March 29 - 30, 2009: Obama Makes a Surprise Visit to Bangkok

We were so exhausted and were so comfortable in our bed at the five star hotel that we didn’t even wake up until 2 pm! Although we were both still feeling the effects of upset stomachs and wanted nothing more than to continue sleeping in the plush bed, we forced ourselves up so that we could experience Bangkok before having to leave the next day.

We began by daringly playing a game of "Frogger" across the street of dizzying traffic with brightly colored cabs and tuk-tuks buzzing speedily in every direction. Once safely across, we went into a gigantic shopping complex where we grabbed lunch. After eating, we walked around the shops and checked out the deals. Sarah managed to find some jewelry at a shop named “The Pink Pussy”. I found that pretty humorous and she turns red every time I ask her to remind me where she bought that necklace.


After leaving the shopping plaza, we decided to try to find the Imperial Palace. We were approached by a friendly Thai man who spoke great English and informed us that the palace was closed on Sundays and that he knew the “really good” places to shop. I quickly realized he was trying to con us, so we left and took a taxi to the palace. By the time we arrived, it was in fact closing. But it had been open all day, contrary to what the man earlier was trying to tell us. I watched as Sarah fiercely bargained with a street peddler for some postcards, and then we made the regrettable decision of taking a tuk-tuk to another palace with a giant Buddha statue.

A tuk-tuk is the motorcycle-like buggy that Thailand is so famous for. It seemed charming enough, until we had to deal with the driver. Before embarking on our ride, we agreed on a price of about 40 baht (or one US dollar) for the short ride. (In comparison, we had earlier taken a real, air conditioned cab all the way across town for only about four dollars). As he drove us the short couple of blocks to our destination, the cabby asked where we were from. We (unfortunately) had told him we were Americans. He proceeded to sing a little song that went like this: “Obama…..Obama……….rich, rich Obama! You are like Obama…..rich, rich like Obama….!” You can see where this was going. Sarah decided to sing him her own little version of “We’re not rich like Obama!” but he didn’t seem to care.

Once we arrived at our destination the cabby decided that the fare was actually going to be about $20 instead of the $1 he had originally quoted us. I guess my striking resemblance to Barak made him confident I would just pay up. However, I was in no mood for his crap and tossed him the 40 baht we had originally agreed on. I told Sarah to get out and start walking, and I did the same. As we walked away he hollered at us with a scowl on his face. At this point, feeling sick at my stomach from whatever illness was plaguing me, coupled with my building irritation for Bangkok tuk-tuk drivers, I wanted nothing more than to punch that guy across the jaw. Instead, I made the wiser choice of entering the palace area and turning my mind to happier thoughts. Sarah still managed to snap a quick picture of him as we walked away!


We walked around the temple grounds for a little while and snapped a few pictures of the glimmering palace structures. We still weren’t feeling very well, but we sucked it up and fought on. The palace was very interesting, but we were more focused on not getting sick in front of anyone at this point. So we decided to move on.



After bailing out of a couple of cabs with unscrupulous drivers who wouldn’t take us to our requested destinations, we finally managed to walk to the Siam Center, which is the popular shopping center we were headed for.


After a little more shopping and watching a Thai show of dancing, we finally succumbed to our fatigue and infirmities and made our way back to the hotel.


On the way back, Sarah noticed a very appetizing food cart of all sorts of delectable insects and worms. She somehow managed to keep her upset stomach in check as she snapped a few photos. I, however, marched swiftly into the hotel.


Once there, I felt absolutely awful. I broke out in a cold sweat and couldn’t get warm no matter how many blankets were piled on top of me. My body, however, was very hot to the touch and I was sweating immensely. My stomach was killing me too. We ordered room service and I was able to get some tomato soup and bread down. Sarah wasn’t feeling great either, but she managed to get all of our things packed and ready for leaving early the next morning. Eventually, we both fell asleep.

