Did you like Malaysia or Thailand better?

Malaysia so far...

So after some more time on koh phangnan while Kristen and Paul were recovering from their horrific motorcycle accident and after a fantastic trip to sail rock diving we did a pass on the full moon party and headed south once more to Krabi.

Krabi was a beautiful town, Well not Krabi exactly but the area around it. There are lots of cliffs and big pieces of rock sticking up everywhere. (I would put some pictures up but Cameron is currently being a camera hog). We went to the beach and a beach a little bit away and that was nice. Did some exploring of the area. Nothing amazing to report. Had some really yummy Museli, that was a highlight. Then it was finally time to leave Thailand.

Thailand didn't thrill me. On a scale of desert warzone experiencing drought and famine (1) to a tropical paradise where a genie is present to grant all of your wishes (10) its a 5 maybe. I just felt overcrowded a lot of the time (it is high season) and like we could never escape from people trying to rip you off or sell you something or the stupid taxi rackets/unions. It was ridiculous at times and I was just not looking forward to that. Don't get me wrong, its very beautiful and the fact that so many people go there makes it a sinch to travel in, but it got to me.

There are essentially two main types of people who travel in Thailand.
1--> Wealthy older people who are there for a week or two staying at a resort or two and going on a tour or two. These people are fine. They are nice and they mostly keep to themselves and their private beaches and are nice enough if they ever happen to slum it for a bit and hit up the backpacker areas. This group also includes families who are in resorts or on tours

2--> The traveling youth of Australia, UK and etc. that are in Thailand for "the buckets of alcohol, to sleep with Scandinavian women (or men) and who get a bamboo tattoo when they are drunk" (quote by Simon our last dive guide). I don't mind these people either except once got jealous when I saw a guy from Australia's facebook messages with his mom.... she was funding his trip and he was "never coming home, lol", because he was "having to much fun sleeping on the beach all day and partying all night" on his parents dime.

So maybe this is the reason I didn't really like Thailand. These types of travelers created a sort of vibe.... the wealthy people pay the first price and so prices are high and the Thai people see white skin and assume money and the young drunkers are a mess all the time and probably just p.o. the thai people because they tend to disrespect the land and the area, using the country as a giant playground/toilet bowl. I don't know if how I travel is any less offensive to other people or Thai people (even though I have had only 2 drinks the entire trip I am sure I get lumped in group 2 by the locals), but yeah, just didn't like it all that much and found the people to be unfriendly.

FACT: 12 million people travel to Thailand every year.

Alls I am saying is that I wouldn't do a backpacking holiday in Thailand south again. I would go to a resort and chill for a week though.

Anyways, had a good time though and made some great memories.....

We are in Malaysia now. Our first stop was Georgetown/Pedang. A very cool little area. It had an Arab quarter there and it was awesome to eat something besides Asian food! We had samosas and naan and tandoori chicken. excellent. We also went to Fort Cornwallis.

Then we went to the Perhentians. They are what I was hoping Thailand would be more like. More chill. less development, although they are headed the Thailand way. The people there were really nice and friendly and although Island living is a bit more pricey, I didn't feel like I was being ripped off or taken advantage of. Maybe they are just better at hiding their resentment. Also we saw loads of awesome animals there when we did a snorkel trip and diving. Things as a child I stared at my library books never dreaming I would one day see. It was great. I love swimming with sharks.

Now we are in the Cameron Highlands. Its a cool 20'C. I am cold. I am wearing pants and a jacket. hahaha, I have no idea how I am going to cope when I get home. I am very much looking forward to being in Canada and starting my program in thee Fall.... just a lot to do between now and then... oh well. C'est la vie when you take off for 5 moths!

Looking forward to seeing you all, but am still enjoying traveling and experiencing this part of the world. :)

Why haven't you posted lately?

Everytime I get to the internet I have a billion emails from UBC that I have to deal with. So I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. If you want to get up to speed with our trip head over to Cameron's blog at : http://whereintheworldiscameron.blogspot.com/

Terima Kasih!

