Chilling on Koh Samet

Today is the day when I finally arrive in Thailand. Not Bangkok, but Thailand. With all the information I gathered yesterday Udo and I head to the Eastern Bus Terminal at Ekamai. In the Taxi there we decide that this time we will go to Koh Samet, Koh Chang maybe another time. Talk about being spontaneous. The bus to Banphe, from where the ferry leaves to Koh Samet, leaves exactly the minute we get there and is kind enough to wait for us. There’s not enough time to look around but the connections seem fantastic. Pretty much every hour there are buses leaving to the major Southeastern destinations, making traveling around cheap and convenient. Our bus ride is only 157 Baht – one way, with another 100 B return for the ferry to Koh Samet. The bus is comfy and we even get water and cookies for the 4 hour scenic ride. The roads are pretty good and it’s practically not bumpy at all, strongly depending on what you compare it too, though. The bus stops in Banphe 2 minutes walk from the ‘ferry terminal’ a wooden shack and pier from which ferries and speedboats leave from. They scare us that we won’t be able to get accommodation on the island, since it’s a long holiday weekend – Friday Aug 12^th is the Queens birthday and a holiday in Thailand. We pay the 200 B entrance fee, since the island is a National Park and get on the ferry anyway. The ferry is essentially an ancient wooden boat, access is terrible and I salute the people that got on there with heavy luggage. An adventurous 45 minute ride later we arrive on Koh Samet. Crawl over 4 other boats to get to the Pier where’s some Taxi pick up trucks waiting to get everyone into the tourist areas. The pier is full with boats bringing items to the islands and bringing trash and other things back to the mainland. Good first impression, the rubbish is not just dumped in the water. And you can see that on pristine beaches and crystal clear waters.

On the boat I asked a girl for recommendations on where the go to look for accommodation and she was spot on. We walk about 15 minutes along the beach and check out 3 places and Tok’s is the nicest and cleanest. Prices are a bit higher than usual as its Holiday weekend but paying around 23 € a night for our private bungalow seems ok. Mosquitos here are fairly bad and while waiting to be shown to various rooms I got bitten a few times already. So the first purchase of the day is a bug spray which is being put to good use.

The temperatures here are wonderful and there’s a breezy wind but the humidity is terrible. The only thing helping is a dip in the bathtub warm ocean where one could just stay forever. Later there’s heavy rains so not much happening tonight. There’s loud music outside later once the rain stopped, indicating a big party. Earplug blocks it out, there’s always another party night somewhere, after all I AM on vacation right now.

Friday, Queen’s birthday today. Full day on the beach is planned. No excursions, no activities, no nothing. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! And it’s the first day I am actually having a real breakfast since I am in Thailand. They call it Thai Omelet but it’s just a regular omelet with tomatoes and onions. The menu is so extensive here they have everything, staples from around the world. Only the coffee could be better.  From the breakfast table we need to walk a whole meter to a beach spot, that I don’t intend to leave for quite a while.

The usual hawkers, like food and drink vendors, clothes sellers, henna tattoers and massage ladies approach but are by far not as pushy as on other beaches around the world. After a loooong swim in the ocean we go for a Thai massage directly on the beach. This is fantastic. For roughly 6 € you get spoiled for an hour in a setting that could be from the movies. Not much more to report here. Tanning, reading, swimming, tanning, reading, swimming. Relaxing to the music from the speakers. 80s and 90s classics are blasting in a just loud enough volume. Just before sunset my massage lady mentions that it was a very bad day for her, since it’s not busy yet and I was her only customer. Seems like I just have to get a massage again tomorrow to ensure the lovely lady can get food on the table. It’s supporting the locals just like all the conservationist want you to do ;-)

