Its cold here! Not as bad as Paris was, but still colder than I would have liked, cold enough that I needed to break out the gloves and scarf. The way in starts at Narita Airport, where I got electronically finger printed and had my picture taken at immigration. From there it is about an hour train ride to Tokyo station. After getting my bags and making it past customs, I found my way to the train station at the airport and was a little confused by the fact there is more than one rail company selling tickets! I wasn’t sure which one was the best, but thankfully the ticket person at what was the wrong company for me, told me to use the other company, since they had a direct route to Tokyo station.

After I got my ticket for the next train, I remembered reading about some special tourist discount you can get, but I couldn’t remember exactly what it was, so I took out my laptop and looked it up online. Its a deal where you get their version of a metro smart card, called the Suica card, plus a one way ticket to Tokyo station for about 1500-2500 yen less than buying them separate, which is about $15-20. So I tried to go back to the ticket counter and get the ticket I just bought exchanged, but I had already gone through the gate using my ticket, and my train leaves in just a few minutes… haha, you know how this goes… But one of the security staff was nice enough to let me back through the gate and take me to the customer service counter where I got the discounted Suica card! And made it back to the train with a few minutes to spare.

OK, So I get to Tokyo station, and supposedly you are supposed to be able to take a connecting JR line train from the Narita Express (the line I was coming from) without paying for another fare, but I couldn’t find the line that would take me to Ikebukuro where my hostel was. Tokyo has by far the biggest and most confusing metro system of any of the cities I have been to, and for those who don’t know, there are lines operated by three companies, JR, Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway, and if you change trains to one that is run by different company, you have to pay them both! So if you are trying to make it from A to B you usually have about 5 different routes you can take and each one has a different time, cost, and number of transfers associated with it. Anyway back to my story, I didn’t know how all of this worked at first, having only an hour on the train to do some reading about Tokyo, and saw a line that went direct from Tokyo station to Ikebukuro and decided this presented the least chance of getting lost and so I ended up not getting my free transfer because, guess what! that line was not run by JR, who owns the Narita Express line.

Anyway,.. so I’m on this train for a while, lots of stops go by, I sort of zone out a bit… I come out of it and I pass like 2 or 3 stations that are not on my map… and I’m afraid that I missed my stop, which is strange because the line doesn’t look like it goes past Ikebukuro, although there is another line, very similar in color to the red line I am on, coming out of Ikebukuro. The train stops at another station that I don’t recognize on my map, or at least I can’t sound it out right, and I decide to get off and try to take the train back the other way. Right after I get off, I realized that I made a mistake and I see the station I am at on my map, so I try to jump back on the train but the doors are closing, and there is no way I will make it and my bags too, so not thinking, I put my leg out to stop the doors. The doors close on my leg, and there is another gate on the platform which also closed on my leg a little higher up. A few seconds go by, and the gates don’t open back up, and I’m starting to realize what a dumb, dumb thing I just did. My leg is stuck by the way, I can’t pull it out… After a few seconds of “Oh sh*t what did I just do,” the doors open back up and I jump inside with my bags and try to hide from the strange looks coming at me from just about everyone else in the car, thankfully it wasn’t the same car I just got out of… that would have just been too much.

Phew, made it to the station, both legs in-tact. I confidently get off the train armed with some good directions to my hostel, making use of landmarks like McDonald’s, a Taxi line, IOIO department store, Denny’s, a Post Office, and…. then you’re supposed to be standing in front of the hostel thinking how great and easy these directions were to follow. Unfortunately for me, I exited the train station on the wrong side; there were taxis but no McDonald’s.. I figured I was probably not in the right place and decided to go back through the station to the other side, which mind you, is no small task, these are big freaking train stations, this particular one had not one, but two, mega department stores, Seibu and Tobu, with five or six floors each. So in addition to the usual large volume of foot traffic with tons of people trying to get to some place in a hurry, there are also shoppers wandering around with giant bags full of clothes and whatever else these stores can fit on six floors; and I am trying to make it through this mess carrying my suitcase, a fully stuffed day pack, and a fully stuffed computer bag. It was worth it though because upon exiting the other side, I was standing in front of the McDonald’s, just like the directions said. I made it to the Denny’s before getting lost again and had to ask for directions by saying the name of the place I was looking for. Finally arrived at the hostel, checked in, room was a bit bigger than Hong Kong, but still smaller than just about everywhere else, still not bad, free internet always makes me happy, got a good recommendation for dinner, had some Japanese beer, and went to bed.

