Hello there!
I've found myself in front of a computer less and less these days, time is precious over here. Right now I am sitting down at an internet cafe in Berlin which is more like an internet mini mart. Good for me, they sell beers from a cooler instead of coffee! I went with the Warsteiner Premium Verum. Ah German beer, how do I love thee... So I guess you may be wondering how I got here. Where did I leave off...
Ah yes, I had just gotten into Munich and had a good meal, then took the day to rest... well, not so much. I signed off the blog and went to the hostel bar for a night cap. The hostel I was staying in is called Wombats. A right proper hostel (I've been spending a lot of time with brits). They did a really good job with the place and they had a nice bar there, clean with cheap beers and good music. I grabbed a half liter of Augustiner Helles and sat down at a table and struck up a conversation with a few guys from Bristol. It turned out that it was their last night of travelling and they were headed out so they invited me to tag along. We found a really really cool bar in the city, low lit with vitage couches and a just a taste of that run down feeling. After a few we headed to another club and eventually ended up back at Wombats where one of the guys Simon and I held the pool table for a while (I had a really mean cut on the 8 my first game that impressed and boosted my confidence). I ended up crashing sometime in the wee hours and woke up just in time to stumble downstairs for the free walking tour that the hostel offered at 11. The tour was actually impressively good.
Munich is a rather odd city when you first see it. Everything is very clean and new but is designed like it is old. It turns out that there were only four buildings in the entire city that were left standing after the second war. However, before the war started someone had the idea that it might be smart to document the city very thouroughly, so when it was rebuilt after, they recreated it almost to a T. So nearly the entire city is under 60 years old, but it has the history of a much older time. For instance, the Hofbrau Haus was first built in the 1500's and has since been the staple beer hall in all of bavaria. Today it is the largest beer hall in the world, at capacity it holds 3500 leiderhosen sporting beer drinkers (and yes the still wear them today. I saw plenty on people and I even saw one of those fashion posing mannequins in a store window sporting a pair). So naturally I went for sausages and beer after the tour. Sausages, kraut, and mashed potatoes. Oh yea, and a Hofbrau Dunkle maß (liter). It really makes you appreciate getting your veggies, eating in bavaria.
On the tour I met a girl named Ruth who was heading out that night with some people and she invited me to tag along. We gathered the group that night and walked all the bloody way across the city to find a small blues club. We had tall dunkelweiss' served by a woman who looked like Bridgette Nielsen in Rocky IV and listened to some New Orleans style jams. Afterwords we found another beerhall before finding some doner kebab and calling it quits. (Doner Kebab is what they use to refer to middle eastern gyros style joints which you can find all across europe at really cheap prices.)
My last day in Munich I went to the Englisher Garten, the largest urban park in the world (twice the size of central park) and saw the local some local nudists (a few of which were playing soccer... interesting) and got a liter with Hendle (half a chicken) and a pretzle (about the size of a small child). I also made it to the BMW museum which was incredible. I have some killer pictures that will do it better justice. I also spent a lot of time staring longingly at some intricate custom steins that I oh so desired to buy and bring back to my favorite bar in Seattle, the Prost. Unfortunately the liter size steins started at about 125 € and the one I wanted was 150 €... so I exercised restraint. I also did some clothes shopping as I lost a shirt in Florence I think brining me down to 3. I only made it out with one shirt (I'm somewhat of a picky shopper) but it is a good mesh nike athletic shirt that was meant to take some abuse and will wash and dry easily. At night, guess what I did! Yup, went to the Augustiner Beirgarten and back to the Hofbrau Haus for more liters, met some crazy french (Bon Jour!), and crashed late.
The next day I booked it to Prague. The train through the countryside was so beautiful, so bohemian... oh yea, I was in Bohemia! I had two nights in Prague, which I think turned out to be just enough. I stayed in a ultra chic hostel called the Czech Inn and toured the city with a couple I met from Glasgow. Having been conditioned to drink beers with lunch, I grabbed a beer and a sandwich while the people I was with opted for water. The Czech Crown (or koruna) converts to about 23 per us dollar. The waters went for 25 crown; a half liter of the local pilz- 12 crown. Oh the joy. Not only that, but pilsners taste so different in Czech. I really feel now that you haven't had a proper pilsner until you get one there. In the states, they take on a sour and metallic note which was blissfully absent from every one that I had while I was there. Pretty much all the beer I had there was fantastic including the original, and aggresively unrelated, Budweiser and Budvar dark. The sights were decent in the city, but they had all been sandwiched into small areas by newer and uglier buildings.
Which brings me to today. I hopped a train to Berlin and found my way to my hostel (stopping at the world sand carving competition along the way... not as exciting as it sounds, but impressive nonetheless. I checked in and wandered around for a bit before finding a good looking bar. I met some nice german fellows who bought me a beer and we talked about genetics, but there was a book reading there in German, so as it began I made my goodbyes before wandering across the street to where I am now.
So, I have three days in Berlin which I am really excited about before moving on to Amsterdam. I think I have the rest of my trip planned out, I just have to cement down the dates and then book everything out; I think I've got some great stuff ahead of me so stay tuned and I'll keep ya up to date. Thanks for reading everyone, much love.
Here's another small sampler of pictures, enjoy!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2310005&l=a58e7&id=10700716
Trav: So for the rest of the trip, I am thinking a day trip in Cologne, 3 days for Amsterdam, 2 days for Marsielle, 3 days for Barcelona, 3 for Paris, 3 for Edinburgh, and 3 for London. Then 3 in D.C. before bouncing home. I may have to juggle the order a bit according to travel costs, etc., but I think I can make it work.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Bavar-i-am
My goodness, long time no post. When I last left you I was in Sienna, so much has happened since then, it would be impossible to detail and I dont have a whole lot of time, so I think I´m going to lay this one out lecture note style (which will be much to the joy of all of you who have been asking for abbreviated versions).
Monday
-In Florence, note to museum goers, almost everything is closed on mondays in Florence!
-Santa Maria Novella
-Went to see Brunelleschi´s Crucifixion, it was the one portion undergoing restoration
-Saw some cool sun dials and an incredible chalk artist outside
-Piazzele Michealangelo
-View of the city at sunset with a beer and some olives (so cheap and amaying). There were guitarists there that were amazing. The sold more beers too, stayed for hours and got drunk and awed. Someone proposed , people clapped.
