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snails4martianrights-blog · 8 years ago

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Seoul Train!

There was no train. I debated with myself whether to go with “Seoul Survivor” or possibly “Save my Seoul” but went with neither to the relief of many. But I did enjoy my short trip to the Korean capital, and drove myself to brankruptsy in the process. They have cute clothes, what can I say.

^ This is a traditional Korean outfit called a Hanbok. There’s a male version too, but the female one shown here makes the women who wear them look like princesses. <3 Also, there were a lot of variations on this, and not everyone was wearing one, just to be clear.

I went on this trip to Korea to see Seoul, and that’s it. I was really tired from going to Hong Kong, so I decided to chill and only visit one place. Consequently, I know that what I saw in Seoul is probably not going to cover what all of Korea is like. Anyways.

I was really excited to see some the famous Korean skin care stuff and wasn’t disappointed. As soon as I flew in I started walking around the city and found a chain store that sells a ton of awesome skin care stuff.

^ This is the store. They, and others like them, are everywhere.

^ This is the stuff I bought. ‘Spensive.

Walking around in Seoul is like walking around in most large cities, and Seoul is very modern. It has a ton of hills though, so come prepared to get some legs. It’s not as bad in this regard as Hong Kong, but still nothing to shake a stick at.

I decided to walk around and explore the subway, and before long it was getting dark and I needed to get to my airbnb accommodations. After miles of walking and confusion, as I seem to enjoy doing things, I asked my host, Lydia, where she lived and then my phone promptly died. I found an outlet eventually which let me charge it a bit, and then mooched off of a Starbucks’ internet in the witching hour (I will forever love Starbucks because they always pull through), and found my way to a charming historical neighborhood.

^These neighborhoods are supposed to be very similar to how they looked a hundred or more years ago. Also, this is what they look like in the day, not when I originally flopped into them at the same time of day a navy seal starts a raid.

So I finally found the place, and Lydia was fairly upset over what seemed like my untimely midnight demise, which was nice of her since she didn’t know me yet. She was still a little upset though, so we decided to get drunk on some random wine she had, which is often a good solution to problems. It also turns out she speaks both English and Korean. Heckin cool. Sadly, I forgot to take a selfie with her like I normally do when I randomly meet people, but that’s alright.

Anyways, the next day I woke up in Lydia’s house, not dead, and decided to go to Itaewon, which is famous for having really good, cheap tailors. Apparently you can get a whole suit made from scratch for under a hundred dollars. I didn’t have time for anything so elaborate, but I did get a couple vintage dresses altered. They have a lot of cute vintage clothes here and I have no idea how they have so many. Maybe they were originally made in Korea or something.

^ Me standing in a vintage clothing shop wearing an extra small dress as a jacket

I ended up exploring an area that had a lot of British antiques. Like most cities, you can find stuff from everywhere, but the focus was a little different. The Japanese and Vietnamese seem enamored by the French, but in Seoul it seems that the trendy foreign group is the Brits. I stopped and had lunch at a Radical British Vegan cafe, and looked out the window.

^ Out the vegan cafe window

I hopped back on the subway to go see an old palace, and they were selling these bags of soft dough fish with filling in them on the subway, so I bought a bag despite having already had lunch.

^ The last small dough fish from the subway.

The Palace and Museum

The palace and the museum next to it were a really cool look into Korea’s past. I was extremely impressed by how well their documents were stored and preserved. Notebooks from centuries ago looked fresh, like they were made recently. Apparently the royal family that ruled the longest had a council of people that would record every single thing that king ever did, so that when people looked back on that period of rule, they would know if the king did a good job. The king was never allowed to see what they wrote about him and the council was supposed to be as objective as possible.

^ This is what the queen wore.

^ Apparently this mountain in the background is very important for cultural reasons. The buildings are positioned to give prime views of specific mountains, and when the Japanese invaded, they moved every building a few inches to ruin the view. The Koreans, upon the departure of the Japanese, moved everything back.

^ This is the gate.

^ People in Hanboks entering the main palace area

^ This is the throne room. It doesn’t look comfortable to me, but apparently the king was supposed to be a nerdy intellectual type so maybe he found pillows and back support distracting.

^ This is the ceiling of the throne room.

^ Other buildings to house people that were not the king

After seeing the palace, I went to a small area that talked about the average Korean, centuries ago. They lived in small wooden houses.

^ Small peasant house

^ Some sort of water pump for the peasant house

Walking Around

So after exploring the palace and related areas, I walked around and went through some alleys.

^ Random restaurants

^ Hilly roads

^ Tried to find this owl museum, but they were closed past 8pm. Not a museum for night owls I guess.

^This is on the side of the owl museum. Talk about getting me excited for no reason.

^ What’s this? Oh nothing, just an unreasonably steep hill full of shops.

The next day I walked around a different area that had boutique type stores.

^ This was on a wall. I thought it was neat.

^ I walked past this store that had some very elaborate art beneath the window that looked like it was made of wood and maybe opals or something else shiny. It was the kind of thing you really should encase in glass.

^ It’s kind of hard to see the shiny colored parts in the picture, but it looked like some sort of shell or opal material. I have no idea how anyone would make this.

^ Some random gate to nowhere in the middle of an intersection. It probably used to be part of a wall enclosing Seoul.

A Couple More Things

Lydia asked me if I wanted coffee or tea one morning, and decided to make an ancient Korean delicacy that involves mixing tea and coffee into a strainer together and pouring hot water into it so that you get an equal measure of tea and coffee. Not really, she just got extremely confused when I asked for tea and accidentally put tea in her own strainer along with her coffee. But we can pretend.