One thing I noticed walking around that first night, was an eerie quietness of the streets around where I was staying, which was just about 4 or 5 blocks from Ikebukuro station. Compared to how busy the two train stations I had been to so far had been, there was a distinct lack people and cars on the street. Just thought I would mention that.

It’s Saturday, my first full day in Japan, and it’s time to do some sight seeing. I check the location of some of the nearby Temples and other sights and planned out my day. I got to the Meiji Shrine and I couldn’t believe how crowded it was! I soon realized that, being the first weekend after New Years, this was probably to be expected. Everyone here was waiting their turn and trying to get through the crowd to the front of the shrine, where they would throw some coins, donating to the shrine and for good luck and karma for the coming year. I tossed a few dozen yen for the hell of it, after all I was starting to feel like I could use a little good luck. Got some lunch/breakfast here (was quite expensive for vendors cooking in tent buildings) and walked around a bit in the surrounding park before heading off to my next stop.

I was planning to go to a New Years party this Saturday night, at a club in another part of the city, only problem is there is a decent sized cover charge, and I am out of cash. Oh did I mention that almost no one will accept foreign credit cards? Supposedly its not so bad if you have a Japanese card, but .. why would I have one of those? Oh well no big deal right? Just go find an ATM. Did I mention that almost no ATMs will accept foreign credit or debit cards? Did I also mention that most ATMs close at night and on weekends? And the ones that do accept foreign cards still don’t accept Mastercard or American Express! Not even Citibank ATMs would accept any one of my four cards. At this point I’m starting to worry if I will have enough money to eat, so I had to pass on the new years party… I was not happy.

Alright, its the next day and I still am low on cash, not a big deal, I didn’t have anything lined up today that was going to need a lot of money and I saw a sign at the Denny’s saying they accepted American Express, so I hopped in for some breakfast and much needed fuel. Later I found out that the Post Office does banking too, and they are the only place which will take my Mastercard or American Express. OK, no problem, I know where the one is near by my hostel, I will go check it out later. It says I don’t have enough money in the account to make a withdrawal on my ATM card, which is true, but I have an overdraft protection set up.. I should still be able to get some money out, nope Denied. Oh well tomorrow is pay day and I should have some money to withdraw then.

Monday rolls around and I check my account, still no money, oh wait its Sunday in the U.S. I guess I need to wait another day. It gets to be night time and I realize that payday is in fact not on the 5th, but the 10th of the month. I can’t wait that long, I need to find another solution. I tried using my credit card to get money out again, denied again, at this point I have about 20-30 rejection slips from various ATMs over the past two or three days in my wallet, telling me my card is not accepted or my PIN is wrong. #%^$!@#! I need some f-ing money! This is just getting ridiculous, and I decided I need to call my bank, this is the sort of thing that I bought an international cell phone and SIM card for. Oops! I got the cheap phone which doesn’t support the 1900MHz frequency they use in Japan. Oh well I can use a pay phone then… Oops! Can’t dial international without a calling card. Oh well they sell those at a vending machine in the hostel lobby. Oops its 1000 yen and I only have 970 cash! And it wont take my credit card! LOL. I am seriously so sad at this point, I don’t know what to do, and to top if off, the ATM is going to close in about 15 minutes. Wait.. I have a computer, and an internet connection, I remember Kyle and Cassidy who I met in Madrid saying they used Skype to call friends and family back home, and I had created a Skype account a few weeks before I left; I just have to run upstairs and sign up for the phone service, hopefully they accept my credit card, and I can call the bank to ask them WTF my PIN is for my credit card so that I can get some money from an ATM.

