I suppose I can start off where Todd left off, this being our last night in Singapore. So we had met back up with our amiable host, Adrian, who once again toured us around new parts of the city and once again took us to a great little restaurant where we once again ate an amazing dinner! I hope the pattern doesn't escape you ;) another wonderful little evening in Singapore that wasn't yet over...Adrian asked us if we were interested in smoking some shisha. SAY WHAT? is that like hash or something? Nope, it's hooka, a mild flavored tobacco, we went with orange, smoked communally from a big glass water pipe. (Think the Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland) anyways this was a nice way to slow down and just hang out and talk and share stories.
The next day brings us to the big event we've stayed in Singapore for, Singapore National Day. The national day was a neat way to get out and really see the people of this City State, celebrating their independence and cultural differences and their strong sense of community. We also met up with a really swell couple from Canada who had just done our route in reverse, so we were able to chat with them and share stories and information over a few beers back at Adrian's apartment (somehow I ended up sharing my lesson on how to poop in the woods).Finally, we left Singapore and began what we felt was the real meat of our trip. We caught a flight from Singapore to Phuket (pronounced "Poo-ket") where we had another Couchsurfing host set up. So we arrived into Phuket around 8 p.m. and caught a taxi to our host, Danny's house. We thought it would be neat to stay with an American, who also happened to own a bar there in town, kind of giving us an outsiders insider view if you will. Well Danny said he was going to go into work around 10pm that evening and after giving us some of that insider info, such as "if the broads are taller than you, don't mess with them, they're dudes" and "dont accept any drugs or anything from anyone on the street, it's all laced", Todd and I looked at each other, agreed to leave half our money behind, and just accept that this is Thailand and we just need to go let our inhibitions go and experience it. And did we ever experience it!
**There is really no way to put this next part gracefully, plus it would just take away from the brash reality that we were smacked in the face with, so for those of you with innocent eyes, take a seat.
So...we head out onto the town with Danny and his Thai girlfriend and our first stop is his bar. The bars in Thailand are different in a few ways, first off, the bar is really just that, a single bar with maybe 10 stools and there are maybe 40 of these bars along the walls and in the middle of a big long room, it kind of made me think of a alcoholics carnival, lots of lights, lots of drinking games, and lots and lots of girls. Which brings us to the other big difference in Thai bars. Bars here weren't just serving beer and liquor, they serving up the hunnies as well. Each bar had its stable of girls that would simply hang around the bar encouraging the respectable patrons to purchase them drinks, and if you were so inclined, to purchase them for the night. This was quite noticeable as soon as we turned onto the main street, fat old white men, young rich European boys, all with the Thai flavor of the night hanging off their arms.
Well the bar bunnies didn't escape us either and soon enough, about half a beer in, I noticed Loosay sit down next to me as I was trying to have a decent conversation with Todd. Loosay however didn't seem to notice that I was ignoring her as she rubbed my leg and massaged arms, literally pulling for my attention, "engage me in a serious looking conversation Todd, so I don't have to pay attention to her!" Now don't get me wrong, she was a lovely girl, probably not yet 30 years old, nice smile and very admirable chest, but like I said, I was barely through my first beer. Well I expected that she felt my cold shoulder because she eventually ran off to "get to know" some other young white fellas. So finally Todd and I could continue to enjoy our beers, beer after beer after beer, cause at Danny's bar "it's Happy Hour all night for friends!" It was quite neat, and very different than what we were used to, being led through VIP doors and having shots bought for us all night just because we were with the right person...but no fun comes without flaws, because as we made our way back to Danny's bar, Loosay made her way back to me. By now I was "feeling the buzz" and simply did not feel like continuing to brush her off, so I started joking around with her and playing some of the drinking games ("I win, you buy drink for me!) she was very good at the games and I bought lots of drinks for the both of us. She asked where we were going next and I told her "to Ko Tao", she got very excited you see because with the booze and the loud music, it sounded like I said "to Hotel". And at some point in the night while I was talking with Todd I noticed an awkward guy sitting next to me at the bar and he seemed to be paying me some mind, I looked over at Danny and he gave me a reassuring raise of the eyebrows and a nod, signaling that it was all good. So the awkward fella buys me a drink and I thank him with a cheers and turn back towards Todd, actually Loosay was in between us trying to force her way onto my lap, when this guy starts patting me on the leg and rubbing my shoulder, so I look back over at him and he puts his long, well manicured pinkie nail up to his nose and I realize he is offering me cocaine! Well I of course said no thank you and perhaps because of the alcohol, thought it was quite amusing, so I yell over to Todd in a joking manner, "hey Todd you want some coke? This guy is offering!" and Todd of course being the well-raised young lad that he is yelled back "no way man, that's crazy!" well Danny quickly came to my side and informed me that this awkwardly generous fella sitting next to me was kind of a big wig in the Thai mafia and I should just be congenial. Suddenly it hit me in a sobering way, here I was sitting in a hooker bar in Thailand with a Thai gangster on one side and some Thai prostitute sitting drunkenly on my lap....yup, we sure did experience Thailand. (and no, we didn't go home with either of them)
But that was just our first night, and that was Phuket. Todd and I decided as much as we appreciated Danny's hospitality (he and his girlfriend cooked us an amazing Thai dinner the next night) we needed to move in another direction. So we headed East to the opposite coast where we caught an overnight ferry to our much anticipated destination, Ko Tao, Turtle Island.
We arrived early, about 7am and found a motorcycle of sorts to rent for a while, we had heard that the roads from the Pier to where we were going to stay was over the mountains and very, very rugged. No problemo, I love being on two wheels, as you all know mountain biking is what I live for and a motorcycle is just like a bike, just a little heavier and a you don't have to pedal. Well not quite, with Todd on the back, and both our packs on our backs, we headed off gallantly towards our bungalow, actually I stalled out twice and almost ran into a car before we even pulled away from the rental shop. But after that we headed off towards Tanote Bay, up some pretty steep terrain, terrain that Todd, after I laid the bike down, decided that he would be more comfortable walking. So after about 2 miles up and down, over the islands central mountains on a rugged dirt road that would have been exhilarating on a mountain bike, we finally made it down to...some random isolated resort that was not the one we were looking for, I stopped a local and asked him where Tanote Bay was, "back to town, head South." I said "no" he said "yes." I almost cried.
But we made it back to town, totally soaked in sweat and bitten up by mosquitos, dirty and stressed from the hike/bike, went to the 7/11 for some Gatorade and re-grouped. After getting directions we headed the opposite way and quickly found our desired location: Tanote Bay, a little bit of Paradise, not easily won, but well worth the struggle.
And that's where we are now, we found a quaint little bungalow for around 8 bucks a person a night (fan included!) we've been snorkeling a few times, exploring some of the fascinating underwater floral and fauna and justt today we started our PADI Open Water Diver course! Quite the turnaround from the hustle and bustle of Phuket, but much more our style. We areHappy.
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