BANGKOK
CHIANG MAI
PAI
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Thailand
So we've made it to Thailand and despite experiencing a bit of culture shock and a mutual desire to return to China (didn't see that one coming) we seem to have settled into the more relaxed pace of this country. One aspect that has really thrown us for a loop is the sheer size of the tourism industry in this country. Yes, we have arrived in the middle of the peak season, but we were not expecting to be greeted by this many tourists and tourist-centric activities, restaurants and hotels. In China we had to fend for ourselves, and here its almost as if everything is available at our fingertips. Neither is worse or better, its just different.
Currently we are in the small Northern town of Pai. Having spent our first five days in the bustling metropolis of Chiang Mai, this little riverfront town with its strong SF hippy/gypsy chic-vibe has provided us with the perfect locale to just sit back and do nothing for a few days. Aside from relaxing, we trekked for two-days to visit local hill-tribe communities (blog posting on the experience to follow), and tomorrow we take a ride with the Elephants!
In a few days we will head down South for a bit of touring near Bangkok before heading down to the islands for more R&R. I'm looking forward to that!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Asia's Sin City
Well, I've never been to Vegas, but something tells me they don't just give out free tea and coffee spiked with that dangerous ingredient, molasses. Genevieve has assured me that the real Sin City is much bigger and crazier than the ex-Portuguese island state of Macao. To get there from Hong Kong we took a turbojet ferry which takes about an hour of not so pleasant seas. After passing through immigration and getting over our sea legs we hopped on one of the free shuttles from the ferry terminal to the Wynn. Genevieve was initally disappointed by this place as the one in Vegas is supposedly much bigger.
It was here though that we discovered and learned the intricacies of what must be Asia's favorite gambling game, Sic-Bo. It quickly became our favorite as it allows low minimum bets and requires absolutely no skill. The whole premise is you bet on the outcome of 3 dice being rolled. The betting board looks similair to a roullette board, but with numbers and different dice combinations. The easiest bets, which pay 1 for 1, are even/odd and small (4 to 10)/big (11-17). You can also bet on specific sums, double dice rolls, triple dice rolls, specific combinations of the dice and all sorts of other silly bets. We became big fans of big, even, and the number 14. Somehow by playing this game at the Wynn, the Sands, the Grand Lisboa, and the Venetian, we were able to run our initial investment of 1500 HKD between the 2 of us to around 4000 + HKD and then lose it all. Such are the up and down swings of Sic-Bo.
Macao wasn't a totally losing proposition. We did manage to stuff ourselves twice. First for lunch we were tempted by the house specialty sandwiches at the Grand Lisboa cafe. Genevieve opted for the Monte Cristo sandwich while I went for the Monte Cristo Club. We also ordered the specialty of fried bacalao. You can see my great discomfort in eating our lunch of palm oil disguised as a sandwich and fish ball in the picture. We made up for it that night by finding a Fatburger in the Venetian canals (I believe they have one in Italy as well) and opting for that instead of one of the 30 various asian food stalls. Watching the guys behind the counter work make you appreciate a proper American fast food hamburger assembly line. While the burgers and fries were delicious, they were not exactly piping hot after the workers spent too much time perfectly placing pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. It was delicous though.
We turbojetted back to Hong Kong a bit sad we had lost money, but we made up for it the next day by going to the Happy Valley Jockey Club and winning it big - a whole $9 HKD.
It was here though that we discovered and learned the intricacies of what must be Asia's favorite gambling game, Sic-Bo. It quickly became our favorite as it allows low minimum bets and requires absolutely no skill. The whole premise is you bet on the outcome of 3 dice being rolled. The betting board looks similair to a roullette board, but with numbers and different dice combinations. The easiest bets, which pay 1 for 1, are even/odd and small (4 to 10)/big (11-17). You can also bet on specific sums, double dice rolls, triple dice rolls, specific combinations of the dice and all sorts of other silly bets. We became big fans of big, even, and the number 14. Somehow by playing this game at the Wynn, the Sands, the Grand Lisboa, and the Venetian, we were able to run our initial investment of 1500 HKD between the 2 of us to around 4000 + HKD and then lose it all. Such are the up and down swings of Sic-Bo.
