Ko Phi Phi or Paradise Beach Town Style

K house - Ko Phi Phi Don

Phi Phi is incredibly beautiful. Here is the story. We finally line up an agreement with Bum and Bob, we have the opportunity to barter some work for some stay in Bum's new Boutique Hotel. Sounds good right? Well, we have decided that we want to leave Bangkok. We have wanted a change, and I have been feeling on edge, so we want to move on. We say goodbye to Bum and Bob and tell them that we may come back to Bangkok before this Visa expires.

So we decide to meet with Illias and his girlfriend Satyia for some drinks before we leave. Illias re-confirms that Phi Phi is paradise and feels very safe and pleasent. He shows us an article in the Bangkok post in which the journalist is speculating about another attempt at a military cout d’etat, or an attempt to overthrow the monarchy. The people in Thailand have serious love for their king, and it could be messy if that happened. We decide that Phi Phi is also very close to the other international airport in Thailand, and its a nice choice. I have been trying not to be worried, but it doesn't hurt to be catious either.

Mikae and Derrick, the owner of D's Books here on Phi Phi have been talking on the phone and Derrick says that the island is a zoo, because we have just passed the full moon party, and most kids bounce from Ko Pha Ngan to Phi Phi to finish up their vacation. Derrick says that he can find us a room somewhere, close to the main area of town, and we can come in on Tuesday. His brother and office manager are coming in as well from Bangkok. We get a loose visual description of the two, just in case. So we leave for the airport at 7am, hoping to catch a flight around 10. We have now learned that you have to book flights 24 hours in advance, or suffer more expense at the airport in terms of administration costs etc. The first class sleeper train was full and we decided it would just be easier to fly. The flight was only $119 in total for the two of us, so it was a resonable choice.

Flight was very short, and pleasant. I fell asleep before take off, woke up, we cruised for a bit and then landed. It took maybe an hour. So we get to the airport, and are waiting for our baggage when we see an unusual pair. A smiling Thai girl in pink shirt with a red haired caucasian guy. Turns out, as we will find out later, that this is Kevin, Derrick's brother and their office manager from Bangkok named Bang. We get our baggage and go to purchase a bus ticket to get to the main area of town. Bus is 80baht or so, and not coming for another 30min. Airconditioned mini bus is 100 baht and available now. So, we, along with several other tourists, opt for the minibus. The mini bus drops us at a travel agency (we don't know where we are, we think it is the main pier) to purchase our tickets for the ferry. Then, he returns to shuttle us to the ferry docks. Anyways, I am certain we got taken for some baht there as well. I think we paid an extra 400baht or so (about $12) then if we had purchased directly from the dock. Still, however, the 100 baht mini bus was a reasonable price, a taxi would have been double that probably. I am just a little tired of people taking advantage of the fact that we don't know any better every single time we turn around. On a lighter note, the travel agency had some incredible birds. One, that I played with for quite some time could speak several languages, including kitten. We have some video on our YouTube channel of this bird.

So it turns out, we took the express ferry (which might have been worth the extra cost in itself) and got here in about an hour. We officially meet Kevin and Bang, and then Derrick and his business partner Sam. Derricks sister Christine and husband Sai are also here visiting, and his mother Mary. We get to KHouse, and Derrick has paid for our room for the night. K house has a very friendly owner, who is very accommodating, and the price is 1500 baht a night. (Around $50) However, I found that the place could be cleaner, and the entire room smelled very moldy. I would not recommend. It is quiet, however.

So this morning, we have our breakfast at D's books. They have incredible lattes. We also got to use their wifi connection, which is a bonus. Internet is 60baht an hour here, in Thonglo it was 25. We then met with the entire crew and Derrick chartered some long tail boats for us to all go out on. We went snorkeling in the Andaman Sea. The fish here are brightly coloured and huge, and there are tonnes of them. Unbelievable. At one point I held a piece of pineapple, and they ate out of my hand. We also visited Ko Phi Phi Leh, the sister island which is mostly uninhabited. We snorkelled off of both Bays. After a couple hours we came back into mainland, had a fabulous thai dinner at Cosmos, and now we rest. What a beautiful place and hospitable family.

Watch the videos for clips of our Longtail boat ride.

I heart TDBank. I miss Canada

New Siam Riverside, Breakfast Buffet area overlooking the river.

So this morning we had a meeting with Bum and Bob regarding some future opportunities. Turns out Bum Also owns a massage parlour, the cafe, internet shop, water systems, a hotel, some restaurants, the travel agency, and the list goes on and on.

Lets just make a note about TD Bank. We went to an ATM in bangkok and withdrew 3000baht, or about $90. It does not dispence money or a receipt, instead says something about not going through, some error message. Fine, we go to another machine, and withdraw the money. So two days later, online banking show me that both amounts process. Mikae calls the Kbank customer service and they wont do anything about it. We call TD bank, and the guy says that they will open an investigation on my behalf, and sort it out etc. Within 12 hours, the cash was redeposited into my acocunt. For $25 a month, I have international banking with TD, and I have unlimited withdrawls and service without additional fees .Otherwise its something ridiculous like $5 a transaction. Very pleased with the service. I had also notified them that I would be here, so at least they were aware, and it all worked out nicely. I forgive Kbank, because of course, they provided me with water, anti-bacterial towellettes and condoms when we first arrived in Bangkok.

Well, we are leaving Bangkok. What an experience, stil lots of things we want to see, but we ill do that on the way home. I have been super on edge for days here.. the city has tremendous energy, and not all of it is positive. I think when we go back we will stay in a 4 or 5 star hotel in the business district for two days or so, and cram in the rest of the tourist stuff I wanted to see. Thonglor was a lovely neighboorhood, and a great experience. My mixed feelings basically revolve around Khaosan. This neighboorhood is all tourism, and you can see the scams and the scammers from a mile away. It just doesn't feel 100% safe. We saw a lot of westerners abusing the Thai, and the Thai here don't seem to like the westerners so much, I do not blame them. Its a great vibe sometimes, and an awful vibe at others. Anyways, unit move to Phi Phi.. so we will see what happens down there.

KhaoSan Road, and its offspring

Laptop Plugin Station and Coffee Shop, behind D&D Inn, Khaosan Road Bangkok.

We found this incredible location, behind D&D Inn. It is called Sun Cafe. It has laptop plugin stations for $30baht 80 min. And delicious cappachinos for $50baht. Its quiet, beautiful, secluded. Bird are chirping, no one is here, nice breeze. Tonight it Loy Krathong festival. It is supposed to be beautiful. Last night, we went to “The Indian Spice” on Soi Rambutri for the third time, the food is incredible. Honestly, some of the best Indian food I have ever had. Even with beers, rice, naan, three dishes, Its been $8-$12. 260 baht-405 baht.

Khaosan is nice, the hotels are nice, not so slummy any longer, and there are families with kids everywhere. Food and clothes are cheap, and the river is lovely. We went and checked out Rambruttri Inn, Ritta Inn, New Siam One and Two, and D&D. All of these options, including ours, for private bath and double bed were in the 800-1200 baht range. D&D and Rambruttri have rooftop pools, although we did not see D&Ds pool. Ritta was new and clean but WAY too loud, as it is right on the busiest stretch of Khaosan. D&D has the lovely backyard Internet and coffee house, and I think it includes breakfast as well. It was about the same price as New Siam Riverside where we are staying, 1100 baht. If it wasn't so peaceful and quiet here at Riverside, I would stay there. Read the fine print when looking for rooms. Most want a key deposit, but Rambruttri wanted a 1200 baht security deposit.

Oh, the quiet thing is not exactly true. Mikae said that he woke up the other night at 4am or so to the sound of someone puking, heaving, for a full half an hour at least. The walls are paper thin here, plus there is an adjoining room separated by the two doors only, so he said it was sooo loud, and he couldn't sleep. I, of course, slept through the whole thing.

In Thailand, generally, $10 makes a big difference. Spending $10 more on food and accommodation puts you in a totally different bracket usually. So, we looked at cheaper rooms than this, but for the extra $10 a night we get a double locking door, a digital safe, breakfast buffet, a totally private pool experience (I swim everyday here, alone – the hotels we looked out had very busy pools with lots of people crowded around), and its on the river, so you can't beat the ambiance. Plus there is no backpackers, just families and business people, and bringing prostitutes here is frowned upon. We also have a fridge, and much nicer setup. Oh, and if you care about television, the best TV selection we have had in Asia so far. Plenty of English channels including NatGeo – the National Geographic channel, which is the best channel in the world, Love it. And, BBC news, CSPAN and Discovery's Animal Channel. Needless to say, we stayed put. Hooray for New Siam Riverside, 1190baht a night. Khaosan hotels are all getting “boutique” although, I heard there are still some cheap ones. We really appreciate the extra luxury, and security, the extra money has afforded us.

