Thailand recap + coping

Woody pretty much covered everything that we have been remiss about blogging, and now the feat of following up his majestic sign off...

We went to Thailand thinking that it would be a week of relaxation, beaching, getting cheap massages and living off $10 a day. First stop -- the beach! It actually ended up being pretty expensive and hectic. Koh Samui's Hat Chaweng Beach was like a Euro-Cancun Frat/Sorority destination + of course, old white guys w/ Thai chicks. The main strip was a tourist trap packed with souvenir shops and pricey restaurants and hotels.



We got a couple massages. I felt like an addict after the first one. The girls performed synchronized pounding on all of us and double-teamed each of us at one point. They always try to steer you away from the Thai massage, which is always the cheapest one. Why wouldn't you want to try the Thai massage in Thailand? I will never know because their persuasion worked on us. "Thai massage is hard and rough. Oil is relaxing. If you have never had a Thai massage before, you should get an oil massage." By that logic, one would never get a Thai massage.

The nearby island of Ko Pha-Ngan celebrates the full moon by having a rave on the beach called The Full Moon Party. It consists of flame throwers, bubble parties, elevated dance stages, house/trans/pop/hip hop music blasting from the row of bars, black light tattoos, buckets of mixed drinks and locals dealing along the shore.



If was fun, but there wasn't a sense of community that you might expect at something like this. Everyone stayed to themselves or were passed out on the beach.

One of the highlights of Thailand for me was scuba diving. We went to a private beach off Koh Tao. It was my first time going. The water is so clear, and there are fish in even 1 inch of water. The fish are friendly too, if they can be that. It is probably more of them treating us as if we were just another sea being. A whole school of big, rainbow fish encircled Woody, not unlike they do Ariel during the "Under The Sea" number in "The Little Mermaid."



Second stop -- Bangkok! A custom that caught me off guard was the Thai people's earnest bowing with prayer hands after you have finished a conversation. So I have gotten into the habit of doing a head bow whenever acknowledging someone or when I get change back etc. If you don't belive me, ask this guy.



The malls here are ridonks. They have a lot of pride in their malls. Their food courts have good food, flat screen tvs, huge aquariums and a gourmet market. Although, the flat screens just play a loop of commercials, so you eat to the first 30 seconds of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" every 2 minutes when this car commercial comes on. Simon calls this area the Rodeo Drive of Bangkok. This is the exterior of the mall - Siam Paragon/Siam Center.



On the 3rd floor of the mall:



Next to these, they also have Ferraris, Lambourghinis, Lotus-es and Guess jeans.

On the first floor, they had a photo studio that was in the vain of glamour shots. We couldn't resist.




Rain was here to perform a concert, and he stayed in the hotel across from this mall. He was posted up everywhere. I really wanted to go see him, but the guys were equally enthusiastic about not going. My appetite was slightly satiated when I saw him schilling for orange product.



After Woody left, we moved to expat central. We live on a street (Khao San) that is listed as a Night Market in Lonely Planet. It's another culture shock. The foreigners outnumber the locals about 5 to 1 here. Everyone is extremely outgoing. They have mobile bars set up in the streets and stools for people to quickly get their drink on.



Also heard some live music. Thailand is a lot more hip and modern than I thought. Definitely more than China! Communist vs Capitalist? Everyone is also very polite. They bargain here with a smile instead of the cut throat bargaining in China. Although they love their 90's music. On MTV, they played back to back: "Hammer Time", "Macarena", and "Who Let The Dogs Out." This might have been a 90s block, but at the bubble party at the Full Moon Party, they played "Get Jiggy With It" and other 90s songs. Why not? I love me some 90s music.

Simon and I are here for a couple more nights sans Woody. We'll prob have one more sign off blog. Til then, here is a tribute to our ex-fellow expat: