About 200km from the bangkok city, Sub Ta Kien is a great place for anyone who loves cross country biking.

I heard on the news this morning and I couldn’t believe my ears! Monkeying around too much, gave more than a hundred of the infamous  Lopburi macaque monkeys hernia. So the town councils have been saying that people should help by stopping them monkeying around!

How do you stop them?

Have you seen these monkeys? If not watch this!

Now how do we stop them being themselves?

If you are concerned then you can help by donating money to support the volunteer  vets to operate on the poor animals. Here is how.

 call (081) 570 662 to make donations.

On reprend le train pour continuer notre parcours vers le nord, direction Lopburi a 1h30 d’Ayutthaya.

Les Tuk Tuk locaux nous deposent a l’hotel Theptani ( 400 baths, 8 euros la nuit)

Le marche de jour.

Lopburi est une petite ville. Les principaux monuments sont accessibles a pied. Les temples sont d’origines hindous ce qui explique la presence des singes dans la ville. Ils sont respectes et veneres. C’est genial de les voir deambuler sur les fils electriques, traverser la rue, monter dans les voitures, faire les stars pour les paparazzis…On en adopte un ? lol, c’est minuty qui va etre jalouse.

Petit Best Of :

KvZ.      Half of the time was gone for the visit from my mom and sister (Joan and Durand) and we still had a lot to do. We had traveled down south to the city of Lopburi to see the monkey temples, and we were not disappointed. On the walk to the first temple the monkeys were hanging all over the walls and roofs of the buildings. They would tightrope across the electrical lines with ease, and even manage to have fights on them without falling off. Tim stood too long in one place and happened to get peed on. When we got to the temple we barely had time to pay the admission fee before one monkey climbed halfway up Tim’s leg. The temple attendant gave us several long sticks and we didn’t have to ask what they were for. Every now and then one would sneak up behind you and you’d have to wave the stick and yell at them. But mostly they stuck together in the shade, busily grooming bugs off each other. The temples in this town are ancient and were built by the Khmers. We wondered how the monkeys ate, but that was answered at the main temple where huge piles of oranges and bananas were plentiful. We went inside the actual temple (no monkeys allowed, though you had to check every so often to make sure they weren’t trying to make off with your shoes left outside the door) and watched the locals bring offerings to the various Buddha statues. We noticed that they all had little flakes of gold which they would plaster onto the Buddhas, eventually turning then into completely gold covered statues which I found beautiful. Durand and I noticed we both had tight necks and shoulders and realized it was from the stress of having to watch out constantly for rogue monkeys. As it turned out, only Tim was ever actually touched by a monkey….we later discovered he had a unknown orange plainly visible in the side pouch of his backpack.

monkeys at temple in Lopburi / Drew looking out from inside the temple

After the monkeys we headed to the local noodle shop. We each ordered one bowl of noodles with chicken and vegetables added…they were 60 cents each. It was a fast food type place and there was a group of young Thai boy teenagers in there…they were ordering bowl after bowl of the noodles and piling the empty bowls up in stacks on the next table. Even in Asia, growing boys seem to have bottomless pits for stomachs. They all seem to remain thin though. It’s rare to see a fat Asian.

chowing at the local noodle shop

a local Lopburi bus // bus mama, money collector

watching with glee in Lopburi as Barack Obama is sworn in replacing

George W. Bush; the worst president in the history of United States.

When it was time to leave Lopburi we headed to the local bus station and bought our tickets to Pak Chong, the town just outside the National Park of Khao Lai. The bus arrived and we began to put our luggage below, but I decided to take a peek on the bus first. The attendant wouldn’t let me on until the locals got on first, which I took as a bad sign. Sure enough, it was completely full. If you’ve read earlier posts you’ll know this isn’t the first time this has happened…I’m sure any local would have merely succumbed to sitting on stools in the aisle or just standing up. But something just irks me (as an American I suppose) about paying full price for a seat and them having them unscrupulously over-book. When I got back outside I saw that our group hadn’t even got the luggage on because the luggage compartments were full anyway. Obviously the attendant knew we’d never fit our luggage on, hence letting the luggage-free locals on first. So after more waiting and a new bus company, we were finally on our way. We got to Pak Chong and immediately hopped on a sangthauw to the Park entrance where we were unceremoniously dropped off. The Headquarters were another 14 kilometers into the park, but there was no public transportation. Our only choice was to pay a private truck to take us there for $15. Thus began our frustration 3-day experience of having to rely on private “got ya where they want ya” transportation. It was ridiculously expensive compared to anywhere else, but we had no choice, and after a while it didn’t seem so expensive after all and we got used to it.