^ Is this covfefe?

^ I saw this TURTLE SHIP in the gift shop at the airport. I almost had a stroke.

^ This is raisin water. It has a taste like nothing I’ve ever tried. It’s kind of nice.

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snails4martianrights-blog · 8 years ago

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Exploring Hong Kong

This is a great place to go for a week or even just a few days, and still get the measure of things.

^ This was taken while I was on the Peak Tram going up to the top.

Hong Kong is a collection of islands owned by China that are connected through highways and a rail system. The biggest and coolest island is called “Hong Kong” as well as the entire region being named the same way. Kowloon is the closest large island to the main Hong Kong island, and it would seem that most of the inhabitants live there.

I stayed in several different hotels in Kowloon, which is cheaper than the main island. If you want to stay on Hong Kong island, it isn’t cheap.

^ Some Kowloon residential area

My impression of Kowloon is that it is the practical area, the blue collar worker district, worth seeing but not a tourist attraction. I took a ferry over to the main island every day, which is easy and not expensive.

^ The view from one hotel I stayed at. I could look at this view for a while.

The main island of Hong Kong is as modern of a city as I’ve ever seen. All of the islands of Hong Kong have skyscrapers that honestly just seem way too high, but the main island takes it to a whole new level. There seems to be some race to build the highest building on the island.

So the main features; sky scrapers, double decker busses, well organized streets with parks and trees pretty much everywhere. A lot of cities seem to scrape everything green off the map, but Hong Kong purposely and skillfully incorporates parks, nature, trees, and rivers into the cityscape without a single problem. There is also a great subway system.

The Hong Kong Skyline is great no matter where you view it from. Obviously, there are superior spots, but everywhere you look out of a window you can expect to be awed by the sheer volume of people that must live there.

Just from a hotel window, I saw hundreds of lives and the implied presence of thousands and thousands more, and it is fascinating to see them layered on top of each other by virtue of supremely organized skyscrapers holding so many lives and basketball courts, vegetable gardens on the thirteenth floor, warehouses in tiny fifteenth story rooms, apartments with clothes drying on a line in the twentieth story breeze.

The buildings are built in a complex manner, often with bridges between two buildings at the 14th floor. Sometimes you don’t know when you’ll run into one, like my experience with going to the top floor of a hotel and coming down into the wrong hotel. I walked too far on one floor and tried to use an elevator but the options didn't have floors 1-18, it had 19-32, which is scary enough in itself. I tried to use the lobby button and came down in the building next door, which was apparently well maintained but abandoned. I was separated by a thin glass wall from my hotel, and I couldn’t open any doors to get out. It's like in a show when the main character is trapped in another dimension and can see everyone but no one knows they are there. So I went back up to the same floor and went down another elevator.

The biggest thing that helped me navigate this fascinating city was buying a tourist subscription called Big Bus. For $70 I got two days of unlimited bus rides, along with free coupons and the ability to go to the front of the line in many cases at all of the tourist attractions I wanted to see. The packet pretty much had everything I needed, including a map. My free tickets included a bunch of ferry ride coupons, a ride on the tram to the top of the island, a bunch of restaurants, and a lot of other stuff I didn’t even use. I liked the deal I got.

^ This is the bus I bought a two day subscription to. Comes with MUCH BARGAINS/ COUPONS.

Tram Peak Experience

I took the Peak Tram to the top of Hong Kong island, which is famous for the viewing deck to see the skyline at night. I had intended to do this fairly quickly, but I ended up spending all day there. I didn’t know how much was really up there.

^ The tram track with a renovated resting area from British colonial times

^ Another view from near the train track

The mid-level district was a sight to see. If you only have one day in Hong Kong, go to the mid-levels. It is a lot of hills though, so you may develop some legs. I walked down from the top of the peak to explore this area for a few hours, and then I had to walk all the way back up.

^ This spot marks the end of one of the trails going from the top of the peak, and the start of a road leading into the mid-level district.

^ Found a really cool zoo with animals I’d never seen or heard of before. The location of the zoo was nice also, and overlooked other portions of the city.

^ Sign stating “Central Mid-Level Escalator”

I looked so hard for this supposed “Mid-Level escalator” and I couldn’t find it. But if any place on earth needed an outdoor escalator, then this would be it.

I was exhausted by the time I managed to hike back up to the Peak, so I visited this really nice dessert store in the Peak building, and people watched while drinking my boba tea. I saw a woman in a Burberry plaid burka, and also two shibe dogs in a baby carriage. I also saw a woman wearing a bright orange half popcorn bucket looking thing as a sun visor.

^ From the dessert place in the Peak building

Inside the Peak building (which I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the Peak Tram stops at this building) is a number of restaurants, but most importantly, there is a huge viewing platform on top that you can look out at the whole island and Victoria Harbor from.

The view from the top of the viewing platform is worth it by far especially since you get up for free if you have a tram ticket. The only issue is that there are so many people up there taking selfies and stealing all the Peakage from law abiding, non selfie-taking people who don’t mind sharing the view. The whole thing is a crowded instagram opportunity. They even have a professional photographer up there that you can pay.

Looking down, it is surprising how much of the city is hidden by the trees. The skyscrapers you can see are usually higher up, and you can also see some crazy houses perched high up on tiny rises all over the mountain. I really want to google maps some of these places because I cannot fathom how someone can afford to live in these swank mountain top houses when everyone else is crammed like sardines so far below.

^ This house in the mountain forest overlooking everything (except the viewing platform obviously) is swank AF.

^ Some sort of cool observer robot atop the viewing platform?

