A shark under the Sugar Wreck, Perhentian Island

So, I have to set myself to get some writing done now. Since Bangkok I have had a rather pleasant time, mostly diving and doing my advanced open water certification. To sum up, I left  Bangkok on the 14th and reached Koh Tao on the following day. I had bargained my course so I got the transportation included, as well as the accommodation actually. But as a result I saw myself being put on a big tourist VIP bus, packed with… tourists, all of them complaining on how horrible the trip was, too cold, too hot, bad seats, etc… So that was an experience in itself. I am not used to that.

And then I reached the fabled Koh Tao, biggest diving training center in South East Asia. On the book (Rough Guide South East Asia) it said it was a relatively quiet island, with great diving; yet I really felt like being on a production line when diving. I had prepared myself to that, and still this was much worse than I thought it could actually be.

However, I still enjoyed diving even though once again every dive site was crowded with divers, because diving is just too fantastic. I had forgotten how the underwater world is… Today I saw a big jelly fish swimming around, with in it a multitude of mini fish playing in this natural playground. Very nice!

Apart from diving I also wanted to write a bit more about Thailand, which is a very intriguing country. First of all I am amazed by how nice  and smily can the people be! As a French chick rightuously put it: “I just feel good in Thailand!” And indeed, the people are so friendly that one just feels good, even in the touristy areas. Taking the overnight train from Chumphon to Sungai Kolok was a great experience, as firstly the beds were confortable, and second it always makes me feel good to see smiles on faces!  I would even dare say Thai people are an unlimeted source of happiness! I wish I had time to explore this country.

I also went through the supposed-to-be-problematic/dangerous Southern area of Thailand (where muslim Thais have fough against the government for ages), and there also I only saw happy Thais, bhuddist and muslim.

And then I crossed the border to Malaysia, where I once again was greeted by happy people. Our taxi driver was very friendly (and not only because of the money I gave him), and in every shop I’ve been until now people were smiling to me. And now I’m on the Perhentian Islands, or Pulau Perhentian, which is a small paradise. There ARE cheap place to stay, unlike what I had heard on my way there. And tourism is still quiet, compared to Koh Tao. Diving is great, as usual. I went on a wreck this morning, called the Sugar Wreck. Very fun.

Gods Party

Bangkok Bangkok. Ok in my previous post I might have sounded slightly skeptical about this place, but there’s actually more to it than just drink tourists everywhere. There are also Buddhist God’s parties in the King’s Grand Palace!!! Wonderful.

This morning I felt just a little bad about not having gone beyond the Rambuttri Street, a little street packed with Guest Houses, 24h bars, food stalls and tourist T-shirts. So with my new Danish friend – Jacob – we went to the King’s Grand Palace. After having paid the 10$ admission fee we finally made it inside this holy place and crawled our way through the crowds of tourists. I had forgotten how much I can’t stand such crowds.

Anyhow, we followed the 10h30 free English speaking tour guide so we heard some interesting stories, which I will not relate here because it is not appropriate; and also because I didn’t really listen.

And there is more! The crowded streets, busy almost 24h even where there’s no tourists, the food smells (humm padthai), the suffocating heat, your head exploding from the spicy food at every meal time, the Thai language (sounds really crazy), the Buddha all around the city… Bangkok is just Bangkok.

Bangkok's clouded sky.

Bangkok. At first I had not planned at all to come here. Then I arrived in Central Asia, realised that I would not be able to go back to China, and thus I would have to fly to Bangkok from Almaty or Tashkent (Uzbekistan) in order to catch another flight for Hong Kong. And then I finally got overflown by the visa hardship of Central Asia and was forced to prematurely leave this area. And once again Bangkok was the only other place to go, so now here am I, in Bangkok, the city of Angels.

My first contact with the spirit of Thailand was the couple travelling next to me on the plane from Abu Dabi. He was old, full of tatoo, drunkard, British; she was young, pretty, petite, Thai. Nice!!! Very nice indeed. And then the streets crowded of tourists drinking bug cocktails in 24h bars, ending up sleeping on the sidewalk for some of them.

The worst was to see a 9 years old girl selling flowers at 3 a.m in front of a bar, completely high on exctasy. She was walking like a robot as her locomotion system was corrupt by the drug. And no one else took notice. I was shocked, especially since the day before I had watched Slumdog Millionaire… And the drunk tourists continuing their drinking as fervently as ever.

Another young guy who was selling lighters in order to make enough money to go back to school the year after told me: “welcome to Bangkok!”