Macao wasn't a totally losing proposition. We did manage to stuff ourselves twice. First for lunch we were tempted by the house specialty sandwiches at the Grand Lisboa cafe. Genevieve opted for the Monte Cristo sandwich while I went for the Monte Cristo Club. We also ordered the specialty of fried bacalao. You can see my great discomfort in eating our lunch of palm oil disguised as a sandwich and fish ball in the picture. We made up for it that night by finding a Fatburger in the Venetian canals (I believe they have one in Italy as well) and opting for that instead of one of the 30 various asian food stalls. Watching the guys behind the counter work make you appreciate a proper American fast food hamburger assembly line. While the burgers and fries were delicious, they were not exactly piping hot after the workers spent too much time perfectly placing pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. It was delicous though.
We turbojetted back to Hong Kong a bit sad we had lost money, but we made up for it the next day by going to the Happy Valley Jockey Club and winning it big - a whole $9 HKD.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
We still haven't been able to figure this one out...
Of the many things that kept us awake at night during our romp through China, this is one mystery that we still haven't been able to crack (no pun intended.) For some reason, most of the babies and toddlers wear buttless pants without diapers. If parents can't afford pants of this sort, they'll just open the back seam for the world to see their rosy cheeks. Our question is: how do the babies know not to make a mess and instead pull over to a tree and squat? I can understand for toddlers, but babies that can't even crawl...how do they do it?
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Something I've never seen before
We saw a man today walking down the street of Guangzhou (population of many millions) with 3 pet monkeys on a leash. They escaped before we could take a photo.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Traveling through China on a train
In honor of us having just completed our last and final long distance train ride in China, I thought it would only be appropriate to dedicate a blog entry to our good friend, the Chinese rail system. Oh Chinese trains, how I have loved and (mostly) hated you so....
As anyone knows who has traveled on a Chinese train, the system breaks down its seating structure into three categories--Hard Seat, Hard Sleeper, and Soft Sleeper. A Hard Seat ticket basically gets you a spot on a three person seat in a car of about 120 people, while a Hard Sleeper ticket will provide you with a cot, pillow and blanket in a car of about 60 other pals. The most luxurious way to travel is on the Soft Sleeper which is similar to the Hard Sleeper option, but is slightly upgraded, as you are only sharing a tiny room with 3 other people. Like in most of China, you can't escape people even if you try.
For the most part, Adam and I have been lucky enough to snag Hard Sleeper tickets on our overnight destinations. Again, not the most ideal of circumstances (especially if you get stuck near loud snorers, which we have on all of our many overnight trains), but we've learned to grin and bear it--Adam more than I. A note on snorers, there never seems to be more than 1, but there is always one person making the walls quake.
Recently, while trying to make our way on an overnight train from Hangzhou (my favorite town we've visited) to the mountain village of Wuyishan, we were forced to take Hard Seat tickets, as all Hard and Soft Sleeper tickets were sold out. Despite every fellow backpacker saying that an overnight train in a Hard Seat was equivalent to minor forms of torture in some countries, we thought we were mentally prepared to endure the sleepless night. This was all before we had ever set foot in a Hard Seat car. Getting to our car and seeing the rock hard bench with 3 depressions for 3 bottoms that was immovably positioned at a 90 degree angle, we knew we were in trouble. That combined with the grey air from cigarette smoke and the fact that our seating area would be shared with six other people, making leg stretching nearly impossible, was enough to send us both into a state of panic. Luckily our good friend, the Chinese policeman saw us poor souls and let us know via cell phone text message typing (his wallpaper photo on the phone was a porn picture) that Hard Sleeper tickets had become available and we could upgrade if we wanted. The policeman also was kind enough to alert us of the dangers of a "petty thief" on board and kept making the "lookout" symbol by touching his eyes with 2 fingers. We made our way quickly out of the car but not before stirring the curiosity of everyone on the car. Each and everyone of our fellow 120 passengers on the car became completely silent to witness our interaction with the authority. Needless to say, I will never complain about a Hard Sleeper again.
After pushing our way through 5 crowded cars with our backpacks on, Adam sweating profusely because his fever from food poisoning decided to break at that exact moment, we made it to the clerk who took our money and sent us to the complete opposite side of the train to claim our sleeper seats. We passed the policeman again who checked our tickets and gave us a triumphant grin as if we had led us to the promised land. To give you an idea of the length of Chinese trains, they are about 15 cars long. You can not see one end from the other. The hard seat was in car 14, our sleeper was in car 1. As we made our way down the moving train we noticed that about half the sleeper seats were empty. Just goes to show the wonderful effects of bureaucracy on train ticket sales.