We have made some friends sofar, we met Ilias and Dan at the hotel, poolside. Dan is full thai, but raised in Germany. We found out later, that he is royal family, his great great great great (or something) grandfather was Rama 1. He is in finance. Ilias is a business man, owns a radio, station, manages djs, music, all that, who lives part time in Melbourne (He is an Aussie) and part time in Bangkok. Mikae and him hit it off immediately. Illias has now linked us with a couple of his friends from around, and given us some needed advice on where to go etc. Bob is a fifty-something Canadian from Niagra Falls that used to work in the film industry in Canada as a production co-coordinator or something like that, until he had an accident with a crane on “Blues Brothers” and lost his leg. He also worked on Canadian Bacon. He now lives part time in Canada, and part time in Bangkok, and helps out a local travel agency with their English translations. He has been very informative and fun, we have met with him several times to share stories and observances about Thailand. This afternoon the three of us took a taxi to Oishi Japanese Buffet. (Yes!! Oishi!!) It was incredible, cost us about 300 baht each, but it was amazing. From Bob, we have learned that shipping things home is complicated, and they seriously crack down on all sorts of things, including labels. Therefore, sorry family, No Christmas presents. You will have to wait patiently until I return.

Quick note, the other day we were in a taxi, in traffic, and an ambulance passed us, sirens wailing. The taxi driver decides to ride the wave of the ambulance through the gridlock. Then, he gets impatient, and goes into the oncoming traffic lane, and passes the ambulance. PASSES the ambulance. We also heard from Bob never to take a Tuk Tuk because the drivers are notorious for drinking all day long, and then driving tourists around at night. They zoom in and out of traffic, don't adhere to any guidelines like pedestrian crosswalks or lanes, and if they crash, you are basically toast. A cab at least provides you with some armour. A ridiculous number of people are injured or worse in Bangkok every year due to Tuk Tuks and MotorCycle Taxis. So no tuk tuks for me. The drivers follow you around saying “Hey You, ,Where you Go” and “Tuk Tuk” and in the evening, they try to take you to Patong for the Ping Pong Shows. Follow the link if you dare. So then they say “Ping Pong Show” and make popping ping pong noises too. Miake and I saw a guy with a Tshirt that we want to get. On the front it said something like “I love BKK” and the back said something like “I don't want your fucking... Ping Pong Show (space) Tuk Tuk (space) Fresh Orange Juice (space) massage ka (space), pretty funny.

Chantara Thai Massage and Day Spa

I just had a thai massage at Chantara Thai Massage and Day Spa. It was incredible. She definately did not take it easy on me like the MBK massusse did. I paid 180 baht plus 50 baht tip for one hour. Thats about $6. They have all types of treatments and services. The area is just beautiful, so well done. There is all of the teak furnishing, and thatched roof, large fans, fabric blowing out the open windows, that you want from a thai spa. They gave me tea, and washed my feet, and had me change into thai pants, It was so lovely, and relaxing. They are on Trok Mayom, its kind of hard to find, but hit the alley behind D&D and go in the opposite direction of Ranees. All of the other massage places in the neighboorhood charge the same price, but have neon lighting, plastic tables, loud music, none of them are as lovely as this place. It fealt like a spa back home. I am going to try to sneak in another Thai Massage there tommorrow. There is NOTHING like thai massage, other than Yoga I suppose, but Yoga takes a great deal of effort. Ah the bliss.

Bum, Golf, Film, Eh

So last night was Loy Krathong, the thai thanksgiving festival. I bought a boat for 40 baht off of a young girl who had set up shop along Prayathit. We went to the Pier to watch the festivities. I took a number of videos, as it is hard to explain. We lit the insence and candle, and put our little boat afloat in the Chao Phraya River. The most spectacualr thing were this magnificent paper laterns, with some sort of wick and coil, that people were lighting on fire and sending off to the sky. Overhead, Flickering Lights could be seen for miles. It was beautiful. Khaosan was a zoo though, as the Thai teens and 20somethings stayed in the neighboorhood to party afterwards. At one point, we pass a bunch of stacked cages, each contains the smallest tinyest bunny rabbit I have ever seen, and many are in little tiny dresses. It was ridiculous cute. They were selling them for 130baht, or about $4. There was a larger sized cage with a multitude of bunnys. There was a little boy playing with the bunnys, he was about eight, or ten years old. He was holding them up for me to see, and looked so excited, like the happiest little boy ever. This morning, I saw him sprawled out, alone, sleeping on the street. Additionally, at the festival last night, everyone was purchasing their little boat for 30, 40, 50 baht. Mikae and I were walking along the pier, and heard a splash. Looked over the railing, and there were children swimming through the river, the filthy, polluted beyond comprehension Chao Phraya river. At first, we couldn't figure out what they were doing. Relighting the candles that have gone out? Cleaning the non-biodegradble bits out of the water? After watching them for a bit, we realized that they were looking for boats that were still in good condition, so they could rescue them and try to resell on the street. Additionally, the ones that were not in good shape they were tearing to peices, trying to find any money that people had put in for offerings. We have tonnes of photos and videos of this, take a look on our flickr and You Tube Channels.

So our friend Ilias is just as cautious/paranoid/aware as Mikae, and the two of them had a chat about safety in South East Asia travels. Obviously, most of the talk was about keeping your guard up etc, as we are in a big city, and a third world country as well. We have had several instances when we fealt a little like we had to have our guard up, nothing serious, but slightly off during our stay here. He said that the place he felt safest in Thailand was Ko Phi Phi, where my friend Paulina had stayed for a long time, and where the Tsunami hit. He also said that the other coast did not have the same vibe, plus the weather is not as nice at this time of year, so we have taken his advice and headed to Phi Phi instead of KoTao. Phi Phi is more expensive, but he has given us a phone number of a local business owner who is from Seattle originally, and we have spoken to him. Derrick (is his name) is going to help us find a place to stay, as he obviously knows hotel owners in the area. Derrick apparently, came to Thailand seven years ago with two boxes of used books and set up shop. He now owns a chain of bookstores all accross Thailand, called D's books. He lives in Phi Phi and his entire family is there at the moment, including his mother.

I think we are going to take a train. It is a long haul at 12-15 hours, while the plane is only 1.25 hours. We could take a plane on Air Asia for 899baht plus tax. Would come out to about $108 CAD to fly to Krabi, a little more for Puket, but we would need to pay to get the airport, all those nicely priced in airport meals etc, and stay here another night for $35. Afterwards, we would still need to take transportation from airport to ferry, and then the ferry to Ko Phi Phi. Plus, then, I would have to be on a plane which, Lets say...I haven't built my defences up again yet. The train we can take from Humpaung Station which is a short cab ride from here to China Town. We have decided to take a first class sleeper express, which is about the most expensive option. Third class is fan, open windows, bench seats, and no foreigners. Second class is bench seats that convert into sleeping areas, one on top of another, with a simple curtain for privacy. First class is Air Conditioning, private room for two people, bunk beds, lockable door. I will confirm the details regarding price etc after we visit the train station tommorrow.

Thai People we have met so far with memorable names. Bum, Golf, Film, Eh.

Bum owns Extreme Travel, behind the D&D. We met him through Bob. He also owns the cute coffee shop we have been plugging our laptops in each day, the internet cafe, and a bunch of coin operated water filtration machines (osmosis?). He is also building a boutique hotel in the neighboorhood, that Mikae and Bob went to check out today. He is very forward thinking. Its hysterical. He has a thumbprint scanner login for his employees, he has this laptop plugin area which is surprising for Khaosan, and he takes courses in Fengshui.. so the coffeshop and internet area is designed with feng shui in mind. Interestingly, and we hear this is a very thai thing, he is so ambitious, obviously, but also incredibly laid back. Incredibly. The entire neighboorhood of Khaosan is swarming with cats and dogs. The cats are everywhere. Bum runs trips to a Tiger Refugee Temple run by monks. He is always talking about getting rid of the cats. Bob does soem research and finds out that if he takes some tiger excrement and places it descreetly around their area, the cats wont come. So, they collect some dung, hang it in socks where the cats are accessing the courtyard. It works for a while. Then, one of the thais working there carefully scouts and removes all of the socks. Why? Well, he missed playing with the cats. The man who makes the coffee though, is extremely passionate about his coffee, and makes them with so much care. Apparently Bum sent him to courses to learn all these Barrista tecniques, and he loves his job. We might make a website for Bum, so we shall see what happens.

Right beside all of this D&D courtyard is a little cafe called Ranees. We have gone there twice. It is run by a Thai and Australian couple. They make their own bagettes and pasta fresh daily. The menu is extensive, and the vegetarian options are incredible. We sampled the red curry, green curry and penang curry each for 70baht or about $2.20 . Steamed rice for 10baht 35 cents. Mikae had Fresh Pasta with Pesto for 120 baht or about $4. It was deleicious, and made with thai basil. The restaurant has its own tiny courtyard, and it is beautiful. Its places like this that make you understand why people can so comfortably laze their days away here in the Khaosan neighboorhood. Plus, a large Chang is 75baht.