I sign in to skype, and I have a message saying I have one free phone call! Awesome, only I just remembered, the sound doesn’t work on my computer, I try out the test call (also free) to confirm, yep, no sound. Ten minutes until the ATM closes, and this PC usually takes 3-4 hours to troubleshoot any issue. I am so screwed. Whatever there is only one thing to do and that is to get started trying to fix it. I google, I read, I fix! Five minutes, and I confirm audio is working on the test call! Call up the card number, and the voice recording answers telling me to press 1 for English, blah blah, I don’t have time for this!! 00000, “Hello, thank you for calling, what can I do for you!?” “Well, you see, I am in Japan, trying to use my credit card to get some cash, but I don’t know the PIN, and the ATM closes in about 4 minutes.” “OK, let me just confirm your identity, can I have your member number.. and you father’s name… and your mother’s maiden name… and” “Come on! Is this really necessary? I need to get this done, like, NOW!” “Alright, just one more, …” “OK, the reason it didn’t work is there was no PIN set up for this card, blah blah, What would you like your PIN to be, blah blah, OK here are the fees and the terms and the rate and I am required to read this to you blah blah blah blah blah….” “So its done and will work right now?” “Yes” “Thank you! Bye!” *click* Run to the elevator… run to the ATM, pray it’s still open, YES! And the card works!..

Kyoto

I had heard good things about Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan for over 1000 years, and didn’t want to spend all my time in Tokyo, so in the morning I took a ride on the Shinkansen to Kyoto. The train ride was so cool, I highly recommend it, it is ridiculous how fast that thing goes and how quickly everything seems to fly right by you. The trip takes a little over two hours and the train goes as fast as 300kph (186mph).

After getting settled at the Sandal Wood hostel, I headed out to the downtown area and wandered around looking for a place to eat. I went through this area called the Lantern Market that is sort of a traditional Japanese food market, and I guess this one has been in this same spot for hundreds of years. Not really a place for restaurants, although I was able to get a little snack from a shop that had a grill.

I basically spent the rest of the night looking for a place to eat. I walked around so much, and I just couldn’t find anything that looked like a good combination of good, price, and friendly to tourists. A few places that I tried, basically told me to go away, getting no service at the bar for maybe ten minutes and at another being told it was ‘full’ with no offer to wait for someone to leave. Finally I found a quiet and friendly looking place called “Kuishinbo,” where I was able to eat some real food. It was a really small place and I was the only one there and I got to talking to Kenzo, the owner, and his family for a bit. He had lived in the city his whole life and gave me some info on which were some of the best temples to visit and a really good photo he took of one of the temples in the fall. Also he gave me some complementary soup, rice, and pickled plum. So it was a mix of rude and over the top generosity, all-in-all not bad.

The next day I went to visit some of the sites in the area north of downtown, including Sento Imperial Palace and Kyoto Imperial Palace, before going west and walking around Kyoto University, which was neat but smaller than I expected. After that I went south to an area called Gion, and then back to downtown for food again. Walked around a bit, realized I needed to get some cash again… found a post office (!!), that was still open (!!), and got some more money (!!).

And as I was out looking for a place to stop and eat, I was walking past a girl handing out fliers for the restaurant she worked at, and she was about to hand one to me, when she assumed (correctly) that I couldn’t read Japanese and took it back. We both smiled and laughed a little bit, and as I was walking away she said “What? Aren’t you hungry?” I was, and she was the first person to speak any English to me almost all day, so I talked to her for a little bit and she ended up showing me a Sushi place, which was not her restaurant, where I got dinner.

The night before I kept seeing signs for this place called Bar Moonwalk advertising 100 yen drinks as opposed to everywhere else which had 400-500 yen beers, so I had looked it up before going out today, and marked about where it should be on my map. It was a little ways away from downtown and where I had dinner, and even farther from my hostel, but I didn’t have anything else to do so I decided to try to find it. I got on 203 bus, which shows the route passing right by the street, except the line stops half way through the route at a bus barn. So I walk the rest of the way, and I get to where it should be, but … its not here… I walked up and down the street a few more times before running out of time, since the last buses were running soon. I found a stop for the 205 bus route that would go right to my hostel. I wait for the bus. It comes. I get on it, going in the wrong direction… It takes me to Kyoto station where it stops for the night. And no more buses are running this line from the station tonight. “uh oh..” Then I spot a few people standing in line like they are waiting for a bus! I investigate. They are waiting for the 206 bus, which is just pulling up, and it looks like that is about the closest line I am going to get tonight, so I get on, and exit at the nearest stop to my hostel. It is still a 20 minute walk from the bus stop, in the freezing cold, but it could have been much worse so I’m not complaining, that much.

