November 1, 2008 – 11:30 AM – Somewhere between SFO and SEA.

Prescript Note: This is the complete online journal from Kevin and Matt's 2008 Thailand trip. What you are about to participate in is the uncensored craziness and our thoughts and opinions on events as they occurred. This is some inside stuff that not just anyone gets to see, you are special... so enjoy it... learn from it... and live it.
After taking off from a gray and rainy SFO we have reached our cruising altitude of 36,000 feet.

Kevin and I arrived at the airport early this morning at about 8:00 AM. Right now we are on a plane headed for Seattle and then Tokyo, Japan. In about 21 hours we should touch down in Bangkok, Thailand.

We have climbed out of the rain, but dark clouds still obscure the ground below us. All I can see is hazy white so I cannot tell where we are or what lies ahead. I am trying to picture myself in 21 hours, beaten from being squished into and airplane seat for hours and hours, wearing the same clothes and landing in a huge city exactly half way around the world. I have no idea what to expect. That’s a good thing. In 21 hours I’ll let you know how it turns out.

November 2?, 2008 – 4:00 AM PST – Somewhere between NRT and BKK.

Sixteen or so hours later and we are still flying. It is 4:00 AM our time and I just woke up from an hour nap but I am obviously still tired.

We survived a 14 hour flight (double check that) from Seattle to Tokyo, sat in a little bar at the airport for 2 hours drinking Sopporo and sake that tasted like blue and right now we are a few hours into a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok.

This trip is definitely feeling more intense than it was when we were flying out of SFO. We are in the middle row of a 747 packed in like barn animals on the arc on our last connecting flight which will land in Bangkok. Flying into Tokyo from Seattle was very pleasant. We had two seats next to the window with a view of Tokyo and Mt. Fuji as the plane was landing at sunset. Now there are many more people on this Bangkok flight that don’t speak English and someone behind me sounds like they have a cold. Kind of sketchy and don't want to get sick.

Anyways, I am a lot of tired and am guessing about six hours out of Bangkok on this crowded plane. We’ll keep you posted.

November 2?, 2008 - 2:45AM Thailand time – Outside second “bar” cabby took us to.

I am writing this outside of the second bar that our cab driver from the airport took us to.

Kevin and I got off of the plane at about 11:00 PM Thai time. I think it is about 8:00 AM American time and we have not had a lot of sleep so hopefully we are making good decisions right now.

We got through customs smoothly and by a miracle all of our bags arrived here with us. Trying not to get ripped off was our main goal leaving the airport but as we drove deeper and deeper into Bangkok by cab and saw the hotel that the cabbie was taking us to we realized that this was not exactly where we wanted to go. The hotel was kind of in the middle of nowhere and the price for the cab ride there was kind of steep. We didn’t know what is going on so we just go went the flow, didn’t want to be rude but we also kind of like to keep our money.

Anyways… Bangkok air is a pretty shocking thing when you first breath it. First of all it is hot and humid but it also has a weird metallic scent and feels like you are breathing through a handful of quarters underwater. Very smoggy.

After our expensive cabby got us a hotel in bum fuck and then took us immediately to a brothel (not our choosing) I realized that this trip is going to be kind of crazy. (Kevin has just come out of the club that we ended up at with some girl so I have to make this quick. Don't think she's a lady of the night, can't be sure though.) After requesting that the cabby take us to a plain, normal, no prostitutes bar after the first one we ended up at a club where every girl in the place was once again very into us.

I couldn't believe this so I asked someone why we were such a hot commodity and they told me that about 80 percent of the girls in the club were hookers. That is why I felt like Brad Pitt.


So, it’s 3:00 AM, it’s 80 degrees out and I need to go to sleep. Don’t worry, I am alone. Tomorrow is just the beginning.

Post script: This club had the best bathroom experience ever. Not used to someone touching my back while I am peeing but it happened. As I am taking a wizz the bathroom attendant dude started giving me a quick shoulder massage. A little shocking at first but very relaxing after you get used to it. Helps get everything out.


The pic above is Kevin in bed with his little buddy, Roach Guy.

November 2, 2008 – 8:30 AM

Today is our first day waking up in Thailand. We did get our party on last night.

Woke up at 8:00 AM today. Not enough sleep, four and a half hours maybe, but I am pretty amped and the adrenaline of being here is definitely flowing so I feel good.

Here are my first impressions of Bangkok… it kind of reminds me of TJ. There is a lot of garbage around, things are pretty grungy, tons of traffic, crazy drivers and vehicles spewing black exhaust. As we walked around we saw hundreds of ratty looking stray dogs and a few dirty cats. Some of the animals look to be in good health but there are also some that look very mangy and are not doing too good. The air is really hot and metallic smelling, maybe from unleaded gasoline or something.