Welcome to Bangkok University, Orientation, Courses, Excursion, Ayutthaya

Welcome Day 1 at Bangkok University International College involved getting into our oh so sexy University Uniform, walking there and registering. The usual. The introduction was held in an icecube, I meant a chilly auditorium and we were cheered on by Jet, one of the coordinators whose fantastic mood in the early morning hours can only make you jealous. The information was the usual bla bla, nicely and slowly presented nothing of which you wouldn’t already know from the previously received handbook. All Freshman, exchange, visiting and transferring students were put together and invited for a lovely lunch. Where I already got to meet plenty of people from everywhere. US, UK, China, Taiwan, Sweden, Finnish, German, Austrian, Norwegian, Thai, Nigerian, Venezuelan, Slovakian, Croatian to just mention a few. There’s quite a good mix here. Most of the European exchange students are staying at the same residence so far, no one is really enthusiastic but its practical and there’s talks about Penthouse parties. In the afternoon there’s registration for our courses. Since I am soooo perfectly preorganized ;-) I picked out all my classes for a perfectly timed schedule weeks ago. All my classes are in order so I am done in like 3 minutes. Get my picture taken for the BU student ID and then just wait around for a few other people to finish and chat with the newfound friends.

Fun taxi ride

Green Curry

Udo and I schedule to meet with 3 Finnish girls (after some pool time) for an evening trip to the infamous Khao San Road. Since we are greeted with torrential rainfall on our arrival there we head straight into a restaurant for dinner and cocktails. Since my dear friend asked me to eat some Green Curry for her, this was my pick for the night. S. this one was for you and it was really, really delicious, albeit a tad spicy. I bet with Udo to eat a spicy looking chili for a cocktail. The joke was on me though since the chili wasn’t really spicy, but hey, a bet is a bet. Our new Finnish friends are exceptionally nice and I think we could have sat there and chatted for days. Curiosity drives us out in the end to Khao San. And it is pretty much as imagined. Road stalls, streetfood, travel & tours and people that want to sell you everything there is, legal and illegal. I snap a pic of a huge sign showing which fake ID’s they can make for you in a short amount of time. The shopkeeper forces me to delete the pic, since it’s illegal to fake ID’s. The irony…. I’d like to get some information on nice tours just to get an idea of what can, should be done and the like. Most places are closed now, and there’s surprisingly few brochures lying around. Since none of us 5 is really in the mood for shopping we look around a bit and head back.

Khao San is definitely THE place for backpackers. Within the first seconds I already saw more than ten. There’s everything right here that you could need. Tours all over South East Asia, information, shopping, clothes, massage, tattoos, bars, markets and the sights are also fairly close by. So although it has a bad reputation I think for a short stay in Bangkok, it’s convenient and cheap too.

Wednesday morning we meet again at the Campus for a tour of the second Bangkok University Campus which is about an hour bus ride away. Smartly they split all people arriving together up in different buses so you get the chance to meet plenty more people. There’s 6 brightly colored double-decker buses going through Bangkok with 300 or so students all wearing white ‘I am BU International’ T-Shirts. Quite a good sight actually. Fantastic branding by the university. It’s a long drive to Rangsit Campus. There’s a few icebreaker games, activities and short tour around the library and the Museum housed on the Campus and a delicious lunch buffet. They really spoil us here. Over lunch I meet another bunch of Austrians. I would have never imagined that there’s so many here, I am sure sooner or later I can deliver an exact count.

Next up a hop on the bus to Ayotthaya, the former capital of Thailand. We visit a temple site which was destroyed by the Burmese in war times. I would tell you more but the guide’s English was so terrible I didn’t have the strength and patience to listen to his explanations. Few nice pictures there and further on to the Ayotthaya Floating Market. It’s not really floating, it’s just built on stilts, but they still have some vendors, mostly food, going around in their boats selling sweets and pad thais.