Making my way back down, I was pretty hungry, so I stopped at a Japanese place called Fujiyama Mama (I cannot stay away from sushi, it is my weakness). Super expensive, still good, found some food (actually a kind of beer) that I’d never seen before.

^ Place has a great view, needless to say

^ Apple beer with frozen foam on the top is a weird one, but not bad. I also got some tuna rolls.

Relax in Victoria Harbor... On a Boat Please

On the way back to my hotel in Kowloon, across the water, I enjoyed Victoria Harbor’s lovely views and deflated exhaustedly into a seat on the ferry. This is a good way to relax. The harbor is really deep, but I don’t know how deep exactly. I wouldn’t go for a swim.

All in all, I think even people who don’t appreciate cities can appreciate this one. I definitely think it’s worth the look if you’re passing through to Australia or Korea or somewhere.

PEAK TRAM FOREVER! <3

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snails4martianrights-blog · 8 years ago

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Some Stuff in Northern Vietnam

^ Some weird fruit I was given

I recently went to Vietnam for about five days, but upon arriving there with a huge list of things i wanted to do, coupled with what the locals were saying about how long it would take to get everywhere, I concluded that you should probably take at least two weeks to properly appreciate Vietnam, more if you can. For example, I heard great things about Halong Bay, but it takes around five hours to get there from Hanoi. Same for Sa Pa Terraces.

Anyways, I’ll tell you what I did get to do.

I always end up in different airports, and I’d like to note that the Taipei airport for my connecting flight was quite nice, and very clean. In fact, everywhere I looked there was some random old lady idly grazing the already clean floor with a broom, not a care in the world. I want that job. The Taipei airport also featured a store called "Indigenous Taiwanese Souvenirs," from which I, of course, bought genuine Polish cherry rum liqueur candies and happily watched the lady sweep the same spot on the floor for an hour.

After enduring the visa process in the Hanoi airport (I have never had an official take my passport and not give it back without any explanation for twenty minutes before), I got a cab to the Hotel La Siesta, which I found a deal for on the internet. The room was about $50 a night, which is over a million Dong, the currency in Vietnam. The scariest thing about Vietnam was the large numbers I heard every time I bought something.

Hotel La Siesta

^ The room I got in Hotel La Siesta

This place is phenomenal and I can’t say enough good things about them. Not only was it super inexpensive to stay here, but it earns it’s four star rating. The rooms are clearly set up for a romantic getaway- flower petals on the beds, hard wood floors, and cute bathroom windows. I certainly didn’t mind, though I was by myself.

The free breakfast in the morning is a mind blowing mix of all the best foods ever. There was dim sum, bruschetta, spring rolls, sushi, French pastries, and basically everything else. Wow.

If you're into the party life, this hotel is also well situated. It's in a fun area with easy access to basically everywhere, and you can walk to some nice night life.

My room was right across from the spa inside the hotel and that is a damn good spa. I enjoy massages in Vietnam far more than Thai massages in Thailand because I wasn't crying internally. This was a good time and I would certainly recommend a massage from this hotel and also this hotel itself.

The staff is in a class of their own. “Helpful” is a complete understatement. They offered to arrange transport to my next stop as well as call another hotel to set me up a reservation. They personally talked me through my travel plans and went through the logistics of my plan with me (thereby forcing me into the conclusion that I was not going to be able to see everything I wanted). They helped me arrange a train ride in a sleeping car to Dong Hoi the area of the Phong Nga caves, some of the biggest caves in the world. They offered to continue to help me in my travels after I’d checked out, though I told them I would be fine.

Hanoi

Hanoi is a dense area with a lot of shops, bars, historical monuments, mopeds, outdoor cafes with little plastic stools, bubble tea, pho, and fishing boats on the water. A lot of the time, people will sleep on the floor of their shop until someone walks in. If you walk to the back of the store you’re liable to find yourself in someone’s house. Sometimes you can see a family’s entire living space just from looking at the front of a store, because they generally have a whole front wall missing instead of having a door. They pull down a metal security door at night to close up.

^ Shrimp

^ Random street

^ Store full of local antiques

^ The only gate left standing after the French invasion. apparently the French couldn’t quite crack it open, but there is a cannon ball mark still present on the upper left part. The rest of the wall has been destroyed, presumably by the French.

There is a road of official government buildings in Hanoi that look like they might have been reclaimed from the French, painted yellow, and decorated with communist banners and symbols. These buildings look like beautiful old manor houses, and maybe they once were. All of the windows were open on most of them. Maybe they don’t have air conditioning?

^ This picture doesn’t really do these building justice, but I was taking the pics as communist soldiers stared through my life, so I thought I’d be fast.

Journey to the Phong Nga Caves

So I have been salivating to get the chance to explore the largest discovered cave in the entire world, Son Doong. Son Doong has its own forest and separate ecosystem inside, as well as some camping opportunities. Sadly, this is a trip you need to be a hard core caver for, which involves being well prepared gear-wise, as well as arranging in advance with the Vietnamese government to pay $3000 for entrance to the cave.

Son Doong is, on top of the other issues, a "level four" cave, which apparently means rappelling from the ceiling into a dark hole. Not my style. That’s why I went into a different set of caves in the same park.

I rode the sleeping train down to Dong Hoi. The train itself is a sardine tin for people, and does not have a nice bathroom. Or nice anything else. It works though, function over form. On the way back, I did meet some nice people at the train station, including one middle aged lady selling food on the side of the track. She didn't speak English but she was able to use interpretive dance to tell me that my train would be late. I sat down on one of her stools and bought a beer and some peanuts. We became insta-friends and she took me behind her store to show me where she made the food and we took selfies. When my train came, she cheerfully kissed my face and shoved me toward the train.

