning, I woke up and went for a “swim” I say “swim” because the turbulent water broke right on the beach so really it was a little bit of swimming and a lot of running into a wall of waves which I love anyway, so it was fun. Didi was there and we made arrangements to get to Ko Phanang. I booked accomodations at Mai Pen Rai Bungalows mostly because it was the only thing really available that had a high rating. Later, I got a facebook message from Mark saying that he booked a room at the exact same place without even knowing it, so the big meet up was meant to be. Didi, Anne, Sebastian, and I took the ferry ride over in high rising and falling waters and on a ferrry packed full of backpackers and people rarin up for the Full Moon party that night, it became a lot of sitting quietly looking at the horizon so as not to vomit. Didi popped out her iPod and we listened to Red Hot Chili peppers the rest of the way which made things a lot more enjoyable. Upon arrival, we found transportation to the Mai Pen Rai bungalows and then it took like 40 minutes across half finished roads up through the jungle on windy hilly paths and then back down to the beach. At first we thought, “where are they taking us? this is waaay far away from the full moon party” which was going to go off very near where the ferry pulled in. Once we finally got there, it was beautiful. There was a tiny little beach with waters similar to Ko Samui (sidenote: the beach sand on Ko Samui and Ko Phanang is not nearly as good as Railay, it’s large and sticky and really annoying to try to get off; by far, Railay is better for beach and water, but the views on eastern Thailand are nice) The best part was the bungalows themselves. They’re literally right on the beach. And where the beach turns to rock, they’re just built on top of the rocks. We walked to the other side of the beach and up the side of a huge rock. We walked through a little tunnel in the rocks and on to a cute stone path with steps and bridges along the way. At high tide, you had to time your passing just right so that you didn’t get splashed. In fact, the day after the full moon party, Didi was walking to the restaurant and didn’t think about it and go completely pummeled by a wave and soaked her to the bone. She had to walk back and change. It was pretty funny though. Our bungalow was up on stilts of course with a large patio that had chairs a table and a hammock (which was very comfortable to read on in the morning). The actually integrated the natural stone of the surroundings and built the bungalow around them so that you’d have a wodden wall and then suddenly a huge rock would be coming through it cemented together with other smaller rocks. The bathroom was also huge and completely done in stone. The floor was wood and you could see through the tiny cracks in the structure and even though we didn’t use the provided mosquito nets, we never had a problem. I think it was too windy for them. There were a bunch of these little silk worms, but I don’t know if they were really silk worms, they didn’t build a coccoon, they just hung from the tree by strands of silk. Anyway, long story short: fairy tale place, reminded me of the scenes in the video game Myst. We went back to the restaurant to get some food (great chicken cheese sandwich there!) and sort out what to pay (turns out they keep all your food, room, internet use, and everything logged in a book until you check out and you pay it all at once, which can be kind of painful if you’re not careful). As we were sitting down, I spotted Mark sitting at a table talking with people and he was completely flabergasted to see me! The great meet up had actually worked. Met up with Sebastian and Didi AND Mark! Now it was time for full moon party madness. That night, we took the taxi at 10pm (the taxi is once again actually a hooded pick up truck) down to Haad Rin for the party. There were many of us together in a group (like 10 or so) and on the way to the beach, Mark bought some new flip flops cause he’d lost his other ones and I bought some glow n the dark paint and started face painting myself and others. I gave Didi a heart and Mark a mean lookin blue foo man choo! We quickly learned that individually drinks are seldom sold here, the option of choice is to get a bucket, put a bunch of straws in it and fill it with whatever concotion you want. I recommend redbull and vodka, keeps you awake and it’s delicious. Now let’s see if I can peice together what occurred after that. I remember lots of drinking, dancing on the beach, there was music everywhere and people everywhere. If you had to go to the bathroom, just pee in the skim zone of the water. there were a few stages which we got up on and started dancing. I picked up some torches and started carrying those around. It’s really kind of blurry after that, but I do remember when Didi needed to use the toilet and I showed her where it was (the actual toilet, not the beach) and then turned around and our group was gone. I would later find out that everyone had somehow disbursed around the same time and lost track of everyone else. This was about 3am. Didi and I still had fun dancing on the beach and wondering