Yangon, Myanmar – December 1st – 4th, 2016

Yangon is considered the “last great Southeast Asian city”; to us it seemed a lot like any other a big city. Worse yet, we lost our celebrity status! There were other tourists everywhere and the locals pretty much ignored us, which was a bit of a shock (and more than a little hurtful) after being such a big deal for the past week and a half. Also, for the first time on our trip we stayed in a dormitory. It was a pretty nice place, but we soon learned that there really is something to be said for having walls between you and a snoring neighbor. Despite these less than ideal circumstances, we ended up having some great experiences in Yangon.

Top right and top middle photos were taken on the way to Yangon. The top right is a storage room for rubber collected and processed by hand at the surrounding rubber plantations. The top left photo is us in from of our dorm bunk beds. The bottom two photos are some of the views/traffic around Yangon.

Arriving and departing Yangon by bus is… overwhelming. The bus drops/picks you up at the biggest and busiest bus station known to man (not sure if this is true or not, but sure seems to be true). Being that is was dark both times we were at Aung Mingala bus station did not help the situation. Upon arrival, we had to find transportation to downtown Yangon, which is about an hour and a half away (in wall to wall traffic around the clock). First things first though, we had to find the bus station exit, which was an undertaking on its own. Although you can take an overpriced taxi, we attempted to take the bus in order to save money. That was, until we saw the bus. The public bus looked like an abandoned school bus crammed to the brim with Burmese travelers. After attempting, and failing, at negotiations, we settled on a shared van instead. The return trip to Aung Mingala was no better. At the downtown bus station, we ran into the same chaotic mess except this time the shared van filled in seconds, leaving us out to dry. We ended up sharing a taxi with two Malaysian travelers. The problem this time was finding our bus in the cesspool of bus companies and people. Most all signs are written in Burmese script and matching the symbols proved extremely unsuccessful. We asked about 15 locals for directions before finally finding our bus over an hour after the taxi had dropped us off. Good thing we left ourselves plenty of time.  

Myanmar is not exactly known for its cuisine, but we were able to find some pretty good food around Yangon. Between Indian food, vegetable and meat skewers, and Shan noodle soup, the soup was probably our favorite. We have also recently become obsessed with fresh fruit smoothies (that is when we can be sure the water is filtered)! The markets provide all of the fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats you can imagine. The fish and meat are sometimes so fresh that they are still struggling to move and breathe when you buy them. If they are completely dead, they have been thoroughly butchered leaving you the option to pick any part of the animal that you wish (literally any part of the animal). Flies are included for free. I realize that this is just the way that it is and at least they are using all of the animal, but actually seeing it is something else. Also, when you order meals with meat you will receive not only meat but cartilage, bones, etc. In other news, I have recently become a vegetarian.  

Markets around Yangon.

Around Yangon, we visited a huge handicraft market called Bogyoke Aung San Market. It was interesting to see all of the Myanmar art and handmade crafts. Their resourcefulness is incredible, since most, if not all, of the crafts are made from natural products grown, harvested, and processed in Myanmar. On our first night in Yangon, we walked to one of the jetties to watch the sun go down and took a bicycle taxi back. The poor guy had to work so hard to lug us back to our hostel, we both felt bad and contemplated swapping with him, but figured we wouldn't be strong enough to pedal for more than a couple of minutes. 

Streets of Yangon.

Jetti and nearby pagoda at sunset. Right middle photo shows us on the bike taxi. 

The next day, we hopped on the circle train which circumnavigates the city very VERY slowly (~3 hours for the loop). The locals use the train to get around so the people watching was excellent. There were vendors selling everything from live chickens to quail eggs, fresh fruit, newspapers, betel nut, and everything in between. Added bonus was that for a short time we were celebrities again! After eyeing us for about 30 minutes, two brave young girls sandwiched us to take photos and play phone games with us. It was nice to feel wanted again. Since my attention span remains very poor, we lasted about 45 minutes before becoming bored by the train and hoping off. We walked to a nice pagoda park and fed stale bread to some humongous fish before catching a taxi to a lakeside driving range and hitting a bucket of golf balls. For sunset, we took another taxi to Shwedagon pagoda, the most famous pagoda in Myanmar. The pagoda grounds were built to enshrine three Buddha hairs that were plucked and given to a couple of merchants for their donation to Buddha thousands of years ago. The pagoda was out of this world lavish, much like Versailles in France. The top of the massive pagoda included a 75 carat diamond and a three-foot replica pagoda on display was made entirely from solid gold. Don’t get me wrong, it was absolutely brilliant, especially at sunset, but we were a conflicted by the extravagance, especially in a place where so many of the Buddhist congregation are struggling for basic necessities, yet being asked to contribute daily to the church. 