^ The train station with a bunch of vendors on the side

^ The train sleeping car. Not the fanciest way to travel.

^My newest best friend. We drank beer and she showed me where she makes the food in a random armchair out back near the bathrooms. She charges people money to use the bathrooms. Pretty slick. She also gives free peanuts to people who buy stuff.

On the train they wheel around a giant bowl of soup for people to eat from, but most people brought their own food. Someone grabbed my leg at around 5 am and said my stop was next, so I sat up, got my stuff and disembarked. I found myself in the countryside. I found two guys with backpacks that looked lost and were speaking German and I asked (in English) if they were trying to go into the caves. They said yes and so I tagged along with them.

I ended up being thrown onto a tour bus with a bunch of Europeans and other pasty flavors, as well as Sunny, our local tour guide. Sunny was a cheerful, yellow shirted story teller, who delighted us with cave information and tales of the valiant communists who united the country under the freedom of the sickle and hammer during the Vietnam War, using the caves as an underground network, naturally. Despite the interference of the deluded but well-meaning capitalists (she said as she gazed deeply into my deeply neutral Bald Eagle Stare), the northerners used the rough terrain that we were traversing to hide from their enemies and deliver much needed supplies. Sadly, one of the supply routes became blocked when a group of children played too close to a boulder which fell and trapped them. They were fed through a crack for nine days, but stopped taking the food. In more recent times, the rock was able to be moved without destroying the cave and the skeletons removed. She also told us that every Vietnamese household has a tiger because every Vietnamese man claims his wife is one.

Sunny would not stop giving us water bottles. I think she didn’t want us to overheat, but I’d already brought my own so I made a joke that I looked like I was trying to smuggle water across the border. I started hearing people try to dissect the joke in several different languages, obviously not understanding why I thought it was funny. But there was a Canadian who said she knew we had had a water smuggler all along. She was watching me.

Paradise Cave

This cave was previously thought to be formed by a river or inlet of ocean flowing through a crack in the earth, but now they know it was formed independently, when a bunch of underground water began to cut out minerals about 400,000 years ago. This cave is the longest cave in the world, though not the largest. Cutting through the cave is a wooden walk way, but it only goes 1 km there and back. It does not go all the way through the cave for conservation reasons. It is a shame but would also have taken a few days to walk all of it. The entire cave looks like melted peanut butter.

^ Paradise Cave entrance

^ Inside the cave

^ Still exploring along the wooden cave walkway

^ This is a spot where a bunch of people were taking selfies. It is also I think near where some guy said to me, “I don’t speak English. You are nice looking and I hope you have a good day.” Take notes gentlemen.

Lunch

We had lunch in an outdoor restaurant, which seems to be the norm here. The food came in giant leaf platters. Sunny decided to leave and never come back, so she yelled “bye!” and then left us all, and we were confused.

We finished our lunch and milled around haphazardly inside a storm of frantic people handing out cave equipment. Eventually we used our collective unconscious to migrate in the general direction of the start of the cave.

^ FOOD LEAF FUCK YEAH

^ Food leaf restaurant

^ View of the end of the Dark Cave adventure from the restaurant

Dark Cave

Dark Cave was a fun adventure, and I couldn’t take my camera into it, because you have to swim the whole way. You are supposed to climb a two story tower from which you zip line into the cave entrance. After finishing the zip line, you climb into the water in your bathing suit, hard hat and life jacket and swim to a wooden walk way inside. Then you swim and walk through a really dark bat cave with what look like volcanic rocks lining the tall overhang, and climb through a slippery dark passageway inside the cave. We ended up in a super dark area (dark cave, weird that it would be called that), and there was a small cavern where we took off our life jackets and swam into what was basically a mud bath. The water was flowing slowly toward the back of the cave where it disappeared into a small crack going under ground. Fresh water came into the cave from the other side and the bottom and sides of this cavern were clay. I naturally floated at about chest level without effort, and everyone was giggling and making clay dicks on the wall and throwing mud at each other. One guy collected so much mud that he had an armful and was pretending to be a mud merchant selling his wares.We were told after about a half hour that we had to leave :(

We then went back out to the boats outside the cave and went over to the mini obstacle courses over the water and a dangerous looking water swing that no one died on but probably could have.

We were led back to the restaurant, where a bunch of puppies had come out to play in the middle of the day. They gave us rum and coke, and we watched the puppies run around. It was a good time.

^ This is a different view of the end of the Dark Cave adventure, but if you’d like more information or pictures, the below link is the tour guide page.

http://sondoongcavetour.abstravel.asia/dark-cave-tour-with-kayak-zipline-1-day.html

Dong Hoi

I got dropped off at sunshine hotel in dong hoi and didn't stay at the super boonies around the caves because I figured it would be easier to access the train that way. I was torn from my fellow mud merchants, and deposited at the hotel. I was initially concerned about a last minute hotel reservation being expensive and boy was it. A whole 400, 000 dong. That twelve dollars really set me back. I cried so hard that my own personal tears solved the world water crisis.

The hotel did have free mopeds to borrow but I figured I would hurt myself if I used one. I spent a long time watching fishing boats on the beach instead.

^ That twelve dollars got me two beds and hard wood floors.

^ So it seems like in most Vietnamese bathrooms, the shower head is just sort of on the wall like this and you just shower in the middle of the floor. It’s not as weird as it seems.

^ Nice restaurant with a good view of the neighborhood

^ Crunchy egg rice with cucumbers

^ Shrimp

^ Part of the small bay near Dong Hoi

^ This church had a sign nearby declaring it to be evidence of American war crimes. Clearly it has been destroyed and possibly bombed.

