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Thailand

Thailand Part 1: Beach Hopping

Nicky and I planned on meeting in Thailand, as it was on my list and close enough for her to get from Australia for ten days. She needed a nice relaxing beach vacation as a break from life working in the ER and spending her free time studying. It had been a while since we’d seen each other at my sister’s wedding in August. We met in Bangkok and traveled south to the beaches together. The pictures are here.

From my initial taxi ride from the airport in Bangkok I saw the impact of the floods. Roads were impassable, sandbags were stacked along streets and hundreds of cars lined the raised roads surrounding the airport where parking wasn’t allowed. The taxi meter kept rising quickly. It had far surpassed what was supposed to be a reasonable fair. I asked the driver about it, and he said his electronics had been shorted and were malfunctioning after a drive through the water.

I stayed in an adorable and affordable hostel called Baan Dinso. It was a nice little oasis in the chaos and heat of the crazy city. I ventured out to check out the local Kathong festival. The festival’s custom is for Thais to send candles on flower floats into the water, along with their wishes. I quickly became sandwiched in foot traffic going nowhere fast heading towards the festival. I backed out and headed for Plan B, Ko Sahn road for dinner. It lives up to its fame as a backpackers haven with shopping, clubs, drinking and many grungy backpackers.

The next day I visited Wat Pho, known for the temple of the giant reclining buddha.

In the grounds of the temple I also got my first thai massage there from a student of the local school. Yes! I like Thai massages. I walked around the city and saw more of the flood’s impact along the river side. For the most part, people were going about their daily life though.

I walked over sandbags to get into the Bangkok National Museum which has really impressive collections. One exhibit that stood out were lithographs of the story of Siddartha on the walls surrounding a buddha statue in a shrine. I didn’t have time to check out the whole place as I had a deadline.

I got a shuttle to the airport after the museum to meet Nicky. I even welcomed her with a homemade welcome sign. It was so good to see her! The next morning we flew to Krabi, south west of Bangkok, along the shore. From there we hopped in a minibus and drove to Klong Nin beach in Ko Lanta. We arrived at White Rock Resort, which Nicky’s friend had recommended. It had an amazing garden and really nice rooms. We explored the beach and the local village, where we booked an island tour for the next day. The beach was very beautiful. We ended the afternoon with his and her massages on the beach for sunset. Very nice.

The boat tour was amazing. The two highlights were lunch at the white powdery beach at Koh Kraden and swimming into emerald cave to find a hidden beach. Our guides had flashlights as the cave got really dark. The drama was intensified by little headroom between the top of the water and the cave ceiling, waves in the water and a terrified crying baby. He surely was in the process of developing a new phobia.Once we got to the end of the cave we were greeted by turquoise waters surrounded by rock walls on all sides, and sunlight shining through the open roof of the cave. There are a few places I have visited whose beauty make me giddy. This one of them.

The next day we took it easy lounging by the pool at the resort, swimming in the ocean and walking around. We had cocktails sitting on a bamboo lounge setup for two on the beach at sunset. The setting was ideal. There were just enough people but not too many, good music, but not too loud and of course the perfect company.

Ko Phi Phi was our next destination, and it was a really beautiful culture shock. We had been warned about the crowded sidewalks and noise. The warnings were right. We booked a resort on the quieter end of the strip i.e. we could notice the base thump of the bar nearby, but not be disturbed by it. The real draw was the neighboring islands, so we booked another boat tour. After dinner we found out our resort offered free boat tours, so we returned our purchased tickets and the next day set sail with two German couples from the resort.

They were not too friendly…the happy pair and the unhappy pair were happy speaking German, and didn’t respond well to our attempts at befriending them. So Nicky and I had our own fun. We visited Maya Beach, featured in the movie The Beach and Monkey Beach, where monkeys live. Maya Beach was absolutely stunning. It’s a big tourist attraction so its a crowded, but the crowds can’t take away the paradise vibe from this cove.

The price, the sites, the swimming, and the boat were so good we decided to do it again the next day. The second time we had many more people and more fun on the boat.

