Surprisingly, I had more than two weeks off for Chinese New Year, so a friend and I decided, pretty much on a whim, to go to Thailand!
We flew into Bangkok (a roughly 4 hour flight from Taipei) in the evening and took an incredibly cheap taxi to our Air BnB apartment.
It was too late to do much exploring, but we did venture down the street to an open-air restaurant where we had a full meal, and I had the best Thai iced tea I’d have all trip, for a couple of dollars. We also stopped in a 7-Eleven, and after a thorough investigation, deemed it better than the Taiwanese versions.
The next day was our touristing day. After I discovered we could take a ferry to the Grand Palace, we set off for the pier. This is what greeted us:
People jump off before it’s even stopped, and you have to quickly hop on before it jets away. Ticket takers (or, sellers) walk up and down the edges of the boat, bending down to try to hear you over the roar of the engines, giving you a ticket, and making change, all while standing on the side of the boat as it’s hurtling towards the next pier.
When we made it to the vicinity of the Grand Palace after walking for awhile through the sweltering streets of Bangkok (I know, it was only February, but it was still in the 90s!), we had to go through a brief security check. My friend was in the process of being patted down when the guard asked where he was from. “U.S.,” my friend replied. The shift was instantaneous, the pat down immediately stopped, and my friend was waved through.
Unfortunately, after all of this, the Palace was closed in anticipation of the President’s visit later that afternoon. I did sneak a photo through one of the gates, though.
There’s no shortage of worthwhile tourist sites in that part of the city, though, so we went to Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) instead.
Proper attire is required to visit temples (long pants/skirt and shoulders covered), but if you aren’t prepared, and somehow miss the people selling loose and flowing skirts and pants outside the gates, you’ll be provided with a lime green robe (which I dubbed, “the robe of shame”) to wear.
Tuk Tuks are ubiquitous in Bangkok, and I snapped this photo out of a taxi window en route to the train station, where we went to buy tickets for the overnight train to Surat Thani, then a ferry to Ko Samui.
The next day, after dropping our bags in temporary storage at the train station (and grabbing a Dunkin Donuts coffee), we went to Wat Saket, the Temple on the Golden Mount.
We also went to the Jim Thompson House, a surprisingly Western tourist draw in the middle of Bangkok. Cliffnotes: Jim Thompson was an American OSS operative who moved to Thailand, built an amazing house, and revitalized the silk industry (all of the material for the costumes in The King and I came from his business). While on a walk in the jungle in Malaysia, he disappeared and his body was never recovered. To this day it’s a mystery, with explanations ranging from jungle-related mishap to his OSS past catching up to him.
Our train for the south left Bangkok at 7pm, and according to my friend, I looked a little… less than enthused when we boarded. But I think I was just tired and hungry, and the train was freezing (go figure) and grimily uninviting. After the man came around to convert our seats to beds, however, I was much more into it. The bunks were so cozy! Of course, I slept on the bottom bunk, whereas the denizen of the top has nothing but two seatbelt straps to keep him from rolling into the aisle.
Of course, I say “cozy,” but I’m conveniently forgetting about the small cockroaches scuttling around. I just told myself that the one I stepped on in the aisle was clearly the only one on the whole train.
After a wait at the station in Surat Thani, a long bus ride to the ferry terminal, a cramped and bouncy ferry to Ko Samui, and a lurching drive to our hotel (not to mention dehydration. I had been reluctant to drink anything on the train, not wanting to use the primitive and pretty gross facilities on board), I was definitely the worse for wear.
Luckily it didn’t take much to revive me.
As if having stunning ocean access right behind our hotel wasn’t enough, there was a little cabana set up on the beach where one could have a massage, right next to the ocean, for less than $15. The price varied depending on your selection, but I had a regular oil massage for $8.50 and a coconut oil massage for $11. They even offered an aloe vera massage, fresh from the plant, for those who’d spent a bit too long in the sun (all of us).
While this was in almost every way a perfect beach vacation, I’d never visited any place where the difference between local and tourist is so stark. In most of my travels there is more of a blending of labels: some locals work in the restaurants, some locals eat in the restaurants, some foreigners are there to work, some to study, etc.
Thailand relies on its tourist industry, and in places like Ko Samui and Phuket, every single local you encounter works in that industry (whether as a waitress, taxi driver, hotel staff, masseuse, bartender, etc), and everyone else is a tourist. So while I knew my visit was contributing to an important aspect of their economy, I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable at the constant service of the Thais to the (comparatively) rich, and almost exclusively white, tourists.
Anyway, where else to go on a tropical vacation than an ice bar?!
Robes were provided on entrance, shots came in glasses made of ice, and the people who worked there, used to the temperatures of Thailand, turned blue the second they entered the room (you don’t stay in the ice room the whole time; at 19 degrees F, -7 degrees C, it’s just a novelty).
After Ice Bar, we stumbled on the coolest, hole-in-the-wall place, On Street Bar. The owner was incredibly friendly, and insisted on several selfies. Two musicians were playing American pop covers that they clearly knew the music to very well. The words, well, the singer tossed them into the melody wherever he felt like it. It was fantastic.
From Ko Samui, we took the bus (first a mini bus to the ferry, the ferry, and finally the real bus) to Phuket, a 5 hour trip. Phuket is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, but we stayed outside the main city, near Karon beach.
On our first full day, we rented a scooter so we could get to some other parts of the island, like the Big Buddha.
Fun story: My friend and I were both wearing shorts and tank tops that day (granted my shorts were a bit shorter than his, but the comparison stands), and when we arrived at the entrance to the Buddha, an attendant immediately wrapped me in a full length skirt and threw a shawl over my shoulders. My friend? They took one look at him and waved him through. I don’t mind dress codes, all I ask is for gender-equal dress codes! Give him a lime-green robe of shame!
The next day, we signed up for a tour of some of the islands around Phuket. After an early morning start, we found ourselves canoeing (or, being canoed, as each boat had a designated Thai tour guide and paddler, which, again, was a little uncomfortable) around and under small islands.
We also went to “James Bond Island” (Phang Nga), where some of Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. To get there, we were shuttled onto these colorful “long boats” powered by uncovered, repurposed diesel engines (or so my friend informed me. I would really have no idea. But they were loud and smelled bad).
We also got a chance to go swimming! They anchored our boat near an island, a place where they promised there were no jelly fish or sharks (and I’d seen many jelly fish throughout the day as I looked over the edge of the boat), and let us jump off the top deck!
There was parasailing at almost every beach we visited (no, I never did it!). At Karon, they were doing beach takeoffs and landings (as opposed to doing it from a boat). It was a shock when I first realized that someone was riding along with every trip, not harnessed in, just sitting on the lines. In this video, you can see him run along with the people and pull himself up right as they take off.
While banana pancakes (or Nutella, or coconut, or peanut butter… the list goes on) were my main street-dessert, Thailand also has many other unique creations, like these ice cream rolls (which have taken NYC by storm… move over, cronut).
And spending 99% of the time on the beach, we saw so many gorgeous sunsets.
Going Out Your Door 