^ Neat building I saw

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snails4martianrights-blog · 8 years ago

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Thailand

^ The late King Bhumibol, whose passing has spawned an odd competition between every kind of establishment as to who can create the largest and goldest shrine to him

So I went to Thailand a couple weeks ago. Thailand is a fun little place in Asia, and it’s got that dirty and wild side that people know about, as well as a lot more. The citizens seem a little tired of tourists, but most of them are still nice. They’ve got Buddhist monks, they’ve got clothes cheaper than dirt, they’ve got bars and parties, they’ve got wild dogs and buffalo-looking creatures wandering around. The taxis and most other businesses seem to take the law as a vague suggestion, and haggling is definitely accepted. You could live in Thailand for ten years on $25, 000 (and decently well). Just because of the slow, leisurely pace of this trip, instead of telling this chronologically, I’ll break this up into areas of interest.

Tuk-Tuk Drivers

A Tuk-tuk is an open taxi, and mostly they seem to operate outside of the law, not that anyone seems to care. Pretty much it looks like someone affixed a small sitting area to the back of a motorcycle and started zooming around, picking up passengers for dirt cheap. It’s a super fun way to get around, and you haven’t really experienced the best of Thailand unless you take one somewhere.

ONE SERIOUS WARNING: Beware taxis, tuk-tuk drivers, and mostly anyone else who speaks really good English and offers to take you to where you want only after you go to his friend’s tailor shop, or bar, or whatever else. Some people here will attempt to trick you into going really far distances and basically extorting you into paying a bunch of money or buying stuff you don’t want or else you’re stranded. I had one douche tell me how much he wanted me to pay in the middle of a tuk-tuk ride, and when I refused because it was a ridiculous sum, he told me I had to pay twice as much and wouldn’t let me get out. He drove wildly into oncoming traffic multiple times, and refused to let me and my friend out. Don’t let suspiciously overly friendly people take advantage. Also, tuk-tuk rides have no set price, so you should give them what you think is fair. This being said, don’t let this turn you off to tuk-tuk rides. Weaving through oncoming traffic while trying to hold on to a plastic woven spiderweb, trying to escape the madman who is also in control of your fate at top speed is part of the experience.

The Streets of Bangkok

Bangkok is so hot that people wake up at around 11 and start opening their stores and restaurants for business around noon. Don’t expect to get anything done if you’re any early riser. The streets in Bangkok have all manner of crazy food and cheap clothes. There are a bunch of people sitting in piles upon piles of cheap wholesale goods, bare feet, just chilling. Some of the side streets have cramped mall-like areas that you can barely walk through because people have so much random stuff to sell. And they pretty much just unload it from a truck on the sidewalk and sit on it all day unless someone wants to buy it.

^ A covered area we walked past with a ton of Buddhas

^ Random street with a waterway going through the area. They have a lot of water cutting through populated areas.

^ Pretty sure this is a spirit house, and as I understand it, these are for tricking evil spirits into think that this is the real house so they won’t enter.

^ Another spirit house, I think, or maybe some kind of shrine?

^ MOAR SPIRIT HOUSES (possibly for sale?)

^Buddhist temple

^ Close up of those cool ass windows

Toilets

Toilets are super weird in Thailand, but maybe that’s just in the city areas. I don’t know, but I do know that many of the ones I encountered said things in multiple languages like “Do not flush toilet paper! Throw it away! This is for the environment.” Often, the toilet paper would be located outside the stall. They also seem to do this thing where they have a full shower head inside the toilet stall. I am not sure what to make of that.

Songkran Water Festival

This was seriously the best time.

^ Street full of people shooting each other with water guns (there’s more of them than it looks like)

I had been eager to come here during this particular time of year because apparently what had started as a demure celebration of sprinkling small amount of water on people’s heads had slowly evolved. It gets to be about 110 degrees by noon on a normal basis, so someone had the great idea to turn this several-day holiday into a national water gun fight.

By the time my friend and I walked down a random side street and were finally ambushed, my friend just looked at the ground in somber acceptance. Four joyful dudes poured a bucket of water on us and then wiped baby powder on our faces- marking us. *horror movie sound effects*

(I, meanwhile, had totally forgotten what was happening so I screamed when water was poured over me. It was awesome.)

After a few days, our hostel had towels on every floor and every person we came in contact with was perpetually soaked. One day, as I was flaunting some bright red underwear beneath my saturated pants, my travel buddy became vengeful. “That’s it,” quoth he, “Tomorrow we buy super soakers.”

Notes about this: If you intend to go during this time of year, bring MANY changes of socks. The participants will also shoot you if you are on a motorcycle or tuk-tuk. It’s SUPERFUN for the first two days but then you might find yourself wishing you had more socks, and sprinting past kindergarteners with tiny bowls of water who pour it ONLY on your feet which would be one thing you’ve been trying to keep dry the whole time. You will also be unprepared at some point and get soaked by an entire street of cheering folks. Some will pour entire buckets of ice cold water on you- or more disturbingly, they will pour very warm water on you. People also do drive-bys from truck beds.

Pattaya

^ The people of Pattaya are also participating in Songkran

We only spent one day here, but I immediately understood why this is a tourist area. There are a lot of water sports like jet skiing, some sort of parachute-gliding over the water, boats. They have bars and parties galore, nice country lanes, nice and very cheap houses mostly owned by expats, cool Buddhist temples, laser tag, elephant rides, crocodile farms, the “Floating Market,” and more. The only down side is that everything is way more expensive here than in Bangkok. I’d recommend a vacation here if one were planning to go to Thailand for a short visit.

