The Beach

As I mentioned in the last update, we’ve left the garbage-eating cows of Cambodia behind for the Thai islands. We spent several days in Bangkok taking care of last-minute shopping before heading to the first island, Ko Mak. And right now we’re on Ko Pha Ngan, our last stop before returning to Bangkok and flying out of Asia.

But we’ll get to all that soon enough. First we’ve got a backlog of photos to catch up on, so here you go.

This shiny fellow is the reclining Buddha at Wat Po in Bangkok. It’s hard to say which is bigger, this reclining Buddha, or the one we saw in Laos. Either way, they’re both enormous, although this one is slightly more impressive due to the gold leaf.



Another shot to hopefully add more perspective. I still don’t think the statue’s colossal size comes across very well in our photos.



Some more shots around Wat Po. Liz and I both thought the rooftops looked a lot like ultra-fancy 7-11s.







I don’t think I’ve written anything about the Thai King yet. I barely realized that Thailand was a kingdom before we arrived, but once you’re here it’s impossible to miss. The Thai people absolutely love the King and have erected monuments and images literally everywhere. Now, I don’t toss around the word literally lightly, as Jeff “Punk Rock” Martin and the other writers at CB&S can attest. To use the word incorrectly (“My tongue is literally on fire!”) is to risk a figurative lashing from my grammar-minded co-workers. So believe me when I say that you will find an image of the King or the King and Queen in every store, every restaurant, every office and on every street in Thailand. Literally.



Some creative recycling on one of the monuments.



This is like a product Homer Simpson would invent.



Robot dog on Khao San road. Of course, it’s just a real dog in a robot costume (as one might encounter anywhere), but the owner was actually controlling it with a remote-control.



This also reminds me of the Simpsons a bit.



Ko Mak! This was the first Thai Island we visited, and also the quietest.



There were a lot of beach dogs that looked to be pretty well taken care of. This one was named Yogurt.



No bars, restaurants, bungalows or ping pong shows in sight.





We each have our own method of getting coconuts.





Ko Mak had some of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve seen yet.



The worst haircut of my life. It’s actually grown out a bit here; I had it cut back near Khao San road in Bangkok and it looked worse before. Here’s the story: Liz and I both needed haircuts. We found a place where it looked like we could both get our haircuts at the same time. But no, Liz went first and got the hairdresser who spoke English pretty well. When she was done, I sat down, and got the hairdresser who only knew how to say, “Ou!!!! Sorry!!!” which was a commonly heard phrase throughout the haircut.

Basically she started right above my ear on one side and nearly shaved me bald before she realized what she was doing. So then she did the other side to match. My hair was so stupid looking at the end that I just borrowed the buzzer and took the whole thing down to a 3. But it still wasn’t short enough to cover up my near bald spots.

You’ve heard of a faux-hawk, right? I call this the faux-mullet.



Just because we haven’t posted any photos of food in a while. The truth is, we’ve had fairly mediocre food since we left Vietnam. In Cambodia you pretty much have to eat in the western restaurants; the local khmer ones often have dodgy ingredients. And because the Thai islands primarily cater to falang, it’s difficult to find anything with real flavor and spice. Anyway, this pad see iew was pretty decent by island standards.



This was the bathroom that housed the giant spider that tormented us for 3 days. It was OK until it decided to crawl out of the bathroom and make for our bed. I went to smash it with a shoe but missed (!) and we ended up getting a neighbor to chase it out through the roof.



Our front porch.



This is not the spider in question. We found this one in an extremely clean western-style diner in Trang, so it just goes to show you: You’re never safe. This thing was about 5 inches across.



Here we are on Ko Lanta. I used a bizarre setting on the camera to get the insane night background.



Lanta was also really beautiful and mellow. Some locals got together a soccer game nearly every night at sunset.



Unspoiled.





And they had free wifi!



Sunglasses #6. I went cop-style with these.



Ko Phi Phi. After Ko Lanta, we knew we were going to meet up with Austin and his friend Brynn on either Ko Samui or Ko Pha Ngan. But before that, we had a couple days to visit another island and we had to choose between Railay Beach (which is not actually an island) and Ko Phi Phi. They are both considered to be spectacular but spoiled, but we chose Phi Phi because I wanted to see the spot where they filmed “The Beach.” This isn’t it, by the way.



To be more European, we decided to include glamour shots of ourselves.



We stayed near Tonsai beach on Phi Phi, the most crowded and overdeveloped spot on the island. But across the short peninsula (the island has twin crescent beaches that are back to back) there was a fairly nice white-sand beach with the clearest water ever.



This is the ruined side.



Once we arrived, I figured out that they didn’t actually film “The Beach” on Ko Phi Phi Don, they filmed it on Ko Phi Phi Leh, which is 6 kilometers south. But you can’t actually stay on Phi Phi Leh, which helps protect the island from being ruined. We ended up taking a short day trip there that included snorkeling and kayaking. These are some of the limestone cliffs that ring the island.





Now this is where they actually filmed “The Beach.” And I have to say, I think it’s the best beach I’ve ever seen in the world. That includes Hawaii, California, the Dominican Republic, the azure coast in Italy, Cambodia, Vietnam and all the other Thai islands. It’s really a great beach.



The water is shallow, but not TOO shallow… clear but with a hint of beautiful turquoise… and the sand is out of this world. The softest white sand I’ve ever set foot on. Basically, it makes you want to do this.



Just because I will probably never be this tan again.



This guy really enjoyed the sand.



Oh yeah, did I mention that this perfect sand and water is ringed with amazing limestone cliffs?



Look at that freaking sand and water!





Liz hates this picture, but just look at the water. That’s really what it looked like.



