Kyoto Prefecture

Woah. Ready?
Deep Breath, this may be quite a reach.

Hiked in Krabi, slept on beach.
Bye to JAlter, hi Bangkok,
High five Mitch, long airport walk.
Red-eye to Tokyo. Bullet train,
Soba noodles - like chow mein!
Sake drinks and 日本語 beer,
with a US rock-loving cashier.
Nearby ramen, snacks on snacks,
sleepy time, we can relax!

[breathe]

Wake up late, can't fit in shower -
Bamboo forest for an hour.
Monkey friends, then meet for tour.
Shrines and temples - our evils will cure.
    [primates and gates]
End of the day puts us in the mood
For high quality Japanese fast food.
Next day we prep our layers,
time we hike and say some prayers.
Snowy mountain, hike to top,
then we eat at local shop.
Outside onsen*, relax a ton,
soothing baths for everyone.

This morning we woke up at a Ryokan - a traditional Japanese hotel, had very traditional breakfast, and after a failed attempt to tour a sake museum, we're on the bullet train back to Tokyo for the last leg of our trip.

Pictures

*An onsen is a Japanese public bath - a mix of a mikvah and a spa.

Time in Krabi

Pictures (I know why you're really here)

Michael, J, and I arrived in Krabi in the early evening, we grabbed a taxi to the hotel (a really nice place called White Sand quite a ways off the beaten path, recommended by Raleigh and Nick). It's a 3 story small building with significantly nicer amenities than our AirBnB in Chiang Mai, but certainly not a resort - the perfect mix for our needs.
We ate Thai food at a nearby (10 min walk) restaurant - what I assume is the Thai version of a greasy spoon. The bathroom was a toilet in an outhouse out back and the place to wash hands for that was a spigot which was also being used for laundry. Michael and I had our first coconuts, turns out fresh coconut water is nothing like the packaged stuff that's sold at a premium. Straight from the nut, it's sweet and refreshing. Most of the fun there was actually scooping out the jelly-like flesh and deciding with every bite if I actually liked it or not.

Friday morning was an early start for me, I woke up around 4:00am local time, ran 2.5 miles along a pre-sunrise beach (sand running is hard), and paced up and down it after the sun came through. It was pretty cloudy; so the perfect sunrise, I did not see. An incredible array of shells, rocks, and crabs litter the beach - also, unfortunately some litter.
First activity of the day involved venturing out to the more touristy Ao Nang beach to see what was around. Of course the best way to do that was with motorbikes! We asked the front desk where to rent them and seemingly with magic, she was bringing 3 motorbikes out for us. She handed us helmets and the keys and that was it! Training was provided by J, who has his own motorbike in Chiang Mai. A 20 minute open-air drive down local roads with no apparent concrete traffic laws brought us to a buzzing market on the road where we had some coffee, explored, ate lunch, then walked along Ao Nang beach below. The overcast sky seemed to be dropping as a haze prevented us from seeing any of the fairly nearby islands (read: towering rock formations) clearly.
On our way back from the beach, we detoured through some farm land to get a closer view of some of the rock formations (dubbed the cliffs of insanity by me).
Once back to our quiet area, we did what one does in paradise: relax on the beach. laying and reading turned to swimming, then in drying off I went playing in the sand of course! I made a friend, Kevin, a 5 year old from China who helped me dig a 4.5ft hole and let me practice my Chinese.
A quick shower and change of clothes and we decided we wanted to try Thai's Italian food. Down the road we motorbiked to get very fancy pizza, risotto, and pasta before calling it a night.

Saturday we were picked up at 7:00am and dropped off at the Krabi Diving Center. We were fitted with wetsuits and masks then got in the back of a truck for a quick ride (basically back to our hotel area) to a beach with hundreds of these wooden boats with outboard motors (the most outboard possible, as the entire engine was resting on a gimbal on the back of the boat. The engine had a 15 ft rod with a propeller at the end which allowed the driver to steer. All of the boats were sponsored by the same purple and gold bank. A 30 minute loud boat ride to some of those "islands" and we were ready to begin lessons. The instructor, Gao, knew I was certified, that Michael had been before, and this was J's first. After verbally explaining basic safety measures and claiming he would be in charge of Michael and J's BCA (Buoyancy Control Apparatus), we back-flipped into the water for some more lessons. Turns out that wasn't needed, and similar to the motorbikes, Gao lead us down right away. We went on 2 separate 40 minute dives, the second one was about 14 meters (45ft) deep at the lowest. Incredible fish, sea anemones, urchins, coral, sponges, and more. We saw four lion fish total, definitely the highlight for me.
After the second dive, Gao gave us a meal he picked up from a street vendor before boarding - rice, egg, spicy onions and peppers, and squid, including an entire squid about 5 inches in length. I tried the rings of the squid but wasn't brave enough to attempt the whole guy. Watermelon was also cut up for us, which we chowed down on the loud drive back to shore.
Diving took a lot out of us so a nap was in order, of course.
We rented motorbikes again to head into town and eat at an Indian place, which was incredible.
The night ended with us drinking some local beer (Chang) on the beach, as one does in paradise.

