Namaste Nepal ... Sawasdee Siam

Adam and I enjoyed our time in the mountains of Nepal; trekking in the Himalaya was an incredible experience. But once we returned to Kathmandu from the Khumbu/Everest region, we were anxious to return to Bangkok. It had gotten much colder, even in Kathmandu, by mid-
December than it was when we first arrived at the beginning of November -- night-time lows approached freezing in the capital. In a city where very few buildings (our guesthouse included) are heated, that meant being cold much of the time. I was looking forward to roasting in Bangkok's heat and humidity. We also found Kathmandu, and the traveller's ghetto of Thamel in particular, overwhelmingly noisy, dirty and chaotic after the tranquility of the mountains. Horns blare constantly in the streets and pedestrians must constantly avoid kamakaze motorcycles weaving through people and traffic. Everyone wants to sell you something -- pashminas, trinkets, or drugs usually -- and harasses you as you pass. While there is an abundance of choice in the restaurants of Thamel, all the food is mediocre at best, and we usually sought out simple, Nepali and Tibetan food, which became very repetitive, and craved the culinary delights of Thai food. Finally, the fact that Kathmandu was without power more often than not began to wear on us.

Thankfully, after we arrived in Kathmandu, we almost immediately went to the Thai airlines office to change our flight, which was done efficiently and without any charge. (Unlike our flight from BKK to Kathmandu, the return flight to Bangkok was almost empty.) Adam almost jumped for joy right there in the Thai airlines office -- it meant he was four days closer to being back in Bangkok.

We spent our last few days in Nepal catching up on email and internet (when there was power), enjoying 'real' coffee, and doing a bit of sightseeing. We went to one of the largest buddhist stupas in the world at Boudha, which is a peaceful haven in a far corner of Kathmandu, and also to one of the holiest Hindu shrines in Nepal at Pashupati, which could not be more different. The complex at Pashupati is chaotic, crawling with monkeys, and teeming with life and death. It is on the banks of the Bagmati River, and is the holiest place in Nepal for Hindus to be cremated. (It is often compared to Varanasi on the Ganges River in India, but in my view, the two complexes are far more different than they are similar.) In fact, the burning ghats, where Hindus are cremated on pyres along side the river, is the biggest draw for tourists to Pashupati. (Sadly, we saw several people photographing and/or filming the ghats as though they were a spectacle, and not the site of someone else's grief.)

The process of getting on our flight from Kathmandu to Bangkok, and the flight itself, was quintessentially Nepali. We arrived at the airport just after 11am, where everyone who was entering the international terminal had to queue up in a single line. There was little order to the line, which moved slowly, and a fair amount of line-jumping. Various Nepali men (who were very clearly not flying anywhere) stood in line, and then gave up their spots near the front, for a small fee of course. The line moved slowly, and eventually we were allowed into the airport, where our bags were x-rayed. After paying a steep departure fee, we got into the Thai airlines check-in line, where we had to wait an interminable length of time (despite being the second in line) because their computer system was down. Once finally checked-in, we escaped the chaotic single departure area to the relative peace and sanctuary of the airport's single restaurant in the Radisson hotel. (Amazingly, a cold Carlsberg really improved Adam's spirits.) When boarding time came, we walked to the gate area, which was little more than a room at the far end of the airport, and then walked out across the tarmac and up the stairs onto the plane. (I had done walk-on boarding for lots of little planes and jets before, but I had never walked up and onto a Boeing 777 like that. It's a big plane ...) Despite boarding on time, we didn't leave on time. The pilot announced that the plane was ready to take-off, and it was the scheduled boarding time, but Kathmandu's air traffic control tower said they had to wait (for other traffic) ... and so we waited. And waited. I found it amusing but unsurprisingly that the Thai airlines staff took pains to explain that they were ready to go on-time, but it was the Nepali airport authorities that were preventing our take-off. In 40 days in Nepal, nothing had ever happened on time or left on time, so why would our departure be any different?

When we arrived in Bangkok, things could not have been more different than from Nepal. Adam and I felt like we had returned to the real world from the moon. That may sound harsh, but its hard to convey how isolated from the modern world we felt towards the end of our time in Nepal. And in stark contrast, Bangkok is a thriving global metropolis, coping with issues common to the rest of the developing world (e.g. poverty, corruption, pollution) but simultaneously indulging in excess and opulence. Before we left Nepal, we managed to find a great deal on a posh hotel in the downtown Sukhumvit district on the internet, (unsprisingly, high-end tourism in Thailand has taken a hit after the airport shut-down.) and we got upgraded when we checked-in, so we had a pretty nice place to stay for our first four nights back in Bangkok. We took advantage of the downtown location to visit the Vietnam embassy and apply for our visas (which couldn't have been done in Canada), window shop in some of the uber-expensive malls, and buy more weather appropriate clothing at the Chatuchak weekend market. We also took advantage of the hotel's rooftop pool/lounge area and nightly happy hour (free beer and snacks).