Tuesday
-Ponte Vecchio bridge
-2.5 hour line for Ufizzi gallery
-Birth of venus among other greats. DiVinci, Raphael, Brunellischi, etc.
-Accedemia
-Michealangelo´s David and other rather ingored art.
-Train to Rome
-Broke down, left emergency exit door and walked a small bit on gravel to next station, met some gals from UK
Wednesday\Thursday (can´t find the backslash key, also the z and y keys are switched positions in germany)
-Rome sightseeing that I missed
-I took a forbidden picture of the sistene chapel ceiling
-Drank cheap wine (1 L, 1.43 euro) with friends in square in public (I love Italy!)
-Got tipsy, wandered to see the colosseum at night, got lost, ended up in a field with a circle of people playing guitar and singing in italian to candle light and passing around joints. Score!
-Hungover sightseeing next day.
-Caught overnight train to Munich
Friday
-Decided to take day to relax and rest my legs, did a lot of walking in Rome
-Got one of best meal experiences ever. Lunch of Schweinshaxen mit Kartoffelsalat (half of a leg of a pig, dry rubbed and roasted with Bavarian potato salad) and a liter of Augustiner in a biergarten (more gardeny and beery than youd even think). I was so happy after cleaning my pig femur and downing my liter that I was laughing aloud (the alcohol helped that too).
-Cleaned and groomed myself!
-Caught up on internet.
-Signed off blog. See you next time!
Monday
-In Florence, note to museum goers, almost everything is closed on mondays in Florence!
-Santa Maria Novella
-Went to see Brunelleschi´s Crucifixion, it was the one portion undergoing restoration
-Saw some cool sun dials and an incredible chalk artist outside
-Piazzele Michealangelo
-View of the city at sunset with a beer and some olives (so cheap and amaying). There were guitarists there that were amazing. The sold more beers too, stayed for hours and got drunk and awed. Someone proposed , people clapped.
Tuesday
-Ponte Vecchio bridge
-2.5 hour line for Ufizzi gallery
-Birth of venus among other greats. DiVinci, Raphael, Brunellischi, etc.
-Accedemia
-Michealangelo´s David and other rather ingored art.
-Train to Rome
-Broke down, left emergency exit door and walked a small bit on gravel to next station, met some gals from UK
Wednesday\Thursday (can´t find the backslash key, also the z and y keys are switched positions in germany)
-Rome sightseeing that I missed
-I took a forbidden picture of the sistene chapel ceiling
-Drank cheap wine (1 L, 1.43 euro) with friends in square in public (I love Italy!)
-Got tipsy, wandered to see the colosseum at night, got lost, ended up in a field with a circle of people playing guitar and singing in italian to candle light and passing around joints. Score!
-Hungover sightseeing next day.
-Caught overnight train to Munich
Friday
-Decided to take day to relax and rest my legs, did a lot of walking in Rome
-Got one of best meal experiences ever. Lunch of Schweinshaxen mit Kartoffelsalat (half of a leg of a pig, dry rubbed and roasted with Bavarian potato salad) and a liter of Augustiner in a biergarten (more gardeny and beery than youd even think). I was so happy after cleaning my pig femur and downing my liter that I was laughing aloud (the alcohol helped that too).
-Cleaned and groomed myself!
-Caught up on internet.
-Signed off blog. See you next time!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Under the Tuscan Care
So whilst in Ko Pha Ngan with the old man, I was doing some research for the europe leg of my trip. I discovered that I would be in Italy near the same time as Il Palio and my guide book said that I should book a place more than a month ahead. Well, I only had about 8 days. Looking all over the internet, the only place with any availability was a place called Borgo Antico about a 10 km bus ride away and for 50 euro a night with a minimum of three nights stay. A pretty steep price to pay, but this is a once in a lifetime event. So two days ago I found my way to the hotel. The stop button on my bus didn't work, so when I passed the hotel on the side of the road, I had to go to the front and ask the driver to stop. I probably was only 400 m past the hotel, but just that distance dropped me on a road with a field of sunflowers on one side, and rolling hills of grass on the other, almost as far as the eye could see. As I walked back up to the hotel I passed a small vineyard, so naturally I jumped off the side of the road and snagged a couple grapes. Oh yea, real grapes have seeds. Other than that, they were pretty much just grapes haha (I half expected them to burst with wine into my mouth). The hotel is incredible, rustic brick with vines lining the courtyard; right in the heart of true tuscany. I was showed my room which was small, but incredibly lavish compared to anywhere I've stayed in recent memory. I have a window that has metalwork latches and swings open to a beautiful view of a authentic and quaint courtyard nextdoor. I was thinking of going elsewhere to find dinner, as I knew the price tag at the restaurant would be pretty big, but than I remembered the last piece of advise I got frome my friend Sofia in Rome that she read from a Coelho book: "Don't spend your money buying just "things" when you travel, buy nice dinners and drinks and experiences". So, seeing this as a sign (which I am learning to trust and follow), I went down and asked to be seated for dinner. I was walked to the dinning area which was gorgeous. It was a long hall with an arched brick ceiling that gave the feeling of sitting in a wine cellar. There was rich oak cabinets along the wall and well spaced tables with white table cloths. A cute and friendly waitress came to show me the menu fixe to ask if it was ok: it sure sounded amazing. Four courses with wine, coffee, and water (which I thought was an odd thing to list as included until I saw it come out) for 25 euro. What followed was, what I can say with confidence, the best meal of my life.
-First, I was brought a basket of fresh bread, a half liter of the house red, a tall glass genie bottle looking container of spring water, and glasses to match. This was quickly followed by a plate with four different cured meats, and a healthy slice of cheese. Salami, cheese, bread, and wine? I was very quickly a happy man. The 2 kinds of salami were rich with fat and flavor, the other meats that I didn't recognize had a texture closer to raw than cured, but bold and delicious. The wine was incredibly smooth and simple, perfect for lasting through 4 different courses. I cleaned my plate.
