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I Spend a lot of time in Thailand. Every air ticket I have
bought in the last few years has been a return ticket to Bangkok. I love the city, and Thailand seems to be close
to everywhere! 2003 was a special visit though, as it had been exactly 5 years since my first extended travels around the
country.
So much has changed in such a short time. Most striking
are the sheer numbers of people who are travelling around at peak season. People are constantly being herded around
the country on fat tourist busses by opportunist tour operators, often with coloured stickers on their T shirts to
indicate which bus they are to be led to. And the costs of just about everything have skyrocketed. Huts that had
been about a dollar only five years ago have been buldozed to make way for Macdonalds and 7-Elevens and tourist Shopping Centers.
Or they've been renovated to justify a 1000 per cent increase in rental.
But it is hard to be bitter about this. After all, Thais
have gracefully put up with hippies and sex tourists tramping around rudely for decades. It's nice that finally, there are
some upscale dollars pouring into the country. Besides, if it's adventure, economy or old-worldliness you are after, there
is always Myanmar or Bangledesh!
Jai Moon joined me in Thailand late in 2003. We
went to the North of Thailand and spent time in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong, then did an Old Capital tour, passing
through Sukothai, Pitsanulok, Lopburi and Aruthaya. In Lopburi, we caught up with my friend Steve who has been working
and living there for years.
Back in Bangkok, we studied at Wat Pho and earned our
certification as Thai Massage therapists. It was really great.
After that, we headed south for Krabi. We went to Koh Lanta
where I hadn't been for years! My friend Jimmy had just opened a bungalow operation on Last Beach: Baan Phu Lae. Really nice
place, tasteful and great food. You can escape the crass mass-tourism of most of the South there. I
Passed Christmas on the beach and helped plan and prepare a lavish feast for guests on Christmas day!
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| Graduation day, Wat Pho Massage School |
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| Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho |
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| Jai Moon in the sea at Ao Nang, Krabi |
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| Jai Moon and Me on Last Beach |
TSUNAMI 2004: I was lucky to have outran the tsunami which caused so much loss and devastation
on the day after Christmas, 2004. I had been in Phuket with Diana, and on Phi Phi Island just a few days before. Christmas
Day, i was Scuba diving off the coast of Lanta Island. The morning the waves hit, I woke up in time to evacuate my beachfront
bungalow and run uphill as the first wave crashed into the shore and took so much out to sea (including all of Bamboo Resort,
at which Jai moon and i are pictured above). My loss was so minimal next to the horrors faced by so many around
the Indian Ocean. We were able to get Ban Phu Lae up and running in no time, and guests have been slowly returning. In March
2005 and again in October 2005, I was on the Gulf of Thailand , but won't return to the Andaman coast until this December
2005.
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| With Steve at his flat in Lopburi |
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| Receiving certificate, Wat Pho |
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| Waterfall, Koh Lanta, South Thailand |
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| Early morning Rum, Ao Nang |
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| Last Beach, December 2002 |
2005:
I've visited Thailand a few times since the Tsunami. I finally returned
to Koh Samui for a Chawang holiday in March, then went with Jae Hyung in September. We camped on Koh Samed and hung out in
Bangkok together. It was fun to travel with someone from start to finish...I never had before, preferring to meet people along
the way or travel solo. In December I spent a couple of weeks in Bangkok.
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