Riyad and Sarah's Travels

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai is a laid back town in the north of Thailand, with far different an atmosphere than the city life of Bangkok or the beach party scene at Kho Phi Phi.  Its streets and sidewalks are wide and clean, and people are out at all times of the day and night lounging in coffee shops, restaurants, and used book stores. 

There were plenty of activities in and around town for those who want to do more than relax.  Our first stop was to the Tiger Kingdom, where guests are allowed to pet tigers and pose for pictures.  The entrance fee depends on what size tiger you choose: large, medium, small, or smallest.  Thankfully Sarah chose small, leaving me far more optimistic about emerging from the cage with four limbs still attached.

Quite a few people did get close to the large tiger but there were no instances of any tiger “going tiger”.

We were permitted inside the cage after we signed a waiver, washed our hands to the elbow, and removed our shoes.  Sarah got up and close with two sleeping tigers that didn’t budge when she stroked their fur.   

Another pair wasn’t as tired and instead started wrestling.

I’m not a big fan of cats, but they usually think the opposite by brushing up against me or jumping in my lap.  This cat was no different and proceeded to bite at my feet after posing for this picture, only stopping when the handler intervened.

We left the cage before the end of our allotted fifteen minutes to rush back to Chiang Mai for a Thai cooking class.  Our hyper instructor, Mam, was to lead us and eight other students through the preparation of a multi-course meal.  All the students were given menus and asked to choose what we wanted to make.  Mam then walked us to the market to show us the noodles and other ingredients then took us through herbs and spices grown in the school’s garden.

After that, all madness broke loose.  We stood at individual chopping stations, where she handed us meat, vegetables, and other ingredients to cut, chop, and pound.

At ranges, she had us turn the heat up, mix certain ingredients, add one spoon of this and two spoons of that, turn the heat down, stir, turn the heat off, and stir some more. 

This process repeated a few times, until a complete Thai meal magically appeared in front us.  My final product was pad see ew, cashewnut with chicken stir fry, massamum curry, and coconut milk soup.  Hopefully no one asks us to cook anything like this on our own.

The following day I joined a downhill mountain biking group, but Sarah instead opted to go trekking saying she “didn’t want to die.”  At the bike shop our group was outfitted with jerseys, elbow pads, knee pads, and helmets before being herded into a truck for the ride up Suthep Mountain.  We mounted our bikes and started the 4200 foot descent on the paved road before turning off-road. 

I have done quite a bit of road cycling but this was my first time mountain biking and found it unnerving to bike over rocks and twigs and puddles of mud.  After a while I learned to trust the fat tires and shocks to absorb the impact although I had to constantly squeeze my brakes to avoid picking up momentum downhill.  The few uphill stretches had me standing up and pedaling with all my might to get across the sticky terrain.

For short segments we cut away from the off-road trail onto steep and narrow single rider trails that were about a foot wide surrounded by shrubbery.  I would not have believed these were meant for biking until I saw our guides forge ahead.

The ride was going well and I was getting used to not having full control at a high speed, but towards the end of one of the single trails (shortly after I took this picture) I took a turn too sharply and flipped over trying to avoid a tree.

My knee guard took the brunt of the impact and I stretched my lower back but I wasn’t injured.  After the guide lifted the bike off me, I stood up and shouted down to the rest of the group that I was ok, and continued the ride down.  We made it to the bottom of the mountain after four hours, my quads and wrists and forearms burning.  But I was pumped up and ready to go mountain biking again.

I made it back to the hotel before Sarah and was showered and watching TV when she returned to tell me tales of her day.

Kho Phi Phi Don, Thailand

We hadn’t planned to visit the islands of Kho Phi Phi, having bypassed all of Thailand’s beaches by flying from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok.  But a few weeks ago while in Myanmar we received an e-mail from our friend Ken.  We had last seen him in Chicago in April during our coast to coast drive and was now hopping between islands of Southern Thailand.  He was off to Bangkok soon to collect our other Chicago friends Ronnie and Claire before heading down for another week on the beach. Sarah and I rerouted our journey to meet up with them by returning to Bangkok from Phnom Penh, Cambodia via sixteen hour overnight bus.

After a few days in Bangkok we flew down to Phuket, took a ferry to the pier at Kho Phi Phi Don, then a long tail boat to the Viking Resort. 

We each checked into a bungalow overlooking the beach.  Ours was made of bamboo and held a bed with mosquito net, a small bathroom, and a deck with a hammock, and an outdoor shower.

The resort itself did all that it could to make its guests feel relaxed by providing stacks of books and musical instruments (although I didn’t see anyone play anything) and lounge chairs on the beach. 

Claire managed to land a bungalow in a prime location by the main lodge where we all gathered during the day to hang out, relax, read, and watch the sunset.