possible excitement // realized excitement; Drew getting a tick removed

a visitor to our cabin the 1st night // Helmeted Hornbill just outside our cabin in the morning

Joan and Durand take a rest on a vine along the trail

We stayed at the National Park for 3 nights and had to move every night due to the place being very full. It was a bit of a pain, but we did get to see different areas of the park that way. The first night we were in bungalows quite a distance away from Headquarters and were completely alone. We were playing cards at the outside table when a mule deer came right up to us, scaring us half to death (we were telling ghost stories.) He was not shy at all. The next morning we decided to hike back to Headquarters instead of hiring a truck…the pathway was overgrown and hard to find…we had to duck under thorned branches and climb over fallen trees, but we prevailed. We had to cross the stream at one point…we almost lost Grams when she had to leap across the water, but luckily both Tim and I had a firm grasp on her when both her feet slipped on the very slippery moss-covered rock. This park is a monsoon forest and truly amazing with many ferns and bamboos with large canopies above. Half of us eventually gave up on the trail and headed the rest of the way via paved road, but the ones who stuck it out were rewarded with seeing a small group of gibbons, both white and black. Gibbons have no tails but extremely long arms…the white ones look like miniature abominable snowmen. We saw plenty of the macaque monkeys too (like the ones in Lopburi).

The next night we stayed near Headquarters and did a nature trail walk. Most of us had gone down to hang out by the stream and Tim was up at the cabin. He was sitting INSIDE the cabin when a monkey stuck his head in, saw Tim sitting there, grabbed a bag of food and ran off. The thief returned 2 more times, even though Tim chased it with a broom each time.

Each meal in the Park had to be eaten at the Headquarters. It was buffet style and in the morning it looked pretty good. But by evening it was obvious that all that same food had been sitting there all day, cold. We eventually figured out to have them heat it up in their microwave, but that didn’t work when the power was out. However, none of us got sick and Durand and I surmised that perhaps all the worry about un-refrigerated food is a bit exaggerated. Our third night we took a “night safari”. We were disappointed when we realized it was just a ride around the park on paved roads, with a “guide” (who spoke not a word) and who shined a heavy flashlight into the forest. The only redeeming feature was that we saw a porcupine waddle across the road, and that it was cheap. The last day we did a substantial hike through the jungle and got to see the beautiful waterfall that was used in the movie “The Beach”. We saw signs warning us of crocodiles, but we saw none. However, as we headed out of the park we were rewarded by seeing 2 beautiful Hornbill birds fly by. They are amazingly large.

We had decided we didn’t want to spend all of our last days together in Bangkok, so we headed to the beaches of Pattaya. We had been there earlier with my other sister Beth, but we had mainly just visited with her and had not even gone to the ocean. I realized this was probably going to be the last time I’d be at the beach the rest of the trip and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed right across the road from the water’s edge and rented beach chairs so close to the water that you only had to stand up and walk a few steps to go swimming. We had 1 complete day of nothing but hanging out on in the sand, and when a Thai mother with her 2 neices offered to give Mom, Durand and I leg massages and pedicures, we happily succumbed. Tim, Durand, and the kids took a banana boat ride for half an hour in the ocean…I chickened out. They had a great time though their thighs were sore for days. After 3 days in the National Park, we treated ourselves to very touristy restaurants and the kids gratefully ate Western food. They didn’t seem to notice all the fat, old, bald Western men with their surprisingly young Thai “girlfriends”. Pattaya is known for nothing if not that. Alas, it was time to dust off the sand and head to the big city, but that’s another post for another day.

curiuos boy on bus enroute to Pattaya

1st beer in Pattaya after leaving Khao Yai National Park

getting into the groove of Pattaya with leg massages and beach games

It was a 3hours plus journey from Bangkok to Lopburi Province to seek the well-known master, LuangPhor Thongdum of Wat Tham Tapiantong. Here are some pictures we took along the way. Please enjoy viewing.