^ The Beach in Pattaya

^ Water sports are available on the beach of Pattaya

Aquarium

So there we were, waiting to get into the aquarium in the basement of a mall in Bangkok, when a lady approached us and asked if we wanted to skip the line. It sounded weird, but it turns out there is a deal where you pay a lot more money and you can not only skip the line, but go inside the fish tank.

They took us into an area where you can see over the top of the tank and gave us wet suits to put on. Then they lowered this weird helmet onto us that was basically a reverse fish bowl. We got to walk in the tank with sharks and stuff, but we were also part of the entertainment, it would seem. Everyone outside the tank was watching us and taking pictures, so I got to find out how awkward it is to be a celebrity for four minutes. Just smile and wave, boys.

^ Above the tank, waiting to go in

^ Getting in the tank

^People were behind us watching us watch sharks from behind the glass

^ Us becoming aware that we had an audience

Thai Massages

If you like being in massive amounts of pain, these massages are for you. Thai massages are famous, and I’m sure they do a lot of good for a person’s body, but wow. They get in there deep, and you won’t like it. If you need some serious attention, they’ll give you that. Even a simple pedicure or foot massage will probably hurt quite a bit the first time you go. And probably a few time after that as well. I didn’t really like them because of how painful they were, but personal preference I guess. Mr. Superman (I’ll talk about him later) from our hostel seemed to think they were part of the true Thai experience. I do not have any pictures of my agony.

Food

Thai food is damn good. The noodles, the smoothies, Tom Yam soup, Pad Thai, you’ve got to try it all. Tom Yam is a spicy lemongrass and shrimp type deal, and you need to try it. I always loved that soup, but it’s even better from actual Thailand. The smoothies are great and come in huge variety, and are usually freshly made right then and there. I loved the coconut ones close to the hostel, but I also tried one from a small café that involved dates and papayas.

There is one food that reigns above all the others: The Durian. This fruit is very smooth in texture, and when exposed to air, at first smells faintly of mild onion, and then over time develops the odor of a ripe fermented gym sock. It is banned from most stores and establishments. It is inexplicably popular and looks like this;

^ The spikes are there to warn you.

Obviously I was super excited to see one and hold it. The lady selling them was amused and a man standing behind me in the uncropped picture looked thoroughly disgusted. This fruit divides a nation.

Animals

In addition to these soon-to-be mentioned creatures, I also saw a water buffalo looking thing that I don’t know what it was, and also a bunch of wild dogs. If someone could tell me what the water buffalo thing is, I would be grateful.

Anyways, first we went to a zoo in Bangkok and saw a nearly not fenced in enclosure with a super low concrete wall housing some bears. Naturally we went to go see the bears. He is bathing in this small pond like a hot tub for bears, and you can only see his head. He was pretty close to us but then some douche thought he was into celebrating Songkran and started shooting him with water. He moved. :(

We also went to a tiger park in Pattaya where they raise baby tigers by hand and treat them almost like cats. Large, dangerous cats. You can go inside the cage and pet them, but you can only do what the keepers tell you.

^ Us petting a “small size” tiger

^ “Small size” tigers playing in their pool

^ Lil baby guy that they kept bottle feeding

I also got to ride an elephant and that was cool.

^ This was fun and we got rings made of elephant hair that are super tough and feel like plastic. I wish I’d asked for the elephant’s name, though.

Hostel

The place we stayed was a hostel, which was interesting because we got to see a bunch of interesting other travelers, including this one super weird dude that I called Mr. Superman who spoke enough English to give us some recommendations and walked around naked a lot and had some crazy outfits for his raves that he went to. He wore a superman outfit at one point and coated his hair in blue dye and sparkles, hence the nickname. This place was called “Boxpackers Hostel” and it was clean, had a good hang out area, and they served breakfast. I’d say hostels are good for meeting strange people, or if you really want to save money because they are not expensive. Some people say they are dangerous or weird but I think it depends on which one.

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snails4martianrights-blog · 8 years ago

Photo

This is funny.

The snail’s shellerey acts as protection from predators. Unless that predator likes escargot and vegetables.

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snails4martianrights-blog · 9 years ago

Text

Exploration of Northwest America

I went on this trip a while ago, but I still haven’t told anyone about how incredibly impressive this area is. Allow me to show and tell.

I went to the San Diego airport and missed my flight, which I never do, I swear. So my boyfriend and I went to a nice sushi restaurant because of my sushi addiction, and then I slept in San Diego USO, which, as usual, I give an A+. That’s a good USO.

For SOME REASON (keep in mind my flight is from southern California to the middle of California) my flight connected in Phoenix. So after enduring the retardation of modern airlines, I arrived in San Francisco and rented a car. Avis gives good military discounts if you needle them a tiny bit.

My phone was dead so I figured I’d drive north and that would get where I wanted to go. I was not wrong. I followed route 101, remembering my last trip and the routes we followed, and the scene outside slowly got greener.

I ran into a lot of cute little towns that reminded me of some understated historic areas back east, except many have this “western” theme. I know it’s all lies though, because nothing here can be more than a hundred years old. So many lies. Anyways.

Check out this cool tea container in this little diner. ^ This small diner looked to be a southern style place, but lo and behold it is run by hipsters and everything is organic.

Lots of gift shops line route 101, especially when you start to see giant red wood trees literally the minute you enter Humbolt county. By the way, in order to find the area, you don’t really need a map or a GPS or anything. Just follow 101 north, if you’re coming from San Francisco. You will find it, just go straight. And more straight. And then take a straight.

