more photos

Here are a few more photos I just had scanned...

This is a view of Orchha, India:



A truck driver (in the passenger seat, since they drive on the other side of the road) in India. It's taken from the bus on the bus ride from Nepal back to Delhi, so I'm not sure exactly where it is:



A horse rider in a small village in Nepal, on the way back down from the ABC trek:

storming in Bangkok

It's my last evening in Asia, for the time being at least, and it's storming like crazy in Bangkok. It was warm and muggy as usual all day, then started to cloud up and now it's raining like crazy with thunder and lightning. Actually come to think of it, it did this yesterday as well, although a little later in the evening. So the monsoon may be on its way. Or else it's just raining. But I've pretty much got all my last minute stuff taken care of, got my bags packed (they don't seem too heavy, hopefully not) and got a bus ticket for the airport express bus at 5 am tomorrow. So not too much to do this evening, which is better than scrambling at the last minute. One cool thing though is that I just ran into Dean, the guy I ran into a few weeks ago when I was in Bangkok before, who I know from the Andaman Islands in India two years ago. He'd also left Bangkok, for an even shorter time, and then come back, and then is headed north from here, planning to travel around southeast Asia for the next few months. So I might see him around for dinner tonight. Although, maybe not because we'd arranged to eat at a pretty good street vendor, just across from my hotel, where they have chairs and tables but it's not protected from the rain, so depends on how long this lasts....So I'm not certain that I'll end up getting online once I get to Hawaii, because you have to pay for a membership at the library in Kapaa in order to use the internet. But we'll see. Either way I'll definitely be making some phone calls. If I don't write anything in Hawaii, then the next time I'll get online will be in a little less than 3 weeks, back in California. But good chance I'll end up checking email, etc. in Hawaii at some point.

India photos

Here are a few more photos I just scanned, all from Rajasthan state in India...

This is a side street in Jaiselmer:



This is on the dunes just 15 minutes walking outside of Khuhri, a small desert village about 25 miles from Jaiselmer (photo taken by the Spanish guy, who I then ran into in Pushkar, in an internet cafe where we'd been typing next to each other for a half hour or so, before realizing it)(also this is where I was when my family was wondering where the heck I was, due to a little lapse in communication):



Some exuberant kids with Bhundi fort in the background:

Nepal trekking photos

Here are a few more photos from the trek up to Annapurna Base Camp, Nepal in March. The first one is of myself on a little bridge somewhere along the way; the second photo is of myself, Talis from Holland and John Perry at Annapurna Base Camp, with Annapurna 1 in the background; and the next two are the peak of one of the mountains from the base camp, but I'm not sure which one since there were half a dozen or so. But it's quite possibly Machapuchre.

still hot in Bangkok

I took the bus from Hua Hin to Bangkok yesterday. I'd been emailing Talis, the 18-year-old who had joined us on the trek in Nepal, and knew that he was in Bangkok and was in the same part of town I was headed for, and ran into him right away. Not too big of a coincidence since he was staying in a hotel only a few doors down from where I'd been before, and had left my box of stuff. So that was great to see him again, he invited me to stay in his room for the night since he had a double room, then was leaving early this morning, headed for Ko Chang (the one near Cambodia) and the island of Ko Mak and Ko Kood that I had visited back in the fall. We hung out yesterday evening along with assorted friends of his he'd made while in Bangkok the past week or so, then he took off this morning. I got him to send me some more of the photos from the trek, so I'll include those in another post.

So I have two full days left to hang out here in Bangkok and not a whole lot to do. I probably would have stayed in Hua Hin an extra day and enjoyed the cooler weather and the beach there, except that I knew Talis would be taking off soon and wanted to connect with him. It's hot and sweaty here in Bangkok as usual (although I guess it's me that's sweaty, not Bangkok itself), so I'm sure Hawaii will be a nice, somewhat subtle change from here, since it doesn't get quite so extremely hot there. My main job here is just to unpack that compact box of stuff and reorganize my belongings into one carry-on, plus two checked bags that won't be too heavy to take on the plane, which should work out okay. Then I'm on the plane early Thursday morning, for a relatively short couple of flights to Hawaii, about 12 hours of flight time with an hour-and-a-half layover in Taipei, Taiwan. That probably doesn't sound so quick, but it beats the usual 24 hours of flying plus 8-12 hours of layovers that it takes flying straight from the west coast to India. So I'll probably be getting online pretty regularly the next couple of days and post another update before I leave Bangkok.

back in Hua Hin

I'm in Hua Hin again, the resort town on the Gulf of Thailand a few hours south of Bangkok, where I was about 11 days ago. I'm staying at the same place I was before, Lucky Guest House, with the free internet. So nothing too exciting going on, I lucked out and caught a bus going directly here, 15 minutes after getting to the bus station, which I think was pretty lucky because that town isn't so popular that there are tons of busses going through there. Then I survived the 7 1/2 hour ride here, an hour longer than it took going the other way. Honestly, I'd rather just be driving myself at this point, I'm so tired of sitting there on busses staring at the seat in front of me. At least on the plane the seat has a TV in it! (Not to mention free drinks...)