A lake where we pass by. In Lopburi, on our way to Wat Tham Tapiantong

Saw something from afar by the lake…

What is that white figure in the distance??

Lets go nearer to take a closer look….

A majestic white statue of Buddha sitting by the peaceful and serene lake. Very peaceful feeling.

After a minute break out for some fresh air and a few pictures of the nice scenaries and beautiful Buddha statue. We are off again.

On the journey again to Wat LuangPhor Thongdum. Passing by small hamlets and village houses.

Turning into a narrow and unpaved path from the highway. We heard towards the hills.

Rocky and uneven dirt track after turning out somewhere middle of the highway.

Hills from the distance, we are told that we will be on this rocky dirt track for about 10mins before reaching.

What's that from afar? looks like a Wat/Temple...

Zoom in for a closer look... Wat Tham Tapiantong?

Nope... it's not! We pass by it and went further into the hills...

I saw something... Looks like the entrance to a Wat!!

Looks simple from outside. Could this really be Wat Tham Tapiantong??

The peaceful and quiet surroundings...

A Kwan-Imm Bodhisattva shrine in Wat Tham Tapiantong??

A closer look and pay respect to Lady Kwan-imm. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.

What is this shrine beside the kwan-Imm?? Looks interesting!!!

It is a shrine dedicated to a Hindu deity? Let's examine closer..

.A picture of Lord Krishna and his consort on the wall? Maybe this deity is Lady Radha?

A Phra Phrom Bhrama shrine nearby..

A Phra Prom shrine under the hill

Spotted something very interesting below the foothills.... it looks like a cave!

What's inside the cave? Looks dark an erriee...

Lets turn on the flash... But just as we are about to venture further.. the guys are calling.. LuangPhor Thongdum is ready to see us! So we turn back and head towards the kuti..

The eminence LuangPhor Thongdum of Wat Tham Tapiantong

Presenting some of the gift we brought for LuangPhor Thongdum. He is happy.

LuangPhor Thongdum's alter. Pay respect to Lord Buddha first. Wait... spotted something very interesting again!

The mysterious and rare black wood- Mai Ngew Dum. The wood with unique properties.

A wood with properties so unique that it that it can ward off anything "unclean". Under the hands of a great master, the fully black wood can be make into powerful amulets. This tree is almost extinct now because of high demand.

The goodies in the counter..

After getting the goodies, we proceed to let LuangPhor bless us.

Once again, LuangPhor Thongdum of Wat Tham Tapiantong, Lopburi Province.

You can own a piece of amulet from this Master by visiting our online store.

A recent business meeting took me to Lopburi in central Thailand, so it would have been rude not to go and look at the fishing scene.  No tourists here, only people earning money by catching fish by selling what they do not eat.

Net fishing needs almost impossible coordination, skill and judgement to be successful and that is after you have hand made your own net!

A lot of time is spent maintaining and repairing the net.  This man cycles 15km every day to come fishing at this spot and he does it more for the activity rather than earning money.

The boats on the reservoir set gill nets and traps for fish and is an all day task to set and collect.  The heat with the sun reflecting of the water is almost unbearable and these fishermen certainly earn their catch. 

The boat is powered by a small diesel engine from a farm machine with a long tail prop attached.  You will notice that the fisherman is completely covered up wearing long sleeves and a balaclava to avoid the direct heat from the sun.

This girl was fishing at Sab Takien reservoir in Lopburi province, a group of 6 women fish 5 days a week for Nile Tilapia which they sell at the local markets.  They use rubber  inflatable rings to float across the deeper 

 areas of the reservoir and gain access to the small islands where the fishing is better.  They are in the water for up to 8 hours a day and are experts at fishing – I did not see any of them miss a strike or lose a fish and the fish where unhooked and in the keep net withing seconds.  

Today, as usual outside of Bangkok,  everybody was very friendly and did not mind taking time to stop working and sit and talk to me.