Last night was a crazy night. We are only spending today in the crazyness of Bangkok and then heading up to Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand by night train where it is supposed to be more relaxed. Need to find a place to exchange some money first.

P.S. The hotel we stayed in last night was in a working class Thai residential area, probably the cabbies uncles hotel. Not a bad thing per se. Figured this out later after we hung out a Khao San Road for a little bit where there are loads more of other travelers.

November 3, 2008 – 4:35 PM authentic gold Rolex time – (the same day as last journal entry I think.)

Right now Kevin and I are sitting on Khao San Road drinking Tiger beers. It just finished drizzling a little bit and we are enjoying the 80 degree weather and cold beers. Supposedly November is the coolest month of the year in Thailand.

Here is what we did today: Walked around the area of our earlier Thai residential neighborhood hotel in search of a bank to exchange money. K Excellence is the name of the bank that we found. To the KTM. Like I said, the area that our cabby took us to last nigtht was a Thai residential area and it was somewhat weird but interesting being the only whities for miles. All good.

After we walked around for a while and exchanged our money we took a cab downtown to get a train ticket at the T.A.T (Tourism Authority of Thailand). Place was pretty sweet. They gave us bottled water and held our bags so we could explore Bangkok comfortably. The lady that was booking our train laughed when we said that we wanted a train for that evening, I guess you have to book a day in advance or something but we got lucky and got second class sleepers.

With our tickets to Chiang Mai secured we set our priorities and did the second most important thing we needed to do, get some prescription drugs, which are over the counter here. All in good fun. This is how you get them: walk into the pharmacy and tell the limited English speaking “pharmacist” what is wrong with you, i.e.,

“Ow, my back hurts.”
“Okay, here are some ibuprofen.”
“Noo... it hurts really bad, owwww”
“Okay, here are some muscle relaxants.”
“Score!”

So Kevin got some muscle relaxers for himself and I got some anti-diarrhea tablets. Party time!

After our pharmacy visit we walked around downtown BKK and just tripped out on how different things are here than in the US. Traffic is on the wrong side of the road, tuk tuk drivers constantly assault and harass you to take a ride in their tuk tuk, there are tons of people everywhere trying to sell you something, things like that.

The temperature slowly rose throughout the day by about ten degrees an hour until it hit a very steamy and humid 85 degrees or so by 3:00 PM. We sweated our asses off but it was not altogether unpleasant because after a point you just give up on the idea of keeping your shirt dry and go with the flow. You do get used to it but it definitely adds to the permanent dirty feeling that your body has here.

Anyways, we ended up taking a tuk tuk to Khao San Road where we are at again today, eating some Pad Thai, looking at all the goods for sale, buying some sandals and an authentic Rolex watch (gold) for 600 Baht which is something like 18 US dollars. It’s real.
Now we're chilling until we have to head back to the train station to get on our overnight train to Chiang Mai where we will stay for four days. Peace.

P.S. I found out that 200 Baht is not a good price for sandals. I would later see much higher quality ones for half that price at the mall. The homey that I bought them from acted like it would be insane for him to go below 200 baht (you bargain for everything here).

Here are some things that I am adding as I transcribe my handwritten journal back in the US and remember things:

You don’t actually have to be a licensed pharmacist to give people drugs in Thailand. I would later be given prescription strength ear drops by an eleven year old girl to help with an ear infection. I told here my ear was plugged and she gave me drugs. Am I stupid for just taking any medication that is handed to me or just a trusting person? I don't know but they worked. She must have just been a really young doctor.

Later in this journal I wrote in the margins, “Remember Stewart.” Stewart was an Australian dude that we met on Khao San Road as we were trying to bargain for a tuk tuk to the train station. He had been in Thailand for a while and taught us the true price of things and how you should always make sure that there are no stops in between your destinations. So... Stewart was showing us how to bargain for a tuk tuk, around 70 Baht is a good price, but the problem with taking the time to haggle here was that we were in a hurry to catch our train and he was walking away from Tuk Tuk drivers when they wouldn’t give him a good price. We needed to make it back to the T.A.T. office to pick up our bags before the place closed and hop on the train. It would suck if we went to Chiang Mai without our bags. Anyways, Stewart eventually got us a good price and we chatted with him on the ride, got some advice and learned the ins and outs of being a tourist in Thailand. He was and is like a brother to us.

Another prescription drug note, remember that the prescription “party pills” are bullshit. You will not experience any effect at all from these things other than maybe some permanent life shorting damage to your liver.

November 4, 2008 – 5:55 PM – Hot Chilis Restaurant, Chiang Mai.