Tailors, Temples and TaxiScams

So we were taken for a ride. Wait, before you panic, let me explain one of the oldest taxi scams that we fell for, but in the end, were not really scammed at all.

So here's the deal with the taxis. Today we are wandering past the National Museum, and we talk to some seemingly legitimate tourist guide people from the tourism office. They inform us of some interesting sights, like the 40m tall standing Buddha, another temple nearby that is open today because of a ceremony, but “not usually open”, and about a legitimate tailor that is open to the public “one week a year, best tailor in Bangkok (voted by some Thai authority)” etc – they said there was some big special about them the night before on the Thai news. We tell them where we wanted to go, some nearby Wat Po, and the Temple of the Dawn, and the guy suggests that we go closer to sundown as the view is spectacular. Fine with us, we ask directions to the standing Buddha, he writes on our map in Thai. We then speak to another tourism employee, and he agrees that this itinerary sounds good, but suggests a taxi. He then explains to us that the yellow and green taxis are legitimate and the pink and red ones are scam. Basically, the green and yellow ones are government sanctioned and regulated. Eureka, now we get it. (This turns out to be true by the way) When we first got to Bangkok, the fare was exactly what had been describe in our tour guide. 35Baht for the first 2k, 41 baht for the next ten, or something like that. Twice we took pink cabs less than 2K and the fairs were closer to 100 baht. Both times in those cabs we both noted that the driver kept being “stuck” in non moving lanes while other cars were zooming by, or taking ridiculously long detours.

The Tourism man hails us a yellow and green cab and tells the guy 70baht flat rate to take us to our destinations, and the guy agrees. Our lovely taxi man then took us to The Standing Buddha, the second temple, the tailor, and our final destination of the Golden Mount (with a minor detour) for 70 baht. He also waited outside each location for us to be done. After tip, it cost us $3 for 2 hours. So as for the detour, we get a cabbie that speaks English.(No accident, they find you one that speaks your native language of course) After taking us to three of our destinations, he explains to us that part of the whole taxi scam you hear about it that obviously, taxis are supposed to suggest side trips to jewelery markets etc. We had already read this in the tour book. He explains that if he brings tourists to the jewelry market, whether we buy or not, he gets coupons for Esso to get free gas. Gas here is the same price as back home, and the taxi drivers make peanuts. We told him we would go, and he could get his free gas coupon. He was very appreciative. Basically, we went in, saw jewelry being made by hand, looked at some raw stones, chatted a bit with the sales agent and left. No big deal, plus it was interesting, we didn't mind. He got his gas, we got a cab for 2 hours for $3. (This, we find out later, is part of the whole schpeal)

So at the 40m tall Buddha, I bought a cage full of birds for 90baht. (less than $3) and I set them free. It was amazing, Mikae talked me into it and Im glad I did. Liberation, and all that. Also well worth the visit, It was lovely. Off to another temple, Wat Trithotsa that has Three Buddhas, Standing, Sitting and Lying down.

While in the second temple we met a man who was helping set up for the Buddhist ceremony later this afternoon, we chatted with him for a while. He suggested areas of Thailand to visit, told us a couple of interesting facts. We asked him about getting suits made as well, and he asked if we had watched the Thai news last night. He also suggested this tailor shop that is only open one week a year to the public. His wife and him got some suits made there, and outerwear, as she works in Chicago. According to him, this is a legitimate tailor, that mostly does exports for international market. So we went to the tailor, as Mikae had been planning on getting a suit made,and all the shops we had seen looked shady. Nice place, large operation, Lots of beautiful fabrics to choose from. Turns out, they make suits for Hugo Boss that are then shipped to Italy. Excellent price, as we had heard. Mikae ordered a Suit, Two dress shirts and a Tie for $13000 baht or $350. We go in for a fitting tomorrow, I hope it works out. You never know with these tourist trap things, but I had heard numerous stories of successful custom suit purchases, and this place looked like a professionally run business.

After the measuring, we go to the Golden Mount for a nice 360 degree view of the city and some chanting. It was beautiful. We took some great videos of this place. Well worth the visit, and no admission. Mikae did however, make a donation to the monks and they blessed him with holy water. We also got to browse through a Thai market which was nice. On the way back to the Hotel we flagged another yellow and green cab, and got the same results. Legitimate working meter. He also had a sound system, and we were bumping to the subbass of Thai music the way back to Khaosan. Picked up some more street stall Pad Thai and came back to the hotel for a swim. Mikae made some interesting international business contacts, So that was a good thing. We initially started chatting about the ability to, or more like the inability to, connect to wireless Internet access.

So we get to an Internet cafe, and I have a suspicion about the whole day. I saw the same tourist guy at two of the locations. So we Google our itinerary, and find out that the whole thing is a diversion to get you to go to these shops. Its a scam. We panic a bit, of course, but then stop to think. In the end, who scammed who? We get a three hour tour of some beautiful tourist sites, in an air conditioned cab, with an English speaking guide, get to see jewelry being made, and purchased a quality suit at a good price, which we were going to do anyways, all for $3. Sure, we found out later that we could have gotten a cheaper suit elsewhere, but the price, by our standards, was already what we had expected to pay - and it was super cheap. On our own, we probably wouldn't have visited the Golden Mount for example. We were very upset by all of this at first, but in the end, these people are trying to feed their families too.. and we learned a relatively inexpensive lesson on scams and tourist areas.

Riverside

We are now riverside, in A guesthouse called New Siam Riverside. For 1190 baht or about $38 we get a standard room that includes breakfast. There are much nicer rooms, but its all we need. It is right on the Chao Phraya River, and the Pool and Outside Lounge area allows you to sit riverside and enjoy the view. More expensive rooms have views and even balconies. We watched a river parade this afternoon which was nice. The room comes equipped with a digital safe large enough to hold laptops. No wifi, but more internet cafes in this neighboorhood than you can even imagine.

We are very close to Khaosan, the backpacker ghetto. Plenty of backpackers, but plenty of middle aged people and families as well. Laundry here is 30baht per kilo, so we are excited. Massage is 180 baht, and we enjoyed a lovely indian meal this afternoon for 260 baht in the Khaosan neighbourhood. Its very relaxed over here, and very nice. Feels much more like vacationing. We met a Canadian couple named Randy and Leanne. We were trying to sell our Hong Kong Loney Planet book to a book vendor, and they offered us $10. We took it, and talked for a while. They have been travelling for a month now, and do so every two years or so. We got some excellent pointers, as they basically were on a similar itinerary. We also contacted our embassy, and let them know we are here, etc. We have to register online.

Khaosan is definately a party area. We looked at two other guesthouses, New Siam II and New Siam III. The Third new Siam is nice enough, simple, but they wanted 900 baht for it. This one, for the 300 baht more includes breakfast, pool and river view, so we took it. Number two looked grimy, and was 800 baht. Most of the guesthouses here look grimy. Oh well, back to having midrange standards, I guess. We have heard good things about D&D inn, might take a look there later.

The most spectacular thing about this neighboorhood, besides the plethora of vegetarian food and western sized clothing, is the proximity to the Wats, temples etc. The reclining buddah is within walking distance. We plan on doing all this tommorrow, perhaps via tuk tuk as that needs to be experienced as well.

Im going to hit an internet cafe, and then I think we are going to go to one of the many tourist bars in the area and try this thai whiskey you always hear about. I hope its not that bad.

Long Live the King!

Today is Monday, and the King was born on Monday, so everyone wears yellow shirts that say Love live the king to pay respect. Lately, the king wore a pink shirt, and now they are making them in Pink as well, although they are not as popular. When we got off the subway, there was a sea of yellow shirts coming down the stairs, it was priceless. Mikae forgot the camera.

Today we went to MBK again, Mikae to get his hair cut at Toni & Guy, and some sweat rags. Me, to get a Thai massage. Haircut was expensive, $30. Thai massage was 300 baht. (or $9) for an hour. Basically, a small this woman crawled all over me and stretched me out using her hands and feet. Believe it or not, a very relaxing experience. New MBK find, is the 5th floor food ticket food court. There is a fancy one that looks fancy and uses a card system.. bypass that. Go up one more escalator from the fancy food court area and you come across a larger, busier food cart that you have to purchase tickets for. We had two separate mini meals here, and four bottles of water for $300baht. Or ($9) One Muslim Curry meal that I couldn't eat, 2 curries, rice, naan and 2 samosa (I was feeling slightly ill this afternoon) and one vegetarian takeaway with bamboo shoots, rice and Textured vegetable protein. She said it was spicy, and was not kidding. Delicious. I also splurged on some really nice high quality sandals that were half price at 1020 baht, and bought a 199baht clearly fake Chanel bag to tout my things in.