Our last stop, after a ferry ride, a packed truck transfer and speed boat ride was an AMAZING resort. Nicky booked this place as a birthday present for me, to shower us with a private beach luxury for two days. We caught the sunset from our deck overlooking the ocean and it was magnificent.

The next day we walked to neighboring Ao Nang beach to check out the town. Our beach was not connected to the neighboring beach, so we had take the monkey trail, up the hill a bit, and we saw so many freakin monkeys…they even grabbed for Nicky’s bag at one point. They’re used to humans. We were advised to lock our doors as they know how to open them to find food; mischievous silly little monkeys.

Later, we were headed to the beach to go for a swim together and then IT happened. I jumped off a ledge on to the beach carefree, but a hidden rock met the bottom outside of my left foot. Owwww! Immediately my walking was compromised. I was able to swim with the pain, but walking on the main land was really painful. Nicky went into doctor mode, and I went into wussy mode. We both agreed x-rays would be best to rule out a fracture. The hotel was great in helping out. We hopped on to the speedboat and then were driven to a clinic in town. It’s Thai tradition to take your shoes off in the house and in some workplaces, so our doctor was barefoot. Interesting. After drying via a fan, the x-rays turned out normal.

It was fun to watch Nicky and the clinic doctor talk doctor talk, compare techniques and recent war stories. I walked out on one foot with an ankle brace and crutch. We got back to the resort with plenty of time to spare for the Thai buffet that night. Phew.

Nicky had to go back the following day. We were sad to say goodbye. We had so much fun together. Now it was time to lay low and recuperate. I had planned two weeks of learning Thai kickboxing but that was now out of the question…so I decided to make peace instead of war…more on that in part 2.

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Turkey

Turkey Take Two

After Madrid it was time to finish what I started in Istanbul. Four more days until I was off to Thailand, and those days made all the difference in my impression of Istanbul. I left leaving a bit sad, which is a good thing.

The first day back was my birthday; 33 years old. I had celebrated the night before , so after skyping my parents and soaking up my Facebook Wall love, I had dinner at Optimist Cafe opposite the Blue Mosque. I guess you could say my birthday was looking up and was righteous. There were no available tables so a man beckoned me to join him. He was the owner of the place, Muhammed. We chatted and I ate with a stranger for my birthday dinner. While I was not surrounded by family or friends, I knew there were people who loved me and were thinking about me. I also was in an amazing place in a free time in my life, so I felt good. Bed time was nice and early so I could go for a run along the Bosphorous river in the morning.

The run felt great after a long hiatus from jogging. Afterwards shopping at the Grand Baazar was on tap, but unfortunately due to a muslim holiday it was closed for four days and reopened after my departure. Bummer. As a birthday present I decided to treat myself to a Turkish bath at Cagaloglu, a world famous 300 year old exquisite tourist trap.

I got massaged and bathed by rough Turkish fellow who took layers off my skin and cracked places in my body I didn’t know were crackable. Relaxed and clean, I decided  to walk the city silly. My journey started from the Grand bazaar, through Sultahnamaet down to the river, across the Golden Bridge and into Beyoglu. I walked around, hung out in a cafe, shot pictures  and took in the city. I followed locals around along their walking routes. It proved worthwhile in discovering bits of the city I hadn’t seen previously.

The following day I visited Hagia Sofia, and was blown away. Often I feel unimpressed with old religious buildings, but this one inspired a true feeling of awe and grandeur.

Hagia Sophia is a former basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum. From its dedication in 360 until 1453, it was the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Constantinople.  The building was turned into a mosque from 1453 until 1931, when it was changed into a museum. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.

That afternoon I went into Beyoglu to Taksim Square where I had made plans to meet up with Umut Ersoy. Umut works in Porter Novelli’s Istanbul office and a friend in the New York office suggested I get in touch. I was planning on visiting the office and meeting the PN team, but they were closed for the holiday. Lucky for me, Umut was kind enough to take me around the city and was an excellent guide. As we started walking and figuring out a plan, I told him I had not yet tried Raki, Turkey’s signature liquor, similar to Greece’s Ouzo. We went to Zeytinli Restaurant and Umut started ordering all types of starters I would have been bashful to order on my own. He explained the nuances of Raki culture. It’s all about talking…from sports to women to life…it’s about taking time to connect. You need to eat food and relax with it. A Turkish man looks forward to the day when he can share Raki with his son.

