I have just returned to Bangkok again for a brief stint because tomorrow I will find myself in Cambodia. I traveled to an island named Koh (island) Phangan. Truly a land of paradise with untamed forests and beautiful blue water and huge boulders that have tumbled into the sea. Other than its beauty and constant parties (it is the location of the renowned full moon parties) it seems quite boring.
A couple things on Bangkok and train travel before I get to my awesome adventures in Koh Phangan. I will continuously try to stick to street food as the few encounters I have had in restaurants were sub par, kinda of shitty really. Also salty drinks are the strangest creation to my taste buds. I had one at the noodle house restaurant I just spoke of and salty and sweet and cold and strangely pulpy... not my thing. Street vendors are the bomb. I ate at one the other day for the second time. Apparently, per this chap who lived in the Philippines, it has been around for the last 50 years, they must be doing something right.
I have stopped trusting the ladies who collect on the bus because usually I am rather far from my destination when they say that I am not. Oh well, its all about the adventure... I have noticed that all the buses have wooden floor boards, not that it is frightening, just interesting to note the level of standards. All public transportation looks extremely well used. Which leads me back to the train station. In Bangkok when walking along the platform to catch the night train it is like being transformed back in time. Choked in diesel fumes that are actually blurring your vision you see a scene that I would expect in imperial Britain at the turn of the century, not that the trains are that old, well some of the cars might be. But it is totally mesmerizing until you start tearing up from the fumes. Maybe I'm reading a little too much into it, but its cool.
So to the island. Diving is awesome, if one can see. I obtained my open water certificate, and now I really like to dive. It is just completely a different world. There is sooo much cool stuff to see under the surface. What can I say. It was terrifying during my first open water because we had been practicing in a pool and when we hit the ocean there was less then two feet of visibility. We weren't going very far either, maybe 4 meters. I was not enjoying myself, but it just took a while to become calm and comfortable and from there it was great. It was kinda good to do my first dive in shit visibility because now I will appreciate much more whenever I can see. It was also very authentic Thai diving because each time we went off of a longtail boat. A wooden boat with benches for seats and a long and pointy nose. Then it has an exposed motor, usually taken from a car with a really long pole at the end of which is the prop. It looks simple but it seems to be quite and art to maneuver. It is also an art just walking around the boat because it is hardly balanced.
At one point underwater I was working on the skill of removing my mask and replacing it and clearing the water in by breathing out my nose. Well I had a scrape on my knee from the river rafting we did in Chiang Mai and this fish started to nibble on it and nearly spooked me. But I prevailed. Take that tiny fish! Saw some really cool stuff under water. Extremely brightly colored fish, awesome looking reefs and coral, and even a moray eel and sea snake. Sweet and truly amazing.
So just getting ready to make it to Cambodia. However, one thing I did discover for this last train ride is that barbiturates are a great help.
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