Activities around Yangon. The bottom left photo is a picture of one of the girls on the circle train. 

Shwedagon Pagota at sunset. The bottom middle picture shows the lines of volunteer sweepers cleaning the marble floors. 

On the day before our first overnight bus, we wandered the streets and viewed some of the colonial architecture in Yangon. We were stopped for almost two hours by a random local that talked our ears off (in English we could only half understand) about American and Myanmar politics. Correction, I should really say he talked Andy’s ear off, because he’s a man and sexism is real. Although after two hours we were more than ready to shake him, we did learn some interesting things about Myanmar’s culture, struggles, and corruption in the government. For example, in Myanmar, a man is not allowed to enter the home of a woman without her husband being present. Also, the former government was extremely corrupt, but the new head of the government is making many positive changes for the Myanmar people. Lastly, the locals (and apparently many Myanmar people) believe that America is exactly as Hollywood portrays it – therefore, we all love our president and honor him (He, “knows because he’s seen it in the movies”). We promptly corrected this stereotype. After escaping the talkative grip of the very friendly local, we made our way for $3/hour Thai foot massages before departing for Inle Lake.

Ye, Myanmar – November 29th – December 1st, 2016

After a typical minibus ride (by typical I mean cramped, uncomfortable, loud, and randomly dropped us off 4 km away from our actual destination), we arrived in Ye. Ye is a small town which is firmly off the beaten path for regular tourism. We made our way to one of the few hotels in town, which was a six room guesthouse owned by non-other than an expat American named David! He spent 11 years in Thailand before moving to Myanmar with his Thai wife and adopted daughter. It was a such luxury to be able to easily communicate with someone that lives locally.

Once settled into the guesthouse, we started wandering the small town. We visited a couple of pagodas, the picturesque lake in the center of town (which apparently used to be a moat), and the market. Since we are celebrities, we couldn’t be too surprised when we acquired a stalker. As a typical stalker is, he was very creepy. He followed us for almost an hour, attempting to be sneaky by passing where we turned and waiting for us to turn again. Problem was that he was terrible at stalking and it was very obvious that we were being followed. After not being able to shake him, we got up the nerve to directly confront him. Since we don’t speak Burmese, it’s doubtful that he understood, although one may think that if your stalkee calls you out, you might stop. Alas, he did not, and we eventually had to corner him inside a store and tell the locals he was following us (which they did not understand either). We then ducked into a café ourselves and lost him for good. 

Back at the guesthouse, and stalker free, we enjoyed hanging out with the owner’s eight year old daughter, Emma. She was quite the character and had the second best English language skills in town (after her Dad of course). We eventually ventured out for dinner and found some delicious local Thai food that ended up giving me a bit of an upset stomach. Worried the stomach problems would worsen (which they didn’t, WIN!), I stayed in while Andy went with David to his free English class. There were about 20 teenagers and adults eagerly learning English, and Andy had a great experience participating in the class with the locals.

On our only full day in Ye, we rented motorbikes from the guesthouse and toured the surrounding areas. Unlike Dawei, this time we were sure to bite off the appropriate amount. We went to Banana Mountain where the highlight was a nine story four-faced Buddha temple/building. We both had to borrow longyis (the traditional Myanmar skirt wrap) from the nuns at the entrance before ascending the stairs to a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. After, we went to what the online travel guide said was a popular beach. It turned out to be more of an abandoned littered sand patch surrounded by rocks and a few restaurants (maybe it livens up in the evenings). Regardless, we went into one of the restaurants for a cold drink and enjoyed the music of a couple of locals that were practicing nearby. Next, we visited yet another Buddhist site where 500 monk statutes (literally, there were 500) were erected in one glorious line leading to a pagoda on the top of a hill. It was pretty spectacular!

Buddhist temple / pagoda mania. 

Buddhist temple / pagoda mania. Doesn't Andy look good in a skirt?

Around Ye and the "popular" beach area. Serious bonus points for anyone that can tell us what animal is pictured in the bottom right. We have no idea what it is, but it seemed to be the monastery's pet. 

500 Monks. For accuracy's sake, the top left photo is actually of Buddha statues at a nearby site. 

When we returned to Ye we were reunited with an amazing Scottish couple that we had met in Dawei a few days earlier. Together, we went to a local bar for drinks and dinner. Without a menu we could read, we winged it and ended up having a great time! After about 3-4 hours of surprisingly delicious cocktails, beer, fresh fish, chicken, vegetables, and great company, we were shocked when the bill arrived and turned out to be less than $25. Did I mention we consumed about 20 drinks in total?!  

