Bangkok Bang

March 22 to 28

Although my time in Bangkok wasn't spent sight seeing, I had a fantastic time and really love the city. I ended up focusing on two activites much more dear to my heart then visiting temples and palaces: 1.) Eating 2.) Shopping, both made all the more pleasurable as I was able to scoure the cities markets and restaurants with my friend Liz.
However, we did manage to spice up our visit a little with a trip to the Tiger Temple, and get a small dose of culture by seeing a traditional Thai puppet theater.
Thanks to Liz and here sister Sonya's incredible hospitality I was able to take a break from the hectic pace of backpacking and enjoy my week in Bangkok relaxing in Sonya's beautiful apartment, eating the best food (as only locals know how to choose).
Last night Liz and I took the night sleeper train (suprisingly comfortable for those of you who have never tried) to Liz's home town, Chiang Mai to stay with her family. Here we'll probably hang out with some elephants and do some treking, and while Liz is busy making the world better at work, I've enrolled myself in some Thai cooking classes. Something to look forward to for those of you who might be lucky enough to recieve a dinner invitation from me when I'm finally home!

Reunited and it feels so good...

Liz and I - Guess which one's Thai

Dinner at "Cabbage and Condoms"

Tiger Temple:
Oh... they're real all right
I was able to calm him with a wink and a smile
At the puppet theater

Night train to Chiang Mai

Koh Phangan a Go Go

March 17 - 21, 2007

Koh Phangan is what I would imagine to be the Thai equivilant to New Orleans, with the monthly Full Moon parties being its Mardi Gras. Lots of people, music, drinks, and all around craziness. But, even on this small island every beach has its own flavour. Haad Rin is the party beach... and pretty much every other beach is just for relaxing.
I spent 3 nights in Haad Rin watching fire dancers on the beach and sipping vodka and red bull from a bucket, and two nights on Ban Tai, a much MUCH quieter beach, to attend the 'Black Moon' party and spend my days swinging away on a hammock.
Even though I'd been craving days of doing nothing, I have to admit that I missed the routine of Muay Thai training. To fill the void I looked up a local gym that trained in Muay Thai and put what I learned in Phuket (which apparently wasn't much) into practice.
Next stop on my '2007 South East Asian Invation' is Bangkok where I'll meet up with my long lost (since new years) friend, DJ Duke and even longer lost (since Queen's) friend, Liz Kalnin!

Haad Rin Beach

Party in a bucket

Fire dancers
Arm wrestling on the beach:
All that Muay Thai training made me confident I could win...
I was wrong

Ban Tai Beach

Dawn through a mosquito net
Black Moon Party
The most beautiful lady-boy painted little flowers on my toe nails!

The only day it rained was the day I signed up for a snorkle tour.. ofcourse

Muay Thai Maddness

March 9 - 15, 2007

Tiger Muay Thai Camp - Phuket, Thailand

This week Muay Thai kicked my butt. I woke up every morning at 6am to train from 6:30 - 9 and then again at 3pm (probably the hottest part of the day) to 6pm.

What I learned:
1.) Six different punches
2.) Seven ways to elbow someone
3.) How to kick and knee
4.) There's nothing smellier than communal boxing gloves
5.) In a male dominated environment, a little female charm can do wonders in excusing one from having to do push-ups

I also proudly acquired two war wounds in the form of blisters. One on my right foot and another on my left knuckle (from my deadly jab). Now I'm ready for some much deserved lying around. Next stop is Koh Phangan for the black moon party!

Ohhhhh Yeah
(Don't let the fact that you can see my blue underwear lessen the fact that this kick was totally ferocious)

The Tiger Muay Thai Gym Ben - a fellow Canadian (Training for MMA) Me demonstrating said 'deadly jab' on Mike (here training for Golden Gloves) Try and guess which one ISN'T a real Muay Thai fighter
(me showing Oh and Phet a thing or two about Muay Thai) Show off Future Muay Thai warrior
We spent most of our time out of the ring eating

I needed this motor bike helmet in case we rode into a riot

Shanti Lodge - probably the best guest house in Thailand

Cool-ala Lumpur

Just joking. It's not really cool here. It's actualy unbearably hot. But the good news is that it's cheap and the food is goooooood. Today is my one and only day in the city and all I was able to see were Central Market, China Town, and the Batu Caves (where there were plenty of monkeys terrorizing tourists and stealing bananas).
Tonight I hop onto the night train to Thailand.

CHANGE OF PLANS:
So, I didn't actually end up hopping on that train to Thailand. One day later I'm still in Kuala Lumpur. After hearing about some violence going on in South Eastern Thailand I logged onto the Canadian Embassy's travel advisory and saw that they were suggesting that Canadians travelling in Thailand DO NOT stop in Hat Yai (where my train would have been arriving). I realize that the chances of something actually happening to me while in Hat Yai are slim, but travelling alone I don't want to take ANY chances. So, yesterday I traded in my train ticket to Hat Yai for a plane ticket to Phuket tomorrow. Once in Phuket any of you that might be worrying about me can rest assure that I'll be working hard at my Muay Thai boot camp, learning how to kick box any danger coming my way in the FACE.

Batu Caves

MONKEYS!
City Scape

KL Orchard Gardens