-Next came the primi, a full plate of two different pastas. The first was ribbon-like with wild boar and what looked like large capers cooked in red sauce. The flavor was very familiar and simple, but was completented well with the capers which snapped with a tone of pine. The second pasta was hands down the best pasta I've ever eaten. The noodles were very thick strings that were cooked perfectly evenly through. It was cooked with a pork and veal mixture in a mushroom and truffle sauce. I was writing in my journal at the table and this is what I said, "If you could put the earth and the wind into a pasta dish, this would be the product. Light and fresh and savory and rich all at the same time. Beautiful." Call me corny, but I still stand by it. I cleaned my plate again, wondering how I would make it through two more courses, but they were making it easy for me.
-The secondi was pork loin steaks accompanied with potatoes. The pork had a blackened crust of herbs and was topped with a creamy mustard sauce. I ate the pork and left the potatoes to save room for desert. As I sipped on my wine, curiosity set in and I took a stab at one of the golden cubes. My eyes went wide open. The perfectly even golden brown potatoes had been pan fried in an herb rich olive oil that made for a tasty morsel that made me feel like this was my new home. I ate as much as I could before resigning. I was stuffed, but I had a feeling that somehow I'd be able to eat dessert.
-The final dish was a small white "cake" that had the consistency of flan but had the flavor of just heavy whipping cream before being whipped. It was standing ankle deep in a chocolate sauce, and the whole plate was liberally showered with chocolate that looked like it had gone through the coarsest side of a cheese grater. Decadent. I somehow ate the whole thing on the verge of laughing aloud the whole way through. I sat back and sipped on the petite esspresso that was freshly made and accompanied with a no nonsense packet of sugar; this was no time to hold back, the whole thing went in. The waitstaff was overly kind the whole meal, and I think enjoyed how much I enjoyed the meal I promised I would return (which I'm doing tonight (yes!)) and went to the front courtyard. There was a lazy pattering of rain drops on the tree I stood under while surrounded by the brick and vine as I enjoyed a cigarette in the night air. I had indulged myself far to much that evening, but when I was finished, I lit up another.
Next stop the Palio! I made my way into town in the morning and walked among the beautiful stone streets and stone buildings of Siena. I got a slice of mushroom and whole olive pizza that was about the size of a small keyboard and sat on the steps of the gorgeous cathedral to enjoy it. I made my way into the piazza to get a good spot for the palio. After several hours of pagentry the madness of the race went by in three quick laps around the square. Afterwords the streets were lined with supporters of the winning team as they played drums and sang and carried the jockey on their shoulders all the way around the city. I had a couple of 5 euro beers and went back to the hotel and slept heavily. This morning I woke without an alarm for the first time in a while and felt extremely refreshed. I still have to stave tonight at Borgo Antico, so I came into Siena again to see some more sights in what may be the most beautiful city I've seen. The streets wind through the valleys of exclusively old buildings in a way that only makes medieval sense, I love it. While happily lost, I stumbled upon this internet shop, appropriately named Happy World. Now I am going to go to a restaurant in my book that serves Tagliatelle al ragu di coniglio, pasta with rabbit sauce. Tomorrow I head to Firenze (Florence).
I'm having the time of my life and wish you could all be here with me. Thanks for reading and I'll see you when I see you.
Jenkins: Thanks for the advice, I'll definately do that. The book I have says that the tickets are the same, so they probably still are. Cheers!
-First, I was brought a basket of fresh bread, a half liter of the house red, a tall glass genie bottle looking container of spring water, and glasses to match. This was quickly followed by a plate with four different cured meats, and a healthy slice of cheese. Salami, cheese, bread, and wine? I was very quickly a happy man. The 2 kinds of salami were rich with fat and flavor, the other meats that I didn't recognize had a texture closer to raw than cured, but bold and delicious. The wine was incredibly smooth and simple, perfect for lasting through 4 different courses. I cleaned my plate.
-Next came the primi, a full plate of two different pastas. The first was ribbon-like with wild boar and what looked like large capers cooked in red sauce. The flavor was very familiar and simple, but was completented well with the capers which snapped with a tone of pine. The second pasta was hands down the best pasta I've ever eaten. The noodles were very thick strings that were cooked perfectly evenly through. It was cooked with a pork and veal mixture in a mushroom and truffle sauce. I was writing in my journal at the table and this is what I said, "If you could put the earth and the wind into a pasta dish, this would be the product. Light and fresh and savory and rich all at the same time. Beautiful." Call me corny, but I still stand by it. I cleaned my plate again, wondering how I would make it through two more courses, but they were making it easy for me.
-The secondi was pork loin steaks accompanied with potatoes. The pork had a blackened crust of herbs and was topped with a creamy mustard sauce. I ate the pork and left the potatoes to save room for desert. As I sipped on my wine, curiosity set in and I took a stab at one of the golden cubes. My eyes went wide open. The perfectly even golden brown potatoes had been pan fried in an herb rich olive oil that made for a tasty morsel that made me feel like this was my new home. I ate as much as I could before resigning. I was stuffed, but I had a feeling that somehow I'd be able to eat dessert.
-The final dish was a small white "cake" that had the consistency of flan but had the flavor of just heavy whipping cream before being whipped. It was standing ankle deep in a chocolate sauce, and the whole plate was liberally showered with chocolate that looked like it had gone through the coarsest side of a cheese grater. Decadent. I somehow ate the whole thing on the verge of laughing aloud the whole way through. I sat back and sipped on the petite esspresso that was freshly made and accompanied with a no nonsense packet of sugar; this was no time to hold back, the whole thing went in. The waitstaff was overly kind the whole meal, and I think enjoyed how much I enjoyed the meal I promised I would return (which I'm doing tonight (yes!)) and went to the front courtyard. There was a lazy pattering of rain drops on the tree I stood under while surrounded by the brick and vine as I enjoyed a cigarette in the night air. I had indulged myself far to much that evening, but when I was finished, I lit up another.
Next stop the Palio! I made my way into town in the morning and walked among the beautiful stone streets and stone buildings of Siena. I got a slice of mushroom and whole olive pizza that was about the size of a small keyboard and sat on the steps of the gorgeous cathedral to enjoy it. I made my way into the piazza to get a good spot for the palio. After several hours of pagentry the madness of the race went by in three quick laps around the square. Afterwords the streets were lined with supporters of the winning team as they played drums and sang and carried the jockey on their shoulders all the way around the city. I had a couple of 5 euro beers and went back to the hotel and slept heavily. This morning I woke without an alarm for the first time in a while and felt extremely refreshed. I still have to stave tonight at Borgo Antico, so I came into Siena again to see some more sights in what may be the most beautiful city I've seen. The streets wind through the valleys of exclusively old buildings in a way that only makes medieval sense, I love it. While happily lost, I stumbled upon this internet shop, appropriately named Happy World. Now I am going to go to a restaurant in my book that serves Tagliatelle al ragu di coniglio, pasta with rabbit sauce. Tomorrow I head to Firenze (Florence).
