Where To Begin

Here's the deal. I obviously haven't been keeping up the posting, and there's a lot to fill in. I'll try to finish Samui in this post, maybe post a few more pics, and put down some thoughts on Bangkok (though I did not journal as I went along there). I'm back in Singapore now. Got in lat last night, but I'm leaving for Kuala Lumpur on an early morning train. Will get back here Thursday morning, and leave for Shanghai super early Friday morning. Have some more pics I'd like to share as well. The LiAps chronicles will not end up perfectly chronological, I guess. But hope you enjoy.

7 July 2005
Koh Samui, Thailand

So, remember the "nightlife" I was going to sample last night? Unless you consider an old episode of JAG "nightlife" (by the way, is that show a joke? I'd be embarassed to be either a lawyer (oh, wait, I AM embarassed to be a lawyer) OR in the military based on the portrayals on that crap), it didn't happen. I had dinner, wandered a little bit, and realized that my plan to sit alone at a bar and have a few beers inevitably meant being harrassed by prostitutes. I don't blame them; that's what most single male farangs are here for. But not LiAps. Though they are, for the most part, nice enough when you tell them "No, I don't want a lady tonight, thank you" (though you also get the "Oh, you want ladyboy then??"), I just wasn't in the mood. Was exhausted from a day in the sun and drinking a few beers anyway. So, as predicted, I was in bed around 10.

Apparently, I did miss out on some worthwhile nightlife, because some dude at breakfast was describing the entertainment at the place he was at the prior night: 2 huge white dudes mudwrestling against 4 little Thai girls. Had I seen that, I would absolutely have stopped in.

Speaking of breakfast, I had it at my hotel's restaurant, if you can call it that. That makes my 2d meal there, despite having seen a group of at least 6 cats lounging and/or strutting on the service window. I trust they're just there for the curry. There are lots of animals running around here. The dogs generally look really really unhealthy. Mangy is the word. It's sad. Some clearly belong to people; they're not all strays. But I guess getting Fido his shots sometimes has to come second to feeding your kids. I have also seen a few chickens running around (and a few with their heads cut off, but those were not the same same chickens; "same same" not a typo, but a popular expression here, memorialized on a t-shirt I bought myself). Oh, and almost stepped on a dessicated frog carcass. End of LiAps's Animal Kingdom.

The photo above is the aptly-named "Big Buddha." I don't think this is the same same Buddha featured on Rebel Billionaire, because it would be a hell of a ride from Hong Kong. I was on the fence about whether to go up to see it. The whole island is only like 50 km around (according to some Aussie dude I was talking to at breakfast), so nothing is really far away, but I was feeling lazy. Then I realized that there was, uh, not much else to do. So I was off to the Big Buddha. And I had a bout of temporary insanity. Because I took a motorbike taxi. Which is just how it sounds. They're all over the island, and in Bangkok too. You ride on the back of a motor scooter with a crazy Thai guy (or girl) driving, weaving in and out of traffic and zooming along curvy mountain roads. And the driver even gets a helmet! I have never been on a motorcycle/motorbike before. And it showed. I kind of expected some instruction. You know, "OK, hold on here. When I turn this way, lean this way, etc., etc." Instead, I got "OK. Big Buddha!" And we were off. And I'm saying to this guy who speaks little to no English, "Slow is OK. No hurry." Motorbikes are a way of life here: people ride them 60 km/hr with their toddlers sitting between their legs not even holding on. And I, 29 year old man, am gripping the handle on the back of the seat so tight I'm surprised it didn't come off in my hands. But I got there in one piece. It was something like a 12 or 13 km trip, and I survived it. And then realized there was no good reason to have done that. It saved me like $5 over a regular, air-conditioned, four wheeled taxi. And took 5 years off my life in sheer fear. I vowed never to ride a motorbike taxi again.