around. We got hungry after a while and went to eat something, can’t remember what, I just remember I family guy was on and I was laughing stupidly at that. Didi saw a massage place and wanted to get a massage which was fine with me cause I just passed out in one of the massage mats for I guess an hour. When I woke up it was light, and the taxi was gonna pick us up at 7:30am. We wondered back to the rendevouz point and were happy to find Mark there still alive. So this is how everyone elses night’s went: Mark woke up on the beach and can’t remember how he got there, there were two lady boys around him asking him if he wanted to come back to their bungalow which luckily he was awake enough to say no to, then upon getting up, he found that jumping off one of the stages had really injured his legs more then he’d thought. Lucy found some other peeps and they ended up jumpng into the ocean for a swim. Chris lost Alex, his girlfriend, and showed up at the rendevouz point hoping she would be there. He was worried cause he had her money and everything. She ended up meeting some other people and staying at their bungalow until the afternoon when Chris finally returned to Mai Pen Rai and found her there. phew. All in all, a crazy night, but a lot of fun. We spent the next two days recovering and enjoying the sites of than sudet beach. We hiked up to a waterfall and went swimming and played some games in the open air restaurant, saw some huge monitor lizards in the river. Very nice way to end a vacation. This morning, we all got up early, and having packed the night before, it didn’t take long to get down to the restaurant/reception and pay the bill which actually ended up being like $80 for all three days with food and taxis and everything. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, it’s very remote but that’s kind of the point. No hot water though. If you take a shower in the afternoon it’s not that bad. We all had one last cheese chicken sandwhich, cause it was so good (except Didi who had the tofu sandwhich cause she’s a vegetarian). There were a lot of people getting on the taxis to go to the ferry cause it was the only taxi of the day and so they had to call on another one and Anne and Sebastian ended up going in another taxi. Our taxi had 13 people in and I opted to stand on the tailgate and hold on to the rail for most of the ride. It made room in the compartment and it was fun. They pack those things with as many moneymakers as they can. Upon arrival, we said goodbye to Sebastian cause he was getting on the 11am ferry to Ko Samui to make his flight. Anne and Didi were taking the 1pm ferry to a bus to Bangkok. My flight wasn’t until the afternoon from Ko Samui so I decided I would take a later one and hadn’t booked yet. I left Didi in a shop and went to the ferry ticket place to check times and prices only to find out that the next ferry after 11am was 4:30p which would cause me to miss my flight and it was one minute until 11! I ran back, backpacks and all to Didi and told her I had to leave now. She ran back with me, we found Anne and Sebastian at the peir. I bought a ticket for that ferry but it was a different company then Sebastian so we all said our long goodbyes, it’d been a good trip and I got on the ferry alone, waving as they faded into the myst. |
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OMG, this bungalow is amazing. You have to walk along a stone path which is right on the water, dodging waves at high tide, going through small tunnels to get to your stilted bungalow as close to the water as is possible and overlooking the ocean sunrise. It’s beautiful, more about it later!
Not much to report today, just traveling. Got up early and had one last fantastic pancake at Last Bar and then went by long boat to a pick up truck to a bus for three hours to a ferry to Ko Samui, got here around 6pm. Couldn’t find Didi, finally found out she ended up booking accomodations elsewhere which is too bad cause we had enough room for four where Anne, Sebastian and I booked. Did find Sebastian when we arrived at Lamai Chatel, which is where he told us to meet while we were on the bus (Anne has a cell phone that sort of works every once in a while). Now just planning for the rest of the trip. Haven’t yet heard from Mark.
| So a lot has happened since last post. Yesterday, when I finally got up and going, it was about 11am. I was walking over to Phranang Beach to join Anne and Sebastian when I ran into Anne (the other Anne we met at rock climbing the day before, turns out there are alot of Anne’s out there, there were like 6 of them that everyone knew). She was going with her group to see the hidden lagoon and invited me along, so I said why not. I did not realize the climb it required to get up there and I was in sandals. It’s a pretty steep climb up with ropes to grab hold to on the way and then a steep drop down into the bowl of the lagoon, again with ropes to hold on to. Once you’re in the lagoon, it’s not too impressive, basically a muddy puddle, but some guys that were in it said that it had been full a mere 45min earlier, so I think you have to go in the morning before all the water drains out.