I'm having the time of my life and wish you could all be here with me. Thanks for reading and I'll see you when I see you.
Jenkins: Thanks for the advice, I'll definately do that. The book I have says that the tickets are the same, so they probably still are. Cheers!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The short of it
Wow, the past three or four days have been a bit of a blur and a roller coaster. I am in Rome right now and I don't have a whole lot of time because I need to eat shower and get ready to go to an opera tonight in the city! Yea, i'm pretty happy about it too. So, I'm going to rattle this off pretty quick bullet style and if you guys want details about something in particular shoot me a comment or and email or superpoke, whatever.
(Another note on typing errors, the Italian keyboards have all the puncuation keys in wierd places, so im going to just omit the hard to find ones, sorry)
Athens,
-Got in, found hostel, saw acropolis (not that great), the agora (better than expectations), and a lot of shitty monstrous sunglasses on overdressed girls with attitudes. Decided Athens just isnt my city.
-Found an event on couchsurfing, people getting together for dinner and drinks. Met a cool girl named Vanessa who was hosting a couple Turkish dudes. Cool guys who also were going to Rome the same route same day, so we ended up travelling together the next day. Had some decent drinks, met some cool people, took late bus back to hostel.
-Had train connection trouble which led to much learning about patience and calm and going with the flow. Everything ended working out for the best.
-Took overnight ferry from Patras to Bari. Deck tickets. Took a picture of a big painted circle on the deck that said "winch only" while sitting on and covering up the w (there's the play on words in the blog title) Met two more turkish dudes. Played a lot of cards, taught them "Asshole" and they had a blast making novelty english asshole jokes for several hours. Slept on the metal deck in sleeping bag in the open air, woke to sunrise over mediterannian.
Rome
-Got into rome, had trouble booking hostel, but eventually found a good one and made a friend with a girl named Sophie. We met up with another group of couchsurfers and went to a bar.
-We went to vatican (incredible!) this morning and Sophie left to meet with family friends. I explored rome solo and fell in love with the city. Trevi fountain, Berninis four fountains, Piazza of Popolo, Spanish steps, Pantheon (incredible!). Paninis and gelato and cappucinos.
-I booked tickets to Siena tomorrow to go see Il Palio for the next couple days, decided that Im going to go to florence for a day or two then come back to rome for unspecified number of days more to catch all that i missed and eat much more and drink much more.
Sorry to make it short, but I've got so much o do and not enough time. About to hit the 1000 picture mark, just bought a new 4 gig memory card for camera, try to get some up when I get a chance. Much love to all, Ciao!
-Jon
(Another note on typing errors, the Italian keyboards have all the puncuation keys in wierd places, so im going to just omit the hard to find ones, sorry)
Athens,
-Got in, found hostel, saw acropolis (not that great), the agora (better than expectations), and a lot of shitty monstrous sunglasses on overdressed girls with attitudes. Decided Athens just isnt my city.
-Found an event on couchsurfing, people getting together for dinner and drinks. Met a cool girl named Vanessa who was hosting a couple Turkish dudes. Cool guys who also were going to Rome the same route same day, so we ended up travelling together the next day. Had some decent drinks, met some cool people, took late bus back to hostel.
-Had train connection trouble which led to much learning about patience and calm and going with the flow. Everything ended working out for the best.
-Took overnight ferry from Patras to Bari. Deck tickets. Took a picture of a big painted circle on the deck that said "winch only" while sitting on and covering up the w (there's the play on words in the blog title) Met two more turkish dudes. Played a lot of cards, taught them "Asshole" and they had a blast making novelty english asshole jokes for several hours. Slept on the metal deck in sleeping bag in the open air, woke to sunrise over mediterannian.
Rome
-Got into rome, had trouble booking hostel, but eventually found a good one and made a friend with a girl named Sophie. We met up with another group of couchsurfers and went to a bar.
-We went to vatican (incredible!) this morning and Sophie left to meet with family friends. I explored rome solo and fell in love with the city. Trevi fountain, Berninis four fountains, Piazza of Popolo, Spanish steps, Pantheon (incredible!). Paninis and gelato and cappucinos.
-I booked tickets to Siena tomorrow to go see Il Palio for the next couple days, decided that Im going to go to florence for a day or two then come back to rome for unspecified number of days more to catch all that i missed and eat much more and drink much more.
Sorry to make it short, but I've got so much o do and not enough time. About to hit the 1000 picture mark, just bought a new 4 gig memory card for camera, try to get some up when I get a chance. Much love to all, Ciao!
-Jon
Sunday, August 10, 2008
The desert is ecksiting
Hey there,
So today I left Thailand on my way to Athens. The flight has a massive 10 hour layover in Bahrain so the airline actually put us up into a hotel in the city; naturally I set down my bags and set out ecksploring. With me is a German named Frederic, since we were both travelling alone they put us into a room together. We made our way wandering aimlessly and changed some money so that we could sit down in an internet shop where I am now. The keyboard here is in bad shape with buttons that stick pretty well, so you'll have to eckscuse typo's (the letter "x" is especially bad so I'm trying to avoid it haha).
So I owe you guys some time from Bangkok where I spent the last few days with my pops. After making the haul back from Ko Pha Ngan (which was much better as we were able to secure some sleepers; which were a lot like prison bunks, but air conditioned and bug free at least) our pace slowed a little bit. We checked into the Sivalai Place Apartments which were recommended to us by our tecksan friends and they turned out to be great accomidations. We were within walking distance to several sights which we took advantage of, as well as a neighborhood which was lined with street meat vendors, which you know we took advantage of. In order to not keep good Frederic too long, I'll try and bang out the highlights bullet style
Day 1
-We set out walking late in the day around lunch time, so we decided to get lunch at a local corner "restaurant". We sat down at a plastic table amidst a hundered or so locals grabbing a bite. The "waitress" dropped a piece of paper on our table for our order like we knew what we were doing. Once she realized we didn't, she sent over someone who "spoke english". The communication didn't go very smoothly, and at one point my old man tucked his hands into his armpits and flapped his elbows to pantamime his desire for chicken in his soup. Hilarious, but rather ineffective. I think she made a decision for us and we ended up with a very satisfactory bowl of beef noodle soup.