This morning, we're heading off for a 5 mile hike, maybe updates from that soon.

Thailand’s culture

Pictures for those of you who don't like reading.

We’ve spent 2 full days in Chiang Mai now - reportedly the coldest days Chiang Mai has had in quite some time, so of course we we’ve been wearing shorts and short sleeve shirts. We’ve seen some wats (Buddist temples), bathed with elephants, walked through markets, enjoyed local cuisine and Thai-ized American cuisine, caught up with old friends, and made some new ones. Something I’ve noticed in our short time here is the strictness of rule following and how it varies and differs from similar rules in the states. Seeing some of the local happenings, I’m reminded of this scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: The curse of the Black Pearl where Barbosa clarifies the “[Pirates] code is more what you'd call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.” And in a pretty stark contrast to this, it seems that many social customs tend to be fairly rigid, or at least formal, in their systems.

Laws? Well, it’s more of a suggestion.
I would not call myself well studied in Thailand’s legal system, nor am I well versed in that of America’s for that matter. However, I do have a propensity for remembering and following rules. I loved studying for and taking the exam for my watercraft license, just the same with the driver’s permit assessment. It seems that country rules and regulations aren’t enforced or even really acknowledged. Jon Alter has a theory related to this. He calls it “Don’t search for logic.”

Even on the busiest of roads, cars rarely exceed 40 mph (~65 kph) and casually walking across them is common. As a pedestrian, it’s really convenient to not have to wait at crosswalks for the light to turn to white-light-walking-figure. If you need to get to the other side of the road, simply wait for a small opening in traffic and commit. Cars, motorbikes, and tuk-tuks will slow to allow you to pass. The few times we’ve been in a motorized vehicle, it hasn’t been noticeable. Soothing sounds of Thai talk radio or hard-core American rap play from car stereos as the car fluxuates between 10 and 30 mph a couple times a block.

Telephone lines across nearly every street, road, and dirt path number in the hundreds. We’ve seen a what I assume are phone-line technicians, but for all we know may be just regular citizens looking to fix their DSL, climbing up to “fix” (presumably) the lines. From what we can tell, if a line breaks, it’s left in place and a new one is strung along its original path. It seem the only things you need to fix the wiring here is a large spool of cable, a ladder, and some bravery.

Scaffolding is handmade on the spot out of bamboo shoots. They cut and tie the giant natural PVC pipe to the right lengths and tie them together to climb up. I think this is really neat. In order to repair or paint something high up, workers build a structure to which they entrust their lives from essentially raw materials. I can’t even imagine American construction workers building scaffolding out of anything other than pre-made kits.

The sidewalk along roads can be as much as 1 foot higher than the road it runs alongside. To accommodate for this height difference, there is usually a smooth steep slope of concrete connecting the two. This is the perfect slide to slip on and fall head-first into traffic (something we have thankfully yet to experience). Sidewalks range from 2 inches wide to 3 feet and often have trees, signs, or street vendors on them. Like Minnesota in the winter, lane-lines are barely a suggestion as cars and motorbikes often zig-zag through traffic, around parked cars and trucks, pedestrians, and ambulances.

Social norms? Slowly learning.
The first term I tried to learn in Thai was “Thank you.” It took a while to feel confident saying, but “Kob Khun” is the term for thank you. In Thai, from what I can glean so far, phrases and greetings end with a status indicator. As a male, speaking politely to a peer or someone of higher status, I would say thank you with “Kob Khun Krab,” though it seems “Kob Khun kab” is a more casual way. Females would say “Kob Khun Kha.” Unlike many other languages, the words you use depend primarily on the person speaking, not the person being spoken to or about. Sorry = Kor Tod Kab, Hello = Sa Wad Dee Kab, How are you = Sa Bai Dee Mai Kab

Slight bows are common signs of farewell and pressing both hands together is a way to show gratitude, respect, or as a greeting.

