Wander with Me: Kanchanaburi

It was a trip of many firsts. Though my own country is rich in waterfalls, rivers, and mountains, I have never been inclined to visit them. As a serious beachcomber, I have always chosen the sea over the mountains, and it was a first for me to have agreed on this trip instead of going to Koh Samet, as what was originally planned. It’s the first time I’ve ever been to quite a historic place, as well. It was also the first (and hopefully not the last) trip with my man – the object of my affection, who shall be referred to from this point forward as The Object.

The Object and I left his apartment in Don Muang bright and early on Saturday morning, with the intention of getting settled in Kanchanaburi by lunch time. Unfortunately, we chose the wrong route and ended up being stuck on a bus along Phahon Yothin Road for almost 2 hours. It was almost 11 AM by the time we got to the bus terminal in Pinklao, and a further 3 hours before we finally made it to the River Kwai area in Kanchanaburi.

 

A very amiable songthaew driver recommended the Sugar Cane Guest House, and we were not disappointed at all. We were lucky enough to get a cottage on a raft right on the river. For 550 baht a night, it was absolute perfection. The resort was quite a long walk into the center of town but our floating accommodation more than made up for it. Personally, I was happy with the arrangement. I’ve been cooped up in my apartment for too long eating sugary buns. I totally needed the fresh air and the exercise.

 

But I digress. We intended to walk to the Bridge Over the River Kwai after lunch. Unfortunately, it was drizzling in what was supposed to be the second driest province in Thailand, so we headed back to the guest house and waited for the rain to stop on our lovely veranda. I amused myself by anxiously gazing into the dark green waters, hoping to catch a glimpse of any animal larger than me. I wasn’t so lucky.

Eventually, the rain subsided and we walked to the Bridge Over the River Kwai about a kilometer away. (If anybody’s wondering why I can’t just say the River Kwai Bridge or something, it’s because I can’t. Everybody calls it the Bridge Over the River Kwai, no doubt because of the movie, so I’m joining the bandwagon. Deal with it.) The Bridge, no, the entire railway, for that matter, was supposedly built by POWs back in the Second World War, The Object’s own grandfather being one of them. It’s a rather sad bit of history, actually, and I’m not about to go into a lengthy account of it in here. It’s much too depressing. The view was stunning, however, and the air was cool and pleasant.

A train came by while we were on the bridge and it was quite scary. I had a picture in my head of the bridge collapsing with the weight of the train and all the tourists and we will all plummet into the river and I’d come face to face with an animal larger than myself. Ahhh…to have such an imagination.

But once again, I digress. The Object and I made it to the other side of The Bridge (in one piece) and wandered away from all the tourists. We peered through cages of exotic birds, among them peacocks, and made our way to a grassy spot on the riverbank where we sat for a while and took in more calmness and fresh air. I honestly did not know how much more serenity I could take, but The Object seemed quite contented so I found myself relaxing little by little.

We were back on our little house boat before sunset. I showered, put on the ridiculously expensive dress I got conned into buying in Phuket, and settled on the veranda to watch the sunset. I was disappointed when I didn’t see a spectacular one. The Object was tired and wanted to rest for a bit. I did a bit of writing and amused myself by listening to our next-door neighbor going at it (you get the picture), watching the floating restaurants go past, and vainly hoping for a reptile to make an appearance. Eventually, the novelty wore off and I was bored out of my eyeballs. It was useless trying to talk to The Object because he was half-asleep and rather unresponsive, the way people who are between consciousness and unconsciousness are. The silence was deafening. I hated it because I found myself thinking of things that I did not want to think about, like where the relationship was going, how scared I was about falling, where my life was going, etc. My thoughts were too serious, too intense. I wanted to avoid that because when I think, the floodgates open and I start baring my soul, potentially humiliating myself. I think I must have, a little. I certainly know I asked a lot of questions. I can only hope that The Object really was half-asleep and therefore can’t remember much of the conversation that night. Finally, I was able to rouse him enough to convince him that he was hungry enough to walk to town with me for dinner. I found a used bookstore and the German owner gave me a discount because, according to him, I was the prettiest girl he’s seen for a long time. I didn’t know how true that was but I couldn’t complain. After dinner, we gave our next-door neighbors a run for their money. (Sorry, I couldn’t help squeezing that in.)