We had to purchase some more toiletries from Boots, and some antacid (spicy, spicy). I wanted some serious 50+ SPF facial sunscreen. It took us 15 min, and a trip from Watson's to Boots to find one without whitening cream. Being white is the big thing here, there is an entire isle of whitening creams in the pharmacies, and treatments at the spas. All of the models in their advertisements, and actors in commercials are very light skinned. Most look if not only ½ Asian maybe 1/3 only.

As for the language barrier. Most people know a few words in English, people say Excuse me and Sorry all the time if they bump into me, and Thank You when we hold doors etc. People at stores and restaurants usually know the basics. Menus everywhere have photos, if not a photo with the English translation. You simply point at what you want, and they read the Thai characters. Even at McDonald's, the girl pulled out a laminated card and asked us to point to what we want. We did have a cab driver who couldn't speak English OR read Thai (we gave him our card from the hotel that has directions in Thai.) He knew the following in English however. “I can't Speak English” “Straight” and “Left.” So with hand gestures, and a in unison Hooray!! we made it to our hotel safely. Often, the taxi and tuk tuk drivers are from rural farming areas of thailand, sent to the big city to make some money for the family. They have their own style of music, kind of like Thai country, that talks about the move to the bug city and water buffalo and stuff, its wild.

Tomorrow I want to do some tourist stuff. We haven't done any tourist stuff in Bangkok yet, and I want to see some temples and such. Should be interesting. We also need to plan our next hotel, as it is almost time to check out. We are thinking either China Town, or potentially a unit move North to Chang Mai or South to Ko Lanta. I have a book to finish, and sell asap. To all of you in Canada, Enjoy your Day.

PS. In Bangkok it is fashionable to be “Hi-So” meaning High Society. In this case you would have a chauffeur. Bangkok is amazing.

Victory Monument and Import Red Wine

Ibis Hotel, using expensive Wifi, with expensive wine.

So we have checked in to the Ibis Hotel. Neighborhood is a little far from Everything, but its a $35 baht cab (just over $1) ride to the BTS skytrain. We bought BTS passes today, 30days and 20 rides for 450baht, or about $14. The hotel itself is really nice, especially for the price. We were looking for a hotel with Internet, and we found this one on asia rooms. After getting the Lonely Planet Thailand Book, where it is also mentioned, favorably, we looked up the website and they had a special rate of 1000 baht. There is an additional charge of 17% for taxes, and wifi was an additional 450 baht per 24 hours. So, before Internet, the charge was $106CAD for 3 nights. Breakfast for two is 150baht, or 300 baht total, which is about what we have been paying, and should be good. The restaurant here was packed when we got in, its rumored to be good. Basically, it is your usual 3star hotel. It is a member of the Accor Hotel group, who is famous for seriously luxurious hotels. Not bad, We have 22 channels on satellite, in Japanese, Thai, Cantonese, English, German and French. 3 movie channels with old favorites with Steve Martin, a Refrigerator and Kettle (Quickly becoming My two favorite things) a King size bed, aircon, and a very clean bathroom. We are in Rom 422. Completely adequate and comfortable, I am sure it will do us just fine.

We have learned that with hotels in Bangkok, Wotif and AsiaRooms have incredible deals sometimes, and others, the Hotels website has an attractive promotion. Best to check both. Also, Since deciding to forgo the serviced apartment for Hotels and Guesthouses, we are going to look for a promotional price, and take that hotel. It looks like there is a decent hotel in chinatown, with Internet and a pool, that is having a promotional price on Wotif next week, so we will likely be staying there. Balancing out nice hotels with inexpensive guesthouses, like Buri, can work out.
We actually just got back from Tops Market at Victory Monument. We purchased the following. One bottle of wine from Argentina, One large bottle of TsingTao beer, 2 bottles of Green Tea, 3 assorted cans of soda, one apple, two oranges, 5 yoghurt's, One box of Jasmine Tea, 5 packets of Ramen noodle, One bag of Dehydrated Mango. Earlier we purchased a 5L jug of water, One ¼ of a watermelon with stick and ¼ of a pineapple with stick (from street vendor) and a delicious snack of sesame coated cashews ( the vendor was coating them in front of us, in a wok on the street – lured us in with the smell which is similar to croissants baking). All of this cost well under $800 baht. Ok truth be told, the wine was the most expense part at 500 baht.So that means, minus wine, our mini bar setup cost around $10.

Victory Monument was beautiful by night. The pedestrian walkway goes almost 360 degrees around the monument. It is nice to see. We visited the nearby malls this afternoon, Centre and Fashion Mall. Both fleamarket in vibe, and not really worth the visit. We had a cheap lunch of fried rice and Kimchi, nothing special at all. Full of Klatoey (Lady Boys) and girls doing their hair with curling irons in each shop. It was too late to hit the weekend market, but we have done tonnes of shopping anyways. Hopefully, when we leave this place in 2 days, we will have done a tonne of work, and be ready to visit some Wats (temples) and Tourist spots.

MBK, KTA, ADSL in BKK

The last two days we spent apartment hunting in Bangkok without much luck. The agencies did not want to help unless you were willing to sign a one year contract, most people we called re:advertisements on craigslist, mrroomfinder etc, and most places we walked in, all wanted a year lease as well. The serivced apartments that would rent monthly wanted an exuberant amount of money usually 40000Baht, and or two month deposit plus first months rent. We really didn't want to drop a large amount on a deposit that we are not guaranteed to get back. Interestingly, however, we went to a builing that is full of English teachers. For 8000 baht (or 258 dollars) a month You get a very sparsely furnished room with a bathroom and a balcony. It looked clean and there was aircon. For 600 baht, or 20 dollars, you get Adsl internet as well. The location was a small trek from Ekkami Station on the bottom of Sukhumvit, but not too bad. The building had security, a mini mart and all of that. Its called KTA mansion. Im sure if you were to stay there for an extended time you could dress it up and make it feel homey enough, but for one month, I felt it wasnt worth it. I need more comfort. And space. The price was right, but as a tourist, I want a better location for a short stay. They also wanted a deposit of two months.

After a seriously long search, and hours on the internet, we decided to continue staying at hotels and guesthouses. This way we can vary between 500baht $15.50 rooms like Buri B&B and mix it up with some 4 star hotels for 80USD, and midrange business hotels for 50 USD a night. This way we can keep the average price to something comfortable like 30 a night, but get to move around the city to different areas, and vary our accomadation. Some places will let you negotiate weekly rates anyways. So on AsiaRooms, you can only book 3 days in advance, but they really have the best rates. Wotif had some okay deals, but nothing outstanding. We were looking for somehting with internet, and around 1000-1200 baht (or 30 to 40 dollars). We ended up going to Siam Centre, one of the fancy malls, and getting a Thailand Loney Planet at AsiaBooks. We looked through the accomadation guide, and went on the internet at a swank cafe for 40baht per 1/2hour. We ended up settling on one that Lonely Planet and Wotif both mentioned, called Ibis Business Hotel. By booking directly through their website, we got a room for 1000baht per night, for 3 nights, with an addtional 400 baht a day for unlimited wireless. Its North of here, at Victory Monument Station. So, our 5 star selection for later on, is Novatel Lotus, but we will wait and see.

J Avenue, where we are now, is like the Yorkville of Bangkok. This neighboorhood is flower shops, bridal boutiques and Japanese restaurants. Its nice. The area we are going to is diplomats and residential. Bangkok is not as polluted as Macau, but it is very hot. Its about as hot here at 9am as at noon the hottest day in the summer in Canada, and this is the cool season. The sun beat down. Luckily, there is a multitude of shopping centres with floors and floors of airconditioned escapism. This brings us to MBK, a mall full of thai hipsters and tourists. Everything in MBK is dirt cheap. Mikae has bought several Tshirts, Two Namebrand, one a Local design for around 6 each. Socks are 3 for 100 baht or 3dollors, Jeans are 600baht or less. The entire mall is rammed full of cheap shoes, knockoffs, Bape, EdHardy, cellphones and handbags. The sizing here is an interesting challenge for me. I take size 34 according to Thai size, which is the biggest they make and rare. My shoe size here is a 39, and most stores dont carry it. I bought a mens tshirt, and the womens clothes are tiny, and very flowy. Bras are all size AA and A and B and heavily padded. We did go to Tesco, Lotus, which is a British Walmart and they had Western Sizes, so I'll be going back there soemtime soon. MBK is heaven for Mikae, who fits into everything. Our cell phone there was 1150 baht total with the SIM card, or ? Dollars. They also have fake purses obviously, but they also have the incredibly well done fakes as well that are EXACTLY the same, quality zippers, leather, accessories, and just as heavy, for higher prices. These generally run around 5900 baht or $200 but they are incredible knockoffs. I love this Prada pony number. Not bad value for the Really large Purses. The food court area at MBK has incredible food selection. We at ate Nova. They had Thai Vegetarian Options. We had more Som Tam (Papaya Salad), Pad Thai and Vegtable Stirfry, for around 200baht or $6. Ah, MBK.