The next day, I went to see an Imperial garden, called Katsura Imperial Villa, which you have to apply ahead of time to get permission to get in. It is a little bit to the west of the city, but within a short walk of one of the train stations. It was very cool, probably the best Japanese garden I saw, with a couple of small buildings and a guided tour, and it was free.

After that I went back to the city and spent most of the afternoon walking around Nijo Castle. I finished seeing everything I wanted to, in time to meet up with Moe, the girl I met the night before, outside the castle at 3:00. She also had lived here her whole life but she hadn’t been to see hardly any of the sights! So we decided to try to check out a couple of nearby temples, and she was able to talk to people working there to get a little more info. Although I don’t think she was telling me everything because after what was at least a 30-45 second conversation, she says ‘Oh he says its closed,’ haha.

It was getting darker and both of us were getting a little hungry, so she took me to a place for some Japanese Pizza, where they grill the food on your table. It was really good, but when I went to go use the restroom, I had to come back to ask her ‘which is symbol for the men’s room..’ Also I guess they do service a little differently, because we had a buzzer on the table that you press to call the waiter, which I think is a great idea, no hassling when you don’t need anything, and no waiting forever if you do.

We ended the night by going to a Karaoke place, as a friend from work said I needed to try while in Japan. It was a lot of fun…, but I ended up missing the last bus again! (203 line this time). But I was able to take the 13 to Kyoto Station, where I could take the 205, that I missed the night before, back to my place. Only I get there and find out that instead of being a few minutes early before the last bus left, I was actually an hour late. And the 206 was done for the night as well! So my only hope of not walking several miles in the cold was a train. I checked the train schedule, it looked like there was one more train going tonight, and it was leaving in a few minutes! Got my ticket, and made it on the train just in time, and I ended up with only about a 10 minute walk back..

Now it’s my last full day, and I decided to do some walking tours and see the temples on the east side of the city. Tons of walking, probably walked 4-5 miles of temples and other sights and it took all day. Started at Ginkakuji temple and got to see lots of very cool traditional buildings and their classic architecture. After a nice stretch along a canal called the “Philosopher’s Path,” I found the temple and the spot where Kenzo took the photo he gave me! I tried to take the same shot, but I didn’t have the picture on me so I couldn’t find the exact spot he took his from. Its alright, I could tell his photo was a lot better than mine anyway. Something else I had never seen before was something called a sand sculpture, which I didn’t even realize was sand until reading a sign saying not to touch it, because it looked so crisp, more like concrete. At another temple, I got a picture of a giant Buddha from the entrance gate and avoided having to pay the 350 yen they wanted to get a little closer, I had to hurry anyway, it was getting late and the famous Kiyomizu-dera was at the end of my walk and I wanted to get there before it closed. I had to walk through a pretty touristy market area to get to it, but it was worth it. Definitely a unique and beautiful place.

That was about it for my adventures in Japan, other than the great people who run the hostel I was staying at, they gave me lots of free snacks, got to do my laundry for free, unfortunately I burnt a pair of socks trying to dry them on the heater, but I got a very cool souvenir which more than made up for it; Jumi, one of the two staff at the hostel, is very good at writing, and painted me some characters on a piece of paper, which says “Kyoto,” “Journey,” and my name in Japanese “Sukoto.”