Again, we were up bright and early the next day. We had booked ourselves into an all-day tour (990 baht each) and we were both pretty excited. I had the best breakfast ever, the best since I moved to Thailand, and it was the perfect way to start what was to become a fantastic day. We were picked up by a mini bus with the rest of our tour group for the day. First stop, Erawan Falls, some 65 kilometers away. It was a rather scenic drive all the way to the park where the waterfalls were. Erawan Falls had 7 waterfalls, 3 or 4 of them you can swim in. We separated ourselves from the rest of the group and explored on our own. The Object is quite a nature buff and we were always stopping every so often to look for wildlife. It’s amazing how much he knows about birds, lizards, snakes, etc. It was like being in National Geographic or something.

On the 4th tier, people were sliding on huge boulders into the water and it looked like so much fun. An unbelievably fat Western woman in an unbelievably skimpy bikini was about to slide. She changed her mind halfway through and tried to climb back up the rock while her bikini slipped and exposed half of her huge ass. She was thrashing and screaming and by the time she plummeted into the water, locals and tourists alike were in hysterics. That was one of the tackiest and most pathetic things I’ve ever seen.

I finally convinced The Object to take a dip with me. The water was cool and it felt so good. I think the fish felt quite good too. They were certainly having the time of their lives eating (or should I say, sucking) the dead skin on my ankles, toes, and, umm, butt. Both of us weren’t very good swimmers, so we had to stay close to the rocks where the fishes congregated. Indeed, The Object and I made our contribution to the environment by being fish food.

After we’ve had our fill of the water, we attempted to climb further into the 5th tier. We never made it, though. It was much too muddy and I was sensibly wearing flip flops. The Object and I decided to make our way back into the park to rendezvous with the rest of the group for lunch. In an effort to dry myself out, I didn’t put my shirt back on and was walking around in my bikini top. It was a miracle I didn’t get stoned to death. Apparently, Thai women don’t wear bikinis, even in beaches. I never knew that until then and when I thought about it, I realized that I was the only Asian woman shamelessly walking around half-naked in Phuket, Phi Phi, and Ao Nang. That explained the dirty looks I’ve been getting. After all, nobody can ever tell I wasn’t Thai until I opened my mouth. I wasn’t about to be deterred by that revelation, however, and I carried on like normal, impervious to the dagger looks I was getting. Why? Because I’m shameless that way, that’s why.

After lunch, we drove on to our next destination. We cruised on a wooden raft along the river Kwai Noi and it was quite pleasant. It ended too soon, though. I felt that if we carried on a bit longer, we might have seen something exciting, like maybe a crocodile swimming alongside the raft or something.

My disappointment didn’t last long, however. We were going on the elephant trek next, and I was looking forward to that more than anything. I’ve seen quite a few elephants in the area where I live in, but they’ve always looked so sad that they just break my heart each time I see them. This time however, I was going to see elephants that, though captive, were in their own natural habitat. I was quite sad to see wounds on one of them but all in all, they looked quite happy. The elephant The Object and I were on was quite special. She was a massive and healthy-looking female. I was quite apprehensive when her handler left us on her while he took our photographs, but I need not have worried. She was very obedient and she actually posed once or twice. It started drizzling again and I was handed an umbrella. I was on an elephant with an Englishman and what could pass for a parasol. All I needed was a gown. I felt so colonial, indeed.

We left the Wang Pho Elephant Camp shortly thereafter and we were driven to Krasae Cave and the Death Railway. The Cave was used as a medical barracks of sorts back in the war but it was now a Buddhist Temple. We took a walk on the rather precarious railway. It was uneventful. Nobody fell off or anything, but The Object did refer to me as his “lady” on a phone call with his friend. There I was precariously dangling 50 feet above a river on a rickety railroad track with the most depressing history imaginable and I was ridiculously happy. We then rode the train over the same rickety track, got picked up by the mini bus a couple of stations away, and were driven to the Bridge Over the River Kwai, where The Object and I had a leisurely cup of coffee.