After a lot of food and Raki (cut with water to take out some of the bite) we took a cab ride by the river for a waterpipe (hookah) and tea. It was a 15 minute walk, but Umut insisted on a cab to give me the Sultan’s treatment. After explaining this treatment to the cab driver he waived the fare for us. Over waterpipes and tea in Tophane we played backgammon and I soaked in the rich smokey atmosphere.

After tea is was time for desserts, and we got treated to an assortment of Turkish treats. To my disappointment chocolate is not a staple, but the desserts were tasty none the less. Umut’s friend Betse came to meet us for dessert and joined us for the rest of the evening.

I found out Umut is a Turkish celebrity, having appeared on television for his blog about toilets around Istanbul and Turkey called Toilet Guru. It started as funny joke that snowballed into a popular site. His friend Betse was an impressive designer as well, who’s signature project Map Envelope provides a way to print out an envelope with your location printed on a  google map inside.

We continued on for cocktails and onto a really cool club called Minimüzikhol where we ended the adventurous day. I really appreciated Umut’s hospitality, all the places he took me and the local treatment which gave me a whole new perspective on Istanbul. Next time I’ll let him know Im coming before my second to last day in the city.

On the last day it was time for some souvenir shopping and to check out the National Archeological Museum. The museum had a really impressive collection of artifacts, statues and sarcophaguses. It reinforced how rich and deep the layers and layers of history this country has, which I will not begin to recount here 🙂

My plan was to take the tram and subway to the airport for departure and everything was going smoothly until the tram stopped and everyone got out and started walking on the track, which is not normal. The tram in front of us us was involved in an accident where a van collided with it after crashing over the tram barricade. This stopped tram traffic in both directions. I thought getting a taxi was hopeless with all the people needing other means of transport. I looked hard for a cab and one stopped with several people trying to get it. An old before me stated his destination and the driver said no, asked where I was going, and he said yes. He then made up the time I lost and then some with his race car moves and bumping pop music.

It was nice to end my Turkey trip with an adrenaline rush sweetened by the assurance of making my flight. But that wasn’t the end of trouble in Turkey…While checking in I was informed  that a return or onward ticket was needed to get into to Thailand.  D’oh! I got a wifi connection and checked out a map. Cambodia is on my list and is close. Alright sounds good. Ok…there were a few travel agents, but most didn’t speak English, nor were they particularly interested in trying. I finally got one who could help, and got an onward ticket. Phew.

And I was off to to Bangkok where I would get to meet up with Nicky for 10 days for some beach fun!!!

 

Categories
Spain

Baby Seal visits Senor Beecho in Spain

The decision to go to Madrid was made after I cancelled the Egypt portion of my trip due to the unstable situation there. I have a very good friend from my middle school and high school years that lives there now, Iggy Romano. The name of the post refers to nicknames of ours from high school. No need to go into the embarassing origin stories. It was really good to see an old friend after traveling solo. He showed me  around and provided me a place to stay. Gracia Snr. Beecho! All pictures can be found here.

I took an easy metro ride from the airport to his apartment off the Tribunal stop in the center of town. We went to his apartment’s roof to get a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood. Iggy was an excellent tour guide and started teaching me some history of the area. We walked around town checking out Madrid’s highlights.

We started with the Capitol building, one of the most iconic, at the start of the busy the Gran Via (Main Street). We then walked past the Almudena Cathedral, which looked rather magnificent with the light at the time of day we passed.

Other cool buildings included the Caixia Forum, which featured hanging gardens

and a building with an M.C. Escher print on its facade.