The following morning, we got up bright and early to catch a cab to the airport. At the airport, we decided we would have time for one more foot massage at the parlor where we got our first massages. It was wonderful and made us temporarily forget about our infirmities. However, this almost proved to be a fatal move. We were held up in the customs line for so long that we were literally ushered, at the very last minute, onto the plane which was ready to take off. In all seriousness, we were probably about one minute from missing our plane all together! Thankfully though, we were able to board the plane we made our way back to good ol’ Fukuoka Japan!

The trip may have ended in little bit of a sour note with our aching stomachs, but it was an amazing trip; one that we will always look back on with fond memories of adventure, travel, and new experiences. As with our Australia trip, we hope that it is only the beginning of our worldly travels.

March 28: Is Mickey the Mouse?...or is that Dumbo?

Today, I got up painfully early in order to catch a cab to the pier where I caught the ferry back to Koh Phi Phi. I had reserved a speedboat ticket which would return from Koh Phi Phi back to Phuket promptly at noon. The ferry ride took a full hour longer than it was supposed to. Consequently, I had to pay a water taxi driver and extra couple of baht to quickly taxi back to the bungalow where I would retrieve the passports. I was getting nervous as to whether or not I would make it to the speedboat before it departed. I happened to get back in just enough time to hop onto the speedboat before being left behind.

On the ride back, I enjoyed a nice conversation with an Irish guy who had put his architecture career in Ireland on hold while he traveled south-east Asia for a few months. He was a really cool guy and helped fuel my own desire to continue traveling and see more of the world.

Upon arriving at the pier, I caught a cab back to the hotel where I met back up with Sarah. We ate a nice lunch and chatted with the owners of the hotel for a little while in the hotel restaurant on the patio area. They were gracious enough to arrange an Elephant trek for us. The shuttle bus arrived shortly after lunch and we were off.

The elephant trek was very pleasant and was must-do for Sarah. We were both happy to be able to say that we had ridden an elephant in the jungles of Thailand. The elephant we rode was a very mild mannered behemoth named Mickey. We slowly stomped through the jungle on Mickey's back. At one point the handler actually dismounted Mickey so that he could take some pictures of us! Sarah even had the courage to climb down onto the back of Mickey's neck for a few poses. Not willing to be outdone, I did the same. Sarah will tell you I only did it once she proved to me that it was safe....maybe there is some truth to that...

After our jungle trek, we went back to the hotel to grab our things before promptly taking a cab to the Phuket airport where we then caught a plane back up to Bangkok. Once in Bangkok, we took a shuttle bus to our five star hotel; the Arami Watergate.

The hotel was one of the nicest hotels we had ever stayed in. And because they had overbooked, we were upgraded to an executive suite. We were glad to be in such comfortable accommodations because we were both feeling a little upset at our stomachs at this point in our travels.

After a nice shower and sinking into our comfortable king size bed, we ordered room service, watched a movie on the giant flat screen TV in our room, and drifted off to sleep.

March 27, 2009: Leaving Koh Phi Phi...or Are We?

We woke up feeling well rested and ready to head out to the next place. We loaded up our packs, gave the bungalow a quick look-over to make sure we weren’t forgetting anything, and then we were off. We ate breakfast at the small restaurant which doubled as the check-out counter for the bungalows. Breakfast was good and we felt rejuvenated and ready to take on the day.

We took a water taxi over to the main beach where we would eat one lunch at our favorite restaurant before departing on a ferry to Phuket.

Upon arriving in Phuket, we realized we had forgotten two very important items at the bungalow…our passports! We felt that sick feeling that comes with a sudden realization of an awful mistake. There were no ferries going back to Ko Phi Phi that day, so I tried desperately to haggle for a speedboat to take me back to retrieve them. Sensing my desperation, the normally priced $50 speedboat ride was now being quoted to me at the ridiculous price of $250! I refused to do this and, instead, called the bungalow office and asked them to locate and hold on to our passports for me. (They couldn’t quite figure out why I had them hidden behind the mirror. Naturally, I felt a little guilty asking the very people I was hiding them from in the first place to now hold them in trust for me!) They agreed and I decided I could just take a ferry back the next morning and could return in time to make it to the airport in plenty of time. Feeling content with this plan, we went ahead to our next hotel for the night.