Top left: David's free English class, top right: local musicians at the beach restaurant, bottom left: Andy and Craig trying Myanmar local whisky, bottom right: Andy demonstrating that we are way too tall for most everything in Myanmar (including stairwells). 

Except for the stalker, we really liked Ye and wish we could have spent another day there. Unfortunately, because the tourist infrastructure in Myanmar is still developing, we had been forced to book hotels in advance and a reservation in Yangon was waiting for us the next day. We boarded yet another bus early the next morning. At least our bellies were full. David had gotten up early and arranged for some pepyoke nanbya to be dropped off as part of our breakfast. Pepyoke nanbya, a traditional Myanmar dish created from Indian influence, is naan with a chickpea onion mixture inside – YUM! 

Dawei, Myanmar – November 26th – 29th, 2016

It turned out that opting for the flight option to Dawei was not only the correct decision, but an outstanding one: it was the easiest flight ever! We checked in and went through “security” which was really just a bag scan machine and handheld metal detector. They did not have any qualms about letting in bottled water, so we sat in the waiting area and enjoyed our water while talking to some other Americans that were also traveling through Myanmar. When it was time to board, the entire waiting room got up simultaneously and exited, showing their ticket on the way outside. We boarded through the back of the plane, picked a seat, and by the time we were situated, the cabin doors were closed, the plane taxiing, and the flight attendants doing a short safety briefing. Just as the flight attendants finished, the plane was airborne. Within 10 minutes of boarding, we were at elevation, and had been served fresh juice and a delicious pastry. We stopped in Myeik, a city along the way, where the plane dropped some passengers off and boarded others (including their baggage). You would think that this would take some time, but no, we were back in the air in approximately 7 minutes and were served yet another pastry and more juice. It was incredible! We reached out destination about 30 minutes after our scheduled departure time (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we left 45 minutes early!).  

Cell service in Myanmar only started about five years ago. That being said, one would logically infer that reception and starting service would be difficult, but no, it turns out that only in the US is getting a cell phone plan a painful process. After five minutes and 4500 kyat (about $3.50) we had a sim card with coverage throughout the country and 500 Mb of data. This all from a local that hardly spoke English. Beat that Verizon!

Dawei, is a larger city (in comparison to Kawthaung) on the southern peninsula. On our first full day, we rented two semi-automatic motorbikes to tour the surrounding area. We had planned to see a giant reclining Buddha statue, visit a beach pagoda, and spend the rest of the time on a beach that we had heard was picturesque and completely undeveloped. We did manage to accomplish all of this, but our beach time turned out to be more like a beach moment because we did not arrive there until dusk. It was really more of a motorbike day since we spent about 7 hours on and 2 hours off the mini-motorbikes, which were by the way designed for people closer to a 5 ft. stature.  How did that happen you ask? Well, poor planning for one: to our surprise, the beach pagoda was about 2 hours away on a terribly maintained dirt road and was in the opposite direction as the picturesque beach. Also to our astonishment, it was not a pagoda on nice beach, but more of a pagoda build on some rocks with a short bridge to the mainland. Let’s just say it was not worth the 4-hour round-trip journey. 

Next, my motorbike got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, our Myanmar cell phone had full service, and we called the rental company who told us to keep driving (with a fully flat tire) to the nearest village and give the phone to a local. Since it appeared we had no other choice, we complied, and 5 kilometers later we stopped a villager coming out of his hut and told him (via charades) to wait a moment while we call someone. Since we’re celebrities, he agreed willingly. Several minutes later, he gave us his motorbike, he took mine, and we rode towards the nearest mechanic. Our friendly local arranged for the tire to be fixed (which by the way, is done in exactly the same way that a bicycle tire is changed) and we were on our way. We paid 3000 kyat (~$2.30) for a new tube and 20 minutes of labor for the mechanic (which was later reimbursed by the rental company). The villager that we had stopped stayed the entire time to help and see us off. So nice! 

The first half of our day trip around Dawei. 

At sundown, we finally arrived at the beach. It was spectacular, like nothing either of us had ever seen. The white sand beach extended as far as you could see in both directions with nobody in site but the occasional fisherman. We watched the sun lower in the horizon before grudgingly rushing back to town to avoid having to ride in the dark. Unfortunately, we again had underestimated how long it would take us to get back and we ended up riding white knuckled for over an hour in pitch blackness. Terrifying would be a mild way to describe that hour.

The second half of our day trip around Dawei. 