I am crazy tired again but I am trying hard to keep this journal thing alive.

Right now I am sitting at an outside restaurant in Chiang Mai enjoying a Singha beer. Kevin and I have realized that everything here is very cheap. 850 Baht for a super nice room at the Mini Cost Hotel, that’s about 24 US bucks a night and about 500 Baht between two people for dinner and four Large 24 ounce beers.


So… to reiterate the day… we woke up at 6:30 AM on the train not feeling too hot because of the several large beers we decided to pack for the train ride. I was talking to some girls from Frankfurt, Germany and also some from Belgium last night and then they ignored me the next day (today). I hate that. Maybe I said some dumb things or maybe they just realized I am not as cool when they are not drinking.


Well, we are in Chaing Mai now, got a hotel as I said called the Mini Cost, showered off all the pollution from Bangkok and then went and got an epic hour long foot and back massage at a place down the alley from our hotel. As I write this now there many are tiny ants crawling all over the table where we will be eating dinner.

Anyways, I am waiting right now for Kevin to finish getting a beard trim at a barber in the restaurant plaza area and then we are going to check out the night market. Don’t know what exactly a night market is but it's in the guidebook and we'll find out soon. Also, we are planning on playing some ping pong later.

P.S. Found out that the night market is really called Night Bazaar.

November 5, 2008 – 10:40 PM – The Zest Bar, Chiang Mai.

I am by myself at an outdoor bar called The Zest. Kevin was too tired to come out so he is asleep by himself at the Mini Cost.

Here is a rundown of the today’s events. We woke up at about 8:00 AM, walked around and looked for a place to eat and then just ended up eating at a pretty mediocre westernized style place across from the hotel. Kevin got some microwaved salmon and I got some chicken soup stuff.

During lunch we decided to get mopeds to drive around the city and to a wat on top of one of the mountains called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep but then decided that the traffic was too out of control in Chiang Mai so we rented a car instead. We got the car for safety reasons even though it wasn’t really that much safer, we just had a hard metal shell around our bodies instead of flying around on mopeds with no protection. Anyways, we walked out to a tuk tuk we saw parked on the street and asked the driver to take us to a car rental place. Homey took us to his friends business, Scorpion Car Rental. Our car was pretty bad ass, it was some type of tiny Toyota, the type that very big butch women drive.

I was a little too woozy from last night to drive the car so Kevin piloted. It was very, very sketchy to be driving on the wrong side of the road with 1,000’s of mopeds bobbing and weaving all around us. Kevin was pretty freaked out and so was I because it took the full concentration of both of us to make sure that we didn’t crash the car or squash a moped driver.

We eventually made it up to the top of the mountain and our intended destination where the wat was. It was a cool place and very peaceful. Words can’t do it justice so you will have to look at the pictures.

Miraculously we survived the trip without getting into an accident and we are keeping the car until noon tomorrow to drive to some ruins that are south of Chaing Mai in a town called Lamphun.

As I am writing all of this down in my journal I have just witnessed the biggest roach I have ever seen... an inch and a half long and reddish brown. Anyways, so right now I am at the bar, drinking Singha, listening to a Thai man play American musical hits such as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton, Lay Down Sally and Hotel Chiang Mai. He doesn’t seem to know all the words though, he kind of just mimics the sounds of the lyrics but gets most of the chorus right.

P.S. Also went to another wat in town where we saw a toad. Noticing that the air in Chiang Mai smells pretty bad, not like smog in Bangkok but just stinky, can't figure out what it is. Is it the fish sauce that is everywhere here? Also, on a positive note, no diarrhea yet. I have been drinking some pink stuff called Gastro Bismol and also eating Kevins pink tablets.

November 7, 2008 – 8:00 AM.

Right now Kevin and I are eating breakfast on the outside of Thae Pae Gate. I am having eggs and toast and french fries and Kevin is having the spicy tomato soup with mushrooms, tomatoes, roots and bugs.


Yesterday we had a good time. I ate a lot of good food around bugs. Actually the food in Thailand is really good in general but sometimes weird. For example, certain western dishes that you order because at that moment you need something familiar and not totally surprising are just not quite right. We were a little tired of this mystery point-at-something-on-the-menu ordering so we went to an Italian place for some good old fashioned know-what-you’re-getting pizza but when we the pizza came it was made with bread that sort of resembled naan bread. I guess we should go New York if we want New York style pizza. I'm just saying though, and I’m down with whatever and it didn’t taste bad, it just wasn't... quite... right. However, if you want some great authentic Thai food the street carts will cook you tasty pad thai for a couple bucks. These are the places to go if you have a man stomach.