Japan

see the entire set

Taipei

see the entire set

Hong Kong

see the entire set

It was already late afternoon by the time I got settled in, so I researched a little about stuff to do at night, and the Shilin Night Market sounded like a good option, it was supposed to be the biggest one in Taipei and it was also the closest to me. So I headed over, and it seemed a bit small, only one main street that didn’t go very far and one side street. I was a little disappointed compared to what I had seen in Thailand and Hong Kong. It would turn out that I wasn’t exactly in the right place, and what I thought was the main street was only a relatively small street on the edge compared to the main market area. But I didn’t find that out until a few nights later..

I decided to head downtown since it was still early in the night, and it was so easy with my aptly named ‘EasyPass’ for the metro, a contactless card that I could just leave in my wallet and press against the scanner. I spent the rest of the night walking around some of the downtown area looking for a good place to stop and maybe meet some locals. I didn’t find anything but disappointment. Apparently there are good places to go, I just couldn’t find any. Oh well, time for sleep, its New Year’s Eve tomorrow.

The next day I decided to do a little sight seeing in the city and walk around a bit more in the daylight hours. But it was raining again, harder this time, so after ten countries and 47 days I finally decided I was sick of getting wet, and bought a $6 umbrella from a 7-11. After I got my rain gear, I went to see two Buddhist temples that were right next to each other, Confucius and Bohan. They were both very colorful, and bright; it made them seem less old, but no less cool. As I was waiting to cross the street a couple of kids, who must have just gotten out of the elementary school next to the temples, looked up at me and said “America!” “Heh, yep, thats me,” and waved back to them. It was pretty rare that I had someone on the street talk to me randomly, but I guess those kids see even less white tourists than I did.

Nearby was a buffet style restaurant where I had lunch, and it was actually quite good. I wasn’t sure of the price but I saw a lot of locals there so I figured it was probably a safe choice, and I only had to watch a few people before getting the hang of how it worked.

Afterward, I walked around the city a bit more, saw one of the old city wall gates, had a coffee break at an internet cafe, and wandered around a big shopping district with lots of department stores selling lots of clothes and other stuff that I had no room in my bags for. But that was OK, I had no money to buy anything with either.

I had tried to contact one of Paul’s friends who lives in Taipei to get a little local advice and maybe go to the fireworks show with but I hadn’t heard back from her and it was getting dark. So it was time to go off to see the fireworks show, and the subway was so crowded, hah. I should have expected it, but it was so bad they made an announcement at the stop before the main station where the show was and everyone got off the train, I assume they had to close the next station and this train was going to skip that stop.

There was a decent concert, party, thing before the fireworks, but I’m sure as you can imagine, space was quite limited, I felt a bit like a sardine. The countdown (in Chinese of course), cool fireworks, everyone having a good time, you know how this goes. Trying to get back to the hotel was pretty crazy, it was so crowded and after what happened on the way here I could only assume the worst for the subway. I went to the nearest stop and there was a line about two blocks long extending out of each of the exits, all of them not moving. So I decided to walk down a stop or two in the opposite direction that I wanted to go to catch the line going towards the station. Even that stop had guards outside the metro entrance regulating people trying to get in, and it took a little while to get on the train, but it would have taken for-ev-er if I had stayed at that first station because the train was already so packed from people like me getting on at the previous station, that less than five or so people were able to cram themselves into each car at the main stop.

When I finally woke up on New Years, I decided that I wanted to get out of the city a little bit, and I’d read that hiking the nearby mountains is a popular thing to do, so I went for a hike. It was pretty nice, and I made it to the peak, but there was a cloud hanging over it, and it was very cold and windy so I only stayed long enough to have someone take my picture next to the sign.

After I got back from the hike, I started to realize that I probably wasn’t in the right place when I had gone to that market the other night, so I decided to give it another go. This time I found the right place, but it was craazzzyyy crowded, not totally unlike the last night’s subway shuffle. I could hardly move, surrounded by lots and lots of people with black hair all at least six inches shorter than me. I was getting lots of strange looks and I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, especially considering how almost every shop was selling either shoes, clothes, jewelery, watches or fake DVDs. But I did manage to find a small electronics store, where I was still able to find a couple of useful things at decent prices, including some earbud cover replacements since my current ones were falling apart. Also got a tiny USB bluetooth adapter for a few bucks. But I couldn’t find a shot glass the entire time I was in Taipei so I had to get a porcelain tea cup at the airport instead.