The next day in Dawei was much less exciting. We wandered the streets, ate some delicious food, and visited a bustling market and beautiful pagoda. At the pagoda, we met an overly zealous teenager who was excited to trade phone numbers with a couple of Americans. Since we will only have the Myanmar phone number for a couple of weeks, there was no harm in trading numbers. Here is what his first text to Andy read: “hi I am staying at the Monastery by the way. What time will u go to Yay on tomorrow? May I treat u and u lover on tomorrow I want to treat u Myanmar traditional food.” Unfortunately, our minibus left early in the morning and we could not join him, but we did refer him to another American which seemed to mollify him entirely. 

Photos taken around Dawei. On the top left is a game of Sepak Takraw, which is a mix between soccer and volleyball played with a woven ball. The players were incredible, doing (and landing) bicycle kicks as spikes!  

More photos taken around Dawei. On the top left is one of many motorbikes converted into trucks. On the bottom right is a very friendly woman making our Upha Moe, a traditional dessert from Dawei made with eggs, coconut milk, and rice. It was delicious!  

A quick note about some unhealthy habits in Myanmar: Although cigarettes seems to be less prominent than in other Asian countries, a chew called betel nut dominates the market. It consists of about six different mystery ingredients all wrapped up in a leaf. Not exclusive to men (although more men than women use it), betal nut absolutely wrecks their teeth. You can instantly tell which of them are hooked based on the red/black color of their teeth and destroyed gums. Additionally, the users spit massive amounts of red saliva all over the streets. Another unhealthy habit, although more unhealthy for the environment than the individual, is littering. Even though there are trashcans, most people simply discard their trash when they are done with it. This might be on the sidewalk, out the side of a tuk tuk, or thrown overboard on a boat. It is sad to see, especially in such a beautiful country, but unlike India, they do have street cleaners that are employed to collect and burn trash. Perhaps littering is actually a job creating ploy… doubtful.        

Kawthaung, Myanmar – November 24th – 26th, 2016

The four-hour long bus ride from Khao Lak north to Ranong, Thailand (on Thanksgiving, by the way) cost a whopping 165 thai bhat, or about $4.50. Unlike some of the bus rides we have endured over the last couple of months, the trip went surprisingly smoothly. Once in Ranong, we caught a taxi with some other travelers to the immigration office to cross the border into Myanmar. After being granted permission to leave Thailand, we were ushered onto a longtail boat by a friendly Burmese man that had been collecting all of the necessary documents for us (passport photocopies, boat manifest, etc). With the boat full of locals, we made our way across the channel towards Myanmar. The border crossing was, by far, the oddest one yet. The boat stopped four times at different port authorities, each located on a different mini island. There was one Thai, one Myanmar, and two mystery stops. Each time, our passports were given to the officers while we stayed in the boat. At one stop, our passports and all of the locals got off the boat to talk to authorities, but we stayed put. This was possibly because they wanted us to keep the two illegal hideaways company that were smuggled under the bow and stern of the boat. In addition to being completely bewildered as to what was going on, we also had to ward off the seemingly continuous reasons for why we owed US dollars to the boatmen. Each time we said no and told him we had pre-approved e-visas and shouldn’t be paying anything extra, and each time he shrugged his shoulders and dropped it for a few minutes before his next attempt. Persistence paid off though and we disembarked on Myanmar soil without having to fork over any more moola (besides the cost of the perplexing boat ride).

Ranong border crossing from Thailand to Myanmar.

Having now arrived in Myanmar, the real fun began. As before, we were instantly greeted by another Burmese man, who we assumed worked for the port authority. He helped us off the boat, made photocopies of our passports for the authorities (again!), and led us to the empty immigration building, where we waited for over a half hour for five officers to approve our already approved e-visas (again very perplexing, and more than a little stressful). Finally allowed to officially enter the country, the Burmese man, Johnny, led the way into Kawthaung. Along the way, he insisted (through the use of marginal to poor English) that we buy our onward travel tickets. Thinking that this was because we told immigration we were traveling on (and according the Johnny we were required to buy the tickets), we agreed to stop by the airlines and bus offices to get pricing. After he became increasingly pushy, we began to get the impression that perhaps he was not an employee of the immigration office, but a man trying to make a buck off of us. After about 30 minutes, he “allowed” us to go to our hotel first to drop our bags and decide if we wanted to fly or take a bus to our next destination. Without prompting, Johnny again, hurriedly led the way. He quickly got our room key from the reception desk and even walked us upstairs to our room and invited himself inside (SO uncomfortable!). After five very awkward minutes, we managed to shake Johnny by agreeing to meet him for a beer an hour later. At this point we still could not decide if it was compulsory that we comply with this very pushy little man. Asking the hotel staff proved pretty much useless since asking them who Johnny was almost resulted in them calling him for us. We were finally able to glean that he was a guide (and likely not affiliated with immigration). First off, what kind of a guide just assumes the responsibility without you actually hiring him!?!??!!!