Floating Market Ayothaya

On the way back to Bangkok I ask around about recommendations on weekend getaways. After all due to my impeccable scheduling I do not have to be back on campus until Wednesday. Six blissful days off. I get some insights into how to travel to the islands located southeast of Bangkok. Koh Samet, Koh Chang are supposed to be the closest and nicest ones. The decision is made, the next few days will be spent at some beach somewhere down south. Aaaaaaaaaaah! I should have decided earlier then I would have had that glowing feeling of anticipation of a beach getaway much longer.

First off there’s still some more pooling and a ‘Swedish Party’ in the residence. Woop Woop! Comfy getting to know everyone better and also meet more new faces. The scare of the night was being locked in in the fireescape staircase. Apparently it is impossible to get out of the staircase once you entered it, since they only open from the outside. So much to trying to be fit and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Never again.

Do almost nothing and do almost everything day

After – intentionally – and totally oversleeping on Sunday there was again no visiting the Grand Palace and Temples again. So turning around 5 times and sleeping till early afternoon sounded fab. But no low risk day for us. Even trying to work out is an adventure, if the machines start falling apart the moment you use them. Good substitute, hanging out in the pool. To top our do-almost-nothing day off we headed on a shopping and eating spree to Tesco, not far from the residence.
We spoiled ourselves with fantastic HotPot at Mr K, trying the tasting menus and mixing everything to our liking. Yummy. Expensive for Thai terms but we can live with that on and off. And then off to shop for what we need. Mostly water, water, water, fruits and some beers ;-)

Later that evening we proved that the Durian fruit is not as scary as its reputation. Firstly yes, the smell is not really enticing, but there are far worse smells in Bangkok that you encounter on a constant basis. And the taste, I wouldn’t need to have it on a daily basis, but I wouldn’t turn it down either. It’s an interesting taste, not really well, not really bad. Eatable when you are hungry or just curious. Don’t let the crazy stories fool you.

Grand Palace

Today we finally managed to get up in the morning. Off to the Golden Palace to see the famous Emerald Buddha in the Wat Phra Kaew Temple. A comfy and cheap taxi ride later we enjoy a Bagel – yes, I said it totally unasian Bagel – breakfast with great coffee right opposite the Grand Palace.

Emerald Buddha

Wat Phra Kaew is truly impressive. I love the colors everywhere, the decorations, figurines, gods and ghosts. The wall paintings are really great. I want something, not as violent, on a wall too. Let the everyone guess the deeper meaning behind it. I was also surprised at the multitude of languages tour guides showed people around. I never expected a Thai to speak Russian or French so perfectly. It sounded like the Russian I know from the background voice in the cartoon movies we watched. Very clear so even I could catch a few words. And plenty of other unrecognizable languages either. The most holy Thai image, the Emerald Buddha is nice, ornate and richly decorated. I’ve seen more impressive ones though. This one is as small as it is intricate. The surroundings attract more attention than the Buddha itself. Nevertheless it represents the spiritual core of Thai Buddhism and there’s a great story behind it, so no discounting there.

The Grand Palace itself is less impressive. One part is closed off for repairs, another part is closed for a funeral off I don’t know whom. All what’s left to see is a weapons collection and some other small stuff, so as one of Bangkok’s bigger attraction it disappoints today.

Since Taxis keep refusing to drop us to our next destination we hop on a Tuk Tuk. Udo’s first Tuk Tuk right and a pretty exiting one at that. He speeds, cuts off, cuts corners but gets us there in one piece and we have plenty of fun, especially enjoying the roof that’s plastered with Panda Happy birthday gift wrapping.

The Grand Palace ticket also includes a visit to see The Regalia, Royal Decorations and coins where we pass by. The best thing about the exhibition is the air conditioning, which is soooo refreshing after we’ve dripping with sweat for hours. 

With the 400 Baht entrance you also get the entrance to the Vimanmek Mansion little farther north. One of the Kings, I guess it was somewhere between Rama III to V had it built, it’s the largest Teak Mansion in the world and really, really beautiful. One of the few Royal places I visited in the world I could actually imagine living in. It’s got a quite homey touch and feel to it. It’s still used for some functions with royal guests, so if anyone has good connections up there, I wouldn’t mind receiving an invite to a Tea Party there.