And speaking of the airport, the visit wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of airport stress, so here is another story of ‘barely making it on time’ followed by 50/50 chances of guessing wrong and missing my flight. I was doing OK on time, but I needed to catch the bus which only runs once every 30 minutes in order to stay that way. The only problem is I don’t have enough cash to pay for the bus ticket. So as I am checking out of the hotel I asked the staff if they can charge me for something from the minibar that I didn’t take and just give me the cash instead, since I was only a small amount short. “No, if you want to get cash there is a 20% fee.” I only need about $3, and I want to save the time of trying to find an ATM and having to take out way more cash than I need, so I just pay the extra 60 cents. As I am walking to the bus stop I can see the bus coming towards me, it has already left the stop, and I’m thinking, “Uh oh…” Amazingly the driver takes a left turn and pulls up to the corner where I am walking and stops to open the doors, so I jump inside, “Ahh thank you very much!” .. And remember that bit about the signs for which airlines are in which terminals not being listed in English? Yep, thats right, I don’t know what terminal stop I need to get off at, but wait, someone who speaks English guesses that I’m not sure which terminal I need and asks me “Do you know which terminal you need?,” “Nope,” “Which airline?,” “United,” “Terminal 1,” “Great, thank you.” The only problem is that the sign on the bus which this person checked says “UA” is terminal 2. I didn’t see another two letter code that looked like it could possibly be United, and I couldn’t think of another airline that could be “UA” other than United, so I decided to ignore that person and wait for the terminal 2 stop, and I am so very glad I did.

Go to the Flickr stream or the Photos page to see the complete list of photos.

Also since I haven’t been updating the Videos link, my youtube page is probably the best place to see the few videos I have been able to upload.

UPDATE

More videos uploaded, including dolphins, turtle, and a ride on the Shinkansen.

One thing that was great was the internet was crazy fast, I think I was able to upload 1000 or so of the pictures that I hadn’t had a chance to upload. To give an idea, I am somewhere around picture 5600 on my camera and for a long time I only had uploaded images through 1000.

Hong Kong also had the smallest room I’ve had, it was like a prison cell, only about 18 inches between the bed and the wall on one side, and 4 feet off the end of the bed before the shower/toilet/sink combo room which was about 3×6 feet. The cell was surprisingly nice though, it had a rain shower, wall mounted flat screen TV, super hot water, AC, a comfy bed and a really nice down comforter. But I think if I had to live in a room like that for a longer time though I might go crazy, or I would never spend any time there other than to sleep and shower.

Other things of note: the fog ruined my view! Very clean, modern city; the metro was probably the best I’ve seen, the map would light up indicating where you are and other lines would blink when the train was at a transfer station; lots and lots and lots of people.

Bangkok

It is a very different city than any other that I have been to before. From canal boats to sky-train, dirty streets to spotless temple floors, shrines bordered by skyscrapers, street vendors to mega malls, there is a lot of variety. There is less sightseeing than places in Europe, but I found there is more to do and just walking the streets is much more interesting. For example, just when I thought I was getting the hang of this Street Vendor, Street Vendor, Taxi, Tuk Tuk, Street Vendor, Hooker, Street Vendor thing, I see a guy walking down the street with a real elephant. I mean, .. really? An elephant? And in another place that I happened to walk by several times, I thought I was lost at first because I thought it was a food court, but it has turned into a market in the day time, and that same night it turned back into a food court.

Speaking of food, Thailand had some of the better food I’ve had on my trip, and certainly the cheapest. I could eat really good seafood like scallops, shrimp, crab or squid plus a drink for less than $5. Regular Pad Thai on the street is closer to $1.50. Also I could afford to buy ice cream snacks in every store which was a great way to cool off, or the alternative bottled water from 7-11 for about 20 cents.