After doing a little digging on the internet, we determined that the bus ride to Dawei was not 10 hours long, as Johnny had assured us, but really closer to 25 hours! Also, contrary to Johnny’s strongly worded opinion, the road is not in good condition and is not well-traveled (actually, before January of this year, tourists were not even allowed to travel on the one road connecting Kawthaung and Dawei in Southern Myanmar). Based on our strong desire to avoid another bus ride from hell, we opted for the $80, one and a half hour, flight option. Now thoroughly convinced that Johnny was full of shit, we ventured out on our own to get cash, buy airline tickets, and set up a tuk tuk driver for the following day’s activities (which by the way cost ~$26 not $85 as Johnny had said). All of our errands took less than an hour and half to complete on our own (go us!) and now on our way to dinner, it appeared that we had successfully shook Johnny as well.

Alas, Johnny found us on the street, and forced us into having that beer we had earlier agreed to (Little did we know, he had already been to our hotel room and knocked on the door. Stalker?!) This turned out to be one of the most uncomfortable dinners of either of our lives. Johnny got increasingly agitated as he discovered piece by piece that we had done everything without him. Between cussing at the waitress, he desperately started making up reasons why we will certainly perish without going with his motorbike friend (who by the way had also joined us at the table and drinking (presumably on our dime)). According to Johnny, the tuk tuks can’t make it up the “steep” mountain roads, the tuk tuk will flip backwards and he won’t help us when we are in the hospital, and he “never said it would cost 3,000 baht ($85), he said 3,000 kyat ($2.30)!” When his tactics didn’t work and we still insisted that we didn’t want a guide, Johnny got down right angry. We bought his two beers, five cigarettes, and his friends beer, and made our getaway without tipping him (much to his very audible frustration). Our main concern now was that he knew the location of our hotel room. Let’s just say this was not an ideal Thanksgiving dinner (the fare by the way was oily fried vegetables and rice).

Although Johnny had managed to ruin our first afternoon/evening in Kawthaung, all was well because WE…ARE…CELEBRITIES!!! Everywhere we went people watched us with a fascinated curiosity. The outgoing would excitedly say hello (mingalabar in Burmese) or take photos (often of us together with them) while others would just stare shyly. Regardless of their personality, if we said hello to them and waved, all would beam with the most genuine and wide smile you can imagine. It was like having the superpower to make anybody’s day just by acknowledging them. Many would instantly rush inside their shop or house to tell the rest of their family and friends. It was especially a treat to see the reactions of groups of beaming children!

For those of you that do not know, until recently, Myanmar (previously Burma), was closed to foreign travelers due to an army-induced isolation for the past 60 years. The southern part of Myanmar only started to allow westerners to visit in 2013 and there is still just a slow trickle visiting much of the region. It is only in the last three years that the Burmese people have seen a white person outside of the movies. Speaking of movies, it seems that the people actually believe that the USA is just like Hollywood portrays it. Who are we to burst their bubbles? We are, after all, celebrities! 

     

We only spent about two days in Kawthaung, but it was jammed packed with visiting the surrounding areas, wandering the streets, and accidently attending a Buddhist ceremony at the local pagoda. Our tuk tuk driver, Minthukha, first brought us to the picturesque Maliwan waterfall area. It was certainly beautiful, but the weather was marginal and the local crowd we were expecting were nowhere to be found (likely because it was 10am on a Friday). We explored the park and Andy took a dip in the water, but since I would have had to swim fully clothed, I settled for a cold foot bath. Next, we went to Palautone, a small island connected to the mainland by an extremely long wooden plank bridge. The village on the island was rustic at best, but extremely welcoming. We put on our best “Queen of England” smiles as we drove through town to the beach area. Even our driver was proud to show us off. In the evening, we ventured up the hill from our hotel to Pyi Daw Aya pagoda where we stumbled on what we think was Pagoda Day. Although we were 100% clueless as to what was going on, it was incredible! There were about 1,000 people sitting and listening to an announcer and monk conduct some sort of ceremony. The congregation chanted and bowed their heads in prayer at seemingly random times throughout the ceremony/celebration. We sat in the back and observed for a while before finally calling it a day.   

The sites around Kawthaung.

More of the sites around Kawthaung.

