Here are some notes from a lovely week in Brazil in August 2013. I spent four days in Angra Dos Reis, a beach town about two hours drive from Rio, and then five days in Rio, enjoying "being a local" while I stayed at friends' apartment in Leblon and hung out with friends for their wedding celebration.
This is a short addendum to the Rio de Janeiro blog post from a family vacation in September 2008, which has much more touristy details.
Here are highlights
* Angra Dos Reis - lovely small beach town with windy ocean side roads that connect little villages
* Pousada Jamanta - wonderful hotel away near Angra Dos Reis, and they run their own dive shop!
* Great restaurants
Angra Dos Reis
Pousada Jamanta - Diana speaks English and Spanish, and we corresponded with her via email to arrange all of the details of our stay, including the scuba diving and the driver (atendimento@pousadajamanta.com.br).
+55 24 33651374
www.pousadajamanta.com.br
Awesome driver - Rodrigo Rezende
+55 21 67403804
+55 21 77030061
rodrigotransfer@hotmail.com
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Singapore
*I've been to Singapore for work several times, but my buddy Jarod's just sent his thoughts from spending three months living there in response to a coworker whose brother is heading there. His recs are at the top, mine below
- If he's there on the last Thursday of the month, have him to go New Asia club. It's at the top of a hotel (72nd floor), but on this day they open up the helipad (2 floors higher) and turn it into a bar. Best experience in Singapore, hands down, and also best 360 degree, unimpeded views!
- Gardens by the Bay – free to walk around and open til 2am, or can pay and get in the cloud forest and a couple other spots (close at 9pm)… supposed to be very much worth it, but just did the outside gardens and those were awesomely lit up and Avatar-ish
- Little India – Great place to get out and walk around and smell the aromas. There's a great hawker center just right off the MRT exit that's cheap and good
- Arab Quarter – a couple streets, by the Bugis MRT, with lots of row shops and restaurants. Arab Street is closed off for cars and you can walk and get great Turkish food along here. Blu Jazz is a highly recommended bar… best pita bread I've ever had, and thus best shwarma I've ever had too.
- Brewerkz – great brewery with an incredible happy hour (12-3pm). Right on the water in Clarke Quay and can sit outside and enjoy a pint of good beer (in Singapore this is an incredible find)
- Clarke Quay
- Good Beer Company – this is a hawker stall in Chinatown just off Eu Tong Sen St and Smith St (take the MRT to Chinatown stop, or Outram Park and walk a couple more blocks). Actually have Californian beers along with Belgians, Germans, ciders, and all at a good price in Singapore standards ($8-$10 US)
- Night Safari – I didn't do this, but it's the #1 attraction in Singapore, and I wanted to. Supposed to be very cool.
- Din Tai Fung – dim sum chain that's Michelin rated and absolutely epic. Bring me back some!
- If he runs, go do the Promenade or ECP
- Merlion Park – kind of cool… a merlion is the national figure, and they've got a big statue with a nice view of downtown behind it. Cool at night or sunset.
- Stay away from Orchard Rd – just shopping malls, which Singapore has way too many of in the first place
- Hawker malls – the food in Singapore is phenomenal. In a brilliant move to get street vendors off the street, they put them all in these highly regulated food malls that have amazing cheap food all around the city. Very specialized vendors, so you can get one dish from like four or five different places. Famous Singaporean dishes are chicken rice, chili crab, and fish head curry.
- Marina Bay – new casino that opened a few years ago. The bar at the top is free to get to (drinks are like $20) but has awesome views of the city. The Garden by the Bay next to it is this awesome public garden with these funky clusters of Super Trees
- Orchard Road is the famous shopping road. Not a stop for me but if you like that kind of thing...
- Transportation - Very easy to get around on MRT (subway) though taxis aren’t bad either
- My favorite restaurant in Singapore is Samy’s Curry House, but it is kind of far from central Singapore in Dempsey (15 min cab?). They’ve really developed this area the last few years so there are a lot of great high and mid end restaurants (and some bars) there now.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Taipei 台北
*Notes from my friend Amy, a Taipei-native, for my visit to the city
通化街夜市 (tong-hua-jie-yie-shi), it's within walking distance to the hotel. You need to try the 米粉湯, 大腸麵線, 炸雞排, and 烤香腸
Taipei 101 is close by as well but not that exciting. I've heard good things about the restaurant at the top floors but I have never been.