Another thing I love here is Oishi Green Tea. You can purchase everywhere, for about 10baht. My favorite flavor is Gen Mai. This could, however, be evidence of my unweilding narcissim. Its toasty and tea-like. Tastes like FenchtoastCrunchCerealTea, but not as sweet. Yum.

In Bangkok, you can spend as much as you like, with all the lifestyle and highend brands having shops here. Siam Paragon is 8 flooors of such brands. They have a MAC makeup even, I was surprised. These stores are just as expensive as back home, and the malls are not nearly as busy. The downtown Siam area of Bangkok is totally different, and really fun. The best are all the thai teens that hangout in their hip outfits, and breakdance. Also, the True store (True is the Internet and Communications Provider in Bangkok, but they try to be all hip, like Virgin) on Fridays and Saturdays, Local Thai Bands play. Amazing.

We went to inquire about opening a Thai bank account at K bank and the customer service representative gave us a "safety Bangkok package." It includes the following. One bottle of water. One Antiseptic Towellette. One condom. Theres a photo on our Flickr account of this.

Other highlights of the last few days, coffee and sandwiches every morning at Au Bon Pain J Avenue for 200-265 baht (or $6 - $6.50 ), Street Vendor Pineapple for 10baht, Street Vendor Cold Spring Rolls with intense and wonderful cilantro and chili sauce for 20 baht (or 70cents), meeting a group of Thai Graphic Designers from the University, Finding another Design Studio on our wanderings, Finding a hotel with internet, and figuring out the whole cellphone situation. There is alot to learn. The number one thing I think we have learned about ourselves thus far is how incredibly high our standards actually are. I think the big difference between backpacking in your late teens and late twenties is what you are willing to pay for comfort and safety, and what you are willing to live without.

We are off to go checkout from Buri B&B. What a nice place. We are both really excited for internet though, the cafe-scenario is very slow and lame. We are going to hit the weekend market as well, with over 15 000 stalls. Lets see if we can get lost for a bit there.
J.

How to Balance the Baht for Breakfast, and Buri B&B

9:35 am Au Bon Pain J Avenue, Thonglor, Bangkok

So we made it to Thailand. The flight on AirAsia was just over 2 hours from Macau. When we got out to the taxi area, men were tyring to weasel us into very expensive taxis. 1200, 800baht. We had read previously, to ignore these guys, as we did, and go straight to the area marked public taxis. There, we told them where we were going, and they set us up with a driver. We paid 400baht, which equals to $13 and the drive took over 40 min in traffic. This country is immediately beautiful, although we have not seen much.

We got to our guesthouse, Buri B&B which is right on the corner of Sukhumvit and Thonglor (Sukhumvit 55). The BTS (skytrain) is litterally steps from our door. Its a pretty good location. It was hard to find, as the entrance is up a little alley, but we went to an internet cafe and checked the address again, which cost us 10baht for a 15min block (thats 33 cents). We found the address, and the owner was waiting outside, watching the street. He led us upstairs and we checked in. The guesthouse is wonderful. What a pleasent experience after Macau. I was so relieved. It is decorated in “thai style” and it is absolutely beautiful. They also have an internet cafe, a coffee shop and a book store right downstairs. Our room is number 13, again. We have a shared bathroom area with two showers and two toilets and three sinks, shared with 5 other rooms I believe, and It is very clean. There doesn't seem to be too many people staying with us at the moment, I have only seen one other guest, and one room with a light on last night. So it is very quiet and peaceful, private. The street noise might be an issue for some, but we brought earplugs, and after 3 years at Queen & Church, can sleep through anything. Our bed is King Sized, and nice and firm, the linens are spotless. There is a water dispenser, and Hot Boiled Water dispenser as well, with coffee cups and saucers for tea. It also has (thank goodness) air conditioning. This morning when we went downstairs, there was a breakfast area set up with a toaster and bread, Jams, butter, Coffee and Teas, and a sign that told us to help ourselves to breakfast at no charge. There is also a minibar in the room with water, coca cola and tsingtao for very reasonable prices. A bottle of water is 10baht or 33 cents. This place is truly a gem. They have a location in Changi-Mai as well. Oh the best part is the price. 500 baht a night, or $16.66.
So we went looking for dinner last night, and as we are in the Japanese and British neighboorhood there is mostly Japanese and Korean food, and a Tavern or two. We wanted Thai, so we walked up Thonglor past J-Avenue and Playground and found a thai restaurant with some English on the menu. It doesn't have an English name, but here is a photo. There were some Brits eating in there, and they looked pleased. At one point, the owner offered them Locusts to eat. They didn't offer us, thank goodness. We had a large bottle of Tsingtao Beer, Two Rice, One Squid with Lemongrass, One green Papaya Salad (Yum?) and One mixed Vegtables in Sauce. The Squid was an accident, we picked something at random and hoped for the best, but it wasn't bad. The Green Papaya Salad had shrimp and chilis and Lemongrass and it was byfar the most delicious Thai food I have Ever had. It was incredible. So delicious. The Bill came to 320Baht or $10.66.

After dinner we went to 7-11 and bought 2 bottles of water (large), two iced green teas, a yoghart and a packet of dehydrated strawberries for 97Baht or $3.23. This morning we went to Starbucks, where a coffee was 140Baht or $4.66. Not getting cheaper. We came to J-Avenue and found an Au Bon Pain, where we had a bagel, chocolate croissant, and two coffees for 202Baht or $6.70. Basically, our coffee shop excursions are the most expensive part of the trip.

Today we have to decide what to do. We are going to go shopping for a cell phone. We either are going to look for an apartment nearby, or stay at the guest house for a while longer and then move on to somewhere else. We will see what happens. We did however, find a legitiamate massage place where 90 minutes cost 200baht or $6.66, and a dentist where a cleaning runs from 800-1000baht or $26-$30. So those are both on the agenda.

Leaving Macau

Here are the videos from Macau.



Here are the Photos

Rats to Riches, or How and Why to Roll Executive Class in Macau Continued

12:28 pm Macau International Airport by depature gate 7A

At this point we went back to the Best Western to pack our stuff. Along the way we found the most remarkable thing. Outside gym equipment in this tiny little alley. A old Chinese lady was using the ecliptical machine, and I joined in on the, for lack of a better term, pelvic thrust machine. We went to the hotel, and packed our things. The girl at the front desk (named Yo Yo) told us that to stay in our room, we would be charged regular price which was over $200, so we wanted to move on. I remembered reading somewhere that in Asia, you should visit travel agents as they get better than rack rates on hotel rooms. Since we had only two hours until checkout, we decided to do the same, thinking that logically, they could at least call hotels for us and speak in Mandarin. Consulted Lonely Planet, decided that this truly was the best idea and went to the city center to find travel agency. Turns out there was a huge bank of them. We selected Sunflower Agency. We explained to the girl that we were looking for a place and gave budget of $70-$100. She started calling around, and everywhere was full.

Finally she says that there are two options, the only rooms they have left. One is Hotel Asia which we had seen and were not impressed with, the second was the Sintra, which they had a deal with, which was a few doors down. We walked over to the Sintra, saw the lobby, security, and doormen in uniforms and went back to reserve the room. Total was same as the other hotel, 900MOP or 120 and we could check in in a few hours.

We went to checkout from Best Western, stopped at the park across the road from the hotel, and I had a second workout. I think Tony Little saw this before he sold millions of Gazelles. This is my favorite part of Macau, and everyone uses them. Everytime we saw a workout area, any time of day or night, someone was using it. From there, we wandered to the part of town where the martime museam is, and visited A ma temple. It looked beautiful, but it was extremely crowded, and with our packs it was difficult to navigate. Took a few photos and decided to take a ride on a city bus. City bus within Macau Penninsula is 2.50MOP or 35 cents. The buses are very modern and new, and air-conditioned. We selected 10A, and had a nice little tour of downtown Macau and the villas of the super rich, and were dropped off at the Sintra. We left our bags with the concierge and went to find a Watsons, which is Chinas version of Shoppers Drug Mart. I purchased a nice little snack of iced green tea, sesame crackers and dried fruit for under $3 or so. Mikae had a second McDonalds meal, real chicken breast burger, coke, fries for 17MOP or $2.12.