What lives in Shark Bay?

SHARKS!

The first week here in Thailand has been pretty great on a vacational level as well as a personal level.

1. It was great to see Cameron after not seeing him for 4.5 months.

2. It was great to see Kristen after not seeing her for 4.5 months.

3. Even though the last couple of weeks at Maple Leaf were anything but stressful its nice to be on vacation where you get to sleep in when you want and swim in 36'C oceans chasing sharks around the bay.

4. I got into Physio School!

It has been an eventful week and a bit. My flight from Surabaya was fine and the night in Kuala Lampur Airport was even manageable and arriving in Phuket was a trip. The flight in was amazing actually. It was beaches and granite cliffs and blue water for miles and miles, all with the sun just coming up, probably one of the prettiest flights that I have ever been on. And the taxi in was okay too, not as stressful as I thought that it would be.

Phuket was pretty nice. We stayed at a great little boutique resort at Patong beach. It was actually like a 20 minute walk to the beach through dog infested side streets, but other than that and the 30'C plus heat it was fine. It was funny, my traveling companions were not used to the heat but I was pretty much acclimatized. We spent our time there eating the ridiculuously delicious breakfast, lounging by the pool, and spending some time at the beach. As well as enjoying our first delicious tastes of Thai cuisine. But before we knew it, it was time to make our was to Ko Tao for our diving extravaganzaa.

The trip to Ko Tao from Phuket was fine, at least it was fine for me. My traveling companions would disagree as they both were car sick and a bit sea sick. We took an afternoon bus than an overnight ferry boat. And by the time we arrived in Ko Tao they were both done. We took a taxi to Sairee beach and after having breakfast because it was too early to get into a hotel we found a place with a couple of beds where the invalids flopped down and didn't stir for several hours. In the afternoon though Kristen was feeling better so we went snorkeling off the beach and then ate fruit and drank fruit juice listening to classic rock as the sun went down.... ahhhhh.... Thailand :)

Our dive course started the next day back by the pier and we managed to check into our bungalows and get set up there just fine. We met our super awesome guide "Sergi" from Barcelona and spent the next three days learning to become SCUBA divers because "SCUBA divers have more fun" according to our PADI text books. Its true. Besides the book learning and the mountain of homework we got the first night we had a blast. It is such a neat feeling to breath underwater. We did spend a lot of time doing skills like taking off our equipment under water, taking off our masks, floating and buddy breathing etc. But we also had time to cruise around and look at a bunch of interesting stuff. I can't believe that as somebody who studied marine biology a lot in University that I never did PADI before. but now I did and my "life has been changed forever" (according to the PADI book again).

After our PADI course we went to shark bay for a day where we snorkeled and I saw my favorite: the black tipped reef shark. They are so neat. It was probably only 4 feet long and didn't like hanging around me too much but it was awesome. I haven't seen a shark for 2 years since the galapagos, so it was great to see one again. We dived again the day after that and snorkeled off the dive boat in a cool area seeing lots of Ko Tao's fishes and even a lobster and sea slugs which are very beautiful. Then it was time to leave for Ko Phangan. We were all tired after our busy day diving and all passed out on the boat.

We got to our bungalows alright and Paul arrived within an hour of us getting to the bungalows. SO we got to have dinner with him. We also had our first experience with Thai wiskey in the form of "bukets" which is literally a sand castle bucket filled with wiskey, coca cola and redbull.... and mountains of thai food that paul had been craving.

today its off to the beach for some snorkeling fun and some sun! Even though I haven't been suntanning once yet I am brown. Sunscreen everyday!

T-T-T-T-To Thailand I go....

Hi Friends and Family.
I am leaving for Thailand today and will be getting there sometime tomorrow morning. Should be an interesting 12 hours...
Anways, not sure if I am going to keep posting here or on Cameron's blog. Or if we will do a joint blog.... details to Follow!
later :)