You can take the cab or MRT to 鼎泰豐 (Dintaifung), they have one close to your hotel, here's the address: 台北市忠孝東路四段218號. After you're done, you should go to 東區粉圓. It's like 2-3 minutes walk from 鼎泰豐, but I don't know the exact address. If you ask people at the restaurant, they will show you the directions. It basically dessert with boba but it is really really good
鼎王 (Dinwang), it's the best hotpot place ever. Remember I invited you over for hotpot last year when I first got back from Taiwan, I carried their soup base all the way back from Taiwan. So there's tofu and duck blood in the soup and that's all you can eat, you order everything else. They have great shrimp balls, and the fish tofu is great!
Here's the address: 台北市松山區光復北路89號
You might need to make reservation coz they get really crowded on weekends.
通化街夜市 (tong-hua-jie-yie-shi), it's within walking distance to the hotel. You need to try the 米粉湯, 大腸麵線, 炸雞排, and 烤香腸
Taipei 101 is close by as well but not that exciting. I've heard good things about the restaurant at the top floors but I have never been.
You can take the cab or MRT to 鼎泰豐 (Dintaifung), they have one close to your hotel, here's the address: 台北市忠孝東路四段218號. After you're done, you should go to 東區粉圓. It's like 2-3 minutes walk from 鼎泰豐, but I don't know the exact address. If you ask people at the restaurant, they will show you the directions. It basically dessert with boba but it is really really good
鼎王 (Dinwang), it's the best hotpot place ever. Remember I invited you over for hotpot last year when I first got back from Taiwan, I carried their soup base all the way back from Taiwan. So there's tofu and duck blood in the soup and that's all you can eat, you order everything else. They have great shrimp balls, and the fish tofu is great!
Here's the address: 台北市松山區光復北路89號
You might need to make reservation coz they get really crowded on weekends.
Tokyo Layover
*This was an email I sent a friend who had a 9 hour layover at Narita. Here's some advice on what to do if you only have a few hours to get out to Tokyo and back!
**If you have the opportunity to fly through Haneda (HND) rather than Narita (NRT), you'll be much closer to central Tokyo (20 min train ride)
It looks like you can do baggage storage at Narita if you have luggage btw. I've never used storage services, though my family always used ABC for delivery. But depends on what terminal really, I'm sure they're all fine.
So 9 hours is a lot of time to spend in Narita. Unfortunately it is
60-90 min from Tokyo, but if you don't mind packing in the visit, I
would definitely try to get into the city for a few hours and for a meal
or two, especially if you haven't been. This also depends on what time
your layover is since transportation is an issue in the odd hours of the
night. Here's my blog with general info on Japan and Tokyo.
You can get to Tokyo on the limousine bus or Narita
Express train -- roughly same price (about 3000 yen) but timing is
different (buses run every 30-60 min depending on the hotel, Narita
Express every 15 min) and the train is more reliable during rush hour.
The buses go to major hotels in many parts of the city, Narita Express
goes to a few major train stations (go to Tokyo or Shinjuku).
The bus will be right outside of where you come out of
customs, look for the orange sign. The bus schedules will be on the
board and you'll have to look for the specific neighborhood/hotel. I
would recommend these two bus lines
- Ginza-Shiodome - get off at Imperial Hotel (Frank Lloyd Wright building!) and you can wander around Ginza on Omotesando Road, equivalent to 5th Ave in NY or Rodeo Drive (or Jarod's favorite Gangnam) Also short walk to the Imperial Palace, and there are great little strips of restaurants and bars near Shimbashi train station.
