From the west

Some random things.

Sleeper train
I’m writing this on the sleeper train from Ubon Ratchitani in Eastern Thailand(Isan) to Bangkok. This is my third sleeper train in Thailand (have also travelled on a sleeper train in Vietnam, and sleeper busses in Vietnam and Laos).
It’s 19.45, the train left the station at 19.30. Initially you’re sitting in seats and it looks just like normal train.

Then a steward comes along and pulls down the top beds and pulls out the bottom beds from the seats, puts sheets on them, a pillow case over the pillows and gives you a blanket. It happened early on this train, so I’m writing this from my bed. Raf and I booked bottom bunks (this is second class/fan) so she’s on the other side of the train. Random thai dudes in the bunks above. Three other western looking backpackers in this carriage.
Edit: I thought I had a good sleeper train photo somewhere, can’t find it. Figuring it must be on that mobile I lost, grr! Well, here’s a crappy one with Raf not looking pleased…

At the end of the carriage there’s a little room/bed for the steward a toilet and washbasins. The toilet on this train is a squat one. Toilet paper and the bidet/spray thing is provided. Bit scary when the train is jolting around…could get messy :o
Other trains we’ve been on have had western toilets. I’ve only had to use squat toilets in the cheapest places I’ve stayed in, in Thailand and Indonesia. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos seem to have the most western toilets, I guess due to the french influence a while ago.
The big windows on the train were wide open, but the steward closes them when he makes the beds. The door at the end of the carriage is also open. I was standing there earlier, holding on, as you could easily fall out if there’s a jolt! Fun :D
There are racks in the middle passage for bags, so my bag is right next to me. If you’re a top bunk, then there’s a rack up there too.
I forgot to mention the curtains. Everyone has a curtain in front of their bed. Essential for keeping the light in the passageway away.
We’ll arrive in Bangkok at around 7.30 in the morning.

Food stalls, night markets, plastic bags
All over south east asia there are roadside stalls offering takeaway food, and sometimes there’s some plastic tables and chairs provided. They usually serve things like fried rice and noodles, noodle soup or rice soup(a breakfast thing), fried chicken, satay stick things, fried donuty things, indian roti pancakes. Varies a lot per country what is served.
Often a city or town will also have a nightmarket, where the stalls are altogether in one area from around 4pm till at least 10. Especially thailand does these well, lots of variation.

They’ll often have tables and chairs set up. I guess kind of like a food court in Australia. So cheap, so good. And can often be quite adventurous when you’re in a non touristy place and you just point at things and see what you end up with.
If you order takeaway (or sometimes even when you don’t), the food will come in styrofoam, or just as often, small clear plastic bags. Even salad or drinks come in plastic bags. They tie an elastic band around the top, and with drinks just stick a straw in it.

Last night in Ubon I grabbed a salad in a bag (lettuce, cucumber, corn kernels, tomato, hard boiled egg, little bag of dressing) from one stall and sat down with Raf at a table where she’d ordered chicken with rice. I borrowed a fork, and as I was struggling ripping open the bag and pouring the dressing over the salad, the lady from Raf’s food stall handed me a plate and a spoon. Awww, so nice!
For dessert I had a pice of baked pumpkin with coconut custard in it, which also got handed to me in a plastic bag. This is a traditional thai dessert, we made it in my cooking class in Chiang Mai.
Earlier in the day we ordered a chai nom yen (tea milk cold=ice tea with sweet milk) in a little hole in the wall restaurant, and that also was handed to us in a plastic bag. No elastic band, just a straw stuck in. Usually the ice tea gets given in a plastic cup with lid though.

Modesty
In south east asia, it’s generally disrespectful to walk around with shoulders and knees uncovered. Most definitely in temples and sacred places it’s just not done. The more tourists there are, or the bigger or more modern the city is, the more it’s just accepted. I have no trouble keeping my knees covered, but I still don’t find light airy t-shirts as comfortable as singlets. I’ll usually remember to wear something with sleeves or bring a sarong to cover myself up in temples. And I’ll usually try to wear my shirts with sleeves more in more traditional towns. I already stand out enough as a tourist (though not as much as tall or blond people, and my skin is as dark as many as the locals now! Actually, I regularly get spoken to in Thai and once was asked if I was half thai. Just then a guy on the train spoke to me in thai!)!
When swimming at tourist spots like a waterfall, the local people generally go in the water fully clothed. When they bath in rivers (poorer areas), they’re usually in a sarong. Though, I’ve also seen quite a few half naked people by the side of the road washing themselves, I think just in Laos.
At popular tourist spots, western tourists including myself generally do what we always do, not wear much. I have occasionally kept my singlet on though, and am usually wearing boardshorts.
Today we paid about $2 to hang around the pool at a fancy resort in Ubon. There was no one around but there were a lot of hotel rooms looking onto the pool, and it was a very thai place. I wouldn’t sunbathe topless anyway, but I didn’t even feel comfortable walking around in my bikini. Though the staff were amused I think. I walked past two ladies (cleaners I think) hanging out in a doorway near the pool, and they said something like ‘hello, very good, very good’ and sort of jiggled around and laughed. I had my arm in front of my chest so I think they were trying to tell me not to be embarrassed, haha.