To summarize my time in Bangkok: shrines, temples, street markets, covered markets, crazy close crammed markets in China Town, super malls, counterfeit goods of all kinds, bargaining with shop owners, buying more stuff than I have room to carry, drinking, clubs, go go bars, drinking (hey its cheap), the Skytrain, canal boats, river boats, getting lost (again) trying to find a pier for the river boat, the Grand Palace, the Reclining Buddha, the Emerald Buddha, Wat Pao, Wat Arun, the Golden Temple, uneven surfaces, my first flesh wound – a cut toe while wearing flip flops, every where I go getting asked where am I going and if I need a taxi, a tuk tuk or a tailor, being lied to by scammers, phonies and frauds, seeing signs which say “beware of wily strangers” not 10 feet away from said wily stranger, Ong Bok 2, several open air concerts and performances, one night at the Conrad Hotel, which was ridiculously nice, and ringside Muay Thai boxing! Phew… a very busy few days, so you can understand why I’m not going to go into all that much detail here.

Phuket

So it’s time to leave Bangkok for the beaches of Phuket and Phi Phi and I need to get to the airport to catch my flight. But first, I needed to go pick up my bag that I left in a locker at the hostel that I had been staying at. My taxi driver doesn’t speak English but it’s OK, he has a cell phone and calls a dispatcher who is fluent in English. I explain that I need to go to Sukhumvet Soi 1, to get something and then to the domestic airport. She says OK and explains to the driver. He says OK and looks like he understands and so we go to Soi 1. I come back outside and he is there waiting still, so far so good, we get on the freeway, and after a few minutes things start to look a lot like when I came into town and I start to think he is taking me to the wrong airport. I ask him to call the dispatcher again, and explain to her that I think the driver is taking me to the wrong airport, and sure enough, after some loud and stressed conversation in Thai between driver and dispatcher, we get off the freeway and are headed to the correct airport. Lucky I left early and still made my flight on time.

The Flight

I had booked the return flight to Bangkok before I started my trip, but for some reason I never made a reservation to get to Phuket, so I ended up getting the ticket only a few days earlier when I realized I still didn’t have a ticket to get down there. I had never flown business class and the ticket was only about $20 more, so I went for it, and I’d say it was worth it. If I ever have the choice like that again I would say it is well worth the few extra bucks, especially when departing from major airports which have lounges (unlimited free internet, food and drinks).

Patong Beach

The first thing to greet you in Patong Beach is not the girls asking if you want a massage, and not people asking you every ten feet if you need a taxi or a tuk tuk or a tailor, but the strong smell of sewage. There are areas in Bangkok like that as well but it wasn’t as strong or as widespread. I remember the first group of people getting off the shuttle from the airport at a resort called the ‘Sea View Hotel’ and I was thinking, “They should rename that place to the ‘Sh*t Smelling Hotel’” although that doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well. I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge because my hostel was about 20 meters up the road and the smell was worse, and I’m sure the accommodations were much worse. One thing I did notice that was nice though was that there are a lot less smokers than in Europe and the car and bike exhaust is more like California, much more breathable.

Compared to Bangkok though, Patong is much more touristy, the harassment is worse, and it was very crowded. The constant harassment got so bad the only way I could deal with it was to start replying to people in the same way: they say “Sir where you going?” and I reply “You need a suit? I know a tailor!” Or what was even more fun was asking the girls if they wanted a massage before they could ask you, which usually resulted in a good laugh for all. It was still a lot of fun, and a good place to have a few drinks, but I wanted a change of pace from that sort of thing which is what I had been doing every night in Bangkok, and the poor shape of the place I had made sleeping arrangements with sealed the deal. This place was so bad, worst place I stayed in the whole trip, even though it was rated at 95% on the website. Some of the bad things included needing to turn on a water pump to use the water, bumping my head on the low ceilings, bad plumbing, there was hot water at least, but no air-conditioning, dirty floors, lots of steep, short stairs to 5th floor, and since it was so hot with no AC I slept with no covers and they left the windows open, so I woke up with about 10-15 mosquito bites on my feet! The rest of the time in Phuket I stayed in the nearby town that is mostly for the locals, Phuket Town.