- Shibuya - get off at Shibuya Excel Hotel Tokyu and Shibuya is a fun area with younger shopping, bars and restaurants. It also has the crazy huge intersection (8 ways) that you always see in movies (it's the one in Lost in Translation with the pink dinosaur). One stop from Harajuku which is a fun strip and that is right at Meiji Jingu Shrine and Yoyogi Park. Actually if you're there on Sunday, the "Harajuku girls" who get all dressed up hang out at the Harajuku station bridge by Yoyogi Park on Sundays, you should definitely check it out!
The Narita Express will get you to Tokyo or
Shinjuku station. The train platform will be down the escalators from the arrivals area. You want the JR Narita Express, not the Keio Skyliner (also to Tokyo but to different parts of the city). Shinjuku is closer to Shibuya and Tokyo is closer to
Ginza and Tsukiji. Both of those stations are enormous, but the signs are in English to get out. Would be easiest to find (or ask for) the metro - the subway is color coded and numbered and in
English.
If you have evening time and are leaving from Shinjuku station, stop at the Park Hyatt Hotel which is a short walk from the station. The New York bar at the top is where Bill Murray spends most of his time in Lost in Translation. Expensive drinks, but beautiful night city views.
***Note: The famous Tsukiji fish markets were shuttered and moved to Toyosu in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics and to modernize this important market's infrastructure. Toyosu website. Sushi-bun is also at Toyosu now.
On Tsukiji. As Jarod knows, it is my favorite place in the
world to eat and if you have a chance to go, it is totally worth it! It
is the largest fish market in the world, and though they don't love
tourists in the tuna auctions these days, you can walk around miles of
the market and also get the best sushi in the outskirts of the market.
Open from wee hours of the morning to about 2pm. Sushi-bun is my
favorite favorite and I've sent a few folks there so hopefully it's
findable. I just realized if you're there on Sun Mar 3, Tsukiji market will be
closed on Sundays but not sure when your actual layover is. Check out the Tsukiji market calendar - red dots are closed days.
Note, most people will not speak English, but
if you show them the names of places spelled out they can probably point
you in the right way. So it's worth having a print out or your phone
handy.
It looks like you can do baggage storage at Narita if you have luggage btw. I've never used storage services, though my family always used ABC for delivery. But depends on what terminal really, I'm sure they're all fine.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Thailand
February 2013
I had a wonderful, jam-packed long weekend in Thailand with two of my favorite travel buddies. Itinerary was one day in Bangkok, three days in Ko Phi Phi, and a day of planes, ferries and automobiles on our way back to Singapore.
Here are some highlights:
The capital of Thailand is a populous, hot, congested city with a booming tourist industry that can serve up beautiful temples and custom made suits to more seedier services. 
We only spent one night and full day on the front end of the trip and a few hours as we traveled through the city on our way out of Thailand, so I'm sure there's a lot left to see.
We arrived in Bangkok from Singapore on Thursday evening. 450THB got us a set taxi ride from BKK to our hotel on Sukhumvit, a central district with shops, hotels and restaurants. We stayed at Four Points by Sheraton on SPG points, and it seemed many of the western hotel chains were in the vicinity.
Bangkok street stands and restaurants were just starting to close at 11 PM. As became custom throughout the trip, we stopped at a 7-11 to pick up some Changs, the local beer, for the walk and wandered around Sukhumvit 11 until we settled on a food stand with tables next to a mobile bar. These mini vans decked out with decorations and festive lights appear on the streets around dusk, and open a hatch to reveal a fully stocked bar. We ordered some red curry and phad thai from the food stand and some Mai Tai's from the bar.
Earlier, we had passed one of many fruit stands when I saw durian! I had never tried the notoriously stinky tropical fruit and was dying to, so much to Jarod's dismay, 120THB got me a huge pack of sliced durian. I opened the pack (yes it does smell like old, wet socks) and was trying my first bite (yes the texture is like mushy over-cooked onions, but has a sweetness and flavor that I kind of enjoyed) when the mobile bartender freaked out -- apparently you're not supposed to have durian and alcohol together because "they will overheat you". She has seen many people to go the hospital because of the combination. So sadly that the end of the durian, as the beers were to continue.
