Back to Bangkok...our new home

Upon arriving in Bangkok again, I called my friend Samuli.  He was in Thailand on his honeymoon and we had several times just missed meeting up...always a "so close, but so far away" time...but he would soon be coming to the airport...and so we arranged to meet within the airport.  Samuli was an exchange student at UMAC and about 8 years had passed since we had seen each other...and I was super stoked to meet his wife Maarit.  It was a great little catch up session before they had to head back to frosty Finland.

We decided to take a different guesthouse this time...one that had breakfast included and a private bathroom...in order to get everything set in motion to figure out what we would be doing here in Thailand.  Wendy Guesthouse was just down the street from LubD and they had longer term rate "deals"...so we took advantage of that...and it was nice to have breakfast included...

...it was a lot of the same, Scott doing classes and finishing up his experimental short film through correspondence and the search for jobs and homes was the newest task we threw on our plate.  I started off looking at places right near our guest house.  It was quite funny because every time I went to one the security guard met me with "this is not a hotel" to which I would respond "yes, I know...I have a few questions for the front desk on getting a room for a year" to which most of the guards would resign, give me a visitor's badge and just watch me walk towards the front door because I'm pretty sure they had no idea what I said...

I took notes on the apartments and brought Scott with me to see the best ones...and we made an appointment to meet the owner of one unit, but when we had the meeting--the negotiating game was going. Poy had come with us...and we told Scott our concerns with the unit and planned strategy and Scott executed it--good team work.  Unless we got the unit for less than asking price because of all the work that had to go into it, we would be getting another place.  Well, I made appointments galore to see places...the infinity pools were definitely tempting, but the rooms in many of them were just awkward and I couldn't see myself living in them.  Then, we managed to see a load of apartments in one condo complex called: Lumpini Place near the Pharam 9 MRT (10 minute walk to the metro) and across from the hospital...

Well, let it be known we fell in love with the complex...it was open and airy.  The rooms in Buildings A and B were just 6 months old and C was just completed.  We saw many of the rooms and we finally settled on one.  We just needed the water heater for the bathroom to be installed and we signed for it.  It could have been that the amazing pool was the signing point....and the fitness room wasn't bad either, or the sauna...

There are atms on the ground floor as well as a 7-11, laundry facility that does dry cleaning and ironing (or all the laundry if we become that lazy or pressed for time), a little eatery, and there is an MRT shuttle...

Since signing, we have been cleaning and trying to organize our place (with our Debit Cards frozen--should anyone want/need advice or want to hear which banking institutions you should/shouldn't use while traveling internationally--or just want a very comedic rant...do let me know...) and get all the paperwork done for internet, our cards for the pool/fitness room and prepare for work.  It has been fun starting to decorate and organize the place...and find what exactly we packed when we were in San Francisco...over a month ago.  

For now, we have two security/elevator key cards but only one set of keys for the apartment...so coordinating is important for the ability to get in and out of the place.  Scott is out now, and hopefully he is making another set of apartment keys while out on errands...but we will see what he brings back!  

Last weekend we did hit Chatujak (JJ) Market to scope out what crazy things we could use in our house and help Poy figure out what to bring with her on her trip.  We went late in the day so we mainly saw the end of the market and the police walking around and some of the vendors running...those that didn't have the appropriate stalls set up and such...it still is quite an amazing alert system...

So I envision much of our time now will simply be putting together the house and organizing our work things and I officially start work on Monday, so I have been prepping as best I can.  I can't even remember how long it has been since I had a 9-5, five days a week...with weekends off job...its very different.  I may take on some part time teaching, but we will have to see what goes on.  

Now that we finally have the house, I cannot wait to start reconnecting to the people I haven't seen in years here...

Hello KL...and our days here...

 

Scott and I headed to the flight in the wee hours of the morning...and so here we are in KL!  We took the bus to train transit and ended ourselves up at the Twin Towers.  We are here mainly for a visa run, but I am sure we will be enjoying the sites during the rest of the time.  Its another try at seeing some of our friends in town...if they are around...and spending great times in a new place...pictures to come soon....when I have my camera cable. We are well and healthy and doing well....

So upon arrival in KL, we took the amazing public transportation into the Central station and got ourselves (if even on accident) to the Petronas (twin) towers. We took some pictures there and headed off to our hotel in China town. We stayed at D’Oriental which before night fall was just a street with some vendors on the side—however at night, a night market springs out of seemingly thin air.

We wandered around and tried to get ourselves oriented. We had some lovely food on the streets and turned in early the first night because we had our visa run to do the next day. It was a well needed early night as we awoke at 3am to get our early flight into KL.

The next day we wandered to the Thai Embassy. It was good we were early and we weren’t there for so long. It was also nice that the fee was waved. We went back to the towers and already the free tickets were out for the day, so we wandered around for a bit before deciding on a movie. It was a nice day to just chill out and wander around. We saw a park and definitely had fun taking pictures and playing on the playground.