That’s all for now. We’re on Ko Pha Ngan at the moment, recovering from a 3-bucket night. I’ll explain that in the next update.

Cambodia

Sorry it’s been a while since we’ve updated with anything significant. We took 300+ pictures in Cambodia, including something like 220 at Angkor Wat, so it was a little daunting to go through all of them and put together something coherent.

But now we’re back in Thailand with nothing to do for the rest of the month except lay on beautiful white sand beaches, so here you go.

At the moment we’re actually on a small island called Ko Mak. It’s a nice setting, but there is a huge spider that lives in our bathroom so it’s not as relaxing as it could be.

In any case, here are the photos.

This was the first place we stayed in Cambodia: The Lazy Fish guest house in Phnom Penh. We had another guest house in mind, but, as is standard in Cambodia, our tuk-tuk driver refused to take us there until we checked out the guest house that pays him a commission first. So we went to the Lazy Fish. And the first thing you see is this awesome setting… the rooms are actually on a dock above the lake, and there is a killer common area with tons of hammocks, a pool table, TV/DVD player and a bar. We almost agreed to stay here without even seeing a room.



Then we checked out the rooms. Not terrible, but a bit rustic. We didn’t see any massive spiders though, so we figured it was ok. That night, I woke up to the sound of scratching and scurrying rodents along the walls. Liz got up around the same time and was about to head to the bathroom. “Be careful,” I warned her, “it sounds like there is at least one rat in the room.” She wasn’t happy that I told her that, but I figured better she find out from me than discover them on her own.

For some inexplicable reason, we actually decided to stay a second night there. Maybe it was the awesome setting; the day of reading books in hammocks beside the lake that made us forget about the rats chewing through our walls. But the second night was even worse than the first. The rats were making a racket when I woke up, and it sounded like they were crawling along the wall just above our bed. I couldn’t get back to sleep while they were squeaking and chewing, and so I laid there sweating for quite a while. When I woke up the next morning I had an awful pimply rash on both elbows that I think was caused from laying in a pool of my own sweat on greasy, disgusting sheets.



So, on the third night, we moved hotels. We spent the extra $2 (our new room cost $8 rather than $6) for air-con, satellite TV and, best of all, NO RODENTS.

Riverside, Phnom Penh. A lot of the city is dirty, crowded and insane, but the riverside is nice, and occasionally you see an elephant out for a stroll. We’ve heard that living in the city is terrible for elephants, but it’s hard not to stop and gawk at something so massive walking down a city street.





Another riverside shot. Very unlike the center of town, where the bus deposited us among a near-riot of tuk-tuk drivers vying for our business. There were actually one or two police on hand in anticipation of the arrival of the tourist bus. It was nice; they held the mob at bay with billy clubs and we were allowed to retrieve our bags in peace before being assaulted by offers.



This is why the beef in Cambodia tastes funny.



Sihanoukville. The beautiful beach town with the unfortunate name. We weren’t planning on visiting the beach in Cambodia, but since we’re only allowed 30 days in Thailand at a time, we found ourselves with some extra time to kill before re-entering the country. It turned out to be a great decision to head south and check it out.



Liz thought it was already a little overdeveloped, but in my opinion, Sihanoukville is one of the best beaches I’ve ever visited. Soft sand, no rocks, and perfect water that’s gently warm but still refreshing. Unbelievable sunsets, too.







I finally bought a watch. When we first arrived in Bangkok, I was tempted to pick one up, but they were too expensive ($50-80). This one was considerably cheaper.



We also took a boat trip from Sihanoukville to a couple of the surrounding islands. This was the first time I ever properly snorkeled, and it was actually pretty cool!



Bamboo Island. Even better beaches than Sihanoukville. Same sand and gentle, shallow water, but far fewer people.





Plus Liz’s favorite accessory, a hammock.



The other side of the island. As an Oregonian, it’s still weird to be able to run straight into the ocean and feel refreshed rather than frozen.



Not sure if I mentioned this in the other update, but my Prada glasses broke randomly while they were on my face. So I got this pair, which lasted approximately 5 days. I’m now on my 5th pair of sunglasses for the trip.



Typical roadside view in Cambodia. The amount of garbage along the roads is staggering.



Sunset in Siem Reap.



Angkor Wat. One of the 7 wonders of the world? I’m not sure. Liz seems to think so. Anyway, it’s pretty cool.



This is at Angkor Thom (part of what’s known as “Angkor Wat” as a whole, but a separate location), a ruin known as “Bayon.” There are over a hundred of these large, enigmatically smiling faces placed throughout the facility.





Some of the more “ruined” ruins have these colossal trees that have sprung up in the most unlikely places… on top of walls and buildings or nearly blocking the front entrance to the temple.











More detail.





$5 to the first person who can explain this shirt.



A couple little girls who were selling postcards and bracelets, and, failing that, just wanted to collect as many plastic bottles as possible.





In front of the most famous temple at Angkor Wat…. Angkor Wat. It was about 20 degrees hotter than the surface of the sun when this picture was taken, hence my expression.



Some of the bas-relief artwork inside Angkor Wat. Some historian once described the place as “the masterpiece of an unknown Michelangelo.”



The back of the temple. I just included this because the lighting came out so bizarre.



Hundreds of feet of detailed bas-relief carved into stone.



Taking a break in the shade.



We found some monkeys hanging out near one of the exits. Apparently they’re a fixture there… they’re even included on the Angkor map!





Another long shot of Angkor Wat.



This one’s for Kyle. Would you like the Special Muscle Wine, the Muscle X.O. Wine, or the Wrestler Wine? Or maybe you’ll just stick with the Bird’s Nest?



This is also the first restaurant I’ve ever seen that brags about its blacksmithing skills right on the menu.



That’s all for now. Will update again when internet is cheaper.