The next morning, we were wandering through town when a man excitedly stopped his motorbike to say hello to us. He enthusiastically asked if we would mind talking to him so he could practice his English. Of course, we complied, and within minutes he asked if we would follow him around the block to the school to meet his wife who was the school teacher. We agreed, and on arrival, he ushered us into his open concept shack/house where he invited us to sit while his wife hurriedly boiled some water for instant coffee. We sat and spoke with him and his wife for almost an hour before he gave us a ride back to our hotel on his motorbike. Although his wife was very shy to try her English (which was actually quite good), they were so genuine and kind. It was one of the most memorable times we have spent on the trip so far and more than offset the Johnny “the guide” extravaganza from the first day.  

The locals in Kawthaung. Our tuk tuk driver is on the left, while the amazing husband and wife are pictured on the right.

Khao Lak, Thailand – November 17th – 24th, 2016

Khao Lak, a beach town on the west coast of southern Thailand, is the hub for many liveaboard SCUBA trips going to the protected Similan Islands, Richelieu Rock, and surrounding areas. We were lucky enough to secure a discounted last minute booking on a 4 day / 4 night trip and even more lucky to actually make it to Khao Lak, since we were almost stranded on Koh Bulon Lae (refer to last blog post). We had one full day before boarding the boat which we spent eating touristy Thai food (yum and so easy to read the menu!), walking the town, dealing with Andy’s missing debit card (likely eaten by the ATM as an evening snack and lost forever), and relaxing in our nice air conditioned hotel room. The town is very touristy and as such, had a ridiculous amount of handmade Thai gifts which would have made perfect Christmas presents/souvenirs. We found this very irritating since we had shipped gifts the week before and some of the gifts were… let’s just say… less than ideal. Hat Yai did not have the mecca of perfect gifts that Khao Lak did.

Prior to this trip, Andy and I had logged a total of five scuba dives, four of which were part of our open water training, and all of which were in the frigid water of the Puget Sound in Seattle. Based on our inexperience (and fear of drowning / killer marine life), we were more than a little nervous the next evening, when we boarded the Manta Queen 6 (aka Excalibur) along with nine other divers: two Frenchmen, a Dutch couple (currently living in Switzerland), a German couple, a Swiss couple, and a Russian. Along with our fellow scubateers were three dive masters. The group clicked right away and our fears were soon set at ease. We were paired up with the two Frenchmen, Tiboh and Frederic, for the 15 planned dives and PADI advanced open water diver course. Our instructor, Marina, was amazing! She was a myofascial surgeon in Russia before quitting her all-consuming job and becoming a full time scuba instructor.

After a very rocky night of sailing, during which I heavily dosed myself with Dramamine to avoid yet another fun night alongside the porcelain throne, we arrived at the location of our first dive site in the Similan Islands. Our wake-up call came to the tune of the head dive master screaming down the cramped room corridor, “Wakey wakey, eggs and bace-y! Dive briefing 30 minutes.” (quick note on the wake-up call: Every morning the second half of the “wakey wakey” changed. I found this hilarious, while non-morning passengers, like Andy, could only laugh about it in the afternoon.)  After gearing up, we jumped into the warm, 84 °F (29 °C) water and instantly fell in love. Diving is like entering an alien planet. Although you can’t breathe the atmosphere, the scenery is stunning, and the inhabitants are strange and exciting. There was colorful coral and marine life everywhere!

On-board our first liveaboard scuba trip!

The motto of Khao Lak Scuba Adventures is “Dive, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.” This motto came to be more of a way of life. Each day, we woke up at 6 am, were in the water by 6:45 am, and completed four, approximately one hour dives, by sundown. Between each dive, we ate and studied for our advanced open water certification. We completed a total of 15 dives, including a night and wreck dive, in the span of 3 ½ days. It was absolutely incredible (not to mention exhausting). The dive highlights included clown fish families that act exactly like they do in Finding Nemo, two octopus, all kinds of moray eels, cuddlefish, giant jellifish, scorpion fish, lion fish, huge grouper and napoleon fish, and swimming with the ever-curious bat fish. We also really enjoyed the night dive, where different resident alien species were active and feeding. As I reflect now, there was actually way too many trip highlights to mention. The real take away is that we loved it and the four days went by way too fast.

The scenery from the boat and photos showing us as model students (even studying during our beach time!)

On board the Manta Queen 6. The cabins were small to say the least, we'd estimate about 6 sq. ft. of standing room. 

The only part of the scuba adventure that we didn’t love was the ear infections we got after the trip.  This problem was easily remedied since it turns out that the US may be the only place in the world where an ear infection is an inconvenience at all. Back in Khao Lak, we strolled down to the nearest pharmacy, told them our ears hurt after diving, and received wide spectrum antibiotic drops for the bargain price of $5. Within two days, the ear pain was gone. 