Our itinerary from yesterday is as follows. We woke up and drove our car to bum phuck to see another wat. I thought we were going to see some ancient ruins but they were actually just an ancient city called Lamphun. It looked pretty much like a normal city but I guess it had been there for awhile. Driving through the countryside was very nice. On the way back we saw a huge cloud of smoke from a fire and thought that while we were gone Chiang Mai had been attacked by bombers or something but when we got closer we found that it was not as bad as it looked, just a run of the mill warehouse fire or something.


Back in Chiang Mai we returned the car and walked around the inner moat area of the town. I bought some fruit. Mango, a rose apple and bananas. Kevin isn't fully into the street carts yet but I got him to eat at a street cart type restaurant run by a pleasant old couple. The stuff that the old man made for us in his open air cart was kind of like chicken soup, cost only about 75 cents American and tasted good.

After that we went to some more wats. We saw a good one that was really old and was half collapsed from an earthquake.

Then we did some things that I don’t remember and got ready to go to Thai kick boxing. It was cool even though in such a small city as Chiang Mai the kids are all under 18 and weigh like 100 pounds. I guess when you get good you move on to bigger fights in Bangkok.





When the boxing matches were over we went to the Night Bazaar and looked (I swear just looked) at some ladies of the night which I guess is considered to be a normal profession here. Still weird though. Like I said, just looking, come on it's an authentic Thai experience!, even though we did try to get a ping pong show but had no luck. We were however happily surprised with the dart show.

This afternoon we are flying south to Koh Samui.

P.S. Everywhere you go in Thailand you will be eating very close to some type of animal. Lots of bugs around and don’t be surprised if a dog comes and sits in the chair next to you during dinner.


Picture above is of the interesting art choices at the kick boxing arena. Not bad.

November 8, 2008 – 8:50 AM – Marine Hotel Restaurant, Koh Samui.

Right now Kevin and I are waiting for breakfast in our hotel restaurant. It is our second day in the town of Chaweng on the island of Samui.

Yesterday we caught a plane out of Chiang Mai and flew two hours down here to an airport on the island. I caught a head cold somehow the night before and when the plane started to descend to land my ears filled up with whatever and really started to hurt. They are still plugged up.

I am not a beach person at all and my plugged left ear that doesn’t allow me to hear on my left side is really making it hard for me to communicate with anyone especially when it is already hard because of the language barrier. Pretty much def on the left side and I feel helpless because Kevin has to translate any conversation that I have with any Thai people. I am still trying to have a good time though and am enjoying the beach and stuff.

Here is what we did yesterday. As I said, got in by plane to an airport that had absolutely no walls. Just a roof with open sides because when it is warm year round you don’t need walls. It was really nice and tropical looking. We caught a cab to our hotel, checked in and realized that the place was kind of a shit hole especially being that it cost the exact same price that we paid at the Mini Cost in Chiang Mai, which was a really nice place. It doesn’t have hot water and is a little dirty. It’s not all that bad though for 12 dollars each a night and it has a really nice porch to sit on and watch it rain and look at weird birds. Oh yeah, it is raining and everything is soaking wet but still hot and even more humid. With the rain added to the humidity you are constantly wet.

I forgot to mention that we met some girls from Tahoe as we got off the plane at the Koh Samui airport. Mine was a super hot blond, about a 9.5 out of 10 on the scale and Kevin's was a fatty about 300 pounds on the scale.

After we checked into our room we walked down the white sand beaches, ate some lunch at one of the nicer resort style hotels here and then strolled down the main street of town. Kevin and I figure that Koh Samui is like Hawaii or Cabo for Europeans. This place is full of European tourists and all of the Thais that live or work on the island are pretty much here solely to make money off of tourism. A fat European dude in a banana hammock actually just walked by on the beach moments ago. When you walk downtown you are harangued by people trying to sell you things, especially suits.

Anyways, we pretty much just sat around drinking a few beers at the bar/restaurant of our hotel for the remainder of the night last night. Brewskis is all there really is to do here as far as I can tell and that is all good with me.

Today we are going to rent a car and drive around the island.

I forgot to mention that last night as we were walking down the beach we found a large green praying mantis on the sand. It was pretty cool. It was also at this point that we realized that Chaweng is operating at about three percent of its true carrying capacity. It’s strange because all along the beach for miles there are about 500 restaurants and relatively big hotels and clubs. They are all open for business but all mostly empty. It is really trippy, a huge empty beach and just us. We are thinking that because this is the rainiest month in the south of Thailand it must be the off-season. Koh Samui is probably insane during peak months.

Another thing that we are noticing is that our alcohol tolerance is getting pretty huge. We are animals. I’m done.