Tipping isn’t common, though for exceedingly wonderful service, a small tip of 10% may be added. Some of the tourist heavy areas take advantage of Americans being used to tipping. Generally, we’ve been not haggling which is our way of including a tip.

I’ve noticed a few American customs creeping into the touristy parts - tuk-tuk (2 wheeled open air taxis) drivers give an American head nod to white people on the street as a way to inquire if they’d like a ride, I’m seen some Thai girls pose with the duck-face for pictures, and I’m sure there are more that I haven’t even realized are the melding of cultures. I hope in picking up Western customs, Thai’s own are not lost, but in the metropolitan areas, it does seem to have very western aspects.

People are incredibly friendly here, both locals and tourists we’ve run into. It seems everyone is enjoying the calm atmosphere and is happy to help out their fellow human.

Here are some relevant pictures to what I wrote about and other things I didn’t that we’ve done over the past few days.

Day 1: Bangkok

Quick update:

For our first day in Bangkok, Michael and I explored the 5 Star hotel we stayed at for one night. Awesome pool with view of the river - great sunny day (sorry Minnesota)

From the hotel we walked with our full bags through some local streets on the way to Chua Phat Vang, a tall golden temple we had seen from the pool area.

We took a crowded river boat West along the river towards Wat Arun.

We wandered into a really nice community park (Saranrom Park) which had an outdoor public gym in it. There was also a Chinese ancestral house inside the park.

We soon found ourselves at a local event called Thai rice - basically a huge farmers market / art fair that was based on rice. Some local Thai people around our age mocked us walking through their market in our full backpacking gear. The odd feeling of embarrassment was subdued when a nice Thai lady helped us order some food and we ate pot stickers and pad Thai.

We found a local hostel / bar and took a load off for a couple hours before heading to the airport to travel to our home for 3 nights in Chiang Mai.

Travel Overload

Got to the airport Saturday morning at 5:20. I passed a sniffer dog checking on everyone in the security line, and right after I passed him, he got a playbreak! Squeaky-ball fetch time meant a delay and some entertainment for patient travelers behind me in line.

The 3 hour flight to Dallas Texas would have been significantly less awful if I hadn't been sitting directly behind a screaming child, upwards of 130 decibels. This lasted the first 2 hours straight. So much for reading or napping - I took advantage of the in-flight entertainment and watched (but barely heard) The Dark Tower. (It's bad).

One and a half hours in Texas and two and a half shots of Whiskey later and we were on our way to South Korea. I made the decision to change my watch to Thailand time and try to keep to that schedule moving forward in an effort to prevent jet-lag. 

15 hours seems like a long time on a plane, so let's just put things into perspective. I watched 4 movies (Logan Lucky, Birth of the Dragon, The Big Sick, and most of Transformers: Last Knight) and if I hadn't spent the other 8 hours eating, pacing down the aisle, trying to read, or staring blankly at the digital map; I could have easily seen 5 more. I was very lucky to have an exit row, aisle seat for this long flight, making up for the screaming child on the previous one. (I think I'd prefer an airline that allowed passengers to assist in flight-attendant duties for a portion of the flight.)
After taking off my shoes and replacing them with the complimentary plane slippers, I was able to stretch my feet out as far as I could - a rarity for someone my height. We had 2 meals on that flight, I got bibimbap which was surprisingly good for plane food, and Chinese style rice with fish, which was fine.

In the Korean airport, Michael and I took some of the few minutes we had before transferring planes to explore some of the stores in the international section of the airport - turned out to be pretty lame, common international stores including an Auntie Annie's. Noticing from my watch that it was mid-afternoon in Thailand, I proudly proclaimed to Michael how, since we'd arrive late at night, I would not sleep on this last plane ride.

Cut Scene -Avi's passed out on the plane before it's left the gate. After a casual 20 minute nap, I awake to find that we're still at the gate. Drowsily listening to the delay announcements, I pass out for another 20+ minutes to find we still haven't left.

Something was wrong with the engine, but after 2 hours just sitting in our seats; we eventually take off. A relatively short flight (6 hours) later. We arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. Figuring out customs, getting passports stamped, getting a cab, exchanging currency, and making sure Michael's phone service worked were some of the highlights from our first few hours. 

It's 4:00AM now, so I haven't succeeded in preventing Jet-lag. Sleeping soon, getting psyched for a fun day exploring Bangkok tomorrow!