-Wat Arun-Temple of the Dawn. A beautiful sight from afar, this temple had what must have been 70 degree stairs that we climbed to a nice vantage of the city. The walls were covered in ceramics that were broken and plastered on into various designs. At the time I think I described it as a massive second graders' project.
-Wat Po- Ah good old Wat Po, there was a massive 100 meter long reclining buddah there gilded in gold, and then there was the Wat Po school of massage. This was our first visit there, I got an hour body massage, and dad opted for the foot massage. It was a bit formulaic, which is to be eckspected of students, but it was great nonetheless.
-Street Meat- After a forgettable bowl of Rad Na (I don't think it was a noodle shop, but rad na was the only words that we eckchanged with understanding, so they obliged) I got an incredible beef skewer from a street side barbeque: tender, juicy morsels that were rich with maybe a soy/vinegar/pepper/gingery marinade. The last piece skewered? A cube of flavor packed fat.
Day 2
-Royal Palace- Walking around the walls to get to the enterance, we were approached by a really nice fellow who informed us that the palace was closed for prayer until late in the afternoon. He even offered to wave down a tuk tuk for very cheap to take us to a big lucky buddah, but we felt like walking around, so we refused. Another man approched us a little later and ran a suspiciously similar speach and really tried to usher us into a tuk tuk, again we refused. When we rounded the corner we could se people filtering into the palace and we passed a woman who was getting out of a tuk tuk and yelling about getting scammed. Those guys almost got us. As we headed towards the enterance, I felt a bit proud about having avoided the scam. I looked around and found my dad talking to another scammer who was a woman. "Dad. No. No dad. No" "I was disarmed, she was a woman" hahaha. Inside we saw signs that said "don't trust strangers who offer tuk tuks and lucky buddahs". We also saw the most holy buddah in Thailand, the emerald buddah, in a massive hall atop a mountainous gold pyramid.
-Wat Po- another massage, this time with the herb option which involved hot towels soaked in a refreshing herbal blend. Again, amazing!
-Holy shit soup- This is the unofficial name for the soup I ordered that night at a corner shop as we watched the opening ceremony of the olympics. I think it was billed as spicy sour soup with seafood. It had such strong flavors, sour and savory with unknown spices that left me intruiged and wanting more, probably the best soup base I've ever tasted. The catch was that it was by far and away the spiciest soup I've ever had also. I could stand taking about 5 good bites before retreating to water and rice to douse the flames in my mouth, then going back at it. The fact that it was also about 90 degrees in the open air restaurant also meant that by the time I finished (which I was sad and relieved about at the same time) I looked like I had jumped in a pool.
Day 3
-National Museum- A decent collection of relics followed a shitty grade school acount of Thai history complete with dioramas that dad fell in love with.
-Jim Thompson's House- You guessed it, he was a white guy. But he did manage to revive the thai silk trade and make good preservation of traditional thai architecture in the house that he assembled from 6 seperate thai houses from different places in the country. We ate an early fancy "eckspensive" dinner at about 300 baht per (~9 USD). We tried to rush back to Wat Po for one last massage, but the traffic left us high and dry. Dejected we returned to the apartments to make ourselves prepared to catch planes the next day.
-Beer, Olympics and Laundry- Sounds like a recipe for success for one last relacksing night, and it almost went off without a hitch, just that one pen that slipped in with our laundry load. Dang. Both my pairs of shorts bore the brunt of the damage, with minimal damage to my prana pants and one of my shirts (other two are black, phew). Well, I have some shopping to do in Europe then. If I come back looking like Eurotrash, blame my old man. =)
Getting to the airport, I came to the last stage with my dad. We said our goodbyes and I made the leap through the gates into the great yonder alone. It was a bit emotional, my dad and I had a great trip together and we made for good travelling partners, with a great micks of adventurism and levelheadedness. Going through security, I felt as though I was going through a mini rite of passage. So far so good, I'll keep you updated as I go. Right now though, Frederic is waiting, so I bid you farewell. I'll see you in Athens.
Much love,
-Jon
Christine: I miss you too, you still owe me dinner when I get back, don't think I'll forget =)
So today I left Thailand on my way to Athens. The flight has a massive 10 hour layover in Bahrain so the airline actually put us up into a hotel in the city; naturally I set down my bags and set out ecksploring. With me is a German named Frederic, since we were both travelling alone they put us into a room together. We made our way wandering aimlessly and changed some money so that we could sit down in an internet shop where I am now. The keyboard here is in bad shape with buttons that stick pretty well, so you'll have to eckscuse typo's (the letter "x" is especially bad so I'm trying to avoid it haha).
So I owe you guys some time from Bangkok where I spent the last few days with my pops. After making the haul back from Ko Pha Ngan (which was much better as we were able to secure some sleepers; which were a lot like prison bunks, but air conditioned and bug free at least) our pace slowed a little bit. We checked into the Sivalai Place Apartments which were recommended to us by our tecksan friends and they turned out to be great accomidations. We were within walking distance to several sights which we took advantage of, as well as a neighborhood which was lined with street meat vendors, which you know we took advantage of. In order to not keep good Frederic too long, I'll try and bang out the highlights bullet style
Day 1
-We set out walking late in the day around lunch time, so we decided to get lunch at a local corner "restaurant". We sat down at a plastic table amidst a hundered or so locals grabbing a bite. The "waitress" dropped a piece of paper on our table for our order like we knew what we were doing. Once she realized we didn't, she sent over someone who "spoke english". The communication didn't go very smoothly, and at one point my old man tucked his hands into his armpits and flapped his elbows to pantamime his desire for chicken in his soup. Hilarious, but rather ineffective. I think she made a decision for us and we ended up with a very satisfactory bowl of beef noodle soup.
-Wat Arun-Temple of the Dawn. A beautiful sight from afar, this temple had what must have been 70 degree stairs that we climbed to a nice vantage of the city. The walls were covered in ceramics that were broken and plastered on into various designs. At the time I think I described it as a massive second graders' project.