Halfway through our time in Bangkok, we returned to the old city area and to Lamphu Tree House hotel, where we had stayed before going to Nepal. Not as luxurious as the hotel downtown, but we weren't hard done by at Lamphu either -- the boutique hotel is decorated with teak wood reclaimed from a traditional Thai house. The location near the Grand Palace, Khao San Road, and Chao Phraya River is excellent as well. While staying at Lamphu, we ate lots of cheap street food, found cheap internet to post pictures, and shopped for more cheap clothes. (We donated most of our old cold weather clothes before leaving Nepal, and shipped home to Canada all the cold weather gear that was worth keeping.) One evening we took the boat down the river to Silom (downtown), gawking at the temples and really posh hotels on the river's banks, then had drinks at Sirocco's Sky Bar on the 63rd floor of the State Tower - expensive but worth it for the jaw dropping view. On Christmas Eve, we had an amazing once-in-a-lifetime dinner at Le Normandie, which we will be talking about for years.

Christmas Day was very un-Christmas-y. Adam was sick with the flu, and I ended up running around Bangkok on foot and public transit by myself for much of the day, collecting our passports and visas from the Vietnamese embassy and confirming bus/ferry tickets for our trip to Koh Tao the next day. We had a very low key dinner, as Adam was still sick, then it was off to bed to get some sleep before our very early bus ride the next morning. We were up before 5am to go and catch the bus. I'm pretty sure that's the earliest I've ever gotten out of bed on Boxing Day - I'd never wake up that early to go shopping! But the bus left more-or-less on time and we arrived at the pier in Chumphon just shortly before the ferry departed at 1pm -- perfect timing. The ferry ride to Koh Tao was almost 2 hours -- 2 horrible unbearable hours for me -- in which the catamaran pitched and bobbed and swayed every which way. People all around us were sick. Adam was completely fine, but it I had to put my head down and it was all I could do not to be ill ... Seems the seas are still a little rough this time of year.

We were thrilled to finally arrive on an island and start the warm-weather-paradise part of our trip. We had some initial challenges in finding accomodation, as the weeks over Christmas and New Year's Day are the busiest time on all the Thai islands. Also, I think the days of the $10 bungalow on the beach, which I enjoyed when I travelled to Thailand 8 years ago, are pretty much over. On Koh Tao, and in Haad Sairee (the biggest, 'main' beach) in particular, very little accomodation is right on the beach. Bungalows on the beach or with any kind of ocean view run about $100 Cdn per night, and the budget bungalows (usually in the $30 Cdn range) are at least a block back from the water. But Adam found us something decent for the first night (although nowhere near the ocean), and the next morning we checked into the bungalows provided by his scuba diving school, Scuba Junction. Adam will be doing his open- water certification scuba diver course over the next four days, and most scuba schools offer free or heavily discounted accomodation to their students. Scuba Junction's bungalows aren't posh (no hot water, no shelves or anything for storage, and rock-hard beds), but they're cheap ($7 per day while diving, $15 per day regular) and we're a stones throw from the water ... although I can't actually see it. Adam will be busy all day long doing his course though, and I'll be diving for half the day, so we don't need much more.

Also, while it's the busiest time on Koh Tao, it's not the best. The monsoon has just ended so the seas are rough and the weather is so-so. It poured rain yesterday and threatened to rain today. It's perpetually cloudy. And the mosquitos are fierce. So we might as well be diving or climbing because it's not really sunworshipping weather. (Although the rough seas cause their own problems for diving and rain is no good for climbing). Koh Tao itself isn't going to win any prizes in the beach paradise pageant, due to haphazardand unattractive development along the main beaches. But don't feel too sorry for us. There are lots of cool beach bars to sit and drink fruit shakes at. (we average 2 banana shakes a day.) The food is tasty and reasonably cheap. (I eat about 5 times a day.) And 2 nights ago we had a Thai massage on the beach (for the bargain price of $10). When the mozzies aren't devouring me, the evenings are perfect for long walks on the beach. It's a tough life.

Going forward, after Adam completes his scuba diver course and I've done some diving, the plan is to investigate some of the rock climbing on the island. I'm sure Adam will post all about it once he's done a few days, but he's pretty excited to get back on some rock (granite) after two full months off. I'm not sure how long we'll be on Koh Tao ... it is probably related to how good the
climbing, and the diving, is.

Wishing everyone happy holidays, and a happy New Year!
Robin

[Note: My apologies for the format of the original post, and the re-post, should you receive it again by email. Mobile blogging -- from my iPod -- is not entirely bug-free.]