It was Halloween night and a Saturday, so costumed kids and adults were sprinkled along the streets of Madrid.  After my first round of yummy tapas, Iggy and I ventured out to his local bar, El Perro, and saw a band I could not stand the sound of. I met some friends of Iggy’s, mostly a collection of talented and eccentric ex-pats. After the bar, we ventured on to the Sala Heineken, which featured the Stupid Zombie Kids DJ’ing. It was insanity. The DJs were working up the young Spaniards into a frenzied mosh pit, the likes of which I had not seen since I was a teenager at a hardcore punk show. I felt the electricity in the venue and this city. It was way past my bed time and things in the city were just getting started.

After a couple of rainy days exploring Madrid and relaxing, Iggy and I rented a car and were off to his country place in Chinchon, a small beautiful medieval village 50 kilometers south east of the city. It was a relaxing respite from the city. Since Iggy had been there last, they had taken down the bull ring they keep up all summer  in the plaza. It’s a shame there were no bull fights to watch, although we were to witness a big bull of sorts bearing down on us the next day. We woke up and went to the castle for a driving lesson. It had been years since I last even tried driving a manual car, and I needed a refresher. I have never really developed a competency with a manual car before, so it was definitely adventure time.

Adventure time turned into un accidente. Que lastima! I was merging onto a highway and was yielding to traffic on a ramp. I had come to a stop. Once it was clear I made the transition into first gear and started moving but stalled out. The big truck (aka the bull) behind me assumed I was going, didn’t notice the stall and rear ended us with a pretty strong jolt.

Iggy and I were ok, but stunned. The driver admitted fault immediately. Iggy took the driver’s seat again after we traded information and were on our way to Toledo.

Since the rental agency office in Toledo was closed for siesta, we had to wait to file an accident report. So we ventured into the old city of Toledo, a UNESCO world heritage site.  It’s a city that has been populated since the bronze age by such peoples as the Romans, Visigoths and Moors. There was even 700 years of peace and religious tolerance in this town before the inquisition known as La Convivencia, where Jews, Muslims and Christian co-existed peacefully. Iggy took me to the Synagogue de el Transito in the Jewish Quarter, which houses a museum about Sephardic history which was fascinating. After Toledo we went back to Chinchon for the evening where we took it easy and played with Iggy’s neck brace he got from the clinic in town.

He was a little sore for a couple days after, but is ok now. I was fine, besides my bruised ego.

The next day were off to Salamanca. This was bar far my favorite city to say out loud. It just rolls of the tongue. Salamanca. The city itself was as visually pleasing as it is to pronounce. It’s 200 KM west of Madrid and a UNESCO site as well. I was really impressed with beautiful Plaza Mayor, the University of Salamanca and the lovely parks. One park featured locks from couples who attached them to light poles and fences as symbols of their love.

We returned to Spain for one last night, my birthday celebration. We started at El Perro again, and went to the Diamante party at Sala Gold. It was a chance to check out how the Madrilenians really do it up in a club. I liked the neon sign that switched from:

to the dark and menacing:

Madrid was definitely more of a “Hello There” type of city for me, friendly and fun to explore. But for this aging man on his birthday and at other parts of the week, staying up way past his bed time was sometimes “Hell Here.” 😉 It’s a good thing rest and relaxation with Nicky was coming up in Thailand, but first a few days left in Istanbul before the long flight to flooded Bangkok.

Categories
Turkey

Turkey

I flew into Istanbul from Ethiopia and it was a different world. The weather was rainy and cold. There was an order in the airport and on the highway. The roads and cars were clean and new. It felt sterile and futuristic. After a cab ride much smoother than my initial cab ride in Ethiopia, I arrived at my hostel and ventured out exploring the Sultanahmet district; the old city and tourist center. Here is a link to all the of the Turkey pics on Facebook. I wandered by the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia. I was expecting people to come up and try and sell me things or ask questions about where I was from, but I walked the streets unmolested. It was a nice feeling. These monumental structures were awe inspiring, but I soon ran out of gas after only an hour of sleep on the plane ride that night before.

Once rested, I began with the Istanbul standards. I started with the Basillica Cistern – a cool cathedral like underground cistern structure, built in 6th century Rome.

I ventured inside of the Blue Mosque with its amazing tiled mosaics and stained glass windows which were  breathtaking.