The Bar Sak reservoir is located in Lopburi Province at 15.067980 N, 101.079053E and the Sab Takien Reservoir is located at  15.11140 N, 100.99721 E

More info on Fishing In Thailand and the species of fish is available at www.john-tom.com

I did end up meeting with my Thai friend but not alone. Along came an Australian teacher i met at my guest house and his presense made the evening so much lighter and more enjoyble! Peter, the Australian was much better than me at communicating. He had only arrived in Thailand one day after me but his Thai vocabulary was substantially greater than mine (mine consists of two words: Swadikha hello & Kapkunkha thank you)  … i know, i’m a lazy student..

 I also ended up changing guest houses. When i arrived in Ayutthaya i had plans to stay in one guest house on the central island, but on my way there an owner of another house pleaded with me to stay in his. I refused… up until he said “damn lonely planet”.. and that is when i felt sorry enough for him to look at the room…. I ended up taking it without doing a thorough examination. Later that night i regreted my choice. It was so filthy and i left early the next morning. But i didn’t have the courage to tell this man my reason, all i said was that i had friends in the other place. I wonder why i felt so insecure telling him? But writing this reminds me that i should search for his hostel online so that i could leave an anonymous review. I’m slimy like that.

 What did i see in Ayutthaya? Many temples. Here a temple is called a ‘wat’. For some reason, i have a harder time remembering Thai terminology than i did Indian ones. To be honest, seeing wats does not make me feel much anything. Usually the inside of a wat looks like this: a big Buddha in the middle covered in gold, surrounded by smaller golden Buddhas and other figures. It kind of bores me. Sometimes i am able to appreciate the aesthetics and architecture, but stronger is the feeling of irony (the same that i have when i visit Catholic establishments) … that a house of worship for a faith that preaches simplicity should be adorned so lavishly. Us humans really do love shiny things…

But it’s hard to feel negative thoughts when someone, who feels as much pride and love for these temples as my Thai friend does, shows them to you. To witness his zeal and awe is beauty in a way, and there is almost nothing i seek more than sincerity. Sandipap’s desire to show and tell me about the wats is dear to me depsite my inability to see much beauty in the wats themselves.

    I took the train to Lopburi at noon. It is only about an hour away from Ayutthaya. Lopburi is a small town famous for its resident monkey (or as my guidebook calls them, the resident delinquets). These Long-tailed Macaque monkeys are everywhere, and because they’ve lost their fear of humans.. they act just like the street dogs by not paying passing humans any attention. The adolescent monkeys are very energetic and tend to jump on humans. On several occasions, i had these adolescents on my head. They have a very gentle grip. Although they do scratch and bite if provoked (Asya had to get rabies shots last year when one of them bit her). It was SO sad when my camera battery died, depriving me the opportunity to photograph the babies (just born) clinging to their mothers and the females in estras with swollen vaginas. The sex organs of these monkeys are HUGE in comparison to their bodies. The testes are bigger than a large size chicken egg, and the vulva of the females looks big enough to fit my fist. Anyway..

I really enjoyed Lopburi. At night there was a market full of veders selling cooked food, sweets, vegetables, clothes…

In the morning i was depressing over the fact that i couldn’t find food to eat. I have a note in my notebook saying (in Thai) that i’m a vegetarian and i show it to street venders. Nearly every vender i had brushed me away saying they had no food for me. Hungry and hot, i started to buy foods i wouldn’t usually eat – some pickled vegetable, rice with coconut milk, sweets… everything that i disposed of not long after i bought it. I was becoming so fed up with this food “situation” that i imagined stomping my feet and kicking something (i know, childish! but it was only in my imagination!) And then i saw him…

He was sitting on the ground trying to open an almost empty smothie cup. He didn’t succeed.

And with him my mood went up and up and up and i really enjoyed Lopburi. My favorite was this palace…

ps. Thank you for the comments .. <3

About 3 hours from Bangkok sits a typical Thai town, named Lopburi.  Typical except for one very unique thing, it is home to hundreds of city-dwelling macaque monkeys.  The majority of monkeys live in the ruined Wat of San Phra Kan, known to many as simply Monkey Temple.  As you near the temple it is not uncommon to spot a monkey rummaging through garbage, climbing on cars, playing around on telephone wires, or eating bags chips they found or stole on the streets while perched safely up on a restaurant sign. 