For even more details on this portion of Dandy's Grand Adventure, our scuba company is also writing a blog about our scuba liveaboard trip. You will be able to check it out on their website: http://www.khaolakscubaadventures.com/blogs. As of today, it has not been posted yet, but we will update this blog post when it does. Thanks to Andreas, our fellow scubateer, for providing some absolutely incredible underwater photography!

Photos taken by scubateer extraordinaire Andreas and Khao Lak Scuba Adventures.

Underwater photographs by Andreas showing clown fish, moray eel, scorpion fish, and Dandy! 

More underwater photographs by Andreas.

Koh Bulon Lae, Thailand – November 11th – 17th, 2016

On the morning we were supposed to depart for Koh Bulon Lae, an island off the west coast of Thailand, we got the bright idea to call to see if we could secure accommodations. This did not go well. At first, all of the places we called either did not answer or informed us that they were closed for the season. Thanks to the language barrier, we were left wondering whether the island was open at all. We had read that the tourist season typically started in early November, but apparently the rainy season was longer than normal this year. Since we had already booked the minibus there was not a lot we could do, so we boarded the bus anyway. En route, we got a call back from one of the more expensive resorts which told us that the island was indeed inhabited and open for business, although not fully. Phew, crises averted yet again.

After an uneventful minibus and speed boat ride, we made it to the tiny island of Koh Bulon Lae. We had been on the move every couple of days for weeks and were in some serious need of a little down time. Bulon is a little known and even less traveled island that takes only 10 minutes to traverse on foot. There are several “resorts”, a stunning white sand beach, and best of all you can stay and eat for less than $50/day for two people! There are only several downsides to the island: there is no power during the day and there is really nothing to do except relax (which if you are a normal person is ideal, but for those of us that can’t sit still, it was more of a challenge than a positive attribute).

Island paradise. 

As we discovered earlier in the day, most of the “resorts” and restaurants were not open yet. We walked around with all of our stuff in the humid Thai heat for over an hour trying to bargain for a bungalow at the few places that were open. We settled on a grass bungalow on stilts close to the beach for just $22.50/night. Unfortunately, the restaurant was still closed and for meals we had to either eat at the “expensive” resort nearby or walk 10 minutes up a small hill (which seemed rather large when you are hungry). Therefore, the next day we were convinced to switch residences when the restaurant owner offered us a bungalow for $14/night. As we soon found out, the downside to this plan was that our bungalow was not nearly as nice as the first one and we had bungalow company – ANTS! So many ants!... thousands of them actually. Our time on Bulon can be accurately categorized as follows: sleep, eat, lay, snorkel, read, kill ants.

Island life. Monitor lizards were HUGE and everywhere - completely harmless, but intimidating nonetheless. The bungalow we abandoned for a cheaper version is in the top center and Andy rescuing a drowning butterfly in the bottom center.  

Regardless of our ant problem, the food, scenery, and people on Bulon were incredible. We had daily iced chai, ate authentic Thai food (including fresh fish right off the boat), and even frequented a beach Italian place with the best pasta we have had since Rome (no kidding, it was amazing). With only about 100 locals and 25 tourists on the island, we found it easy to connect with people. On the full moon, the family that owns our hotel taught me how to make a banana leaf float which we lit incense on and set out to sea as part of their Loi Krathong festival. We also got to know many of the frequenting tourists which return every season. This included Philip, the Frenchman that wore only a G-string most of the time, and the Italian restaurant owner, Luca (we only saw him fully clothed). Since we were now in true vacation mode, we treated ourselves to Thai massages on the beach (for the bargain price of $8). The women issuing the massages were very VERY strong and it was by far the most painful massage either one of us had ever endured.

Around Kho Bulon Lae. My very sweet shell collection (which we had to leave behind) is shown in the upper right and my banana leaf float for the Loi Krathong festival is in the top middle. The longtail boat we took off the island is shown on the bottom center. 