As anyone knows who has traveled on a Chinese train, the system breaks down its seating structure into three categories--Hard Seat, Hard Sleeper, and Soft Sleeper. A Hard Seat ticket basically gets you a spot on a three person seat in a car of about 120 people, while a Hard Sleeper ticket will provide you with a cot, pillow and blanket in a car of about 60 other pals. The most luxurious way to travel is on the Soft Sleeper which is similar to the Hard Sleeper option, but is slightly upgraded, as you are only sharing a tiny room with 3 other people. Like in most of China, you can't escape people even if you try.
For the most part, Adam and I have been lucky enough to snag Hard Sleeper tickets on our overnight destinations. Again, not the most ideal of circumstances (especially if you get stuck near loud snorers, which we have on all of our many overnight trains), but we've learned to grin and bear it--Adam more than I. A note on snorers, there never seems to be more than 1, but there is always one person making the walls quake.
Recently, while trying to make our way on an overnight train from Hangzhou (my favorite town we've visited) to the mountain village of Wuyishan, we were forced to take Hard Seat tickets, as all Hard and Soft Sleeper tickets were sold out. Despite every fellow backpacker saying that an overnight train in a Hard Seat was equivalent to minor forms of torture in some countries, we thought we were mentally prepared to endure the sleepless night. This was all before we had ever set foot in a Hard Seat car. Getting to our car and seeing the rock hard bench with 3 depressions for 3 bottoms that was immovably positioned at a 90 degree angle, we knew we were in trouble. That combined with the grey air from cigarette smoke and the fact that our seating area would be shared with six other people, making leg stretching nearly impossible, was enough to send us both into a state of panic. Luckily our good friend, the Chinese policeman saw us poor souls and let us know via cell phone text message typing (his wallpaper photo on the phone was a porn picture) that Hard Sleeper tickets had become available and we could upgrade if we wanted. The policeman also was kind enough to alert us of the dangers of a "petty thief" on board and kept making the "lookout" symbol by touching his eyes with 2 fingers. We made our way quickly out of the car but not before stirring the curiosity of everyone on the car. Each and everyone of our fellow 120 passengers on the car became completely silent to witness our interaction with the authority. Needless to say, I will never complain about a Hard Sleeper again.
After pushing our way through 5 crowded cars with our backpacks on, Adam sweating profusely because his fever from food poisoning decided to break at that exact moment, we made it to the clerk who took our money and sent us to the complete opposite side of the train to claim our sleeper seats. We passed the policeman again who checked our tickets and gave us a triumphant grin as if we had led us to the promised land. To give you an idea of the length of Chinese trains, they are about 15 cars long. You can not see one end from the other. The hard seat was in car 14, our sleeper was in car 1. As we made our way down the moving train we noticed that about half the sleeper seats were empty. Just goes to show the wonderful effects of bureaucracy on train ticket sales.
Monday, November 5, 2007
The art of Chinese staring
Actually, there is no art. Chinese people have no shame in giving you a good head-to-toe stare down. Oh the wonders of travelling through a country in which you could never pass for a local. Whether it be on the street, train (I've found these particularly painful given that when entering a train car nearly everyone stops what they are doing to look at what shoes I'm wearing), or even in the bathroom, people seem to simply be fascinated with the strange foreigner visiting their country. Even the babies do it!
Its always a great feeling when Adam and I walk into a small restaurants. The scene that usually follows is one in which the entire place goes dead silent while everyone watches as we painfully try to order something on the menu (that of course we can't read) all while keeping our fingers crossed that we didn't order dog or some other crazy food. I must say though, we've gotten pretty good at doing a quick survey at what other patrons are eating and subsequently order by pointing at dishes that look appetizing. Between ordering and being served our food, people tend to forget about us, but that quickly subsides once the food arrives. The prospect of watching a foreigner fumble with chopsticks usually proves to be too appealing. Slowly we're getting used to the attention...baby steps.
Its always a great feeling when Adam and I walk into a small restaurants. The scene that usually follows is one in which the entire place goes dead silent while everyone watches as we painfully try to order something on the menu (that of course we can't read) all while keeping our fingers crossed that we didn't order dog or some other crazy food. I must say though, we've gotten pretty good at doing a quick survey at what other patrons are eating and subsequently order by pointing at dishes that look appetizing. Between ordering and being served our food, people tend to forget about us, but that quickly subsides once the food arrives. The prospect of watching a foreigner fumble with chopsticks usually proves to be too appealing. Slowly we're getting used to the attention...baby steps.
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