The city feeds the monkeys twice daily to ensure they don’t become too aggressive, but regardless of hunger level they still want to eat everything.  You are not permitted to bring food into the temple grounds, lest you want to be mauled. You can, however, purchase food on the grounds that is packaged in plastic containers- looking similar to jello- and then further wrapped in a plastic bag to minimize the smell.  Tourists are to bring the bag of food directly inside the Wat, which they keep closed off so monkeys cannot enter, and then feed the monkeys through the gates.  If you have no food you are free to walk around the grounds with the monkeys.  We bought one bag.  Vince was carrying it.  He got maybe 15 feet before a monkey made a giant leap onto him, snatched the bag, and leapt away.  He opened the jello container without problem -so much for feeding the monkeys.

We spent hours watching the animals of Lopburi jump, play, pick, scratch, swing, eat, masturbate, fight, mate, and scream.  It was like being right in the middle of a zoo exhibit, a very interactive exhibit.  Even without food it was not long before the monkeys approached to make new ‘friends’.  They loved the button on my hat and Vince’s leg hair. I saw a monkey rip a handful of hair out of young lady’s head and pull molding off from a parked car.  One of our friends, Robbie, had a monkey on his back that he couldn’t shake off.  He had to spin around in circles until the little guy lost his grip and flew off looking like Superman.  Mostly though, if you don’t step too close to the actual temple they will just goof around with each other.  

Wow! If your an animal, immigrate to Thailand. Elephants, dogs and monkeys all get it pretty good here.

Don’t go showing this photo to the starving masses of Africa. The food is strictly reserved for the resident population of monkeys in the Thai town of Lopburi.

My friend Bui told me that a while ago the town’s tour operators enticed the monkeys out of the jungle with offerings of sweet, sweet food, and knowing a good mangosteen when they see one, just decided to stay. Apparently the entire town now has more resident monkeys than The Rocks had rats in the 1800s.

Lopburi province, Thailand: The Monkey Buffet
Every year, all of the province’s approximately 600 monkeys are invited to eat fruits and vegetables during an annual feast held in honor of Rama, a hero of the Ramayana, who, it is said, rewarded his friend and ally, Hanuman the Monkey King, with the fiefdom of what is now Lopburi.

They eat. They have opposable thumbs. They hang out at Buddhist temples waiting to be fed (Thai Temple in Berkeley, eh? eh?). I took a day trip to Lopburi pretty much just to see the monkeys. And as you can see, they’re not shy about their monkeys.

The reason tourists come to Lopburi (@ train station)

So after getting all the non-monkey stuff out of the way, I got my monkey on!

Gotta have at least one comedy shot (feel free to make this your coworker’s wallpaper)

Dark photo of me feeding some monkeys

We had to feed the monkeys from inside the temple through those doors, so they wouldn’t hound us. Unfortunately I couldn’t monkey around all day (see what I did there? fuck, I’m corny) and had to hit the train back to Ayuthaya, so I could catch the night train to Chiang Mai. When I got to the train station in Lopburi I was informed that I had an hour and a half to kill. Now, the biggest challenge on this trip (besides the language) is beating the sun. How do you beat the sun? Wear a hat? No, that’s stupid. You stay in the shade — I would zigzag across streets just to be in the shade at all times. AND, you find places with A/C to hang out in. Lopburi has no internet cafes that I could find, so in an homage to Josh (and his seeking asylum at a Subway sandwich shop), I walked into a KFC, threw all my shit down and chilled out. I think there should be an international law that allows Americans to hang out at fast food restaurants with immunity worldwide (like embassies — maybe allow you to renew your passport there?). OK, so I could have bought a coke, but I didn’t want to. I figured if they hassled me I’d just show them my passport and start talking about Milton Friedman.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in the previous posts. They’re a hassle to upload, but I am taking them and will have plenty to share when I get home. I guess I’ve taken 99 so far (many are crap, don’t worry), so I might even exceed the memory I have. Probably not though. So every post doesn’t turn into vinny’s email about the lady cutting his bamboo (long), I’ll leave you with random thoughts from the past couple days (and the food report):

• Hanging out in Ayuthaya got me thinking about what it would be like to grow up in an ancient city/town. Rome doesn’t count because it’s too big, but what sort of attachment/association do the children of Ayuthaya have with the ruins and ancient temples?
• Couple odd sights from Ayuthaya: a woman hanging out IN the lagoon near the castle. I couldn’t tell what she was doing, looked like harvesting something. Also some public dance aerobics going on while I was walking home one night. Just funny to see.
• I’ve gotten used to eating with a spoon and fork (shovel food onto the spoon w/ the fork as you would w/ a knife), but I don’t get drinking everything with a straw. Thais won’t put their mouths to bottles, and they hand you these small straws even if you buy a liter of water. Also, on an environmental note, EVERYTHING is put into plastic bags here. I hope there’s some secret recycling program I don’t know about. You might think we do this in america, but the food carts even put prepared food into plastic bags, so you’ll see someone walking around with a large plastic bag full of small plastic bags full of food.

