where are you, eric liu?

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Buildings covered with a web of lines

I'm not sure if these were for telephones, cable television, or electricity but this haphazard assortment of wires and cables seen all over Thailand were the most impressive in Bangkok.

Chinatown in Bangkok

We spent the first afternoon perusing the alleys of markets in Chinatown. There were a lot of shops dedicated to Hello Kitty! and giant bags of fried pork rinds. Go figure.

The downtown area of Bangkok is enormous. This is, by no means, a view of the city skyline. The hotel I stayed at had a rooftop bar and pool which was a nice way to relax after sightseeing during the day. Despite these clouds, the weather in Bangkok was much nicer (hardly any rain) and warmer than in Mae Sot.

Squatters camp in Bangkok

On this trip to Bangkok, I found it to be a mix of new high-rises with a modern public transportation, but mixed in this glass and steel world was the past in the form of old moldy buildings and shantytowns like this. This was at the Nana Skytrain stop on Sukhumvit Road, one of the main boulevards with five-star hotels and enormous air-conditioned malls.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

How do you spell Phnom Penh?

After four days of travelling, I've made it to Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh.
I had great weather on my way to Si Phan Don from Pakse on the back of a sawngthaew. I took a ride on a small longtail boat to Don Det, the backpacker island, then had a nice hike through some rice patty fields to Don Khon, five kilometers away, with my backpack. I smelled great too. Si Phan Don is beautiful and quiet. The Mekong is wide there, but even so, the current is dangerously swift. I relaxed in a nice converted hospital. It was a splurge suggested in my Lonely Planet guidebook and with the rest of the accommodations being elevated bungalows on the river, at $10 a night, it was a pleasure. Power was available from 6pm to 10pm, and there was pleasantly nothing for me to do, other than watch the river flow by, so that's what I did. I met some other travellers, most of whom were heading north, having just arrived in Laos and got some good tips of what to expect for my travels further south in Cambodia and Vietnam.
I headed to Cambodia the next day, not sure how far I could get and how much it would cost me. It turns out that I got away with spending far less than predicted in my guidebook. I shared a sawngthaew ride to the border at Vang Koem, paid $2 to the Laos officials (read: bribe) for being open on a Saturday, then took a boat across the Mekong to the Cambodian immigration where I paid $3. This is not an official border crossing, so I had no choice but to bribe the officials on both sides.
From the border, I took a ride on a fast boat for an hour down to Stung Treng. It was a shallow longtail boat with a big engine. I had earplugs and a lifejacket. The driver was excellent at avoiding logs and massive whirlpools (one of them was about ten feet across). There was a rainshower in the middle of the river, so we headed to the right of an island and avoided it -- that's how wide the Mekong is at certain points; it has its own microclimate.
Cambodia is pretty undeveloped in the north. There wasn't any pavement in Stung Treng, no bus station, no buses. The only way to get south is via boat or a hired taxi. Eight of us grouped together and were able to haggle a minivan ride to Phnom Penh (12 hours away) from $20 down to $12 a person.
The road for the first four hours was muddy and rutted. Some tire ruts were a couple feet deep. We were lucky there hadn't been any rain for a couple days otherwise we would have been pushing the minivan. My butt hurt, and I was tired, but I made it here at 0130 this morning.
It's hot today, but I'm in an air-conditioned internet cafe. There is a nice riverside promenade in this rundown town, and my guesthouse ($3 for a room with a bathroom) is on the lake. A day of relaxing and nothing else!

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Back in Laos

I left Bangkok yesterday morning, saying good bye to some excellent friends from Mae Sot, and I took a 10-hour bus trek heading east to Ubon Ratchathani. It was a dark rainy night when I got there, but it was good to see that I was the only tourist around. Ubon Ratchathani is a large town 90 km from the Thai-Laos border. I had to visit five banks until I found a place that would let me buy US dollars. After taking care of business, I took local transport to Chong Mek, the border town in Thailand. Once again, I was the only tourist on the bus. I felt like I was in Indonesia again.The Chong Mek border is supposed to be the only border where you need a Laotian visa before showing up, so it tends to be avoided by the backpacker tourists. At the border, I had to pay 100 BHT to the Laotian immigration officers for "overtime" since it was after 4pm. I tried to bargain it down, but I couldn't.Laos is beautiful. The sun was setting during my hour sawngthaew ride to Pakse from the border. Both sides of the road had rice patty fields in different shades of green with water buffalos grazing. It was so beautiful to see the mountain reflections in the still water. Quite a few stilted homes had their ground floors flooded underwater. I passed some lakes that had expanded and the elevated resting areas that you see in SE asia that once lined the shores were also underwater.The Laotians squeezed into the sawngthaew with me seemed amused with my presence. They made room for me on the benches and were constantly stealing glances at me. It's great to be a novel tourist again.Pakse is a town on highway 13 (the north-south road through Laos). There are some tourists here as it is a long day's journey from Vientiane and on the way to Si Phan Don, Four Thousand Islands. I will be headed there tomorrow, I think. The Mekong River widens there and harbors four thousand islands, apparently.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Bangkok!

I am in Bangkok now! I stayed in Mae Sot for a little longer than I expected revisiting friends and the clinic. As it turns out, a bunch of friends from Mae Sot were headed to Bangkok this weekend, so I joined the mass exodus. It's great! This is a place where I've not spent more than 12 hours on my five previous visits and never ventured beyond the airport, bus terminal, or Khao San Road area. This time I am staying at the Sukhumvit Road area, which is downtown near several air-conditioned malls, shopping areas, and go-go bars. It sure beats the backpacker ghetto of Khao San Road. I'm close to the skytrain, which connects to the subway and riverboats. The city is readily accessible! Bangkok's downtown is enormous -- a mixture of modern high-rise apartment and office buildings next to old two-story shops next to squatter's shantytowns with rusty corrugated tin walls and roofs.
We visited the weekend market, Chatachuk and Chinatown in one go. I am, it seems, a poor shopper, finding the shuffling aisles suffocating after an hour. Today we visited the Grand Palace for a peek and Wat Pho, with a massive reclining Buddha.
The weather has been warm and humid, which has made it perfect for the rooftop pool and bar, with great views at night. What a change from Mae Sot's daily deluge and neverending dampness. As a result of the rainy season, my clothes, after nine months of handwashing on the road, have acquired a funk that simply re-emerges whenever they get wet.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Another group song at Lucky

Ben, (sliver of Stella), Sabina (the third Scot), Emily, Palov, Heyman, Jeanine, Craig, Peter, Stephanie, and Clair.

Making a crowd at Lucky Music Room

Sahn Sahn auditioning for Fear Factor

Hors d'oeuvres anyone?

Deep-fried and with a tangy dipping sauce, these meal worms prove that Deep South cooking rule that everything tastes good deep-fried and dipped in ketchup.