The area around the lagoon however was very interesting. There was a cave which had a shelf in it creating two floors. I climbed up to the second floor and there was a hammock in which to lay. The floor itself was only a few inches thick and you could hear a hollow sound when you walked which wasn’t too encouraging, but the rock is very strong. Actually, there’s a lot of rock around Railay, stalagtites, which are hollow, you can take another rock and hit them and you hear a low resonating thoom. It’s very cool. Tragedy struck on the climb up. I had left my bag behind cause it was in the way going down narrow slopes and through tunnels, but I thought I left it further up so I climbed all the way back up, couldn’t find it, asked some people, climbed down, then back up, finally found someone who’d seen it, climbed all the way back down to the lagoon where I had left it and was overjoyed to find it. I spent a good 30 min to an hour looking for that thing and I was sweating balls by the end of it! So tired. I was hungry when I started the trek. There was however a cool viewpoint at the top of the hill overlooking Railay East and Phranang. After that, I joined Anne and Sebastian on the beach and did a little snorkeling with some gear Anne had purchased. Anne decided she was going to scuba dive the next day and I hadn’t heard from the liveaboard and decided to just join Anne for the one day so that I could go to Ko Samui too. Sebastian was leaving the next day so we went out for dinner and a drik before bed time. Anne and I got up early this morning and bid Sebastian adeui. We showed up at the dive place and departed by long boat to the dive boat. The dives were spectacular and I had no problems with my ears or equipment. We saw lots of fish, I huge school of yellow snapper, 4 or 5 turtles, one of which I touched and wasn’t supposed to. Seriously, it’s really hard to keep your hands to yourself. I got a little fingered “no no” from the dive photographer and didn’t touch anything the rest of the trip. i had to just hold on to my dive meter to do that though, cause there’s so much you just wanna poke. Lots of soft coral, some strange little leaf looking shrimp, sea cucumbers catepillaring their way across the bottom, lion fish, eels, scorpion fish, rock fish, and more. Some people even saw an octopus! Aahh, good times. I definitely feel more confident and more ready for a liveaboard trip. Tonight is an early night, rest up, boat leaves tomorrow at 9:30a for the bus to Koh Samui, and then who knows where. Didi, the girl I met in Kuala Lumpur said she’s going to meet us there. Her volunteer thing in Malaysia didn’t work out or something. I’ll learn more when I see her. Also planning on meeting up with my friend Mark who I met in Tokyo at the beginning of the trip. He’s already in Ko Phanang and hopefully got space for us in his room. hehe, I still feel like I’m in the water. |
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| Yesterday was really cool. We woke up early to head to the rock climbing at Stone Bar. Even though our group was six people, everyone got a good amount of climbing in. I did 5 runs including two pretty difficult ones. It was a lot of fun and a good work out. I can feel it in my fingers when I type. Met some cool people there too. Everyone talk to Sarah at the coffee bar near Stone bar when you come here. She knows everything that’s going on around Railay.
At 1:30, we walked over to Railay West and grabbed a quick bite before meeting up at 2p for the snorkeling. The snorkeling was okay, I’ve seen much better snorkeling, but I did see a lion fish, a huge oyster and some beautiful coral to name a few. Plus, I got to show off my water proof camera which has come to serve me well. We snorkeling in three different spots along spotted islands and that was plenty for me. I did get to save the boat after the second snorkel cause the anchor was caught on a rock and the guy asked me to jump back in and get it loose. After that, they took us to this beautiful beach out in the ocean. There were two tiny islands, like you could walk around them in 5 minutes no problem. They were connected by a small sand bar maybe 10m wide which was the beach we were to watch the sunset and have dinner on. I met some girls from New York and chatted with them a bit then we had dinner and the boats departed to go swim in the bioluminescence. It was pretty much the same as we had experienced near the beach, but still cool. Once back on land, I showered and went over to Tonsai to check out the night scene there. it’s much more chill then the east side but filled with rock jocks. I played around on the slack rope a bit and did pretty well i thought and then headed back by going around the rocky section cause it was low tide. Yes it was in the dark and the way was perilous, but it was fun and my shoes didn’t get too wet. Not sure what’s going on today, waiting to hear back from the scuba guy. |
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So the show at Last Bar was pretty cool. The food there was as always very good. Oh, they have the best pancakes there! Seriously, the BEST pancakes in the world! I’ll put it on my list along with Al Dente in Palm Springs which has the BEST tortellinis in the entire world.
Anyway, the fire dancers were pretty good, but messed up a few times almost catching some onlookers aflame which was cool. I met this canadian girl named Rachel who was nice enough to scootch over to give my friends and I better seats. We started routing for the blue shorted thai boxer and we totally thought he was gonna win, but on the 4th round, the red guy punched him square in the forehead and he was out. Man, it hurt. The snake show was pretty crazy. it was mostly the same stuff I’d seen before but when they brought out the king cobra, the thing was huge! It was at least 8ft long if not longer, it was the biggest cobra I’ve ever seen! And it was in a really small space with all these people around it. That was pretty cool to see and the guy got a little scared at one point when it snapped at his face while he was kissing it.
I told Rachel about the bioluminescense we’d seen and she wanted to see it, so she, Miles and I and her friend Kurt, walked over to it and played in the water more. it was even brighter late at night. That stuff is so awesome.
Going to bed at 3am, I was a late riser and of course felt like crap again, so I really stayed in bed till around 2 or 3p. Miles was up late too but he walked around to buy some flip flops and we finally ventured off around 3:30 and found some really cool stuff around the peninsula, there are so many places to wander around here. We walked over to Tonsai Beach where all the rock jocks hang out and had some chicken and climbed up some ladders to get a beautiful view. We climbed through a break in the rock cliffs to get to Railay West and then swam back around the rock back towards Tonsai Beach just to see how far it was. Railay West is where all the resorts are and it’s the expensive side of the peninsula. We booked a snorkeling trip there for tomorrow and hung out on the beach. Tonight, it’s an early night cause we’re getting up early tomorrow for some rock climbing.