After a slow start the next morning, we grabbed some chicken skewers and fried sesame balls on the street and made our way to the temples in Rattanakosin via Hua Lamphong, the biggest train terminal in Bangkok. We had to stop at Hua Lamphong to check on a train ticket, but it also turns out that the roads can get ridiculously congested, and the MRT (subway) and Skytrain are great ways to get around Bangkok. A taxi picked us up at Sukhumvit, but ended up just dropping us at the MRT stop because of Chinese New Year traffic and it was a 27THB trip to Hua Lamphong. From there we jumped into a tuk-tuk to the great reclining Buddha at Wat Pho.
Wat Pho ("wat" means temple) has the largest reclining Buddha in the world and an extensive grounds with many smaller temples within. There are so many things to take pictures of
-- temple facades, statues, people, cats... And so started Jarod and Brandon's photo taking. They have really nice fancy cameras, and many of these beautiful images are thanks to their skills. But there was a lot of photography going on...
We walked to the Grand Palace about a half mile away. I was told that if I see one thing in Bangkok, the Grand Palace is it. Before we were let into the immense grounds, we were stopped and given a scarf and pants to wear to cover up my capri's and Brandon's shorts. It was 30THB for rental and 100THB deposit, which they returned when we came out at the end (exit brings you to same spot you entered). The pants are simply amazing...
A note on temple touring - in addition to the no showing arms or legs, there are other rules to keep in mind. Many temples (and some stores) require you to take your shoes off, usually leaving them on a shelf outside.
Never point your feet towards the image of Buddha (like sitting with your legs forward, cross-legged ok). Most places will have signs and someone to remind you, but is nice to know.
The Grand Palace is where the king used to live and is an enormous collection of buildings and temples, including the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. 
The grounds and temples were beautiful, but the Emerald Buddha was really special. The Emerald Buddha is relatively small but bejewled and beautiful and sitting atop a lush tower of more jewels. The temple is covered from floor to ceiling and on the ceiling with murals, and has a large area for people to sit on the ground and pray or meditate or whatever you want to do. Photography is not allowed, but I thought it was nicer that way, because we just sat quietly and observed the great hall.
After we returned our scarf/pants, we head over to Khao San Road in search of the mysterious "Charlie Schumacher" who Jarod 
insisted on finding. Khao San Road is backpacker town and the road is brimming with stands that sell everything a cheap tourist could want. We munched on food cart phad thai and egg rolls with duck sauce, as well as the strangely ubiquitous doner kebob. We did not find the "Charlie Schumacher" that Jarod had previously encountered, but a tuk-tuk driver insisted that he too could be "Charlie". I'll keep it a surprise, but it was a wild ride!
We head back towards Sukhumvit for the boys to get fitted for their custom suits, and I enjoyed a foot massage next door in the meantime. After some haggling, everyone was happy, and we had a delicious late dinner. I learned that papaya salad is SPICY and spicy chicken soup with coconut milk is my new favorite Thai dish.
KO PHI PHI
Ko Phi Phi are beautiful tropical islands off of the west coast of southern Thailand near Phuket and Krabi.
We took a 6 AM flight out of the smaller Bangkok DMK airport to Krabi -- short flight but painfully early. We grabbed a taxi from Krabi airport to the waterfront, where we got tickets for the two hour ferry ride to Ko Phi Phi. It was a beautiful day and the top deck was covered with travelers napping and enjoying the warm breeze.
Ko Phi Phi Don is the larger island that we stayed on. It's a small island and there are no cars, just carts and bicycles. Once we get through the crowds and chaos on the pier and paid our 20THB "environmental tax", we made our way through the small town to Ivory Hotel, a small guesthouse in the middle of the dense Ton Sai ("tourist") village.
We dropped off our bags and head out for food. I was again reminded that papaya salad is SPICY (I stopped ordering the dish after this) and enjoyed my other favorite dish, larb gai (spicy ground chicken salad). With a few more Changs and food in our bellies, we set out to confirm our next day's scuba and snorkel trips at The Adventure Club and then found ourselves a water taxi driver for the afternoon. A bit expensive but worth it to boat over to Ko Phi Phi Leh, the smaller uninhabited island with beaches and coves.