The other big site there, the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall is closed on Mondays, so bad luck. There’s a few smaller buildings housing photos, clothes and other stuff from the royal family. They are pretty decent to visit but having to take your shoes off and put them in a locker and all your belongings in a separate locker at every building gets tiring, so we leave out 1 or 2. In the same area there’s also a Park, Zoo and the actual Royal Palace where the King and Queen live in (visiting not allowed), some more temples and statues. So we’ll be back here anyway at some point. Luckily we are in no rush to fit everything into 48 hours like so many Bangkok visitors.

The streets up to the Palace are all lined with fleets that are being decorated for the Queens birthday on August 12. Most sites are closed and I guess a big parade is in the making.

Last stop for the day is shopping and, finally, food at MBK. Udo needs a shirt for the university uniform today. It’s almost impossible to find but after searching forever and unsuccessfully trying on overpriced shirts we ask some students in uniform to bring us to their shop, and yeah we are in luck. We weren’t so lucky with dinner today. We find a place that has all you can eat for 69B on offer. We quickly find out why. It’s just untasty rice noodles where you can put weird sauces that only taste of different levels off spice over. An experience richer we quit that place and go to food court upstairs. Meet a Thai Travel Agent that gives us some tips on nice beaches around Bangkok (daytrips here we come). A quick dip in the pool before we hang out in front of the computers again… like good Internet addicts do.

Tomorrow first day at Bangkok University…

2 Kufsteinis in Bangkok

Udo arrived, Udo arrived.
So after chatting through more than half the night it takes us quite a while to wake up in the morning and get our groove on.
We head out after noon and first stop is the Big C's food court for some Thai. Most of the time I get lucky with my point and pick some random food. This time the food itself seemed delicious but after the first bite I couldn't continue eating my supersuperspicy (unintented) fried rice, since all my taste buds had died off. After tons of coke and iced teas I start getting some sensation again in my nerves and eat something more safe, like Gyoza. Udo gets more lucky with his Seafood Soup and Noodles.
We are aiming to find the nearest subway stop. Nearest, is quite a wide term, since we walk a felt hours. In fact it may have been a good 30 minutes but in midday heat, next to crazy traffic it's a whole different story.
The Metro is quite the same than in other Asian cities, like HongKong, Beijing and Shanghai. Very modern, clean and well airconditioned with lots of security checkpoints. Easy to navigate as the announcements are all in Thai and English. Unfortunately there's only one subway line in Bangkok, so it doesn't get you nearly everywhere you want to go.
We arrive at Hua Lamphong mid afternoon. To late to go see the Grand Palace or most of the temples since they close between 3 and 5pm already. So we decide to take a walk through Chinatown. While taking a wrong turn in the rain we meet a real, real friendly Thai gentleman. Turns out he works at The Oriental, one of the most luxurious hotels in Bangkok, hence his good english, and I guess friendly demeanour. He gives us some tips on what to do which we promptly follow.
Instead of walking through shopping crazed Chinatown we take a 2 hour private longtail boat tour on the Chao Phraya river and some sidearms, we haggle down to 2200 Baht for both of us, not a good job, but I am too lazy to bargain more. Our boatman Ling is a bit crazy but quite fun, shouting out our name like every 15 seconds I guess just to be sure to remember them. We go up and down the Chao Phraya into some sidearmes by some thousands of houses and hundreds of temples. All in all Bangkok should have 422 temples, so you gonna have a hard time picking your favorite one. It's amazing how Villas and mansions are next to shantytowns and rundown buildings. The different worlds are really next door to each other. It's really relaxing, I wonder how it would be to live here and take a jetski or small private boat to work each day. Sit by the little breeze that comes in from the river that makes the heat a bit more bearable. There's families and children by the riverside waving and blowing us kisses, damn that's soooo sweet. It's a lovely way to be welcomed to Bangkok. Our boatman stops at the Snake Farm. Another tourist trap, since we are already here we pay the 150 Baht entrance and get to see a snake show where guys play with venomous snake, which is not too bad. Quite entertainig and scary at some points. There's a zoo attached to it too, which is really sad. All the animals appear half dead, I hope it's just the heat, and unhappy. I am kind of sad to have supported this zoo with my money. There's definitely better places where the animals could be.
We continue the boat trip to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, for a short photo stop. It looks magnificent, we will definitely be back here to climb up and see it again.
The longtail boat tour ends, as we wanted, in Chinatown. Getting out of the boat is quite an adventure. The platform is over a meter higher, and moving with the river up an down. Nowhere to hold, nowhere to stand, I already saw myself lying in the river, Luckily no such thing happenend and we also exited the boat unscathed.
Welcome to Chinatown! Like any other Chinatown, there's markets, food stalls, and everything to buy you need and don't need. I get some Shumai and some kind of pancakes filled with all sorts of stuff, which we share. The green and yellow filling are absolutely amazing and taste excellent, after all it was made right before our eyes, the brown filling taste something like bean curd, can't recommend that. But everything else... sooo yummy.
We walk for seeming hours through the streets and markets of Chinatown, passing by Little India as well. Udo out of the blue decides to get a haircut, which ends up looking fantastic for only 120 B. Seeing that we don't speak Thai and the hairdresser doesn't speak English, wow, great result.
Following the road to what seems nowhere, we've completely lost track of our whereabouts we get to a Flower Market that stretches for blocks on ends. All kinds of flowers, orchids, flowery decorations, garlands and whatever else you can imagine is on display here. A bunch of roses runs for less than one rose back home. And the smell.... the first time you actually really WANT to smell this city. They should have flower markets more scattered around rather than so condensed. After looking around for some time we grab some more street food, one better than the other, grab some beer and a cab back.
We planned on having an early night in, since we start early in the morning for the Grand Palace and other sights but checking... it's past 2 am and there's still some beer left...
Pictures should be up some time soon. 
By the way, we like Chang beer better than Leo. Night all