We wandered back down to the hotel to check in, and we were handed a gold card. Somewhere along the line we were upgraded to executive suite. The girl had said at the agency, that this was the only room they had left. I grab the rackcard, and Executive Suite is quoted at 1750MOP+ or $250. It also says that executive suite includes American Breakfast, English and Chinese Newspapers, Drinks, Unlimited Bottled Water, FREE BROADBAND, Satelite Channels, Robes and Slippers, AirConditioning, Free Suit Press and shoeShine all that good stuff. We get up there and the room is amazing. The view is of a giant, seriously giant LCD screen that plays Chinese music videos 24/7. But the room is amazing. The bathroom is the size of the living room in our loft, and all marble. We literally bask in luxery for 2 hours, send emails and make phone calls before we need to eat. We wander through NAPE, or the new district of reclaimed land, all clubs and bars, the new casinos like the Venitian, and the Sands, Mandarian Oriental etc. We cannot find the restaurant we are looking for, its Indian, called Arula, and literally hiding on a side street. It is across from the Big Shell station. Finally we wander in the right direction. A man makes roti right beside our table. Food wasn't bad, not the best indian food I have ever had by Far, but I think living in Toronto, I am more than slightly spoiled. We had Chana, Bharta, Rice, Roti, Samosa, Coke and Soda Water and the bill was $220 MOP or $30. We grabbed a TsingTao (they have like 1L bottles) for $10MOP or $1.25 from a market, we had a mini Bottle of GraoVasco from before $29MOP, or $3.60 and went back to the hotel. Then, in the lap of luxery, we decided to forgo any more exploring or tourist activities and just get our moneys worth with this beautiful suite. I sat in my robe, drinking Portugeuse Wine, watching BBC and uploading videos to Youtube. This morning we had our wonderful breakfast included in the executive suite price (usually $150MOP or $18.75) at the Sintra Restuarant. I had Fruit, Coffe, Toast, Omlette and it was fantiastic. With GooseDown, You sleep like a baby.

We are now waiting to board the plane at the Macau international Airport, where they have free Wifi and Broadband. We are taking Air Asia and the total flight price to Bangkok from here is 900MOP which is exactly what we paid for our hotel the last two nights, Including tax. We have a guesthouse booked on Soi Thonglor, Sukimvit 55, called Buri B&B. I hope its ok, after the Macau disaster we vowed to have somewhere booked rather than wing it. Its new and looks ok. Its supposed to be 500Baht $15.50 for a double bed. I think we are going to go shopping at MBK after we get settled. We are going to go look at some apartments and see if we get a feel for Bangkok. If we like it, we might stay a month. If not, we might stay a week or so and then go down to the Islands. And get some sun and rave on. The next full moon party is on the 24th of November. I really want to settle a bit, and get some work done however. Ive been using my laptop everywhere, but its not the same.

To sum up Macau. Yes I am glad I saw it, and experienced all of this obviously, even though 2 days in Macau cost us almost a months rent in Bangkok. The pollution is awful. The food was challenging for my vegetarian taste, and the contrast between the multibillion dollar casinos and the way the people live was astonishing. Next time I would suggest taking only a day trip, or one night in Macau, Or stay on the Taipa or Colone island area of Macau, which is supposed to be lovely. A cab ride to the airport (across the bridge to taipa) was $52MOP or $7. Macau, the Portuguese contrast was lovely, and it is a truly enjoyable city in the daylight. When the sun goes down a flip is switched and the grimieness comes alive. Lesson number one – have a room booked if you are getting somewhere and it is not first thing in the morning. Lesson number two, consult travel agencies, Lesson number three, look at rooms before you pay. Lesson number four avoid hotels like Hotel Central, and pay the money if you are somewhere that feels uncomfortable. In Macau, Definately, you must stay in executive class.

Rats to Riches, or How and Why to Roll Executive Class in Macau

10:42 am - Executive Suite 1316 Sintra Hotel Macau China. In bathrobe. With wine


Oh Macau.

Macau. This, my friends, has been quite the experience. We arrived in Macau without a hotel room, under the impression (as we had read in our travel book and on various websites) that finding a nice hotel would be easy. Mondays are not busy here, and usually cheaper, and that it would be a breeze. What we didnt know was that the Grand Prix Formula #1 this weekend coming, and some massive convention and some Chinese festival. So we get here, with an idea of a place we want to check out. We take a taxi to the city centre and obviously we look confused. A nice english speaking woman comes up to us, helps us orient ourselves, and walks us to the street we are looking for. Everyone we speak to here that knows English has a relative or more in Canada. We get to the address, and go up 3 flights of dark stairs before Mikae says that he has had enough. We leave, and now need to go onto Plan B.

The tourist map we got at the ferry docks has a list of hotels and star ratings and addresses. By now, its getting late, and we are sweaty and tired. We head towards the closest hotel which is 2 star, and called Central Hotel. It is only steps away from the Largo do Senado, or the Portugeuse Style center, shopping, tourism, looks like a safe enough neighboorhood. Hotel looks fine from the lobby, so we check in. Costs us $250HKD or $35 dollars. We go upstairs and it looks fine. Shabby, could be cleaner, but great view of the ruins of St Pauls cathedral. We have a corner, so lots of air. Mikae has a shower while I take some photos and we go out to get a bite.

Macau is a very interesting city. VERY polluted. I have never experienced pollution like this before. My eyes have been burning, coughing, its awful. The traffic is completely insane. Taxis, busses, cars, and Thousands and Thousands of Scooters. There is zero regard for pedestrians and even at designated pedestrian crossings, the cars zoom through literaly dodging each other and the pedestrians. None signals, and I am sure there is no speed limit or restrictions. The public transportation is very cheap however, we took a city bus for 2.5MOP or 35 cents Canadian. The tourist areas are very nice, the casinos, well, Ill get to that later, but the rest of the city is crumbling. The living conditions are very poor. Very poor.

So we are wandering through the city, and we have gone the wrong way, not towards the tourist area, but towards where the locals live. I am getting really upset. The pollution, traffic, slums, I am hungry and tired, Mikae is not in a good mood either, and I am beginning to feel like I am trapped in this place that I hate. We turn around finally, walk to the city centre(where it gets a bit better) and find a Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut here is like a 5star restuarant. The menu has Lobster, and Norweigen Salmon, and Rack of Lamb. We order pizza and the girl looks at us like we are crazy. I make the mistake of ordering chillis on mine. I could barely even eat it, it was way way too spicy. Seriously, there was about 1.5 chilis per slice. The waiters spoke such poor english, I got onions instead of olives and I didnt even want to try to explian that I wanted some ceaser salad dressing to use as dip, so i ate as much as I could. The Canadian Style pizza had bacon, pepperoni and corn on it. Mikae has pepperoni pan pizza and a can of beer. The bill comes to $200+ or like $30. By far the most expensive meal in Asia so far. It was just as bad as Pizza Hut pizza back home as well. All of the people eating around us were Chinese, and they were all eating their chicken wings on forks.

Casinos. Macua really just doesn't have the same atmosphere as Las Vegas. Maybe the Chinese are just too reserved. Its not even remotely close in vibe. We visited several and they all fealt the same. Its not like Las Vegas where each casino has a remarkably different atmosphere. The first thing that was quite strange was the sound. Las Vegas is very noisy, with the sirens, coins, machines, people cheering etc. Macau, the casinos are SILENT. Silent. The machines have the sound turned off. The people are not cheering or laughing or even speaking. There is no music, with the exception of the Galaxy that had a live show. All of the girls, the hostesses, showgirls etc are asian, but super tall and super white-skinned. We think some might have been men but we are not sure. Its totally bizarre to see these 5foot11in women sofar at 5'3 I am usually avarage to tall in a crowd. In order to enter any casinos, you have to show your passport and pass through metal detectors. The aforementioned live show was hilarious. Totally campy. There was a “Chicago” number, a “Supremes” number and antoher where they dressed like nuns. All English songs. We left after a few minutes, its all we could handle. The Most amuzing part of the entire experience was not the show itself but the massive crowd of men gathered at the edge of the stage all watching the show instensely without expression. It looked like a rockshow, they were crowded around the stage, standing. We couldn't take any documentation, as cameras are forbidden.

The first casino we entered was the Wynn and we noticed right away that noone was drinking. Some people had bottled water, and there were no waitresses. I had been looking for a margarita, so we decided that at the next casino, we would hit the bar. So we did. They served the following options. Milk, Coffee, Orange Juice and Coca-Cola. Bottled water was free and stting on tables, you could just take. None of the casinos had any alcohol at all.

We wandered around a little more exploring the main square until we couldn't take it any longer. Both of us just didn't want to go back to the hotel. We get back to the hotel, and like everything else in Macau, in the daylight it looked one way and in the night its a totally different story. The hotel lobby is now packed with young girls, some ladyboys, and some sketchy looking characters. Noone is caucasian other than us. We take the elevator up to our room and each floor it opens and something fishy is going on. One floor has a bunch of girls sitting on the floor eating sunflower seeds and looking bored. Right in front of the elevator. One floor has these metal gates blocking off a section of the hotel. Everyone looks a little off, and we are getting concerned. We get back to the room and right in front of our door we see a massive bowl of rat poison pellets and rat droppings. In the dark the room looks terrifying. We wrap ourselves in the silk liners we have. Mikae takes a photo of me in mine, and loses it. He says it looks corpselike and he hates it here, and feels so uncomfortable and not safe, and that our parents wouldnt want us here and he doesnt think he can sleep. Its 10:30pm, so it will be a long night ahead of us. We get up and decide to get dressed and try to find another hotel.

