Thailand: An Escape Plan

30. November 2008 bramski

As I realize many of you have been somewhat concerned, after many days of formulating and investigating different plans to make my way to Korea and catch a flight home, I’ve been given word that there is room for a flight from Phuket -> Incheon on Wednesday.  This comes as a great relief as I received the phone call about it while on our way to the bus station to book travel to Hat Rai so that I could make my way all the way to Kuala Lampur by Tuesday night.  Sufficed to say, Phuket is a lot closer, and I’ve got a nice sleeper bus to get me to Phuket Tuesday morning.

I’ll be sure to update you all with some interesting stories of my journey home, but I wanted to let you all know that I’m in very good spirits here in Thailand.  Despite what you may wonder about the situation here in Thailand, it’s incredibly calm.  I think Brian’s posting put it well… “one would hardly know the country is in the middle of a coup attempt were it not for reports on the Internet and some locals talking about the airport being closed.”  It’s very true, Thailand is still very nice, and they’re giving all those stranded by the airport closure travel stipends (so I’ll be seeing how I can collect my supposed 2,000 baht today).  Cheers!

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Less salt, more tuk tuks!

25. November 2008 bramski

Let me be the first to say, I love tuk tuks.  Particularly riding them around Chiang Mai at 11pm.   With their little whiney engine’s and how incredibly breezy they are, I really want to start launching turtle shells off of them.  I’ll just call them little Asian go-karts for now. They’re great for hanging 4 feet out of and doing drive by camera shots with, so long as you make sure nobody on their motorbike is going to run into you.

After a full 6 days in Tonsai beach, climbing 6b’s and 6c’s to my heart’s content, I’ve left bungalow land and am now in my second day in Chiang Mai, the northern Thai province.  It’s quite relieving to be in a place with a MASSIVE street market, and cheap cheap eats.  Chiang Mai is more what Thailand seems to be about: monks, great food, good weather, and crazy town antics.  There are a lot more tourists here than in China, but this is an incredibly relaxed atmosphere.  The city is really known for it’s amazing cooking classes, and Thai massage classes.  I met a whole slough of folks last night through a climber here named Kate, all of whom are studying Thai massage, for months and months at a time, as well as Yoga.  I spent my time today at the Thai Baan cooking school, and am still just reeling from the food (as well as the pounds of chili peppers we chopped).  I’ll have to get together with Matt, Jason, and Dave who are taking their Thai cooking class in Bangkok tomorrow for a cookfest upon return to Seattle.

The suit shops here are amazing.  I’m getting both a tuxedo and a full blue/black suit for less than $600, and they’ll keep my measurements for 5 years.  I owe the idea to get the suit here to the two guys who helped me to get my rope across AirAsia to Bangkok (apparently ropes fit under the category of “dangerous items”, and you’re not allowed to carry them on.)  Say hi to Kylie for me fellas!  Also, many thanks to Brian for his great hospitality and extremely comfy couch in Bangkok, you have no idea how much that hot shower meant to me!

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