-Wat Po- Ah good old Wat Po, there was a massive 100 meter long reclining buddah there gilded in gold, and then there was the Wat Po school of massage. This was our first visit there, I got an hour body massage, and dad opted for the foot massage. It was a bit formulaic, which is to be eckspected of students, but it was great nonetheless.
-Street Meat- After a forgettable bowl of Rad Na (I don't think it was a noodle shop, but rad na was the only words that we eckchanged with understanding, so they obliged) I got an incredible beef skewer from a street side barbeque: tender, juicy morsels that were rich with maybe a soy/vinegar/pepper/gingery marinade. The last piece skewered? A cube of flavor packed fat.
Day 2
-Royal Palace- Walking around the walls to get to the enterance, we were approached by a really nice fellow who informed us that the palace was closed for prayer until late in the afternoon. He even offered to wave down a tuk tuk for very cheap to take us to a big lucky buddah, but we felt like walking around, so we refused. Another man approched us a little later and ran a suspiciously similar speach and really tried to usher us into a tuk tuk, again we refused. When we rounded the corner we could se people filtering into the palace and we passed a woman who was getting out of a tuk tuk and yelling about getting scammed. Those guys almost got us. As we headed towards the enterance, I felt a bit proud about having avoided the scam. I looked around and found my dad talking to another scammer who was a woman. "Dad. No. No dad. No" "I was disarmed, she was a woman" hahaha. Inside we saw signs that said "don't trust strangers who offer tuk tuks and lucky buddahs". We also saw the most holy buddah in Thailand, the emerald buddah, in a massive hall atop a mountainous gold pyramid.
-Wat Po- another massage, this time with the herb option which involved hot towels soaked in a refreshing herbal blend. Again, amazing!
-Holy shit soup- This is the unofficial name for the soup I ordered that night at a corner shop as we watched the opening ceremony of the olympics. I think it was billed as spicy sour soup with seafood. It had such strong flavors, sour and savory with unknown spices that left me intruiged and wanting more, probably the best soup base I've ever tasted. The catch was that it was by far and away the spiciest soup I've ever had also. I could stand taking about 5 good bites before retreating to water and rice to douse the flames in my mouth, then going back at it. The fact that it was also about 90 degrees in the open air restaurant also meant that by the time I finished (which I was sad and relieved about at the same time) I looked like I had jumped in a pool.
Day 3
-National Museum- A decent collection of relics followed a shitty grade school acount of Thai history complete with dioramas that dad fell in love with.
-Jim Thompson's House- You guessed it, he was a white guy. But he did manage to revive the thai silk trade and make good preservation of traditional thai architecture in the house that he assembled from 6 seperate thai houses from different places in the country. We ate an early fancy "eckspensive" dinner at about 300 baht per (~9 USD). We tried to rush back to Wat Po for one last massage, but the traffic left us high and dry. Dejected we returned to the apartments to make ourselves prepared to catch planes the next day.
-Beer, Olympics and Laundry- Sounds like a recipe for success for one last relacksing night, and it almost went off without a hitch, just that one pen that slipped in with our laundry load. Dang. Both my pairs of shorts bore the brunt of the damage, with minimal damage to my prana pants and one of my shirts (other two are black, phew). Well, I have some shopping to do in Europe then. If I come back looking like Eurotrash, blame my old man. =)
Getting to the airport, I came to the last stage with my dad. We said our goodbyes and I made the leap through the gates into the great yonder alone. It was a bit emotional, my dad and I had a great trip together and we made for good travelling partners, with a great micks of adventurism and levelheadedness. Going through security, I felt as though I was going through a mini rite of passage. So far so good, I'll keep you updated as I go. Right now though, Frederic is waiting, so I bid you farewell. I'll see you in Athens.
Much love,
-Jon
Christine: I miss you too, you still owe me dinner when I get back, don't think I'll forget =)
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
The food is O so good
Ah, the past few days have been good ones =)
I think when I last left you we were headed to do some light Bangkok tourism before jumping on a train, so I guess that's where we'll pick up. We decided to go to Thailand's biggest market, Chatachuk. We hopped a taxi which dropped us off at an obscure entrance at the north end. As we confusedly wandered around, the market slowly began to unfold. The first area we came across was where the merchants were selling wildlife. We were surrounded by fish tanks and small cages holding birds (little chirpy things up to peackocks), rabbits (wearing little bitty dresses), puppies (Travis: Leslie should never, ever come here; unless you want to raise a dog farm. Even I could hardly resist buying one of the hundreds of little fuzzy bouncy bundles with big sad puppy eyes just waiting to be freed from their oppresive cages), and many unidentifiable little creatures to the untrained eye. From there we began our long march south which revealed thousands upon thousands of vendors selling anything you could imagine. We spent about 3 hours wandering through endless ailes and estimated that we had seen between 5-10 percent of what was there. Exercizing great restraint, we left with only one bag of goods before returning to the hotel to grab our luggage and head to the train.
The seats we had booked were the best available, second class reclining with fan (no a/c). This was a gamble, as the train ride was scheduled to last from 7pm to 7am, but after toughing the bus through Cambodia, we were up for it. The seats didn't turn out to be too bad from first glance; we had plenty of leg space and a little table that reclined from the seat in front of us. The fans that rotated at the top of the cabin circulated the air decently, but keeping the windows down was still a necessity. We had grabbed some humbow and shumai from a street vendor in Bangkok's chinatown (score!) so we had full stomachs for the journey. As we got settled, the task at hand became getting to sleep, which turned out to be much more difficult than you'd think. The bright flourescent lights stayed on throughout the night, and as we were cruising through the country side, insects were getting drawn in through the windows (the entire cabin was open, again, out of necessity). After applying massive amounts of bug repellant, we still had to battle with the wildlife. At one point a dragonfly, which was more dragon than fly with a 3.5+ inch body (my Dad can attest), crash landed right onto my stomach. In a half fear stricken paralysis I managed to push my belly up close enough to the window to recruit my dad to swat it out the window. This is how beastly this dragon fly was: after my dad flicked it out the window, we watched it get swept back by the wind as the train was going about 40-50 mph. The dragon fly then flew against the wind, back into the same window from which it was flung. I shit you not. Luckily, it chose not to seek fire breathing revenge on us, but instead left to terrorize someone else. After constantly swatting more meager mosquitos for a while, I gave in and just tried to pass out, hoping that if I wasn't looking that they wouldnt be there.