As we head downstairs the situation just gets more uncomfortable, and we realize that basically, the entire building is a brothel and god knows what else. We are both really upset and decide that we are going to the only hotel we recognize, Best Western, and getting a room there no matter what.

Best Western hotel is called Best Western Sun Sun and was a short walk though the (crumbling) residential district. We run. They have a room avaliable, as it is very late we can have a small discount. The room comes to 902HKD or $126. Note that they charge Hotel tax of 10-15% here. We go upstairs to 1310 and it is just like home. It looks like every Best Western everywhere. We run back to Hotel Central to get our bags and book it. We were literally running. Mikae chucks the room keys on the counter at a very confused looking old chinese lady, and says something about we are leaving, keep the money etc. A scared looking White guy is just checking in. We run at breakneck speed up the winding streets to our new comfortable Best Western. Mikae gets a TsingTao beer and a small bottle of GraoVasco and a large bottle of water at the market next door for $32MOP or like $4. We get a nice hot shower and a nice comforatble sleep. We liked the Sun Sun, it gets terrible reviews on Trip Advisor, but we thought it wasn't bad.

In the morning we woke up happy, and went to go see the tourist spots before the crowds. We headed to the ruins of StPaul around 8 am which was the best idea, there were very few tourists there. St Pauls is the major tourist attraction in Macau. It burned down in the 1800s and they kept the facade. You can look at empty tombs, and climb up metal scaffolding on the back and look through the windows at the city. We wandered around the ruins of St Paul and the Mounte Forte next to it. It was beautiful and provdided excellent views of the city, 360degrees. On the way down we saw two old men and their three caged birds having a playdate. They were suspended from trees and were singing together. It really was the greatest thing. Such a beautiful experience in this city, so strange to compare it to the horrer of the night before. With tummys rumbling we went to find food. Macau's food selection is dismal. Portugeuse, Macausnese and Cantonese food is all very carnivorous. We opted for McDonalds breakfast. I had egg mcmuffin breakfast with surprisinglingly ok coffee and Mikae had pancake breakfast. Their margarine was made out of sweet corn. Corn is also a side dish at Mcdonalds in Macau. Upgrade to corn with margarine for 5pattacas. McDonalds Breakfast for two was about. $37 MOP or.. $5.20.

Mobile Office Neuveau , One Dueter Feutura Zero as Desk

Floor of China Ferry Terminal 12:21pm

Checked out of Lee Garden which was a breeze, did some shopping in a clothing store. I tried on a pair of jeans XL and they were skin tight. I had to squeeze them on, it actually was pretty funny. We found a place called DeliFrance on Chatham Rd and had some lunch. Mikae had traditional Western breakfast and I had a yoghart (they spell it the British way) fruit cup, wholegrain bagette and coffee. Mikae has said no more Starbucks, as the price is just soo high. Pacific Coast is also high but free internet almost makes it worth it. Two Western Type Breakfasts with Coffee and Tea at little French bistro was $55HKD or about $7.25.

Wandered Down to the ferry terminal, got lost with all of our backpacks on and everything, and the next two ferries are sold out. Now we wait until the 1:30 ferry, which is ok. I have my laptop balanced on my backpack and my back on this giant mirrored pillar.

What we did find out about Wi-Fi in Hong Kong, which unfortunately we didn't find out before, is that the PCCW WiFi you can purchase a card and use it almost anywhere in Hong Kong. Ah for next time.

First Ferry Economy Class weekday from Tsim Sha Tui to Macau $132HKD or $18.85.

Leaving Hong Kong

Here are the videos from Hong Kong



Here are the Photos

Green Tea, Red Bean TaiChi

Hong Kong – Pacific Coast Coffee Shop Nathan Rd.

Yesterday i woke up around 1:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep. Lsitened to Stephen Colbert's “I am America and So Can You” on my Ipod for 2 hours or so and dozed until 5. We started by wandering down Nathan Road videotaping the neighboorhood, eventually wandering up some steps and coming across Kowloon Walled City Park and a multitude of people practicing Tai-Chi. We sat and watched for a bit. I wanted to join in, but my body had not woken up yet. Kowloon Park is amazing, its huge, and littered with people jogging and practicing Tai-Chi at 6am. There is also a aviary full of exotic birds. Oh, and It is smoke free – No smoking allowed. Really, however, you see cigarettes for sale everywhere, but very few people smoking. There is a great video on our YouTube Channel in the Hong Kong section.

After the park we went looking for some coffee, and found another Starbucks. One Chai Latte, one Grande Mild and a Green Tea and Red Bean muffin Later (And about $10) we wandered down to the Star Ferry Pier. We took the Ferry to Central (on Hong Kong Island) and then boarded another Ferry to Lantau Island. This one a little more expensive, for $16HKD – or about $2 and something – one way. This was a much longer and scenic ride through the bay. The Humidity levels have been high which is a shame, the views from the ferry are not that clear. Lantau Island is one of the Outlying Islands of Hong Kong, Twice the size of HK island with less that 200K inhabitants, a beach resort, fishing village, and three prisons. The ferry took us to Mui Wo, a small beach-like resort town. It reminded us of the Dominican Republic, Cabarete. Lantau has more bicycles than I have ever seen, or could ever imagine, it is incredible. The landscape is extrememly mountainess and covered with trees and foliage. We took a bus ($25HKD or about $3.50 each one way) through the countryside and up a very steep climb to the Po Lin Monestary. There, we visited the 210 tonne Big Buddah (insert Wikipedia Link here). The price of the ticket was $60 HKD each or $8.50 , and that included lunch at the Vegetarian Restaurant at the Monestary. It was really good.

At this point, exhaustion was setting in, again, and we decided to skip wandering around Lantau island any longer, and we took the Ferry back to HK island, chatting with some other tourists along the way. We then took the subway From HK island up to Mong Kok on Kowloon Island (around where we are staying). It goes under the water, and cost us $11HKD each from Central MTR to Prince Edward MTR. When you buy your subway ticket, you use a touch screen and select your destination, the fare reflects how far you are going. You are then issued a card, which you enter into the turnstile when going into the subway, and then again when you leave at the station you had selected to exit at. Like everything else in HK, its a very efficient process. The maps on the Subways have LED markers that tell you what stop you are at. Its almost impossible to get lost in this city. There are information booths everywhere with maps and signs that point to various points of interest. All of the streetsigns are in English and Cantonese.
At Mong Kok we Went to Fa Yuen Street Market or “Ladies Market” which is a massive market that sells basically clothing and purses, shoes and accessories. I bought 3 pairs of socks for $10HKD (or $1.40). Le Coq Sportif jackets were 2 for $100 HKD or $14. The clothing here is cheap and plentiful, however, womens sizing usually is around 25in waist. I could not find much that would fit. Shoes and HandBags are so inexpensive, you could purchase new ones everytime you went out easily. The girls in HK are all very well dressed. They are always very well put together, and the fashion is very boho, slouchy, large tops with tights, lots of tweed, mostly dark colours. They also Always wear Highheels. We are been going out at 6 am and all the girls are in high heels. We found kowloon to be much cheaper than HK island for clothing and gifts.

We then went to Tung Choi Street, which is called the “GoldFish” Market. This street has all pet stores and almost every shop has Goldfish in plastics Bags, and Turtles in little containers. They are absolutely beautiful. All kinds of Tropical Fish I have never seen before.

We then wandered down Nathan Rd looking for a Vegetarian Restaurant and found “Light Vegetarian Restaurant.” We had Sweet Chili Eggplant and some fried Noodles. This place was a little more expensive, we paid $112HKD or $16. We then wandered back to Lee Garden at 8:30 and went to bed.

This morning I got up at 4:20, and we packed our stuff, and came to this coffee house. We have to check out soon and are headed to Macau. We don't have a hotel booked, so we have to get there early.

Impressions of Hong Kong, It is a beautiful cirty with tonnes of things to do, we obviously barely scratched the surface. On next visit, I want to see Causeway Bay, Visit the Peak (so much humidity these couple of days.. poor visability, so we didn't bother) and see the harbour light show. There are serious fines for littering, spitting etc, and the city is extremely clean. They are resurfacing and cleaning buildings everywhere. It is also not nearly as crowded as I expected. Obviously the markets etc were a tight squeeze. Most people spoke a little english, especially “Excuse me” and Hello, etc. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. Everywhere you look here there is something crumbling and decaying juxiposed with something high-tech and new. The immense wealth is obvious. Apartments in the Soho Area on the Main island rent for about $3000 CAD a month. Overall, I think this city is absolutely beautiful, and very well organized. Also interestingly, public transit is very inexpensive, and on the streets you see taxis, buses and mini-buses, but very few personal vehicles. If you do see any, they are usually Minis, Bmws or Mercedes, and sparse.
J.