After six days on Bulon, we were thoroughly relaxed and ready for our next adventure. Little did we know, our next adventure would happen before we even left the island. In the morning of the 17^th, we packed up and went to the speed boat pickup location. We had paid for a last-minute booking on a liveaboard SCUBA trip that departed the next day from a town about 8 hours north and were anxious to be on our way. Accordingly, we arrived 20 minutes early to catch to speed boat off the island – GO US! Much to our surprise, we were soon informed that the boat had already left without anybody on it. In order to keep me from getting all worked up about this situation yet again, I’ll keep this rant short. The speed boat company told us the wrong time, left over 20 minutes before scheduled departure, and did not honor our reservation. The solution to this problem was, according to the horrendously bitchy company owner, to stay on the island for another 24 hours in order to get the boat the next day. (For full effect, read the following sentence with a lot of sarcasm) It was, after all, our fault for not being there on time. Due to the expensive, non-refundable SCUBA trip that left with or without us the next day, staying an extra day was NOT an option. Needless to say, we argued with the boat owner over the phone (her using very broken yelling at us English) for over 30 minutes before shedding a couple tears out of frustration, giving up, and dishing out an extra $40 (even though we had already paid the speed boat for return transfer) to get a private longtail boat to take us off the island. Without the help of a very kind local, we would have never made it to the mainland in time to catch our minibus. It took two minibuses (one of which we paid over double for thanks to the trickery of the minibus company) and 10 hours to get to Khao Lak, but we made it. The last minibus was extra exciting because the driver chose to pay more attention to his unbuckled infant son and cell phone that the road, all while driving like an absolute maniac (he had some serious skills). It was, in fact, terrifying and the poor people in the back of the bus were sick and more than a little angry. Angrier still were the guys that were not dropped off at their stop and ended up over 100 km past their hotel. It was an interesting day to say the least.  

Hat Yai, Thailand – November 9th – 11th, 2016

Our minibus from Penang to Hat Yai, Thailand would be the nicest overland travel experience yet, or so we thought when we first took our seats. The van picked us up at the hotel on time and there were actually empty seats (though they were filled with people’s luggage) – a first in our limited Asia bus experience! We thought to ourselves, “This is a lot better than we expected.” We drove for about 15 minutes before we stopped to pick up three more people along with their luggage. Turns out their plan for fitting everyone and their bags was to seat people in their seats and then pack the luggage all around people, just like packing peanuts. That’s how we rode for 5 hours to Hat Yai: surrounded and cushioned by our fellow travelers’ bags. We were only a little concerned about getting out of the van in the event of an emergency…

Once we arrived in Hat Yai, our first order of business was to buy bus tickets for the next morning. We were headed to Pak Bara, where we would catch a speed boat to our island paradise! Unfortunately, it wasn’t so simple. Our hotel was conveniently located next to the big bus station in town, so we made the quick walk over. It was there that we found out that there are TWO bus stations in town, we needed to go to the other one, and it would cost us $15 roundtrip by tuktuk. We didn’t believe this, so we got lunch to cool our nerves – it shouldn’t be this difficult or expensive to buy bus tickets. Our lunch, though especially spicy, was delicious and served by a helpful French expat who, along with his Thai wife, helped explain the bus situation and corroborated the story. BTW, we found out papaya is an amazing and delicious way to soothe your mouth after very spicy food (we also learned ginormous banana crushes are another way to soothe your mouth, but the absolute BEST way to soothe your mouth is get both papaya AND banana crushes 😊). With our bellies full (and mouths soothed), we bartered with a few tuktuk drivers and headed over to the other bus station. At the other station, they refused to sell us bus tickets for the next day. Through very broken English, we gleaned that we would need to return early the next morning to buy the tickets before the 7:30 am bus left. We were frustrated that the “buy your bus tickets the day before” rule that we had learned in the rest of Asia now randomly didn’t apply, but we were (and are) finally learning that we just need to accept and roll with these types of things.

Not many pictures of our time in Hat Yai and no pictures of Dani unfortunately, but we were productive and got my hairs cut!

Though it was a large, ugly, and uninviting city, we decided to stay an extra day and finish our Christmas shopping, which we had begun in Malaysia. The next morning, we walked to the post office to investigate our Christmas package shipping options. The man we spoke to was very helpful for the first five minutes, after which he randomly lost interest and – without another word – began reorganizing his desk. We continued walking to the main shopping and market area where we happened upon another post office whose postwoman was extremely helpful and answered all of our questions without making us feel like we were wasting her time. The rest of the day was spent shopping, walking, wrapping, and packing the small Christmas gifts we had bought for our families. When we returned to the post office to send the package out, the helpful postwoman was no longer clocked in, but the replacement postman recognized he would need some help with English and brought in a translator on his own accord! We felt a huge wave of accomplishment and relief when the box was all packaged, paid for, and sent off. Here’s hoping it actually takes only a month to arrive in the States!

In Hat Yai, we noticed a few major differences compared to Malaysia:

1. the language barrier is much much worse
2. for the first time on our trip we encountered someone (more than one actually) who couldn’t be bothered to help us (unclear if this was due to language barrier or disdain for tourists)
3. twice, someone tried to help us figure something out and then decided to give up right in the middle of it
4. they have SUPER tiny tuktuks that you can’t even sit up straight in (see the photo above).

Reading this list again, we sound like very snobby tourists… But it also goes to show how tourist-friendly and genuinely helpful Malaysia and its people are. Come to think of it, even in India and Nepal we never encountered someone unwilling to help us out.