Our first stop was Maya Bay, famous from the movie "The Beach". It seems to be only accessible by boat and there were sunbathers and others enjoying the beach. Absolutely stunning with clear turquoise waters and white sand, but we chose to moor offshore as they charge a "beach fee" to come aground (our driver offered to "go pay the 200THB per person fee for us". Found out from others that it's actually a 100THB fee...) Either way, it worked out because he parked his boat in the cove, gave us snorkels and hung out in his hammock for an hour while we swam and dove in the beautiful reef. It was great snorkeling and there were a surprisingly large amount of fish for such a heavily trafficked cove, maybe 15-20 feet deep.
The waters were too choppy to snorkel anywhere else, but our water taxi driver took us to a small cove with monkeys (not actually Monkey Beach, which is on Phi Phi Don). It was a little disturbing to see the local sailors huck stones at the monkeys and the Chinese tourists get attacked by the monkeys, and the cove had a very "Lord of the Flies"-like creepy forest. But cool to see monkeys.
We enjoyed a massage and some street food chicken skewers for dinner and got some Chang's for the road to explore the island at night. We walked all the way down one end of Ao Ton Sai, then the other side of the isthmus at Ao Lo Dalam , and came across the nightlife. Each bar/club faced the beach with its own brand of music and theme, from clubby to beachy casual to industrial, each packed with happy dancers and drinkers. Several had fire shows -- dancers on platforms with flaming bars or the fuel-soaked jump rope that tourists and professionals got to jump.
The next day, we got up early for our respective dive/snorkels. Jarod and Brandon went on the famous Shark Watch -- guaranteed sighting of the Black Tip Reef sharks in Shark Bay. They did indeed get to see upwards of fifteen sharks, which is pretty cool. The professional photos were 1000THB, which was not unfortunately.
I went on two dives with Adventure Club off of Ko Phi Phi. There were several groups on our dive boat, including classes. Our group of certified divers had four - a Canadian former scuba instructor, a Spaniard from Madrid, and Polish girl taking advantage of a work trip to dive for a week - plus our lovely Aussie guide Jade. It was a great group and glad I got to dive with them!
The water is warm so only needed a 3mm shortie and both dives were 45-60 feet max for about 45-50 minutes. Our first dive was Malong, where we saw a sea turtle, enormous pufferfish, and all sorts of crustaceans, and got a nip from Nemo! Jade has made friends with a clown fish, so that when you put out your hand at the anemone, one clown fish shyly retreats inside, but the other will come out and "kiss" you. She explained it could feel like anything from a peck to a bite. I definitely felt the nip :)
The second dive was Bida Nok, a shallow dive off of the cliffs around this island. There are more shark sightings on the south side, but beautiful shelf on the north where Jade took us. The number of fish, just enormous schools of all different kinds of tropical fish, was just breathtaking (well not really thank goodness). So cool to swim through them or see them above you. We saw many morey eels, a sea snake, some huge groupers and the spindly long needlefish.
The end of the dive was less enjoyable unfortunately. I had felt some stings on the first dive on a finger and my shin, but no one else had seen or felt anything. As we were starting to surface, I felt something on the back of my leg and was going to tell Jade, when she grabbed me. I looked up, and saw a beautiful and terrible sight -- the water all above us was a cloudy pink. Remember Dori and the jellyfish in Finding Nemo? Exactly like that. Then I started to see hundreds of little jellyfish, maybe an inch long and a few inches apart, descend by my mask. We swam down a while, but then Jade turned and shook her head. We had to surface through the bloom... For most people, it was an unpleasant experience for the next few minutes and while we washed with vinegar aboard the ship. But their marks were gone by evening. Lucky for me, I seem to be particularly sensitive to jellyfish, and have marks on my forearms and legs three weeks later.
