Travel, to the ends of the Earth
Koh Phangan is the home of the (in)famous Full Moon Party, probably one of the biggest parties of the world. During high season, as many as 30 thousand people will descend onto the island in one day for a wild night of drinking, dancing, and debauchery.
So of course, for the first time in my travels, I get traveler’s diarrhea, and cannot join in.
When I first heard about the sport of freediving on Koh Tao, I was skeptical. In only two days, using a mask, snorkel, and fins, I could learn to hold my breath for up to three minutes, and dive down to a depth of up to 20 meters? Impossible!
But holy crap, it’s true! By the end of the course, I could hold my breath for 3:20, and had descended to a depth of 20 meters on a single breath of air!
Koh Tao, or Turtle Island, is the scuba diving certification capital of Southeast Asia. Since the cost of getting a scuba diving certification here is 1/2 or even 1/3 the cost in Europe, many backpackers opt to pick up their certification here. I decided to do the same!
To get to here, from Bangkok I first took an overnight sleeper train (that arrived 3 hours behind schedule) to Chumphon, then a ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao.
Approaching Koh Tao:
Now here’s something off the beaten track: while backpacking around Thailand, I spent three days in meditation in Bangkok – at a Buddhist temple, with monks!
Why am I doing this? Because it would be useful to learn to meditate, because it would be a great story, because I’m crazy.
Don’t I know that the ‘proper’ place to learn is in Chang-Mai? Yeah, but that’s the touristy place – they’ve got stunning views and waterfalls and shit, and I don’t want all that distracting me. Learning in Bangkok is not only the real experience (you’re with Thai people doing the same), but it’s also free!
I sound so hipster.
No, I’m not one of those monks.
Continue reading Travelogue: Three Days of Meditation in Bangkok
Bangkok, the gateway to Southeast Asia. It seems like Bangkok is a favorite of first time backpackers – I met so many folks in their gap year, backpacking for their first time. Compared to all these young whippersnappers, at 27 I’m definitely an old fart :-)
There are two sides to Bangkok – the expensive & modern side, and the cheap & historical side. Unsurprisingly, I (and most fellow backpackers) ended up spending most of my time in the cheap district (paying $7-$17 per night for accommodation!).
It’s a bit tough to put into words, but there’s a certain feel of Southeast Asia. Getting off the plane in Bangkok, it’s pretty obvious you’re in Thailand – all the signs are in Thai squiggles (sorry), the weather is unbearably hot, and the streets are filled with hawkers selling street food, clothing, and assorted knick knacks.
But for me, the real feeling of Southeast Asia came when I saw the paved sidewalk tiles:
Customer support is a thankless task – you have to deal with all sorts of befuddled, confused, and angry customers. But occasionally, you have an experience so out of the world, that it must be recorded in the annuls of time, in the tales from customer support.
During my travels in New Zealand, I rented a campervan – a Jucy Cabana. It’s been a year since I last drove, and yet I now found myself driving thousands of kilometers, on the left side of the road. To make things easy, the rental folks (Jucy) provided a concierge phone number, which I can call with questions. Hilarity ensues.
Campervanning around New Zealand:
Stats & statistics:
– Days spent on the road: 38
– Kilometers traveled: 5226
– Speeding tickets accumulated: 1
Continue reading Travel Stories: Campervanning around New Zealand
After almost a month and a half of travel, we reached our final destination on the south island – the recently shaken (not stirred) city of Christchurch. A little over two years ago, a major earthquake hit the city, destroying much of the city center, and the city still has not fully recovered. Here, I took a couple of days to relax and recuperate, before flying out to my next destination – Bangkok!
During my travels of New Zealand, there was one place I knew I had to visit – the southwestern Fiordlands in the south island. Carved out of mountains by retreating glaciers centuries ago, the Fiordlands are supposedly the most beautiful but remote place in all of New Zealand. It is true that you can get tired of anything, even breathtakingly beautiful scenery, but I was still pretty damn impressed.
Warning: this post will be text-light and photo-heavy.