The hotel was called the CC Bloom and it was very nice. We met the owners, who were a group of American investors who were very amiable, provided great advice and made the place a veritable resort for guests such as ourselves.

At night, we went out to dinner at a local hot spot called the Red Onion. The menu gave ratings of spiciness for each dish which varied from zero peppers to four peppers in spiciness. I like spicy food, but this time I opted for a "zero-pepper" rated dish. Despite the mild rating, my tongue was on fire and I was sweating buckets from the tasty Thai dish I was eating. Sarah thought it was quite amusing!

After dinner, we perused a couple of shops where we bought a couple of fake Lacoste shirts. Then, we went back to hotel where we had a nice swim in the luxurious pool. It was so peaceful and we had it all to ourselves.

Afterward, we watched a movie in our room and drifted off to sleep.

March 26, 2009: "The Beach"

We woke up early and excitedly threw are swimsuits on in anticipation of our tour to Koh Phi Phi Leigh. Before we walked out the door, we cleverly hid our passports behind the vanity mirror. We did this because we knew that would be snorkeling, which would mean leaving our bags unattended on the ferry most of the day.

We caught a taxi boat over to the main beach. Once we arrived, we had just enough time to grab a bite to eat. After our seaside breakfast, we boarded a tour boat with about 30 other people. We embarked on a full day of touring some of the local islands and the exotic beauty was unbelievable. It’s the kind of thing you see on a postcard; the pristine, turquoise waters surrounding the isolated white, sandy beaches.

One of these spots was Maya Bay. It, however, had plenty of tourist traffic and was not quite as isolated as one might hope. It was the location for the 2000 movie, “The Beach.” Since then, this once hidden hideaway has become a popular tourist attraction. Our boat docked about a quarter mile from shore and we snorkeled and kayaked our way around the cove.

Our next stop was the incredible Bamboo Island. It was the most isolated of all the places we saw. When we strolled along the beach, I even noticed a baby shark darting around in the shallow water. I would’ve panicked if I was actually swimming near it (not a fan of sharks) but no threat today! We also over heard someone talking about seeing an eel. Yikes! Some sea creatures make me a little uneasy, no matter how cool they are to look at.

Before the day was over, we also stopped at a place called Shark Point & then over to Monkey Island. We were anxious to see monkeys hanging around, but no such luck. Not a single one; it was still a beautiful place, though. Sadly, all good things must come to an end; our boating adventure was over around four o’clock and we were dropped off at the Koh Phi Phi Don port.

Then, we hopped on another boat, this time a water taxi, and headed back to the side of the island where our bungalow was located. When we arrived, the beach side massages caught our eye. Besides, it had been a couple days since our last one and they were too cheap to resist. This time, it was on the beach, as we were lying on plush beds shaded beneath a palm leave canopy. After roasting on the boat earlier, the shaded area was a cool relief from the heat. There was a gentle ocean breeze that kept the palm trees swaying, which made the massage session all the more relaxing. I opted for an "aloe vera special massage" seeing as how my sun block efforts weren’t so successful. Brandon, on the other hand, was more enthusiastic about a foot massage. The constant walking, usually with a burden of weight on his back, kept his feet in need of massages. The hour passed too quickly and both of us couldn’t stop talking about how picturesque and soothing it was.

Afterward, I walked a few feet and found a hammock in the shade. Brandon wanted to take a few more pictures, so he did. Unbeknown to me until later, he even sneakily snapped a couple of pictures of topless Europeans strolling up the beach, just to prove to people that they really do this there!

Then, he got the same idea as me and we walked about 10 feet, plopped down on towels and napped in the shade for an hour. Before long, we heard silverware and plates clanking around; it was almost dinner time! We climbed the seemingly never-ending mountain of stairs back to our bungalow and quickly put our feet back into "need-a-massage" status.

After quickly rinsing off and getting changed, we were back to the beach. All of the restaurants were equipped with beach-side patios, and we had a delicious Thai meal, including dessert (fried bananas & pineapples with ice cream). However, our energy didn’t last long. We were ready for bed shortly after dinner. It’s a rough life!

---Sarah