All Thai-ed Up

Thailand: Land of elephants, Bangkok (it's so ugly it's beautiful), kamikaze cabs, a long peninsula-like thing, delicious food, crystal clear waters, intestine-hating water, more islands than single men at a Star Trek convention, and muscle-relaxing, bone-crushing massages. I experienced that and a lot more while being Thai-ed up in Thailand.


We begin this little Thai story not in Thailand, but Cambodia. Courtney, Ashlee, and I got in our $3 tuk tuk and cruised down the strip to the ultra small airport. To give you an idea on how small the Siem Reap International Airport is, one of my grandpa's quonsets in western Nebraska devoted to holding his tractors, planters, diggers, and other miscellaneous machinery was easily bigger than this mass transportation hub in southeast Asia. We actually rode in an airplane with propellors (see right). Yeah, I thought those disappeared back when Nixon resigned from office. Anyway, they were pretty cool because you could wave goodbye and do the patented Nixon double peace pose from the top of the stairs on the tarmac.


Once in Bangkok, Ashlee and I ate a couple bowls of thai ramen, said our goodbyes to Courtney, and took the overnight sleeper train down that long peninsula toward Surat Thani. The train was delightful except for a deadly combination of things: my unusual and explosive bowel movements and the dirty squatter toilet which deposits your goods on the moving tracks below. I felt like I was doing a yoga pose or a pre-aerobic stretch while trying not to fall into the nastiness that comes with a squatter toilet and the 6+ hours of being one of only a few bathrooms for hordes of people. Thankfully, I made it through most of the night peacefully asleep as the infinitely-long lullaby known only as "tunk-tunk......tunk-tunk......tunk-tunk......tunk-tunk" sang to me from the tracks below.



From Surat Thani, we hopped on a bus and took a quick ride to the docks where we boarded our boat to Koh Phangan. Koh Phangan is an island paradise world renowned for its astronomical full moon parties. Unfortunately, the moon didn't cooperate with us while we were there. However, we never would have noticed because we were too busy enjoying our time under the sea. Yep, that's right. Ashlee and I are the newest PADI certified open water divers. It took us about 4 days and we went on about 5 dives. The first dive was a bit difficult. It takes a while to convince your land-dwelling mind that you can breathe underwater. We learned all the tricks to diving and how to avoid possible dangerous situations. After each dive we felt more and more comfortable and soon were doing all kinds of underwater tricks. It was amazing and one of the best things I have done....ever! I saw millions of fish, a moray eel peeking out of his home in the coral, some stingrays, angel fish, barracuda, and about a thousand others in which I don't know the name. I used to think that the ocean was just a giant, drab waste of space good for becoming nauseous. Now that I have seen all the life and colors down below those marine waters, it is hard not to want to go back.