For the record, I still loved the dives and would go again :)
After some food and relaxation, we searched out massages again. The boys got foot massages while I went for the back and shoulder given my jellyfish condition. Wonderful. I have no idea what the name of the place was, but when you come off the pier and towards Ton Sai village, it's at the end of the first street on the left which dead ends at a big resort. We went back again the next day and it was equally amazing. 450THB for an hour for back/shoulders and cheaper (300THB range) for foot and Thai massages. But worth every cent of that $15.
We were scheduled for a Night Snorkel with The Adventure Club, a few hours in the early evening hours to snorkel with flashlights to see the nocturnal marine life and bioluminescent plankton at night. Unfortunately, the water got too choppy and our trip was canceled. But a fun night was to be had, starting with a video showing of our scuba trip, Muay Thai boxing at Reggae Bar, and many Chang's and buckets of cocktails. The buckets of cocktails are kind of amazing -- wooden stands that hawk small plastic pails of canned soda, Red Bull, and mini bottles of liquor. You can take them home, or they'll mix them for you and you can sip on them on the sidewalk.
The Reggae Bar is another interesting Ko Phi Phi tourist institution. Patrons are incentivized with a bucket of beer and wings to get into a boxing ring Muay Thai style. They seem to come out of it sweaty and happy, and not too beaten up, and in between, we get to watch Thai fighters
We spent the next afternoon at the Pum Cooking School singing, dancing, cooking and eating with our teacher Nam. The class was the three of us and a Swiss flight attendant, Eva. It was one of the most fun afternoons ever. Nam was a total character, but a great teacher, explaining the ingredients and cooking process for each dish.
Each of us chose a starter, a rice/noodle, curry or soup, and dessert. We also made green and red curry paste from scratch, an exercise which included a huge mortar and pestle and group singing. Dishes included papaya salad, spring roll, chicken satay, tom yum gai, spicy chicken with coconut milk, green chicken curry, massaman curry, phad thai, fried rice, fried bananas in coconut milk, and papaya with sweet coconut rice. Little surprise, we were all carrying food babies by the end (in addition to Eva's actual bun in the oven). So fun and a great afternoon!
We decided to walk off our gluttonous afternoon by heading up to the Viewpoint for the sunset. It is a decent hike up stairs and paths to a clearing that overlooks the isthmus and beaches. They did their photography thing and I enjoyed the sunset and breeze. A sliver of a crescent moon rose and it was beautiful to watch the skies change to darkness. Now the problem with darkness is that the paths are not lit and we navigated down by the light of a phone. Would recommend a head lamp or flashlight next time.
Our last day was a "planes, trains and automobiles" (except with boats instead of trains), with a ferry ride to Phuket, taxi across the island (Phuket is surprisingly huge), flight to Bangkok, quick cab ride into the city for a suit fitting for the boys, cab back out to BKK, and a flight back to Singapore. A fantastic trip all around!
I had a wonderful, jam-packed long weekend in Thailand with two of my favorite travel buddies. Itinerary was one day in Bangkok, three days in Ko Phi Phi, and a day of planes, ferries and automobiles on our way back to Singapore.Here are some highlights:
- Food - best ever, delicious and so cheap! Yummmm :)
- Cooking class - such a fun afternoon of cooking, eating, dancing and singing at the Pum Cooking School in Ko Phi Phi
- Diving/snorkeling - we got to do both in Ko Phi Phi, beautiful clear tropical waters with so much reef life to see!
- Temples - beautiful wats in Bangkok
- Massages - mmm... nothing like a small Thai girl to beat you up after a long day of touring
- Photos - I take lots of pictures, but nothing like the two photo nuts I was with. So many beautiful things to shoot :) See the photobook at the bottom of the post!
- Getting there - Bangkok is the largest city in Thailand with an international airport (BKK) that has direct flights from the US. There also Don Mueang Airport (DMK) where low cost Asian airlines are based for domestic flights. No visa required for Americans
- Water - I didn't have problems, but don't drink the water. I still feel silly brushing my teeth with bottled water, but better safe than sorry I suppose.
- Thai Baht (THB) - Roughly 30THB to the US dollar in Feb 2013. It was fairly easy to find ATMs where our cards worked, but for a fee.