It was a little of a busy day as I was trying to reach Ana, a former student of my parents when they taught in Japan, and I was to see if I had a job interview that day. We spent some time in the internet café and on the payphones and finally we got it all squared away. We would have a lazy morning, head off to pick up our visas and then I would head to an interview. I would contact Ana afterward to make sure that we can meet up. It was a little bit of a blur running from place to place—but at least it was very easy to get anywhere in the city.

We went for snacks and found we would meet Ana in the evening so we headed out to a reggae bar (yes I do think we find them everywhere that we are) for a couple drinks and hookah. It was a beautiful little place with good atmosphere. We headed out to our lobby to meet up and then we had some magnificent seafood in the street market. We just let the locals order—as that is normally best. It was a wonderful meal and I know we will be meeting up again.

The next morning we took the train to Batu Caves...it was a bit as I remembered it--giant golden statue and a lot of stairs...but Laura this is for you...no matter where I was...all the monkeys came near me.  I had no camera and didn't wish to get any pictures of them, but they were next to me anyhow.  My theory is they are like cats--if you want to play with them they wander away...if you ignore them then they want all your attention.  The other thing to note is I was not carrying a beverage in hand so there was nothing to steal from me.  (I learned that in China when a monkey stole my sprite...in a bottle...and then proceeded to open it and drink it in front of me.)  I am sure Scott will post all the monkey pictures as he was the one taking pictures of them...and I was the one trying to walk away from them....

And then, before we knew it, we would be heading back to Bangkok....

Back to Bangkok

Well, and so we found ourselves back in Bangkok.  

We again stayed at Lub-D and it was great to have the company of Leeni, one of the Finns from the island with us. 

While Scott was diligent and completed his courses...Leeni and I would sit on our terrace in front of the hostel and chat into the wee hours of the morning (maybe afternoon...possibly?) and chat with whom ever joined our table.  The last night we actually went to Gazebo--a beautiful outside terrace with live music.  It was a night to remember...pictures to come up soon.  

Scott and I went to see Black Swan in the theaters here...and I foresee more movies in our future....I love the Bangkok theaters.

We also went to Poy's house and I know Viking was a little apprehensive--but Scott and him played until they were both pretty tired.  It was good to catch up with the family some.  

During this period is the great earthquake tragedy of Japan--and trying to check in on friends in the path of destruction was difficult. It seems that my friends in Japan are doing well and people are still giving us constant updates.  I'm also glad to report that the damage in Hawaii was less than initially predicted and it seems people are doing as best they can for the circumstances. 

The Island Days

Our super Asian Power Poses

All our days on the island pretty much combined into one giant retreat because we were so relaxed.  We moved into a more basic bungalow the second day and stayed there for the duration of our time on the island.  It was a rustic bungalow which had the basics--a toilet (western style, but not the flushing one--you had to throw a bucket of water into it to make it flush), simple shower, bed with mosquito net, bookshelf and shelf, and hammock...that was all we needed.  Now, this older bungalow which was built right before the tsunami was fine for us, even though there were slight gaps between the floorboards (miraculously we only once lost the house of air bracelet through the cracks) I believe this kept a lot of the sand outside :)

Our Bungalow

I enjoyed having the exchange library (which most backpacker destinations have) and finished 5 books during the course of my stay.  I kept a pretty detailed journal and just let myself enjoy the quiet that surrounded me.  I was pretty partial to the hammock that hung on our lanai and very much enjoyed going to bed and waking up to the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach.  I imagine this is the type of place that people get sent to when they have nervous breakdowns--just a very sleepy place where you can keep to yourself or go out and meet the others on the island and participate in whatever is going on.

Our bungalow community was a pretty friendly group, with many people coming and going after a few days--however, being as shy as Scott and I are, we made some pretty good friends and already have some travel  and meet ups planned.  Since we stayed longer than the "normal" stint, we were pretty much adopted into the "long timers" group with all the tricks of the trade of the island handed to us.  

Scott was very excited that we made the acquaintance of  some Finns who also wanted to go jungle trekking and they took off with machetes and...well Scott will have more on that story...I had managed to cut my feet a bit on the rocks and decided to heal up instead.  

Sometimes we found ourselves at the local watering hole--Thai Bar--which had some pretty amazing music and all the people from all the bungalows met here. It was sure to be a good time and it would continue to be beautiful entertainment to try to watch people climb this pole in the middle of the bar.

Eero, Simone, Harri, Scott

We met a beautiful German couple--Hans and Simone--who had been coming here for years for a few months at a time.  We had some great times with them and hopefully will be meeting back up with them in Kanchanaburi.