Phuket Town

The first thing I noticed was there was no smell! Maybe it was all just backpackers who needed a shower?… But being that the town is mostly for locals, no one outside my hotel spoke English. So I had fun having lunch at a Hong Kong style seafood place, having someone do my laundry for 1.25 USD (versus 9 euros to do it myself), and getting a haircut all without speaking the same language. Wandered across some live countdown event outdoor concert sponsored in part by Heineken, I couldn’t understand any of what they were singing but I have to say I really like the way the Thai language sounds, and the beer was cheap.

Phi Phi

The next day I was supposed to go with a tour group to do a little island hopping and snorkeling, and they told me to be downstairs waiting for the shuttle to pick me up at 8:15. I get there at 8:10, and the doorman tells me the shuttle just left three minutes ago, and they called my room four times, only I was having breakfast upstairs… Ahh! So I jump in a taxi to get to the pier hopefully to find my tour group and still do something useful with my day since I didn’t have any other plans. I couldn’t find the group I was originally supposed to go with but there was another agency there that basically did the same tour and let me go with them for the same price. It worked out because I had a lot of fun and met a nice group of Australians, Lin, Jeff and Coco. The speed boat was really bumpy, and fun, saw the beach where the movie The Beach was filmed, I lost my snorkel! I decided to put my fins and mask on once in the water, and so I got my fins on and then realized I didn’t have a snorkel. But I swam back a few feet and saw something on the bottom that didn’t look quite like a rock, so I dove down to check it out, and recovered my snorkel on first dive! Phew… Also got to do a little speed boat wind-standing, the guide said he should start charging extra for that. And saw a sea snake while snorkeling at another island later that day.

Finished off the day with a Thai massage, running to the store to get my laundry before it closed (I had to leave in the early morning the next day, and I would have been out a critical amount of my traveling wardrobe…), paying too much for a taxi to take me to Patong to meet up with my Aussie friends, since I had no time, again, dinner, drinks, a ping-pong show, and some Banana Disco. Definitely one of the best days of my trip.

The Flight Back

One thing that I don’t want to forget because it is just funny as hell is the random people on scooters asking if I need a taxi while I have a full daypack, a computer bag and my carry-on bag with me. Do they expect me to leave my bag? Or are they just that crazy that they will try to take it with them somehow and not drop it? But, I have enough to worry about today, I need to get a taxi to the airport so that I don’t miss my flight since I woke up late, and then I have only an hour and a thirty minutes once I get to bangkok to get my bags and check in again for my Emirates flight to Hong Kong. And since I didn’t arrange for a shuttle from my hotel, they said ‘no taxi,’ so I’m outside trying to get one off the street when they call me back and let me get in a shuttle with another group who happened to be going to the airport just then too. Phew. So I get to the airport and I’ve got about an hour and a half before my flight leaves, I check the departures board, .. the flight is DELAYED! I am so screwed. I get through the check-in line, and they ask me if I am going anywhere once I get to Bangkok, “well actually, I was going to go to Hong Kong but I’m not sure if I will make the flight now.” I find out that Bangkok Air just started a new program on December 1st this year where they will transfer your check-in bags to other airlines at the Bangkok airport if you have another flight out. And you can go through immigration at this airport! I’m saved! Otherwise I would only have had from 12:05 to 13:05 from the flight landing to the gate closing for my next flight to taxi, deplane, get my bags, check in for the next flight, clear immigration, go through security again, get to the gate, and board.

The Flight Out

I should make a whole post about this because it was awesome but, Emirates overbooked business class and I got a first class upgrade! After a few minutes and free food and drinks in the lounge, I am on the plane and decide, “what the hell, I’ll have the champagne,” the flight attendant says “it’s Dom Perignon, a very nice champagne, enjoy it.” Duck, scallops and smoked salmon for the meal among other things, red wine, lots of cheese “I’ll have a small slice of each,” desert, a massaging chair, and the snobby old British woman, Liz, sitting next to me actually talked to me. She liked my computer and decided she would buy one too.

Here is a picture of what the big fireworks show last night at Taipei City Hall Square looked like:

Keep reading for posts from Israel, Dubai and Maldives.