- The King - The Thais take their king seriously. His image is in every building you enter and there are penalties for being disrespectful.
- Toilets - TP goes in the waste bucket, not to be flushed, unless you are in a big building in the city. Girls, it's worth the $1 at Target to get a 3-pack of travel tissues.
- Clothes - It is hot and humid, but unless you are on an island, tank tops and shorts are not considered acceptable dress and especially in temples. Best be respectful and dress more conservatively. The guys wore dry fit all week, which seemed to help with sweat.
- Language - Many Thai in the touristy areas speak some English, but it's nice to say hi (sawadee-ka) and thank you (korbkun-ka) in Thai. Thai Survival Phrases is a good podcast for basics. Good to remember - women end most phrases with "-ka" and men* end phrases with "-krap", so a guy would say "sawadee-krap". Also, there is no consistent phonetic conversion for Thai to Roman alphabet, so beware that sites and street names may be spelled several different ways. For example the famous Bangkok strip may be Khao San, Kao San, or Kao Sarn Road.
*Note: Even if she says "-ka" and is super feminine, she might be a ladyboy. I happen to be particularly bad at noticing them, but apparently we saw many. And on to Bangkok...
We only spent one night and full day on the front end of the trip and a few hours as we traveled through the city on our way out of Thailand, so I'm sure there's a lot left to see.We arrived in Bangkok from Singapore on Thursday evening. 450THB got us a set taxi ride from BKK to our hotel on Sukhumvit, a central district with shops, hotels and restaurants. We stayed at Four Points by Sheraton on SPG points, and it seemed many of the western hotel chains were in the vicinity.
Wat Pho ("wat" means temple) has the largest reclining Buddha in the world and an extensive grounds with many smaller temples within. There are so many things to take pictures of
-- temple facades, statues, people, cats... And so started Jarod and Brandon's photo taking. They have really nice fancy cameras, and many of these beautiful images are thanks to their skills. But there was a lot of photography going on...
We walked to the Grand Palace about a half mile away. I was told that if I see one thing in Bangkok, the Grand Palace is it. Before we were let into the immense grounds, we were stopped and given a scarf and pants to wear to cover up my capri's and Brandon's shorts. It was 30THB for rental and 100THB deposit, which they returned when we came out at the end (exit brings you to same spot you entered). The pants are simply amazing... A note on temple touring - in addition to the no showing arms or legs, there are other rules to keep in mind. Many temples (and some stores) require you to take your shoes off, usually leaving them on a shelf outside.
Never point your feet towards the image of Buddha (like sitting with your legs forward, cross-legged ok). Most places will have signs and someone to remind you, but is nice to know.
The grounds and temples were beautiful, but the Emerald Buddha was really special. The Emerald Buddha is relatively small but bejewled and beautiful and sitting atop a lush tower of more jewels. The temple is covered from floor to ceiling and on the ceiling with murals, and has a large area for people to sit on the ground and pray or meditate or whatever you want to do. Photography is not allowed, but I thought it was nicer that way, because we just sat quietly and observed the great hall.
insisted on finding. Khao San Road is backpacker town and the road is brimming with stands that sell everything a cheap tourist could want. We munched on food cart phad thai and egg rolls with duck sauce, as well as the strangely ubiquitous doner kebob. We did not find the "Charlie Schumacher" that Jarod had previously encountered, but a tuk-tuk driver insisted that he too could be "Charlie". I'll keep it a surprise, but it was a wild ride!We head back towards Sukhumvit for the boys to get fitted for their custom suits, and I enjoyed a foot massage next door in the meantime. After some haggling, everyone was happy, and we had a delicious late dinner. I learned that papaya salad is SPICY and spicy chicken soup with coconut milk is my new favorite Thai dish.
KO PHI PHI
Ko Phi Phi are beautiful tropical islands off of the west coast of southern Thailand near Phuket and Krabi.
We took a 6 AM flight out of the smaller Bangkok DMK airport to Krabi -- short flight but painfully early. We grabbed a taxi from Krabi airport to the waterfront, where we got tickets for the two hour ferry ride to Ko Phi Phi. It was a beautiful day and the top deck was covered with travelers napping and enjoying the warm breeze.