The spunky Simone and Hans

It seemed all the bungalow "mini villages" had a feel about them based in part about the long term patrons--but everyone was friendly.  It was nice to walk past and everyone seemed to greet each other (minus many of the German retirees--apparently in German guides the island now had a 4 page write up--but they stayed at the more posh and "better equipped" bungalows farther down from us). 


One of the first nights I had asked Scott to check the bathroom in our bungalow to see if there was anything there--just to be aware of.  He took a quick glance around and said no. There was nothing there--no spiders.  I went in and looked up on the wall and called him back in because there was a foot and a half  "too-kay" lizard he apparently missed seeing.  Now, the first evening in our bungalow he was startled awake by a very loud sound--one we had explained to him in Hua Hin--but this was loud enough and near enough by that he shone the flashlight to see if he could see anything.  However, the torch doesn't really go through the mosquito net so well, so he couldn't see it, but could hear it scamper away.  At least now he knew what it looked like--I had explained big lizard with red dots...and that was what was in our bathroom.  We quickly learned that our lizard would be somewhere in the bungalow every night, but from then on pretty much stuck to the ceiling when we came in until we crawled under the mosquito net. It was a pretty nice mutual arrangement.

--On a side note, our friend Alex had told us about a time he was staying in Koh Phangan. He was sleeping and one of those lizards fell from the ceiling, through the mosquito net and the both of them were running circles trying to get out.  That is pretty much what I thought about when I saw the lizard the first time--that he may fall off the wall and towards me...oh well.


Apparently there are also pythons and cobras that are on the island but I managed to miss them all.  I did see the jumping fish and many crabs and various birds...next time the jungle trek is in order for me to attend and maybe next time I will see more wildlife...

Mama Elle helped us arrange our bus tickets and answer pretty much any question we had.

She told us how much it would be if we called in advance and booked for a while because I think she knew we would be coming back.  Her Kitty named Tofu had just had 3 kittens which were a joy to watch and have around.

  I didn't realize but her Pup Pancake was pregnant.  

The other Pup Bacon did see us off...it was nice to have the tame animals around us.  There were quite a few dogs on the island and there would be times where the fights between them were a bit much, but someone would normally discourage them, at least for a while.  

From the Lanai

It was such a great, relaxing time on a quiet little island--I hope it remains that way for us to visit again soon.  I enjoyed the sporadic fires and music.  It was great to just grab a table to eat at where people would just come and join you.  It was hard to say goodbye to the atmosphere, to the people and that slice of paradise that we had shared.  All the goodbyes however were not goodbye but see you soon--but it was hard to leave.  When that boat pulled up in the morning to take some of our friends, we knew that this time was coming to an end.

Leaving the Island

Away they go

Scott and Henri

  Our boat came a few hours after that and we gave hugs and waved until we could no longer see our friends on the shore.  

I remembered our first days on the island where you would see hoards of people knee-deep in the water helping others on the boats and waving goodbye--we were now those people.  And we sailed away...back to the city, though a small city, back to the responsibilities of communications by internet and phone and the job search.  

That little vacation was a great little break from all the responsibilities other than just being there--being present there and then with no distractions.  It was a little bit heartbreaking to leave, though I knew I would very much be looking forward to showers with hot water--in lit bathrooms.  I was looking forward to feeling clean and not washing my clothes by hand.  I was looking forward to wearing different clothes than I had been wearing every day in rotation.  I was looking forward to not having sand on everything and checking my email, facebook and applying for jobs.  I thought it would be great to charge all my electronics at once--all the way through instead of in rotation for a few hours a night.  I was glad to have many conveniences near at hand, not having to use a torch to get home at night...yet it would be different.


I really enjoyed having a running tab, just writing down the beverages we would take through the day in our ledger as well as our meals with Mama Elle just checking them over and tallying them up each night.  I loved having some of my biggest decisions of the day including: which swimsuit to wear; what I should eat that meal; should I read on the beach, in the hammock or the common area; and should I go for a walk or a swim? Ah, and I suppose that is why it is vacation.  I will be back there and I hope it won't have changed too much.

Island Paradise

There's our boat!

The yellow bags are full of ice that they deliver to the island from the mainland. There you can also see the bags and half the passengers.  The others are out trying to get some sun!

I was a bit worried when I saw all the people at the ferry station.  I figured it was going to be a full on party island like Ko Samui and Ko Pagnan--which was quite the opposite of what I was going for, but luckily there were boats for the two islands going at the same time.  What a relief it was when we boarded the quieter boat!

On the boat

Karen, Frank, Valerie

We started to get a feel for the people around us and share travel stories--the beautiful and the horrific.  It was a stunning view all the way there and we decided to pass on the first beach which looked as if it only had maybe 8 bungalows and head for the larger beach.  We went around the bend and it looked beautiful...