Discovering Bangkok University

Waking up in a new city should be exciting. If you had a bad nights sleep and are not rested. But I somehow managed to get my energy together, get up and complain downstairs. I am going to get a new room today. Woohooo!
Next stop: Bangkok University. The Campus was easy to find, a 15 minute walk from my current residence, also found the international office and shop where I needed to buy my school uniform - yep, sounds crazy I know. So a nice girl from the International Office took me around and I got my belt, buckle, buttons and whatever else I need to look like a good Bangkok University student. 
Next was relaxing in the coffee shop, using the free Wi-Fi and looking around the Campus. Walking up to the BTS, Skytrain station and discovering the neighborhood. Nothing that special really. It's a bit outside Bangkok's old town, though still really in the center of the huge city. The connection via Skytrain and Metro is rather bad. They all stop quite far from the tourist attractions so I may have to learn how to navigate the Bus system sometime later. I also found a movie theatre that shows english movies with Thai subtitles, and I already know which movie I gotta see next.
Back to the residence and moving rooms. New one looks way better, AC works fine and though its still real old it's 'newer' than the other one. So it seems this will be the home for the next days at least.
It's raining cats and dogs outside - Monsoon season after all - but head out anyway, destination MBK, the biggest shopping center in Bangkok. And big it is. There's a 20min walk to the Skytrain station, couple of stops on the Skytrain, switch trains, and get out at National Stadium. There is a direct connection from the Skytrain to the shopping centre, very appreciated in the rain.
And it is quite big. Not sure if it's the biggest I've seen but it's definitely one of those where you could get lost inside easily. There's a huge Food court on the 5th floor and I try some noodles, with something, something and something... but it's good.
At last a manicure / pedicure for me. It's soooo nice to finally be in a country where that is affordable again.
No strolling outside again, since it's still raining mad, back to the Skytrain. At the Station I am trying to get one of the MotoCabs the receptionist recommended. Since she quoted me a price of 15 Baht and they would like to charge me 30, I decide to walk instead. I don't mind paying 30 Baht - it's less than a Euro anyway, I just don't like being taken advantage of, money wise, at least not knowingly.
Back and dripping wet I get a nice surprise... my fellow student from K-Stone has arrived. Welcome to Bangkok... As we do best... we chat till 4am. Nice night. Zzzzzz