Anyway, two notable news items come to think of it. One, I got the last of my film developed yesterday in Ranong, 7 more rolls. One place that looked pretty professional said it would be ready in an hour, so I tried one roll with them. It came out good, so I gave them the rest, they did a good job with them and then I also got coupons for 10 free 8 x 10s, so that was cool. The photos came out great, the hard part is going to be narrowing them down so that there aren't so many that you get completely bored of pictures before you get through them all. I think altogether I have 500 photos, including the ones I've sent back, and that's after taking about a third of the not-so-good ones out.

So the other thing is that I booked a flight yesterday from Lihue, Kauai back to Oakland, Calif. Hawaiian Airlines had added a new flight, probably in response to ATA Airlines going bankrupt and canceling all their flights, so it was now cheaper to fly into Oakland than Portland, and I'd wanted to visit my mom and step-dad on the way back, plus my aunt Chris if we can make that work. So it's good to have that taken care of, even if it cost me a hundred bucks more than the previous flight I'd had. But the upside about it is that I changed the date to May 12th, which gives me an extra 5 days there, which is good because I'd been thinking I'd given myself not quite enough time before anyhow. Well I'm going to keep this one short, but I'll most likely hop on a bus from Hua Hin back to Bangkok tomorrow, unless of course I'm really not in the mood for a bus ride tomorrow, which is of course possible. But at least it's only a few more hours to go either way.

still in Ranong

Nothing too exciting to report. I'm still in the coastal town of Ranong, on the Andaman Sea. I decided to stay one more day here, as I like my hotel room and wasn't feeling up for a long day spent on a bus quite yet. Besides I'm in no big hurry since I don't fly out of Bangkok until Thursday. Yesterday was rainy here, I'm not sure if it's the monsoon creeping in or just a random rainy day, but it was pouring down pretty good there for a while. But the monsoon is supposed to be on its way, which is why the tourist season is waning here. For anyone who doesn't know, the monsoon is basically just the rainy period in this part of Asia, I guess all of south Asia gets it, not sure about China or Japan. But different areas get it at different times, and certain places get two monsoons, as it moves up, passes over and then comes back down. So it's sort of a huge rainstorm that can last for months, but with periods of sunshine at times as well. Apparently it can be a great time to visit, as long as you're not in a flood zone, and don't mind the rain. Prices for hotels come down, and you can get a taste of a place when it isn't swamped with tourists. Although, I hear that when it is a sunny day, it's so humid it can be even hotter than anything I've experienced so far. But today it's back to being partly cloudy and isn't too hot out there. But I'm sure it will be plenty hot when I get back up to Bangkok. So I'll probably leave here by bus tomorrow, stay a night or two in Hua Hin and arrive in Bangkok Monday or Tuesday, then I'll be flying out of Bangkok Thursday. The weird thing is that I leave Bangkok at about 8 am on Thursday, fly for 12 or 14 hours or so, and then arrive in Honolulu at 6 am, also on Thursday, so two hours before I left. That's because of the international date line, so I'll be gaining back the day that I skipped over when I flew here, but that's going to be one long Thursday.

back in Ranong

I'm back in town, from the tropical island of Ko Phayam. I ran into the same minor problem as the last time, in which I couldn't take a boat directly from one island to the other, as I also wanted to visit the island of Ko Chang, right next door (which is a little coincidental since the other island I'd wanted to visit back in November, from Ko Kood, was also Ko Chang, but a different one). In both cases the cheapest option (other than getting a private boat) was to go back to town and then catch another direct boat out to the other island. I'd thought maybe I would do that this time, but I fly from Bangkok in only 6 days now and don't want to end up in a rush to get back there. So instead I think I'll hang out here in Ranong for an extra day, take care of assorted business, do some last minute shopping, and then start heading to Bangkok with a stop or two along the way, and probably try to get back there a couple of days early.