Dusk found us on our veranda once again waiting for a sunset. There was one, but it was mostly obscured by thick clouds, so, once again, I was disappointed. We passed the time talking and this time, I wasn’t the only one opening up. It’s amazing what silence could do. I didn’t have all of my questions answered, but I found out enough to know that The Object and I were on the same wavelength all along. There really might be something good here, something that only time will really tell.

We had a late dinner in a bar called No Name and I was introduced to proper English food. I had a steak and mushroom pie and the most amazing mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in my entire life. A proper English meal with a real Englishman – what more could I ask for? The food was fantastic, the company even more so. I was quite sad that we were leaving the next day.

The next morning, I ordered the same breakfast because God only knows when I will ever have eggs, bacon, and toast again. We have since decided to take the train back to Bangkok because we’ve both never done it before. To do that, we had to catch the train from the River Kwai station to Nam Tok near the Burmese border, wait for about 10 minutes, and take the same train back to Bangkok. The train was late, and after a grueling 8-hour journey, we finally pulled into Thonburi station. Though it was pleasant at times, none of us is going to try that again in a hurry.

It was one of the best weekends I’ve ever spent for as long as I could remember and I wish it could have lasted even just one day more. Once again, my eyes were opened to how beautiful the world really is and how glad I am to be alive. I needed that, considering that I was seriously thinking of finally going home. Indeed, there are still so many things and so many places I want to see in Thailand. And if that isn’t reason enough, well, you can guess what other reasons there might be.

Wander with Me: Phuket

Because the tourist visa was unexpectedly free and because it costs only 70 ringgit to get from Penang to Phuket by mini bus, I couldn’t resist. My friend, D, who was in Bangkok visiting his sister, also decided to meet me in Phuket for the weekend.

I left Penang early Saturday morning and spent the next 11 hours on the road to Phuket. It was interesting how the mini buses operated. They were like a well-oiled and structured crime syndicate. I thought I was going to take the same mini bus all the way to Phuket but apparently I was wrong. I was dropped off in some dodgy looking travel agency in Hat Yai where I was told to wait with no further explanation. I sat there for an hour and a half, unsure of what it was that I was supposed to be doing. The driver didn’t give me back my receipt and I was afraid they were going to charge me more just to get to Phuket. Eventually, I was ushered into another mini bus that took me all the way to another tiny travel operator in Krabi. This time, they stuck a sticker on my chest that said “Phuket” so I definitely knew I was going to get there. I finally did at around 9 in the evening.

D wasn’t arriving in Phuket until Sunday morning so I had the entire Saturday night all to myself. I decided to wait for him in Phuket Town so we can head to Patong Beach together in the morning. I needed a place to crash that was cheap and clean. I ended up sharing a room with a Swedish guy I met on the mini bus at the Holiday Plaza Hotel on Phuket Road. There was absolutely nothing holiday, plaza, or hotel about it. It was just a fan room with a bathroom, and it reeked of pesticide. They were charging 300 baht a night, though, and since I was keen on saving a bit of money, I took a leap of faith and took the Swede’s offer of sharing the room. He seemed like a nice guy and he was rather skinny, so I figured I could take him if I had to.

We had dinner at a little café that advertised wireless Internet. Unfortunately, it wasn’t free and that really pissed me off. The food was good though, albeit a tad bit too spicy. The Swede insisted on paying for dinner, which was probably a lame effort at buying the requisite meal before trying to get a girl to bed. That was not going to happen, however, so I offered to pay for breakfast. We wandered around Phuket Town for a bit, watched a cultural show at a park, and he had a beer at an Irish pub while I did some writing. I think I was pretty boring company, but I didn’t want to give him any ideas.

I was getting really sleepy so I decided to head back to the hotel. I was settling down on the bed when he strode out of the bathroom in nothing but a t-shirt and briefs. If he was trying to entice me, it wasn’t working. I wasn’t about to be seduced by a man who wore briefs. Not many people know it, but I have an aversion to briefs, especially the cotton bikini ones. I prefer boxers.