We eventually made our way to the ferry that would take us to the islands. Over the course of the night we made the decision to go the Ko Pha Ngan; a lesser traveled and lesser touristy island, just another hour past Ko Samui. Along the way we gave into a resort salesman who showed us pictures of his place and arranged for us to get there for free. When we eventually got there, it wasn't so bad. The relatively new buildings made for a good bungalow and everything we needed, but the beach was made of rocks and we were a long ways out from much of anything. We decided to rent some motos and go looking for another place to stay. Down the beach a ways we found Mac's Bay Resort where we stopped for a beer to check it out. I couple of minutes later, two tall, blonde, blue-eyed beauties from Holland sat down at the table next to us and we stuck up a nice conversation. I got some good advice for my trip through that portion of the world, and we decided that Mac's was the place for us. As we headed back to our place, we made a stop at a place that had caught my eye earlier, Wat Pho- a temple with an herbal sauna. I made my way in while pops sat outside (maybe in his right mind as it was already 80+ ouside after the sun was down). I sat down on a cement bench with a provided cloth around my waist in almost pitch darkness. The whole room was about 8'x5' with a low arched ceiling and was about "fuckin' shit this is hot" degrees celcius. I punished myself for a certain time that didn't mean a whole lot to me as perception is a bit different in there. When I came out I used a bowl to pour fresh cold water over myself from a stone basin outside of the door. As I looked over to the old man with a look that said "that was amazing but I am spent", he says "aren't you going to go back in?" As I stupidly almost never back down from challenges, especially from the old man, I went back in for round two. Afterwords I was in a trancelike state as we drove the moto's back to where I slept. Really well.
The next day we gathered our things and made our way down to Mac's. The sun out the most it had been our entire trip so we slipped on some shorts and got into the ocean. The water where we were at varied between 1 and three feet for about 75 yards until there was a reef (note this section of the blog for later reference) that broke the surface and the small waves. We wandered out into it and were pleased to find the water a really pleasant 90 something degrees from being baked by the sun in the shallows. We sat down and just floated in the bath of the ocean and enjoyed the sights of distant islands, palms on the beach, and lazy puffs of clouds drifting above. Incredible. We were so content we just sat staring and floating for a couple hours; not noticing the burn setting in. Although we got charred a bit, it was totally worth it. For dinner we made our way just down the street to a really nice restaurant called Baan Thai. I ordered some Pad See Ew and two bottles of water to rehydrate. The food came out beautifully plated. a wide white dish with fresh noodles bordered by bright orange shredded carrots, crisp sprouts, and juicy green slices of lime. The flavor was even better, the rich and savory noodles weren't greasy at all, and the crisp veggies gave a perfect texture complement. We struck up our conversation with our chef named O, a beautiful thai woman who looked like she could have been a yoga instructer with a charming smile and accent. She was an incredibly gracious host with really positive energy. That, combined with the fact that she cooked us the best food we've had in Thailand, left me enchanted and so we resolved to return for dinner again.
We awoke the next morning fully rested and ready to go, though we were a bit tender on our shoulders. We took our time and cruised the island on our motos and over the course of the day we ran several small errands. At one point we stopped at an internet cafe to catch up on emails and blogging, and about half way through (at the note I mentioned) the power went out. Apparently this is a pretty common occurance judging by the reaction of the shop owners, who couldn't give that great of an explanation through the language barrier. We returned back to the resort where the power was also out (still don't know why), so we decided to head out again on the motos down to Haad Rin: home to what they claim to be the original Full Moon Party. The half mile stretch of beach was lined with 20 somethings laying out and swiming in front of a wall of solid reserts and bars blaring music. We gathered that the night scene at this beach is rather infamous for being quite a ruckous affair. Eventually we cruised back to Mac's so that we could stroll back out into the water and catch the sunset. What an unbelievable experience. Really comfortably warm water set our environs as ever changing pastel yellows and reds lit up the streaking clouds over the near perfectly calm ocean. An amazing sunset followed by, you guessed it, another amazing dinner at Baan Thai. We returned again to order some spring rolls to start and I took O's suggestion of the green curry with seafood for the main course. The spring rolls were unlike any I've ever had. The fresh, hot, and crisp wrappings held light vermicelli noodles and vegitables. Again, there was hardly any excess grease which made for a perfect appetizer for the upcoming meal. The curry was probably the best I've ever had. The flavors were clean and distinct, as opposed to the often muddy type of blend I am accostomed to, and it had just the right amount of heat that brought out the flavors without making it difficult to endure. Again, O was the perfect host and chef without breaking a sweat. After one last dip in our perfectly warm sun-heated pool in the perfectly warm evening air, we fall asleep content.
And here is where I find myself, typing away this last note before I run to grab my bags so we can embark on the ferry away from paradise. How I will miss it so, but the rest of the world can't wait forever, so here I come.
I think when I last left you we were headed to do some light Bangkok tourism before jumping on a train, so I guess that's where we'll pick up. We decided to go to Thailand's biggest market, Chatachuk. We hopped a taxi which dropped us off at an obscure entrance at the north end. As we confusedly wandered around, the market slowly began to unfold. The first area we came across was where the merchants were selling wildlife. We were surrounded by fish tanks and small cages holding birds (little chirpy things up to peackocks), rabbits (wearing little bitty dresses), puppies (Travis: Leslie should never, ever come here; unless you want to raise a dog farm. Even I could hardly resist buying one of the hundreds of little fuzzy bouncy bundles with big sad puppy eyes just waiting to be freed from their oppresive cages), and many unidentifiable little creatures to the untrained eye. From there we began our long march south which revealed thousands upon thousands of vendors selling anything you could imagine. We spent about 3 hours wandering through endless ailes and estimated that we had seen between 5-10 percent of what was there. Exercizing great restraint, we left with only one bag of goods before returning to the hotel to grab our luggage and head to the train.