On a slightly different subject, generally you take your shoes off when you go inside places here, including many some shops, all beauty/massages and guesthouses. Restaurants you leave shoes on. It’s become nearly second nature, and is easy when you’re wearing thongs/flip flops.
I recently realised that I have been wearing thongs for pretty much 5 months straight now. Only when I’ve done a trek or a whole day of motorbike riding (around 10 days in total on my whole trip) have I worn my walking shoes! They’re not that pretty (I really wish I could have found the black ones of this model instead of brown, boo!) and it’s just too annoying having to take them off when entering somewhere! And obviously it’s been very warm for most of my trip.

3 – 15 December 2009

I am writing this on a train to Kanchanaburi, it’s 9.30am. Rafeena and I have been travelling for nearly 24hours, we left Ko Pha-Ngan yesterday at midday on a ferry, caught a bus to the train station then a night train to a station before Bangkok.

We were on Ko Pha-Ngan for 12 days, it’s the longest I’ve stayed anywhere since leaving Perth 4 months ago! Though even the 6 weeks before leaving I was moving around in WA a lot, so it’s been longer.

Lazing around in a hammock reading books and catching up on work online was good, but towards the end it was even better exploring the whole island by scooter and motorbike.
We had different company in our 12 days. The first few days were spent with Kat and Jim, an English couple we met on the ferry. We arrived in choppy seas and monsoonal rain, but jumped straight into the ocean anyway, lightning and thunder surrounding us.
The question still remains, the notices in our bungalows that said ‘this is a nudist beach, please keep it clean’…was it bad english and did they mean nature or natural beach?!!

Those first few days I couldn’t resist the lure of the bamboo needle, and got my star tattoo on my neck extended down my back and to my side. Took 3.5hours the first day and 1hour the second day. Second day hurt, going over sensitive skin. Bamboo tattooing is down by hand, I don’t think it hurts more than a machine, but it takes longer. Heals faster though.

A few days after we arrived Marissa joined us, an awesome American girl we met through couchsurfing in Perth. Hopefully she’ll also join us for christmas and new year in Laos.

For our last few days Erik joined us, another American couchsurfer we met in Perth. At this stage Rafeena and I had already hired scooters and were starting to explore the island, but Erik took it one step further and hired a real motorbike. Raf was starting to enjoy the scooter (her first time riding one), but at a slow pace. So I joined Erik in some faster trips around to the other side of the island. Still, we were careful, the concrete roads often had potholes and halfway through the middle of the island they turned to gravel and sand, made worse thanks to rain in the past.
Going at a snail’s pace around a corner we fell over in slow motion. I didn’t have a single scratch, thanks to our slow speed and Erik holding up the motorbike long enough for me to get out from under it. He ended up with some nasty looking bloody scrapes on his knee and ankle, but luckily they weren’t deep and nothing broken. First motorbike ‘accident’ for both of us! He’s been riding for years but we could have done with less tyre pressure on the gravel.

The weather has been great for most of our stay, occasional cloud, but that usually makes for an awesome sunset.

We discovered some beautiful beaches, cute waterfalls (nothing big) and snorkelled around Ko Ma, a small island in the north.

I’m a bit scared of the ocean (mainly jellyfish, scary fish, random seaweed…) and I don’t wear contacts, so can only see things at close distance when I don’t wear my glasses. The whole swim took nearly 2hrs, and I surprised myself!  Staying close to the side of the island when we were on the far side where it got deep quickly and there were waves, and just following Erik who could see better helped me. Also surprised myself with my relative fitness level, I declined his flippers for most of it and though my arms were tired at the end, I felt fine the next day!

That afternoon saw the most spectacular bird I think I’ve ever seen, the Great Hornbill. Reminds me of a tucan! Just after I took photos, it flew away, but came straight at me, I had to jump out of the way and may have squeeled a bit!

We stayed at a place called Ann’s Heartbreak Restaurant and Joon Bungalows, right on the beach with hammock and a swing, the restaurant/bar/our loungeroom 10m from the water. Around the corner were a few beaches with no bungalows or restaurants in sight. And then a 15min walk (or 2 min scooter ride) in the other direction was Thong Sala, the main town on the island.
Apart from the first night, we’ve been eating at the night market there every day, and at a local thai place for lunch. Cheap local prices and lots of variety, even some vegetarian options and yummy desserts usually involving coconut.

We mostly led a quiet life, but did make it to an occasional cool bar (like the sunset rock bar which took 145 steps to get to and did have a good sunset view), and the Half Moon Party in the jungle. The full moon party on the beach in the south is a huge famous happening, but the Half Moon party in the jungle was big and slightly crazy too.

And now I’m finishing this post and we’re in Kanchanaburi. Hiring a scooter and a motorbike later for about 4 days to explore the area which has national parks with awesome waterfalls, caves, and the ‘Death Railway’ (made famous by the book/movie ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’) where thousands of pow’s in World War II died. Going to try and go all the way to the Burmese border but not sure we’ll make it time wise.