Food Report
Lopburi was wicked wicked cheap. I got a small bowl of silver noodles with broth and beef, AND a pepsi (in a glass bottle) for 60 cents. And I’m sure the pepsi cost 30 cents. I got a bunch of deep fried banana pieces for 30 cents. Then later I was bored, so I ate half a pineapple for another 30 cents. It’s great. They cut it up for you into pieces, put them in a plastic bag, and give you a skewer to poke at them.

All righty, I’m done. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Publicado por: scg

Entre leyenda y realidad, la conocida como ciudad de los monos existe y puedes visitarla si viajas a Tailandia. Su creación se remonta al periodo Dvaravati (siglos VI a XI). Está a apenas 154 kilómetros al nórte de Bangkok y una visita turística muy habitual debido a su próximidad al parque arqueológico de Ayuthaya. Tanto desde Bangkok, la capital, como desde Ayuthaya, se puede llegar en tren hasta Lopburi.

Aunque la cultura que creó la ciudad fue practicamente arrasada por los jemeres y por los thai más tarde, en el Museo Nacional de Lopburi aún se conservan numerosos objeto de la época.

En Lopburi uno siente que los extranjeros aquí son los humanos. La ciudad está completamente tomada por los monos, que campan a sus anchas en sus dominios. Duermen en el Prang Sam Yot y durante el día se divierten en el San Phra haciendo verdaderas gamberradas a los turistas, que por muy avisados e informados que lleguen a Lopburi, acaban siendo un juguete para los avispados monos.

Es recomendable no llevar objetos que llamen la atención, colgantes, llaveros, cámaras de fotos a la vista, gorras, mapas que se mueven o incluso guías. A los monos les encantan todos estos complementos del turistas y puede ser una verdadera faena quedarse sin guía o sin cámara de fotos en pleno viaje.

Aunque la comunidad de macacos es el mayor atractivo de esta población, hay algunas construcciones muy interesantes para visitar, como el palacio del rey Narai (el Phra Narai Ratchaniwet) y algunas pagodas como el Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat o el Wat Nakhon Kosa, que redondearán la visita.

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You monkeys you! You give me back my purse!

After meandering through Lopburi for most of the day and waiting for it to cool down, we finally made our way over to the monkeys’ stomping grounds. There are monkeys all over the city but they are especially concentrated around the Phra Prang Sam Yot ruins and the Phra Kan Shrine across the street.

This town is so grateful to the monkeys that they actually have a shrine especially for them. When we visited the shrine we were lucky that the attendant there took the time to show us exactly what to do.

We bought flower offerings to leave and he taught us the protocol for leaving them, it was more elaborate than I realized. First we lit candles and then use the candles to light incense. Then the incense was placed before the altar and we proceeded up to the Buddha statue and placed our flower garlands around it. Then we added gold leaf to the Buddha statue in three places to represent our own spiritual connection: his heart, his body, and his neck. The guide was very sweet but the explanation he gave of each sounded identical: “So that you can do what you need to do.” And something about auras. I wish I spoke Thai. Next, we stepped off of the altar and rang the bell three times to signal to the “fairies” (we think he meant spirits). Then we added oil to the flame that was burning. Finally, we shook ___ and he gave us a fortune. Josh pulled on that specifically said he would have no children. I pulled one that said I would have a boy. The man read our fortunes, looked embarassed about the discrepancy and grabbed a more appropriate one for each of us!

We spent the rest of the evening wandering through the night market and waiting for our train to Chiang Mai.