The seats we had booked were the best available, second class reclining with fan (no a/c). This was a gamble, as the train ride was scheduled to last from 7pm to 7am, but after toughing the bus through Cambodia, we were up for it. The seats didn't turn out to be too bad from first glance; we had plenty of leg space and a little table that reclined from the seat in front of us. The fans that rotated at the top of the cabin circulated the air decently, but keeping the windows down was still a necessity. We had grabbed some humbow and shumai from a street vendor in Bangkok's chinatown (score!) so we had full stomachs for the journey. As we got settled, the task at hand became getting to sleep, which turned out to be much more difficult than you'd think. The bright flourescent lights stayed on throughout the night, and as we were cruising through the country side, insects were getting drawn in through the windows (the entire cabin was open, again, out of necessity). After applying massive amounts of bug repellant, we still had to battle with the wildlife. At one point a dragonfly, which was more dragon than fly with a 3.5+ inch body (my Dad can attest), crash landed right onto my stomach. In a half fear stricken paralysis I managed to push my belly up close enough to the window to recruit my dad to swat it out the window. This is how beastly this dragon fly was: after my dad flicked it out the window, we watched it get swept back by the wind as the train was going about 40-50 mph. The dragon fly then flew against the wind, back into the same window from which it was flung. I shit you not. Luckily, it chose not to seek fire breathing revenge on us, but instead left to terrorize someone else. After constantly swatting more meager mosquitos for a while, I gave in and just tried to pass out, hoping that if I wasn't looking that they wouldnt be there.
We eventually made our way to the ferry that would take us to the islands. Over the course of the night we made the decision to go the Ko Pha Ngan; a lesser traveled and lesser touristy island, just another hour past Ko Samui. Along the way we gave into a resort salesman who showed us pictures of his place and arranged for us to get there for free. When we eventually got there, it wasn't so bad. The relatively new buildings made for a good bungalow and everything we needed, but the beach was made of rocks and we were a long ways out from much of anything. We decided to rent some motos and go looking for another place to stay. Down the beach a ways we found Mac's Bay Resort where we stopped for a beer to check it out. I couple of minutes later, two tall, blonde, blue-eyed beauties from Holland sat down at the table next to us and we stuck up a nice conversation. I got some good advice for my trip through that portion of the world, and we decided that Mac's was the place for us. As we headed back to our place, we made a stop at a place that had caught my eye earlier, Wat Pho- a temple with an herbal sauna. I made my way in while pops sat outside (maybe in his right mind as it was already 80+ ouside after the sun was down). I sat down on a cement bench with a provided cloth around my waist in almost pitch darkness. The whole room was about 8'x5' with a low arched ceiling and was about "fuckin' shit this is hot" degrees celcius. I punished myself for a certain time that didn't mean a whole lot to me as perception is a bit different in there. When I came out I used a bowl to pour fresh cold water over myself from a stone basin outside of the door. As I looked over to the old man with a look that said "that was amazing but I am spent", he says "aren't you going to go back in?" As I stupidly almost never back down from challenges, especially from the old man, I went back in for round two. Afterwords I was in a trancelike state as we drove the moto's back to where I slept. Really well.
The next day we gathered our things and made our way down to Mac's. The sun out the most it had been our entire trip so we slipped on some shorts and got into the ocean. The water where we were at varied between 1 and three feet for about 75 yards until there was a reef (note this section of the blog for later reference) that broke the surface and the small waves. We wandered out into it and were pleased to find the water a really pleasant 90 something degrees from being baked by the sun in the shallows. We sat down and just floated in the bath of the ocean and enjoyed the sights of distant islands, palms on the beach, and lazy puffs of clouds drifting above. Incredible. We were so content we just sat staring and floating for a couple hours; not noticing the burn setting in. Although we got charred a bit, it was totally worth it. For dinner we made our way just down the street to a really nice restaurant called Baan Thai. I ordered some Pad See Ew and two bottles of water to rehydrate. The food came out beautifully plated. a wide white dish with fresh noodles bordered by bright orange shredded carrots, crisp sprouts, and juicy green slices of lime. The flavor was even better, the rich and savory noodles weren't greasy at all, and the crisp veggies gave a perfect texture complement. We struck up our conversation with our chef named O, a beautiful thai woman who looked like she could have been a yoga instructer with a charming smile and accent. She was an incredibly gracious host with really positive energy. That, combined with the fact that she cooked us the best food we've had in Thailand, left me enchanted and so we resolved to return for dinner again.
We awoke the next morning fully rested and ready to go, though we were a bit tender on our shoulders. We took our time and cruised the island on our motos and over the course of the day we ran several small errands. At one point we stopped at an internet cafe to catch up on emails and blogging, and about half way through (at the note I mentioned) the power went out. Apparently this is a pretty common occurance judging by the reaction of the shop owners, who couldn't give that great of an explanation through the language barrier. We returned back to the resort where the power was also out (still don't know why), so we decided to head out again on the motos down to Haad Rin: home to what they claim to be the original Full Moon Party. The half mile stretch of beach was lined with 20 somethings laying out and swiming in front of a wall of solid reserts and bars blaring music. We gathered that the night scene at this beach is rather infamous for being quite a ruckous affair. Eventually we cruised back to Mac's so that we could stroll back out into the water and catch the sunset. What an unbelievable experience. Really comfortably warm water set our environs as ever changing pastel yellows and reds lit up the streaking clouds over the near perfectly calm ocean. An amazing sunset followed by, you guessed it, another amazing dinner at Baan Thai. We returned again to order some spring rolls to start and I took O's suggestion of the green curry with seafood for the main course. The spring rolls were unlike any I've ever had. The fresh, hot, and crisp wrappings held light vermicelli noodles and vegitables. Again, there was hardly any excess grease which made for a perfect appetizer for the upcoming meal. The curry was probably the best I've ever had. The flavors were clean and distinct, as opposed to the often muddy type of blend I am accostomed to, and it had just the right amount of heat that brought out the flavors without making it difficult to endure. Again, O was the perfect host and chef without breaking a sweat. After one last dip in our perfectly warm sun-heated pool in the perfectly warm evening air, we fall asleep content.
And here is where I find myself, typing away this last note before I run to grab my bags so we can embark on the ferry away from paradise. How I will miss it so, but the rest of the world can't wait forever, so here I come.
Here is a link to some more pictures, http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=10700716&k=Y5DUY6TYV22M5FEGP1Z5QP
Thanks for tuning in everyone and thanks for the comments, it's great to hear from each of you, I'll see you back in Bangkok.
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