The waiting game....

There's two ways how I do my packing.
One way: I am in a total hurry, throw everything together, unpack half because it's always too much and make my way to the airport the last minute.
Second way: I pack, I weigh, I unpack, I repack, I ask people what they pack, I go shopping - resulting in unpacking and repacking again. I sit around and wait a little bit. I need something that I somehow managed to pack at the very bottom of my bag. I get it out, everything gets out of order and doesn't fit in anymore. I repack again.
Type #2 happens when I start planning too early... you know like 3/4 days in advance already. Which obviously happened on this trip. So I packed way tooooo much, but was allowed on the plane with no comments made by the ground staff about the few extra kilos.
So once the packing is done the first round of waiting starts. Till you hit the road for the airport, till you meet your friends. Till people stop by or call for goodbyes. Waiting simply sucks.
Then there's the loooong waits at the airport. Waiting to check-in, waiting in the check-in line, waiting in the security line, waiting to board the plane... waiting, waiting, waiting. Thanks to my constant companion - coffee - that keeps me human during these trying times.
Then there's more waiting. Waiting for the plane to leave, waiting to deboard the plane, waiting for the connecting flight, security and all the other good stuff again.
I managed to cram in a little bit of sleep on the flight, but so didn't get the chance to read up on Bangkok in my Lonely Planet. 
Waiting to deboard and then finally in Thailand... waiting for over an hour in the immigration line. Waiting in line at the ATM to get some Baht and then... woohooo, immediately find the nice girl with the BU IC sign that's here to pick me up from the airport. Yeah Bangkok University! Great first impression!
Dropped off to my residence here for the first days - Boss Tower. Am not sure about the prices for accommodation in Bangkok in general, but I was little bit surprised at how much I am paying eventually. The regular price is quite ok but then they more than half on top for service (linen, towels, fridge, TV, AC), electricity and water cost extra too and Internet is not included. This puts a dent in my travel budget. Will see if I decide to stay here longer or not. Quite possible that it's not cheaper anywhere else either. The room itself is fairly old and worn out but apparently really high quality for Thailand. ... what did I expect? After staying in really nice, cheap, clean, central, air-conditioned hostels and hotels in China I think I expected the same here. We'll see how that plays out. After all there is a pool and a fitness room downstairs.
I didn't get to do much of discovering yet. Just a bit up and down the road from the residence, checking out the department stores, seeing what they have and don't have. Having my first Pad Thai in Thailand - loved it. Tasted the same then in my face Thai Place in NYC but was about 4 times as spicy - still manageable though.
Bad night's sleep since the AC did not work well. Trying to change my room so hopefully that's going to be better....

Bangkok calling

Just a few hours to go and I am off to Bangkok. My home for the next few months.
So what is everyone asking? Are you nervous, are you excited, where are you staying, what will you be doing....
So many questions. Ah well. I didn't really get a chance to get all too nervous. So much to do, so little time. And after all, it's not my first move halfway across the planet.
As usual packing is a challenge. So much to pack, so little weight allowance. In this sense, flying really sucks. But hey, Bangkok is cheap, so I can always shop if I am missing something.
An Apartment is booked for the first few nights and then I'll see how I go from there.
Classes start on August 9th, so possibly by that time I'll have a long term place to stay - or not, no worries here - and some orientation in the Oriental City.  Woop Woop