One of our days we opted for more action and rented two kayaks.  Ronnie and Ken took one, Sarah and I the other, and Claire stayed behind to watch us from the safety of her hammock.  Ronnie and Ken clearly knew what they were doing and paddled out to sea with strong coordinated strokes.  Sarah and I couldn’t get our act together, first going in circles, then finally moving sideways out to the rock island where Ken and Ronnie were waiting.  In my haste to get out the kayak capsized, allowing Sarah the pleasure of joining me in the water.

As the sun went down, the other side of the island transformed into a large party. We made the thirty minute walk one night on a rocky path from the Viking Resort.  At ten o’clock fire shows began, where talented locals would twirl batons to light up the dark. 

Further down the beach, thousands of European college aged kids gathered to dance to thumping music while sipping from buckets of liquor.  Some of the partiers were urinating into the ocean to avoid waiting in line for the bathroom.  Among all the clubs and bars were a few tattoo parlors for one to forever immortalize their time.  Ken warned us not to walk through one club because he had done so the previous week and left with his clothes ruined by neon body paint.  Needless to say, we were all happy to be staying far away. 

On our last full day on the island we hired a boat to take us to the nearby uninhabited island of Kho Phi Phi Lee.  The sea was rough; we were drenched as waves crashed over the deck of the boat, and Claire and Sarah wisely donned their life vests.  Eventually we made it to the bay of Kho Phi Phi Lee where we docked among several other boats to snorkel.

The fish here were fearless because everyone fed them, and did not even flinch as I swam past. 

Our boat then took us close to the shore where we all had to jump out to swim the rest of the way.  The beach was rocky and the waves kept pushing us apart.

By the time we made it to land by climbing a rope ladder we all had scratches and cuts on our feet. 

All was forgotten though after we walked across the island to the opposite shore to not just to any beach, but The Beach, featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio movie of the same name that all of us had heard of but none of us had seen.  Large green cliffs surrounded the light blue water and white sand.  After an hour or so everyone left and we had the place almost to ourselves. 

Our week together ended too soon and we all parted and went our separate ways. Claire and Ronnie returned to Chicago via Bangkok, Ken went back to his solitary travels, and Sarah and I flew north to Chiang Mai.

Bangkok, Thailand

We arrived in Bangkok from Kuala Lumpur, tired of changing hotels every few days and needing to rest after three months of traveling.  We passed on staying in the city’s backpacker mecca, Khao San Road, where cheap rooms abound amid loud music, drunken Europeans, and the occassional scurrying rat.  Instead we upgraded our accommodations to an immaculate serviced apartment in the city center.  This turned out to be a wise decision.  The next week and a half were spent relaxing, with some days doing little more than reading in a cafe or watching movies, and seeing the sites at a leisurely pace.

Despite its debaucherous reputation, Bangkok is primarily a bustling metropolis, with skyscrapers, freeways, and and a public transportation system of elevated trains, subways, and river ferries.  People from all over Asia come to the city for medical treatment.  The shopping malls are huge, rivaling their upscale counterparts in the US.  Rooftop restaurants are pricier than any we have seen;  we decided to eat elsewhere after seeing the menu listing $100 steaks.

Bangkok does have a seedy side.  All throughout the city are couples of middle aged white men with much younger Thai women.  Just off the main road are red light districts where there are tuk tuk drivers offerring to take us to sex shows and ladies of the night openly looking for clients.  Sarah elbowed me to point out the transvestite “ladyboys” I failed to notice altogether.  

There are several temples known as wats around the city, some dating back hundres of years.  We did see these, but it felt like we were at Disneyland instead of at a historic site given the crowds of tourists milling about. The Wat Pho is home to one of the largest sleeping Buddhas in the world.

Locals we met made a point to speak with us; one man was happy that we chose to eat with him at the food stalls and told us of visiting New York when he worked on a cruise ship; our hotel receptionist told us of her one hour commute to work at our hotel and of her career progress.  Thais greeted us thanks or goodbye with the wai gesture: head bowed and palms pressed together as if praying.  We tried our best to reciprocate but this was hard to do so when being handed change or holding bags.  Even Ronald McDonald beckoned us this way.

The most popular person in Bangkok is the King.  King Bhumibol ascended to the Thai throne 65 years ago and is currently the longest reigning monarch in the world (followed by Queen Elizabeth and my personal favorite the Sultan of Brunei).  His image is everywhere: the currency, the lobby of every building, and across the city on billboards.  We saw a few movies while in Bangkok and between previews and the main feature everyone had to stand for the King’s Anthem.  (Not standing can get you arrested.)

Ten days taking it easy had its desired effect and we were rejuvinated and ready to move onto our next destination.