We dropped off our bags and head out for food. I was again reminded that papaya salad is SPICY (I stopped ordering the dish after this) and enjoyed my other favorite dish, larb gai (spicy ground chicken salad). With a few more Changs and food in our bellies, we set out to confirm our next day's scuba and snorkel trips at The Adventure Club and then found ourselves a water taxi driver for the afternoon. A bit expensive but worth it to boat over to Ko Phi Phi Leh, the smaller uninhabited island with beaches and coves.
We enjoyed a massage and some street food chicken skewers for dinner and got some Chang's for the road to explore the island at night. We walked all the way down one end of Ao Ton Sai, then the other side of the isthmus at Ao Lo Dalam , and came across the nightlife. Each bar/club faced the beach with its own brand of music and theme, from clubby to beachy casual to industrial, each packed with happy dancers and drinkers. Several had fire shows -- dancers on platforms with flaming bars or the fuel-soaked jump rope that tourists and professionals got to jump.
The next day, we got up early for our respective dive/snorkels. Jarod and Brandon went on the famous Shark Watch -- guaranteed sighting of the Black Tip Reef sharks in Shark Bay. They did indeed get to see upwards of fifteen sharks, which is pretty cool. The professional photos were 1000THB, which was not unfortunately.
I went on two dives with Adventure Club off of Ko Phi Phi. There were several groups on our dive boat, including classes. Our group of certified divers had four - a Canadian former scuba instructor, a Spaniard from Madrid, and Polish girl taking advantage of a work trip to dive for a week - plus our lovely Aussie guide Jade. It was a great group and glad I got to dive with them!The water is warm so only needed a 3mm shortie and both dives were 45-60 feet max for about 45-50 minutes. Our first dive was Malong, where we saw a sea turtle, enormous pufferfish, and all sorts of crustaceans, and got a nip from Nemo! Jade has made friends with a clown fish, so that when you put out your hand at the anemone, one clown fish shyly retreats inside, but the other will come out and "kiss" you. She explained it could feel like anything from a peck to a bite. I definitely felt the nip :)
The end of the dive was less enjoyable unfortunately. I had felt some stings on the first dive on a finger and my shin, but no one else had seen or felt anything. As we were starting to surface, I felt something on the back of my leg and was going to tell Jade, when she grabbed me. I looked up, and saw a beautiful and terrible sight -- the water all above us was a cloudy pink. Remember Dori and the jellyfish in Finding Nemo? Exactly like that. Then I started to see hundreds of little jellyfish, maybe an inch long and a few inches apart, descend by my mask. We swam down a while, but then Jade turned and shook her head. We had to surface through the bloom... For most people, it was an unpleasant experience for the next few minutes and while we washed with vinegar aboard the ship. But their marks were gone by evening. Lucky for me, I seem to be particularly sensitive to jellyfish, and have marks on my forearms and legs three weeks later.
For the record, I still loved the dives and would go again :)
After some food and relaxation, we searched out massages again. The boys got foot massages while I went for the back and shoulder given my jellyfish condition. Wonderful. I have no idea what the name of the place was, but when you come off the pier and towards Ton Sai village, it's at the end of the first street on the left which dead ends at a big resort. We went back again the next day and it was equally amazing. 450THB for an hour for back/shoulders and cheaper (300THB range) for foot and Thai massages. But worth every cent of that $15.
The Reggae Bar is another interesting Ko Phi Phi tourist institution. Patrons are incentivized with a bucket of beer and wings to get into a boxing ring Muay Thai style. They seem to come out of it sweaty and happy, and not too beaten up, and in between, we get to watch Thai fighters
Our last day was a "planes, trains and automobiles" (except with boats instead of trains), with a ferry ride to Phuket, taxi across the island (Phuket is surprisingly huge), flight to Bangkok, quick cab ride into the city for a suit fitting for the boys, cab back out to BKK, and a flight back to Singapore. A fantastic trip all around!
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