I also learned from one of the locals with a degree in something to do with red wood trees that they have extremely shallow root systems. It’s because the water level rises and falls so much that the trees have developed a way to keep from drowning. This also can cause them to fall over since they haven’t got much keeping them in the ground. These are also not the only large plants in the area. Aside from other large trees, there are what I thought were giant clovers. They’re actually called “redwood sorrel” and grow in the same types of areas.

I went back on the 101 going north, and I really am hard pressed to describe how lovely the winding way is. By the way, traveling this way and see a sign that says “viewpoint” or something similar? Definitely stop and take a look at a few. I’m glad I did. I’ll talk about one of them.

This was sort of a mini hike through a quiet and nearly tropical grove, with large trees (of course), mist, and dripping ferns. The silence was almost unsettling, and the vibrancy of the green all around was reminiscent of what we think the time of dinosaurs was like. I walked down the path and came out onto a ledge, where the trees cleared and I could see the flat expanse down below of the beach going out into the ocean. Someone had attached a rope to a tree on the top of the short cliff, presumably to climb down. After testing the ropes a bit, I went about halfway down to get some good pictures. I would’ve gone all the way down but I had a feeling an ambulance wouldn’t have made it down there were I to slip.

This is part of the coast as I was driving. ^

This is the “unsettling grove.” ^

This is the view from above the beach. ^

There are three ropes and I’m hanging off one in this. I feel I was quite safe. ^

I think this was about half way down? ^

So I kept driving and came across one of those little towns I was talking about. I saw a sign that said “Pastries and Pizza” and yeah, I wanted those things.

Yummy. ^

After some rest and food, I continued on to Crater Lake National Park. The drive itself is quite scenic, but I recommend filling up on gas before you get close. Fuel gets more expensive and more difficult to find as you get closer.

I entered a road where cliffs slowly rose up on the sides, with a river winding around the same area to the side. Eventually everything flattens out into a ridiculously large plains.

It’s hard to show exactly how big this area is without a reference, but I walked across to those trees over there and I can tell you from that that it is a long distance.

Celebration selfie for making it to the trees! And I’m pretty sure the park just keeps going beyond where I am here. The wild areas in the Northwest are easy to walk through compared to mostly anywhere else. The grass seems to stay short of its own accord, and I didn’t see any snakes. Kind of a gravel-like texture to the ground.

And then I finally stopped turtling, and actually went to go see the thing that the park is known for... This!

The bluest lake ever. Pretty sure that’s a scientific fact that IT IS THE BLUEST.

If you look in this picture, you can tell that the sides have rocks and dirt constantly sliding down the super steep incline. There is only one way down to the actual lake, and you have to be in really good shape to do it. You also can’t swim in it, because it’s the one of the cleanest bodies of water we have. It is also super windy up here where you can look down like this.

So I decided to drive around the edge of the rim and look for other interesting features. I got to look out from the side of the road at the plains I had been on before. The road goes in a circle and isn’t very long, but you can go out on hikes and small explorations from the road. I found a cool waterfall coming down from the top of the rim (Vidae Falls) and had the bright idea to see if there was some kind of mini lake on the top on the rim. So I hiked up from the outside of the rim up the side of the waterfall. I spent nearly two hours trying to find the source of this waterfall and started getting paranoid about bobcats, when it started to rain on top of the rim. Once it flattened out and I was on top of the rim, it was flat and there was... a plains area. But I kept following what was now a river.

This is the view from the road looking out onto the plains I had explored a bit. ^

This is the waterfall I followed up. ^

I get to the top ish and what do you know, more trees. ^

Following the river....

Into a clearing is where it leads me....

Continuing on....

And it just goes into this pile of mossy rocks and ends! Where the hell did it come from??!!! I kept searching around for the source, but apparently there is no little lake or anything. It must be underground or maybe just collects from rain or something. I couldn’t find out where it was coming from. I went back down after this, and enjoyed some increasing paranoia about large animals.

After I left here, I decided to continue on north in order to keep to my schedule. I ran across a nice upper middle class neighborhood called “Sun River” which I think was cozy and all, but they obviously didn’t like the look of me, so I left and found a motel shortly outside that area. The motels in this area can be nice because they know there are a ton of tourists.

My conclusion about the middle of Oregon is that it looks like what Arizona would look like if Arizona were colder and had more water. Kinda scrubby, open land. Some reddish rocks that I think I’ve seen in the southwest.

From here, there weren’t a lot of towns to stop in, and the scenery along the road was of that beautiful scrubby, open variety, and it twisted around a lot. Elevation varies.

As I drove, the area eventually opened up to an unexpected and lovely valley with a river going through it, and a town called Maupin sat right around the bottom around the river. I didn’t stay long, but it’s nice enough to mention.

I continued on, taking the scenic Mt. Hood Byway, and I didn’t bother to take any pictures of Mt. Hood because everyone already took a hundred impressive pictures each, and you can google it. It’s hard to miss even if you don’t go out of your way to see it, because it happens to be large.

So finally making it into civilized lands, I decided the Columbia River Gorge was a good thing to go see, which it is. There is a town called Mosier right on top of it and that’s where I went. I went on a path that the locals recommended, which they said goes by a swimming hole. SWIMMING HOLES ARE GREAT. #EMPHASIS.

The path they led me on. ^ By the way, this town doesn’t take cards, like anywhere. No one gives cash back, and ATMs don’t seem to exist. Some hippie bullshit about “keeping the money local,” however that works.

I kept walking and came to this area with a conspicuous lack of floor to walk on. I looked down and saw....

Why is there only one Oregon? Can we go to Mars and terraform New Oregon, please?