So, Ko Phayam was great. It's really something of an undiscovered gem in Thailand. So don't tell anybody. For one thing it was cheap. I was paying the same price for a roomy bamboo bungalow with a double bed and attached bathroom, right on the beach, as I was for my cheap room in Bangkok, which was basically a tiny storage closet with a single bed and a fan, and bathroom down the hall. But the island really had everything, beautiful beaches, good for swimming, really good snorkeling off one of them with colorful fish and coral reef, plus hiking trails to several secluded beaches. The beach that I was on was the biggest, and wasn't the most picturesque, but it had nice little waves that were great for body surfing, which I think is rare for Thailand as neither the Gulf of Thailand or the Andaman Sea make much in the way of waves. I actually saw someone surfing this morning, as I was leaving, as they were even a little bigger than usual. But I'm sure anyone from Hawaii wouldn't be too impressed.

Other than the beaches, it was a fun island for exploring in general. There are no cars on the island, only motorcycles, so all the roads look just like bike paths. I considered renting a motor scooter for the first time in a long while (I think the last time was actually in Greece, in 1990). But then the island is pretty small and I'm watching my dollars (or rather baht) so I went for the cheaper, trusty bicycle as usual, which worked fine. It only took about 45 minutes to cover the distance between the two farthest points of the island.

I ended up meeting a couple of people at one point, an American from New York City who had just turned 36 (I also turn 36 in a couple weeks), who was traveling with a Thai girl that he'd met online. I was swimming at this beach I'd just bicycled to, in front of a resort (for lack of a better term) when this guy came down from one of the huts and went into the water nearby. There was literally nobody else on the beach or in the water, although it was quite a long beach, in the middle of the afternoon. Partly that's because it's the beginning of the low season, but also that's just because this particular island isn't very well known.

So we ended up talking and then his Thai girlfriend came down to the beach with their snorkeling gear. I also had mine with me and they invited me to join them, as she had been there before and knew of some good snorkeling spots. We tried to check out the area she'd said was the best, but discovered the tide was up too high and you couldn't see down to the reef, as the water also wasn't very clear. So instead we checked out a rocky area near the shore, that wasn't bad. But then we arranged to meet up the next morning, in order to check out that other area when the water was lower. So I met them again the next day and it was great, lots of cool stuff to look at. Not quite as impressive as the best I'd seen on the Andaman Islands but close enough, much better than I'd expected, and it made it worth dragging around that snorkeling gear through India and Nepal for 3 1/2 months. Although, next time I think I'll just rent it, and have a lighter bag to carry the rest of the time.

So as mentioned above, I was interested in hopping from there over to the other island of Ko Chang, which was practically within spitting distance, and which you passed in the ferry on the way there and back. When I'd wanted to visit the other Ko Chang (near Cambodia) in the fall, the reason there wasn't a direct boat, was because the two islands were actually a good distance apart. This time, as I understand it the reason was because this Ko Chang is actually very undeveloped, so there just isn't all that much demand for people going there from neighboring islands. Apparently there is no electricity on the island, other than those few resorts that make their own electricity with generators. And not only are there no cars, there aren't even motorcycles or paved paths, just walking trails that cover the island. But from the ferry passing by it looked really beautiful, and I'd heard good things about it from some people on Ko Phayam that I talked to, so I'm definitely curious to check it out. But I guess it'll have to wait until next time. But it's good to know that there are still beautiful tropical islands in Thailand where you can hang out and relax, without a 20-story Hilton staring down at you, and where even the bamboo bungalows have just barely intruded.

I'm now back in the Asia Hotel here in Ranong, with a pretty nice room for a good price, and I admit it's nice to have enclosed walls (rather than just bamboo slats) and not be listening to the ocean all night, which kind of keeps you awake, and not be tracking sand all over the place. Tropical paradise does have its downsides, even if they're pretty minor. I'll most likely hang around here tomorrow, to catch up on computer stuff, do a little more shopping, and also just to not be in a rush in the morning to check out and catch a bus. For one thing, I haven't decided yet where I'm going from here. But there's a good chance I'll just head back to Hua Hin, stay there for a night or two and then go back to Bangkok. If I had just a few more days then I'd be tempted to go to Ko Tao, another island which I would take a ferry to from the town of Chumphon, which is on the way back. But then I'd want to stay there longer than just a day or two, so that also will have to wait until next time. Whatever happens, I'll probably be checking email again tomorrow and/or may post something else here, before I take off...