We decided to stay on that beach and there was a guy from the beach that helped us off with our bags--go figure--he was from Sonoma.  Since we had skipped breakfast, we asked him, Dori, straight away where the best food was--and he led us to bungalows at the very edge of the beach and said he stayed there as well.  Luckily, they also had a bungalow available (I had tried booking online, but it seemed even if there were websites, there was not a place to book) and it was a newer one.  We threw our stuff down, had some great food and settled in.  We would only be in the new bungalow one night--and switch tomorrow to the basic bungalow.  The difference was this one was made of concrete and had a nicer bathroom...but the more rustic room would be fine. 

Our first bungalow

We wandered the length of the beach and it seemed each resort had its own little culture.  Towards the rocks we saw some movement in the water.  I'm still not sure what the critters were but they seemed to be a mix between a lizard and a fish that skipped the water but lingered on the rocks.  Scott took a video snippet (which pictures and videos will be posted soon) which I am sure he will be happy to post.  We wandered back and met back up with two of the people that we met on the boat--Valerie and Frank from BC. We grabbed a meal together with Dori and the Belgian guy (his name escapes me) that we rode in with and shared stories of the island and other bits with one another. 

Thai Bar staff...and me

The four of us who were new to the island decided we would hit up the Thai Bar at the other end of the island.  Well, luckily, one of us had a headlamp--it's quite dark when none of the electricity is on...and we are navigating unfamiliar territory.  Well, my favorite was the bridge--essentially two planks wide, with bamboo posts to hold onto as we made our way over the river...again, thank goodness for the headlamp! The bartenders were amazing and soon enough we were joined by another group of people who told us that the bar challenge is to climb the wooden post in the middle of the bar--and for the rest of the night, we watched this--with Frank being able to complete the task at hand. 

We wandered back and Valerie saw something shimmery and lo and behold there was phosphorus in he water so we skipped in the water back to our bungalows...

Ranong

At our hotel

Well, we arrived safely in Ranong and piled our bags and ourselves onto the motobike to bring us to our hotel.  We stayed just outside the main town, needless to say it was pretty quiet--which was a good thing as Scott was trying to finish his courses.  I caught up on some reading and journaling.  We stayed at Pathu Resort http://www.pathuresortranong.com/gallery.html and had a wonderful time there. 

We read the town was more of a visa run (to Burma/Myanmar) town or to get to the islands of Ko Phayam and Ko Chang of the Andaman sea.  After venturing to town, I was glad we weren't in the bustling town of constant movement of tourists leaving to and fro.  

Fruit Selection in town

We found a lovely little bar that had atmosphere and a pool table which was quite nice.  I had hoped the Lonely Planet would not disappoint, but I really was not a fan of the recommendations...and am glad we went our own way.

Scott went on a gigantic hike to see a temple from the Hot Springs...but he will post those pictures and that story I have no doubt.  

Scott with the Daddy Hot Springs

Linz at the Hot Springs (Daddy Spring in back)

Daddy Spring

Mommy and Baby Spring

There was a beautiful Hot Springs area in which the water was supposed to be healing, so we watched the others and tried to imitate what they did at the springs.  There were 3 springs: The daddy, mommy and baby springs.  In the littlest spring there were eggs being boiled so it was no wonder I could barely get my feet in.  We tried an area that looked like the water may still be cooler, but at the hot springs...yea...there was a gent that looked local that was up to his neck in the water--again, I could get but barely my feet in....oh well.

We walked around the area for a while--taking pictures and enjoying the contrast of Bangkok to this hot springs area.

There was a large heated concrete slab that was actually quite nice to lay on.  There were people getting massages--and an older man looked at me, gave me a thumbs up...and I gently refused his offer across the way, but half thought about saying yes for Scott who was snoozing beside me.  I decided against Scott waking up to an old man walking on his back, but it seemed a good idea....next time...next time.

A, Scott, Linz, and Mai at the ferry dock

We had mentioned that we would probably want to leave the next day to our hotel owner and she smiled and said sure.  I was updating our blog waiting for Scott to get up for breakfast and at 815am she told us that she had arranged taxi and could arrange boat for us.  We were leaving at 9.  Needless to say, blogging was cut short, we rushed to pack up and head to the ferry.  We had missed breakfast, but along we the way we spotted something under Mai's seat...it was a pendant.  She spoke in a very excited and animated manner to her husband A and then turned back to us letting us know she had been looking for it for the past two weeks.  This was a pendant that her brother was wearing the day he got married and had given it to her--and then it had been misplaced.  The curious thing was they hadn't used this car on the day of the wedding and somewhere along the way the red pouch protecting the pendant was missing--but at least we spotted it, under the seat. 

We were asking their recommendations for the islands...we had an idea of where we wanted to go, but were interested to hear what they had to say. Although they had lived there all their lives they had only been to one of the islands...so we told them we would let them know what we thought and we parted ways at the ferry station.