So I didn’t want to get my phone wet and as such, did not take pictures very close to the water. But I did enjoy my swim. I spent about an hour and a half in there, and there is some moss, so it’s slippery. Highly recommended, and some guy was playing some skilled guitar. I can’t argue with a concert and a swim combined.

I (eventually) got out of the swimming hole and continued onward to the top of the hill. Quite a view already.

And this is what the Columbia River Gorge looks like from the top. ^

I made one more stop before heading on to Portland. I was trying to find Multnoma Falls, and I’m still not sure if I found it. I think I found one right next to it instead. Regardless, the waterfall I did find was great and if you really want to find it, you can probably show these pictures to people who live near the river and they’ll likely know what you’re looking for.

I saw the below waterfall and figured it was the one I wanted. I don’t even think I touched this one.

After I saw that waterfall, I followed a bunch of people through a tunnel and under a bridge. I figured they were going where I wanted to go. Once I got down on the lower level I spent a fair amount of time trying not to get my feet too wet and wandered under the bridge, before I realized that everyone was going the other way on path that went over a huge pile of logs and branches. I noticed a bunch of people slogging through the water like they didn’t care if they got wet but that wasn’t going to be me. Of course not.

I crossed over this pile careful not to step in the water, and noticed that everyone going back the other way was soaked and didn’t even bother to try staying dry. Hmm.

I hopped over the logs verrry carefully and then got to this.

Very pretty. Shallow water. No way around it. I realized at this point I was going to get a little bit wet. I couldn’t avoid it, so I figured I’d just roll up my pants, and give up on my feet staying dry. I jumped into the stream, which was nice and cool, but not cold. Fish swam around our legs without any fear, and it was clear enough to see every rock on the bottom. But it got slowly deeper, and I was up to my chest, holding my backpack over my head.

It got shallower again, and I could see the waterfall at the end. Talk about awesome. It poured from above into a giant “bowl”, with such force that you couldn’t see the bottom of the bowl.

I took off my back pack and went in, obviously not taking my phone. It looks shallow in this picture, but it gets way deeper where the waterfall actually meets the water. It was a bit cold, but I got used to it really fast, and I swam to try to touch the back of the waterfall. I didn’t get that far though, because as I got closer I thought the force of the water would push me under, and if I went under I didn’t think anyone was going to save me. So I climbed up the side a little and jumped off instead. All in all, a tremendous experience. This was the best part of my trip, no question.

When I came back the way I had gotten there, I had to laugh because I saw a bunch of people trying not to step in the water. N00bs.

Driving into Portland, I noticed that the city, unlike many others, was not fighting against trees and greenery. In between some buildings on the outskirts, there were unbothered areas of vegetation, which I found refreshing.

I wanted to see a college in Portland that I’d been considering, and it wasn’t far out of the way to the middle of the city. Reed College is a fairly small place, but it includes a nature preserve, and I’d estimate that it is about fifteen minutes from the urban areas. Really a great location, and it’s a good example of Portland’s ability to combine natural elements with city stuff.

After checking out Reed College, I decided to go to Voodoo donuts, because everyone apparently has to go there. I found the location, and immediately got distracted by a sushi place next door.

The place is called SuBe Sushi, and as soon as I walked in, I was impressed. The decor is lovely, very modern, the seats are comfy, and they have what looks like a lounge upstairs. From the look of the place I expected it to be kind of expensive, but it really wasn’t. They have some really cool food options, and they even have vegan rolls. I ordered a coconut tofu roll with some kind of sweet sauce, and a roll with garlic, tuna, orange slices, and asparagus. Both were amazing.

A place with good, original food, great atmosphere, and awesome prices earns an A+ in my book.

Now for Voodoo Donuts. Before I got distracted, I was headed to this donut shop with a super long line. The whole place is sparkly and brightly colored. The bricks on the wall outside are super distracting, and it took me about twenty minutes to even get inside. Like I said, everyone wants to go here so the line is long. Really cool place, and it’s worth visiting. Some people say it’s overrated, but I’d still recommend it.

I bought this little guy at the donut place, and I think he had raspberry filling? Ordinary tasting, but points for presentation. In case you can’t tell, that’s a pretzel stuck through his torso.

So one thing I hadn’t mentioned earlier was that at some point in between all the fun things, I ended up sleeping in a moderately nice hotel just outside the city that had a creepy pool with sinister lighting, and I thought I might possibly be murdered in that pool. I went swimming in it anyways because I’m a risk taker. But it creeped me out so when I left Portland I decided to go the other route (metaphorically) and stay at a camp ground. My site was right next to some random river, and the next morning I went for a nice cool walk in it.

Oregon certainly has a lot of water.

I traveled to Seattle, and really didn’t have much time before I had to catch my plane to explore the whole state, so I settled for checking out some of the city. It’s a bit more gray than Portland, but still a nice enough place. It’s close to a lot of natural attractions, but it doesn’t ingratiate itself with those attractions the way Portland does with its’ surroundings. I decided to get my hair done at a place called Zero Zero.

My hair is just blowing around in the wind in this picture. I’m not going through an emo phase. I guess you just wouldn’t understand.

So then I went to the airport and that was that. My trip was over, so I went to the airport to turn in my car and fly away. Except that the nightmare had just begun. I found this creepy owl in one of those glass art cases you see in airports and I walked by it once and thought, “Cool ceramic bird.” I walked by and looked back at it... and it had turned its head to look at me.

Confused and terrified, I ran. Jk. I walked back around to where I’d been, because surely it was an illusion. But the damn bird was looking at me again. Wat.

Turns out it had two faces.

The eye on the left here is the eye on the right in the picture above. Freaky.

That’s all.

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