in Ranong

I'm now in the town of Ranong, on the Andaman Sea on the western side of the Thailand peninsula (which is the general area that got slammed by the tsunami a few years ago, although I'm not sure of the effects right around here). From here I'll be hopping over to the islands of Ko Chang and Ko Phayam. I haven't decided which one to go to first, as they're right next to each other and both sound pretty nice. So in the morning I'll decide on one or the other and take a ferry over there, unless I end up staying in Ranong for an extra day. Getting here took a 6 1/2 hour bus ride from Hua Hin, which went through a lot of really gorgeous landscapes, extremely green and lush rainforest. So far I feel like the south is more of the "real" Thailand experience. By that I mostly just mean that it's more along the lines of what I expected Thailand to be like; extremely lush, hot and humid, sea breezes, beautiful beaches, palm trees everywhere, etc. Ranong is quite a contrast to Hua Hin however. Ranong doesn't have any real beaches nearby, and it's far overshadowed by the areas of Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and other popular places a little further south, so although there are a few other "farangs" wandering around (foreigners) it feels like a town that's mostly unaltered by tourism. The two islands I'm headed to both sound quite nice, but for some reason or another they haven't attracted much attention (maybe just because there are so many Thai islands, they can't all be overrun). Also according to the guidebook they basically cater to the budget traveler's crowd, which is one of the reasons I settled on them, because it sounds like I can afford them. Plus I'd just as soon not be staring at lines of beach umbrellas and high rise hotels, and the accompanying crowds. But Hua Hin was still a perfect stopover on the way here, so good chance I'll stop there again on my way back north in a couple of weeks. Well that's all for now folks, I most likely won't be posting any messages or checking email until I get back to Ranong from the islands. So talk to you all when I get back here in roughly ten days or so. (Man, the end is really almost near!!) (Of my trip, I mean...) By the way I got an email from travelocity.com, that my flight from Hawaii back to California has apparently been refunded to my credit card. So I'll have to confirm that to make sure it isn't some coincidental spam or something, but otherwise that's definitely good news.

at the beach in Hua Hin

I arrived yesterday afternoon at Hua Hin, a popular beach resort town on the Thailand coast, due south of Bangkok about 3-4 hours. I wasn't quite sure what to expect in terms of accomodation prices since I knew it was touristy, and my Thailand guidebook is 8 years old (I just got it used in Bangkok, didn't want to spend 30 bucks on a book only for a month). But it sounded like there would still be budget options and fortunately there are. I got a nice-sized room with a double bed for 6 dollars, and they even have free interent for guests, with a faster connection than Bangkok for some reason. Hua Hin is pretty much the classic tropical beach resort town, with huge hotels on the water such as the Hilton, which is about a 2 minute walk from where I am, just back from the beach a little ways and down a narrow lane. Just out of curiosity I checked the rates for the Hilton, and it's around $200-300 per night for rooms. But of course, in mine I don't have air conditioning, TV, a fridge or attached bathroom (it's down the hall) but don't particularly need any of those amenities either; although I admit that it does make it a bit hard to sleep at night when you're sweating away, despite the fan overhead. But it has cooled down since leaving Bangkok, as Bankok isn't on the ocean but is a little ways inland.

So it was great to get the heck out of the city finally, as well as to get to the beach. Hua Hin is actually really nice. It has a gorgeous, wide, long beach, fronted by hotels the whole way, but with plenty of palm trees to at least partially obscure all the development. I walked from one end of the beach to the other and back this morning, and timing it coming back, it took an hour and fifteen minutes, and I was jogging part of the time. So it's a long beach, which means that despite all the beach revelers around here there are still plenty of quiter spots along it, that aren't overrun with people, beach umbrellas, etc. And the town is really pleasant and mellow, for one thing I think I'm at the waning end of peak season, so it's not as crowded as I'm sure it is at other times. But also it's just a nice, small town with an easygoing atmosphere and the people are really nice. Apparently just twenty or thirty years ago this was a sleepy fishing village on the ocean with not much going on. That's pretty hard to imagine when you're on the beach looking at the long line of high rise hotels, but easier when you're just walking around the town.

So although I didn't really have any expectations, as I knew it was one of the most popular beach destinations in Thailand not far from Bangkok, I'm pleasantly surprised. And I'm seeing basically no other budget travelers around here—probably because they're all understandably avoiding the mass tourism—which is actually a nice change, just to have a little change of scene. Instead it seems to be almost an even mix of Thai families and couples, and older Europeans (many of whom really should not be wearing speedos). So, I stuck around for today, and will most likely take off tomorrow morning for the islands I'm headed for, although it's possible I might end up hanging out for one more day, just depending on whether I'm up for a rather long travel day tomorrow. Otherwise this isn't such a bad place to stay a little longer and do some more walking around, exploring of the town and swimming in the ocean, although I did get bored of laying on the beach in about 20 minutes. Hopefully there's some good snorkeling spots on the islands, which there's supposed to be, and/or I meet some more interesting people to hang out with.