Back to Reality

Welp, I'm back in South Korea , the land of perpetual confusion and chaos.  I must say that it is nice to be done traveling, and to know that I'll have a bed to sleep in tonight and clean clothes to wear tomorrow, but beyond that I can't say I'm excited to be back in Korea.  I would much rather prefer to have ended my travels pulling into my parents' driveway and sitting down for some homemade apple pie, lasagna, or a steak, plus a Boulevard Pale Ale, but that's not the case. Instead, I left the 85 degree weather in Bali, and stepped off the plane in Seoul, Korea where it was 15 degrees.  I rode the bus to Suwon and was dropped off about a 13 minute walk from my apartment.  I was wearing shorts and a light sweatshirt.  I took off in a dead sprint towards my apartment.  The sprint lasted all of about a 200 meters, then turned into a jog accompanied by a steady wheeze.  I received a lot of "hellos" and thumbs-up from the Koreans I passed.  They must have been thinking "stupid foreigner."  I agree, but I didn't want to carry a pair of jeans that I would only wear at the beginning and end of the trip, and that is why I mailed them home from Thailand.

Here's a somewhat abridged look at my trip:

Day 1 (Dec 20): Flight to Bangkok.  Four hours of Muay Thai kickboxing

Day 2: Long-tail boat ride through Bangkok.  Snake garden.  Golden Palace tour.  Tour of the red light district.

Day 3: Went to the movies.  Took a 14.5 hour train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai...I will never do that again.  Staying with Billy and Tracee for the next few nights.

Day 4: Rented scooters for 6 days at $3/day!!  Ate a lot of good food.  Rode the scooters all over the place.

Day 5: Slept. Ate food.  Wandered around Chiang Mai.  Shot off fireworks and lanterns at night.

Day 6:  Merry Christmas.  Exchanged a couple gifts.  Amazing Christmas meal at a hotel.  Watched Brian Regan on DVD.

Day 7:  More scooter riding.  More eating good food.  

Day 8: Rode out to the country to find a waterfall.  Found waterfall after many detours.  Enjoyed the waterfall.

Day 9:  Watch cock fighting.  Flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket.  Met up with friend there, crashed at a hotel.

Day 10:  Missed boat to Similan Islands.  Wasted 5 hours.  Change of plans.  Caught boat to Ko Phi Phi.  Checked into a cheap bungalow.  Used a towel as a blanket.

Day 11:  Laid on the beach all day.  Ate good food. 

Day 12:  Snorkeling.  Tour around the island.  Checked out some other nearby beaches.  Caught boat back to mainland and cab to Khao Lak for New Year's Eve.  Enjoyed New Year's Eve festivities.

Day 13: Caught boat to Similan Islands.  Snorkeling.  Slept in a hot tent.

Day 14: Snorkeling.  Read a book.  Slept in a hot tent.

Day 15: Laid on beach.  Played cards.  Read book.  Boat ride back to mainland.  Cab to airport.  Done with Thailand.  Flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Day 16:  Arrived in KL at 2am.  Went to China Town.  Ate food.  Checked into hotel and slept till 9am.  Toured KL.  Batu Caves and couple other places.  Befriend a cab driver named Mr. Lee.

Day 17: Flight to Bali.  Cab to Ubud, Bali.  Check into a nice villa.  Ate good food.

Day 18: Wandered around Ubud.  Ate good food.  Swam in pool.  Watched a "Monkey Dance/Chant."

Day 19: Ate good food. Swam. Lounged.

Day 20: Cycling tour around Ubud.  Saw a volcano.  Said hello to A LOT of local kids.  Cab ride to Jimbaran, Bali.  Thought we were going to Uluwatu.  I didn't know the difference.  Checked into an even nicer villa with our own private pool.  Rented scooters.

Day 21: Went to the beach.  Swam.

Day 22:  Went to the beach.  Went to the movies.  Sat in airport for a long time waiting for our 12:30am flight back to Korea

Day 23 (Jan 11):  Arrived in Korea at 8:30am.  Arrived at my apartment at 10:30am.  Went to work at 1pm.  Pizza Hut at 6:30pm.  Typing this blog at 9pm.  Dreading going to work tomorrow.

I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel.  My trip had its ups and downs, its frustrations and fun, but overall I enjoyed the experience of three countries to which I've never been.  I tried to get a Thai girlfriend while in Thailand, but was unsuccessful. Ha!  The only ones interested were hookers.  No thanks!  Two weeks in Thailand is enough for my life time.  It's a beautiful country and I love the food, but it's dirty and I can only tolerate heckling and being heckled by so many street vendors.  Plus, I'm allergic to Thailand...seriously.  My asthma was the worst it's been in years.  And when walking around in the city, my skin broke out...for real.  Thankfully I packed enough Benedryl to last several months.  I do not recommend taking the 14.5 hour train ride.  We took it just to experience it, and I will not do that again =)  If you do make it to Thailand I strongly recommend going to the Similan Islands, especially if you like snorkeling or scuba diving.  Breathtaking!

Although my time in Malaysia was quite brief, it was great.  The food was almost as good as in Thailand, but the people were more friendly and trustworthy.  Plus a majority of the people speak English.  I would like to go back to Malaysia for at least a week.  

Bali was my favorite part of the trip.  In retrospect, two weeks in Bali and one week in Thailand would have been more appropriate. Once again, most people spoke English.  Every restaurant I visited served up some amazing food.  The countryside is beautiful.  By the time we reached the beaches in Bali, all I wanted to do was relax, which meant no surfing for me.  I'd like to go back to Bali.

A couple observations from my trip.  Just because you are good friends with someone does not mean that you will make good travel partners.  Communicate.  Plan to spend more than what you budgeted.  I prefer traveling with a significant other, which was not the case for this trip. Ha!  Things that might appear to be simple may end up being quite complex.  I missed wearing underwear on a daily basis. Commando got old!!  Ha!  Try to respectfully engage the local culture.  I read two books. "The Kite Runner."  You all have heard of that book.  "Naked" by David Sedaris, which is a collection of embellished memoirs, and it is quite funny!!!

Here is a link to an album of pictures from the trip.  I took a total of 600 pictures but only included 280 or so in the album.  Hopefully you enjoy looking or laughing at them.  My pictures I will post a few videos in a couple days.

I feel like there is so much more that I could write about this trip, but I'm going to wrap it up here.