Lastly, I visited the Topkapi palace, the opulent home of the Ottman Sultans during their 600 year reign.

I also sorted out a few days of touring as well, which included the Troy Ruins, Ephesus Ruins, Pammukale and Cappadocia.

The Troy ruins were small and not visually impressive, but there were different walls of the settlement, which corresponded to different incarnations of the city. These layers made the site dense and rich with history. Troy is best known as the setting of the Trojan War described in Homer’s Illiad. The site was found in the mid 1800’s by English and German archeologists who studied Homer’s texts closely to figure out the exact hill of the site based on Homer’s descriptions of neighboring mountains, the types of trees that grew there and other geographical clues. The find gave historical grounding to some of Homer’s myth.

After the Troy ruins, I had some time to kill in the local town Eacabat, before taking an overnight bus to Selcuk for the Ephesus ruins. I had a lovely dinner of sea bass (and I made progress on getting over my phobia of eating whole fish). Once I was done, the waiter took the plate outside and fed the leftovers to eagerly awaiting cats. I’ve found this treatment  is typical of stray animals in Turkey – the community keeps them healthy and happy. It’s heartwarming to see that these animals can live comfortable lives with people looking out for them. I’ve felt like a bit of a stray dog at times taking the busses in Turkey with their many transfers and confusing bus stations, not knowing where to go or speaking the language. Luckily the Turkish people take care of their tourists too and I’ve been shepherded in the right direction each time.

After an overnight bus, and being pointed to my hostel, I was off to see Ephesus. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city. During the Roman period, it was the second largest city of the empire for a number of years. The ruins here were spectacular, as were the cruise ship infused crowds which detracted a bit. I liked the cat lounging on the ruins. He looked well fed and content.

Next up on the tour circuit was Pammukale ,which means “Cotton Castle” in Turkish.  The ancient Greco-Roman and Byzantine city of Hierapolis was built on top of hillsides covered by formations of calcified cliffs. At first it looks like snow, but on closer inspection there are travertines, terraces of carbonate minerals left by the flowing water. The ruins and the terraces were stunning. I spent the afternoon with two Australian friends, Paul and Dora swimming in a hot spring pool, complete with columns from ruins in the water to lounge on. We then checked out the epic amphitheater and walked down barefoot on the cliffs while the sun was setting. The setting was magic.

If Pammukale was magic, then Cappadocia was fantasy. This area feels like a sci-fi movie. Cappadocia is home to cave houses on cliffs, underground cave cities that go deep underground and fairy chimneys.

The underground cities were designed for long term protection of the the Christians during Muslim invasion. They featured tandoori style ovens, ventilation shafts and even stables. In addition to these man made structures, there are also fairy chimneys. These structures are shaped by erosion caused by the wind and water. There is  a base layer  of sandstone topped by a layer of petrified lava which protects the sandstone below. I enjoyed crawling around the different levels and tunnels of the cave houses. It was like a jungle gym for adults.

The only thing that can top magic and fantasy is utopia, and Olympus, Turkey is almost just that. At least where I stayied had me saying, “I’ll stay one more day,” multiple days in a row. The hostel, Bayram’s, is 500m from the beach, and you walk through ruins to reach it. You can even pick oranges from the trees in the hostel’s courtyard. Outside of relaxing on the beach and in the hostel, there are some great hikes around. One night a few of us took a walk to check out the mountain flames of Chimera. These flames emanate from a nearby mountain continuously, fueled by methane from deep in the mountain below. The flames were bizarre and beautiful.

Another night Shaun White’s parents showed up and Red Bull sponsored climbers were all hanging out around the hostel campfire. Mrs. White kept talking about her son, and I finally had to ask who her son was. Ok…she deserves some bragging rights. After peeling myself from Bayrams, I continued west along the coast staying in the quiet beach town Patara,then on to the harbor town Fethiye, and finally back to Istanbul via my last overnight bus.

Turkey has been an amazing combination of natural geological beauty,amazing ancient ruins and world class beaches. And they feed their cats.

Next up a week in Madrid and its outskirts with my good old friend Iggy.