But I digress. I pretended that I was already asleep. He tossed and turned for a few minutes and eventually went out. I must have really fallen asleep because I didn’t hear him come back. Sometime in the middle of the night he was spooning me, so I just sort of thrashed around a bit like I was having a nightmare, which in essence I was. I suppose that scared him off because he practically scampered off to his side of the bed and stayed there for the rest of the night. D called me around 6 AM the next morning. He was already outside the hotel. I showered and was out of there in record time. Of course, I didn’t have time to buy the Swede breakfast so I paid for my share of dinner, gave him a quick hug, and said goodbye.

When I saw D sitting outside the hotel, we were both overcome with a fit of hysterical giggles. We had come a long way from our local islands. We were in Phuket! It was totally exciting. We were both starving so we tried looking for a place to eat. Unfortunately, everything was closed. The sleepy town was still very much asleep. We had no choice but to feast on cup noodles in a Family Mart.

After breakfast, we needed to figure out how to get to Patong Beach. Taxis in Phuket were much too expensive, but I knew that there were songthaews that went that way. The problem was I didn’t know where they were. We just walked around the town for a bit until we arrived at the bus station. There was a songthaew bound for Patong Beach, alright, and it only cost us 30 baht each.

It was drizzling again when we got to Patong Beach. Finding a place to stay and stash our bags was first priority. The night before, the Swede gave me a business card for a guest house on Nanai Road. It was a long walk from the beach, but it was cheap and had free wireless Internet, which was becoming a dire necessity for me. We did spend some time looking for a guest house around Bangla Road, which was closer to the beach, but they were either too expensive or too ugly. We decided to find the one on Nanai Road instead.

As it turned out, the guest house on the business card he gave me was closed, but there were other guest houses in the vicinity offering the same prices and the same service. We eventually settled on a place called Game Mansion and it was very impressive for 400 baht a night. It was also quite close to Jungceylon Mall. D and I were quite happy about it. We initially planned on staying a couple of nights in Patong Beach, and we weren’t exactly sure why, but we decided to pay for just one night, just in case. It turned out to be a wise decision. We were thriving on spontaneity for the moment and we decided to take a trip to the Phi Phi Islands and Krabi the next day before heading back to Bangkok. Anyhow, D rested for a bit while I did a bit of writing. We then slipped into our beach wear, had lunch, posed for the requisite photographs, and headed for the beach.

Patong Beach was super crowded, noisy, and much too commercial for my taste. The beach itself was lovely, though, even with all the hawkers and tourists. The sand was soft and the water was great, but to be perfectly honest, Boracay and Bantayan Island back home are so much better. Still, we had a great time swimming, chilling by the beach on the lounge chairs we rented for 40 baht each, eating fruit, and napping.

I would’ve stayed in the water longer, but the current was quite strong, and because I’m not a very good swimmer, I stayed close to the shore. D went parasailing. I didn’t because it was much too expensive. I got conned by a hawker to buy a dress for 300 baht. She initially offered it to me at 650 baht and I was quite proud of myself for haggling, until I saw the same dress on Bangla Road being sold for 199 baht. That really, really pissed me off. Lesson learned: don’t buy from the beach hawkers.

In Boracay back home, you can see the people, locals and tourists alike, doing their best to preserve the beach. Nobody littered. Locals combed the sand several times during the day. In Patong, however, it made me sad how the people were steadily ruining such a beautiful beach. Rubbish was everywhere, and the locals didn’t seem to care. They were too busy hawking their wares and making money. The tourists were worse. They had absolutely no qualms about littering on the sand and in the water. It made me sick. We were in one of the most beautiful islands in the world. The least everyone could do was show some respect.