Chicken Wings With French Toast, or How the West has Influenced Hong Kong

Hong Kong – First Day Exploration 6pm HK time and going to bed. November 10
Note: McDonalds has “Taro” Pies.

This Morning, We began exploring early. Jet Lag is a remarkable thing. Anyways, We wandered down Nathan Road, went into the Infamous ChungKing mansions to check it out. Not nearly as bad as I had expected, although I wouldn't want to stay there necessarily. The “Touts” are not as bad as everyone said. We walked past the Peninsula, one of the most luxourious hotels on Kowloon, with the Louie Vuitton, Dior, Fendo etc promanade at the base. We then took the Central Harbour Ferry (Star Ferry) to the Main Island of Hong Kong. It costs $2.2 HKD or $.31. It is worth the ride just for the scenery.

Hong Kong Island is far more cosmopolitan and “Authentic” than Kowloon. Kowloon is Neon-Lights, Karaoke bars, Tourism, Shopping Markets with cheap purses.. Although Beautiful. Massive Banyan Trees line the main streets, and grow out of walls everywhere. Kowloon feels younger, it is also cheaper, and the crowd everywhere is younger. When you exit the ferry, Hong Kong island starts out as a glittering financial and shopping Mecca with the tallest building in Hong Kong, the Two International Finance Center. It has that big city feel immediately. There is water lining one side of the main area, and mountain behind. The city slopes upwards to the peak, sometimes drastically so. We walked past the Financial and Shopping District, Stopping at a Market called Yuen St East and West to browse souveniers, I didn't see anything immediately appealing.

From there, we went to Pottinger St, and headed to Soho. (Hollywood Road). This is where the concentration of Britih ExPats are. This is a beautiful area. CobbleStone streets lined with markets slope upwards towards the slope. We met a British Artist named Malcom who has been living in the area for 20 years. He uses oil pastels on paper that he has handmade in Tibet. The result is a very gritty texture, that is just beautiful. He minds his friends antique shop and creates art all day. There is an entire area here devoted to international foods and wines, expensive restaurants, mostly cacausian people. There is another area here entirely devoted to antiques. The antique market has literally PRICELESS and Ancient goods. Furniture salvaged from temples, statutes, and a multitude of Chairman Mao figurines. It was a truly enjoyable trip. When I return to Hong Kong, there are definately a few items that are coming home with me.
Near this area is the Man Mo Temple, which we paid a visit to. The entire center space is filled with hanging insence cones that spiral and smoke all day long. From here we wandered out of tourist area into a more authentic Cantonese area called Sheung Wan. In Toronto's china Town, they sell live crab in buckets. Here, they are lined up in cafeteria style display cases, and are wrapped tightly so they cannot move. We found a crab-wrapper (for lack of a better term) who showed us how it was done. This area was great. see the Video Here

After Last night, we decided that in If we were going to eat Cantonese, it better be Vegetarian. In this neighbourhood we couldnt find much english, so we went searching for food options. We found an Indian Restaurant, and got there just in time for the lunch special. Catering to British Expats, this place was a little more expensive. We had Bagan Bharta, Chana Masala, Salad, Soup Rice and Naan for about $140HKD or $20. It was really very good, and spicy. It is called Masala Modern Indian Cusine, on Mercer St. The Owner, a Hong Kong native was extremely friendly and was helping us with our sightseeing plans.

After late Lunch, we went down to Rue DeVeux and explored a $10HKD shop (dollar store) and a grocery store. That was fun. They sell everything in the grocery stores here, Cereals we are familiar with to Old Elpaso Taco kits, Wine and Beer, and of course a million things that we could not identify. I have not seen cheese anywhere. There are tonnes of bakerys though, and “Western” Restaurants that are truly an experience. We saw a menu that served hot dogs, breakfasts of eggs with luncheon meat (fried spam) and Noodles, and my favorite – Chicken Wings with French toast. There are street venders everywhere but everything is un-identifiable and terrifying, and definately not vegetarian.

Not the same, But good.

Hong Kong – Lee Garden Guesthouse 9:18 am HK time

Good Morning. Forced ourselves up after 4 hours of sleep and found a Starbucks. Not the same. But good. Green Tea and Red Bean muffins. Really really expensive. Grande Mild - $25 HKD or about $3+. Found internet. Half the price of coffee. Note Wi-fi booths on the main streets, like telephone booths back home. Oh and MSN doesn't work at the moment. Ces't la vie.
J.

Oasis Hong Kong, or how to get to Hong Kong for under $300

Hong Kong – Lee Garden Guesthouse 3:09 am HK time


wow Hong Kong. The flight with Oasis Hong Kong was really impressive. It was a massive plane, and very comfortable, The movies were half english and all lame, I watched a Ben Stiller movie about a Museam and some of Disney's Hercules. I had preordered Hindu Vegetarian meal, and they fed us twice actually. I had basmati, chana and a paneer dish with pickled califlower and some balled melon for the first meal and the second was like an aloo gobi with basmati and saag panner. Really good plane food, I was very impressed. Mikae had chicken with rice and a vegetable lasagna.

The service was also incredible, they came by constanly with water, juice, tea, coffe, even steamy hot towels in the “morning” to wash our faces. Great experience, plus the tickets were $299 plus taxes, so WELL worth it. Might do business class sometime though, they got a lot mre room and free alchol and snacks etc. But I was impressed. Must mention, with my panic attacks.. Dr.Nesdoly perscribed me some clonazapam, usually I don't like taking medication, but it really helped. Right when we got on I started to panic, tried to figure out how to get off the plane etc, then, It kicked in. From that point on I was calm, it was enjoyable, and takeoff was not as much of a panic as it usually is. What a relief.

Hong Kong airport was nice, what we saw of it. Basically lined up, got through and booked it to the bus. Bus ride was pleasent, about 1 hour from the airport, had a nice little tour of Kowloon. We missed our stop, there was some construction and such, but some very kind english speaking Hong Kong native helped us out. She saw what was going on and talked to the bus driver, then explained to us that we would stay on the bus, go to the last stop (next stop) wait for the driver to get a drink, and then we'd be back on our way doing the route backwards, atr which point he would drop us on the side of the road that wasn't under construction. Basically, without her, we would have NEVER figured all that out. She went as far as to walk with us across the pedestrian bridge, point out some museams and local highlights, and then went on her way home in the same neighbourhood. Oh for all those times I've helped people in Toronto.

Lee Garden Guesthouse is very nice. Tiny, but nice. Both of us are basically delusional after sleeping 8 hours in 2 days, and missing Friday completely. Our room is very small, but very very clean. The owner has another guesthouse nearby called Star GuestHouse, which we didn't see. We are paying 450HKD or about $50 a night for a double bed with our own bathroom and broadband internet. The showering was an experience, as the hose is attached to the wall beside the toilet, and the head is not affixed. The neighboorhoud has expensive stores and a starbucks (whew). The backpacker ghettos here are Mirador Mansion and ChungKing Mansion. We only went in Chungking and only the shopping area briefly. I would not reccomend or want to stay at either, although it looks like they are trying to upgrade ChungKing. We had originally booked at Mirador Mansion at USA Hotel. I was up late one night reading reviews on Hostelworld and the WORST review was just posted. They were talking about how the place was a slum and the people stole his money and all this. The next Morning i go to show Mikae and mysteriously the review has disappeared off of hostelworld and it has been replaced with two glowing reviews that sound mysteriously like chinese-translated English. They also mention things that a tourist is not likely to mention, like copy off of their website. Oh, and they are apparantly posted by “Matt from Australia” etc. So I cancelled Immediately, and Found Lee Garden.

Alana would go nuts, Hong Kong is shopping paradise. We have seen Everything here in the few short hours we've been.

We wondered all the way up to Mongkok looking for some food and found a Cantonese place where noone spoke even a word of english. Seriously, I couldn't even order tea. Luckily, they had some menus with English words on them. We ordered 4 dishes, 3.5 where edible. I definately consumed bites of pork and mystery grey meat even though I had thought I ordered vegetarian. Bean Curd and those re-hydrated mushrooms I love and chili sauce and rice and cabbage yuum.. good enough for me. The bill was 81HKD or about $12. I took a photo of the place. Even at this time, there are tonnes of (young) people on the street, more karaoke than I could even want or imagine and lots of Japanese food which I am surpised. 7-11 sells YellowTail wine for 89HKD or about $13.

Mikae is sleeping, Im going to try to too. We want to do all the really touristy stuff tommorrow. With only 2 days in Hong Kong really, Touristy stuff and shopping Is I think all I can handle. To Victoria Peak!!
J.