We headed back to the guest house by late afternoon. We got the tickets for Phi Phi and Ao Nang in Krabi en route for only 700 baht each. D slept while I wrote some more. I woke him up around 10 PM so we can go get some dinner. I was starving. I found that the only thing worse than Patong Beach by day was Patong Beach at night. Rowdy tourists, lady boys, and hawkers were everywhere. It was garish and all so worldly that I found myself thinking if the tsunami was like a modern day Sodom and Gomorra and if so, it didn’t seem to work because everything was back to normal in Patong Beach.

I did think that maybe could stay in Phuket (definitely not in Patong Beach) for a couple of months or so. I missed being so close to the beach the way I always had been back home, but I decided against it. I’d be too scared of tsunamis and earthquakes and stuff. And it didn’t help that D kept sporadically screaming in my ear that a tsunami was coming. I often wonder why I have such crazy friends.

I actually planned to meet up with the Lost Boy in Phuket. Unfortunately, he had other plans that night and I was leaving for Phi Phi in the morning so there was just no time get together. It was just too bad because I would’ve loved to pick his brain.

So D and I have seen Phuket and our friends back home were green with envy. I spent a total of 2,500 baht, including the mini bus fare from Penang and the transfers to Phi Phi and Krabi. Though I’m not quite finished with the entire task yet, I was able to start doing one of the things I came to Thailand to do – compare the beaches. I could safely say that I was neither impressed nor disappointed with Patong Beach. What I do know for sure is just being there in Phuket was quite a high in itself.

Next stop: Phi Phi Islands and Ao Nang (Krabi)!

The Skinny on Being Skinny

One of the first things that I noticed when I arrived in Bangkok was how unbelievably skinny the Thai girls are. All my life I have never really been conventionally thin. I’m constantly locked in a battle with my weight but it never really bothered me too much, except maybe after Christmas and the start of the New Year. When I got here, however, I’ve become incredibly self-conscious because I was literally surrounded by stick figures. I felt like a trunk amongst twigs.

Thai girls are positively minuscule, very much so that to call them women would be totally wrong. They have bodies of adolescent, almost pre-pubescent girls, and in a society where being thin is revered, they make the rest of us look bad. Of course, it would take more than that to make me feel ugly but I did find myself looking sadly at my rather flabby stomach on a regular basis.

I was a long way from obesity but being here made me feel unbelievably fat. I knew I had to lose at least 10 pounds. I just didn’t know how. I’m lazy and I hate exercise. I once paid good money for a gym membership and I only showed up 8 times. I am also devoid of self-control. When I’m hungry, which is often, I will eat. I don’t really eat a lot but I do eat frequently. Being alone in Thailand doesn’t help. It gives new meaning to comfort food. I sleep a lot too. I can’t live with less than 8 hours of sleep or else I’ll get really sick. Whatever hours of sleep I miss one day, I have to make up for them in another. So, no, it really didn’t look like I was going to lose all that weight.

For some strange reason, however, I did. I didn’t know it right away, but I’ve lost 7 pounds. The buttons on my tops don’t pop anymore. I can get into my jeans without having to jump up and down several times. I don’t have unsightly underwear lines anymore. My armpits are hollow and I can even see my collarbone again. I feel fantastic. I don’t think I’ve looked this good since, umm, last year.

I don’t know how this happened. My rice intake is just about the same. I still eat two or three times a day and snack occasionally. I still sleep a lot. I wasn’t even really trying to lose weight, it was always just an idea I toyed around with in my head.

Then I realized that I’ve been here a little over a month and have gone through quite a lot. I was sick when I got here. I have chronic bronchitis that comes and goes and I had it when I arrived. It has never been easy to shake it off, and it was particularly hard for me to recover from it being here and so far away from home. I have also been running after buses, gotten lost several times, missing my stops, climbing a lot of footbridges, and walking for blocks. Not to mention I live on the 5th floor of a building with no elevator. That’s a lot of physical activity for this lazy lady, more than I’ve ever done in my entire life. It’s no wonder that I now have firm legs, less flabby arms, and a waistline that I’ve almost forgotten existed.

It’s just another reason why I love Bangkok. I know I’ll never be as svelte and willowy as the Thai girls are, and I don’t really want to be. No, this is a real woman here with her curves in the right places. And this woman is here to stay.