Yesterday morning we got a very early start and after a breakfast at the guesthouse took the Skytrain to Siam Square.   We were looking for MBK Center and almost fell for a classic tuk tuk scam (“it is closed”, “I have a friend in America!”).  But we made it anyway.  The guidebook recommends this mall food court as an awesome place to eat.  It actually is.  After eating at one food court that was sort of fancy, we realized we had been at the wrong one and all of the Thai people were in the crowded bustling one upstairs.  We’ll have to go back but the first one was quite delicious anyway.  We probably paid twice as much and still had a huge spread of food for about 500 baht.  Chinese roasted duck, Vietnamese pork sausage pho, pineapple fried rice, Chinese custard buns, and green papaya salad. 

We passed up the opportunity to eat this:

After leaving MBK we went to Th Sukhumvit and looked at a small Lanna house museum.   There were some very interesting videos about traditional Lanna architecture and cooking.  The house was actually moved from Chiang Mai and reconstructed in the middle of Bangkok.  While we were there, they were setting up for a wedding in the court yard.  These must be some big spenders!After the museum we headed to the train station to pick up our train tickets for today.  This required our very first tuk tuk ride.  It was hair-raising and fun.  Like a rollercoaster where you might actually die!  Seriously, though, this is an awesome way to travel because the tuk tuks can get through traffic much easier than cars (but not as well as a motorcycle – the lines on the road are basically extra motorcycle lanes).

We were quite exhausted at this point after a day of eating and being lost and headed back to the the guesthouse.  We met some nice Canadians and a Finnish woman while soaking our feet in the hotel pool and they recommended a place to get a massage. 

Well, we couldn’t find the one she recommended but after wandering into a beauty salon, were directed to another one.  We both received a wonderful two hour thai-style massage.  I shouldn’t even tell  you what it cost because you will be jealous.  But I’m going to tell you anyway – 600 baht (that is about 20 bucks for both of us if you’re keeping score at home – thanks Marty and Mike, that was your Christmas gift )  Thai massage is basically a combination of shiatsu and forced yoga.  You change into comfy pajama-type clothing and the masseuse very agressively kneads and stretches your body.  Painful at times but ultimately very relaxing and nice.  We both almost fell asleep by the end.  I’m looking forward to enjoying some spa treatments soon as well.

After our massages we were basically ready for dinner and bed even though it was only 8pm.  We decided to eat at the guesthouse and got an early bedtime as we had to be up quite early for the train this morning.

 Today we woke up to catch an early train to Lopburi.  The train ride was really lovely.  We had 2nd class fan seats so the windows were open, it was pleasantly warm, and a nice breeze came in constantly.  Also, the train was like a rolling buffet as food vendors came through constantly selling different treats and snacks.  We had larb and rice, grilled chicken skewers, and fresh pineapple (some of the best I’ve ever tasted!).  Yummy.

A view from the train:

Immediately after you walk out of the Lopburi train station, there are ancient ruins of Wat Changlon at the Sri Satchanalai Historical Park.  According to my ticket stub, “The style of the main stupa at Wat Changlon derived from Singhalese art at the time as Singhalese Therevada Buddhism; as seen in the changing development from high relief figures of elephants surrounded the pedestal to three dimensional ones and the making of stucco images of walking disciples surrounded the tiers.” 

Whatever, we’re here for the monkeys.

After the ruins we stopped at the tourist info center and got some handy maps.  We went to the ancient temple and looked at the museum there for a bit then found a dim sum restaurant to eat at.  We’ve realized that Lopburi isn’t all that exciting but it is a good place to relax and get a few things done (like blogging).  After lunch we walked throught the market and I bought a fake Anna Sui wallet (!) and we looking at really silly Engrish on t-shirts.  Finally, we found a mobile shop and purchased a used phone (once we realized that our phones wouldn’t take a Thai SIM card.)  We now have a phone number, if you think you need it, email me

So, that brings you to this moment, we’ve been sitting in an internet cafe for a bit chewing on Pocky and checking up on emails.  We’re about to head to the shrine where the monkeys live.  The reason we are in Lopburi at all is that there is a native troupe of monkeys that runs all over the city.  We’ve already seen them just chilling out on telephone lines and on shop signs.  They are like squirrels or pigeons here! 

Tonight, we’ll catch a night train to Chiang Mai where we’ll be for most of a week before starting our long trek South to Singapore.

There will be pictures added to this entry very very soon! Very soon is now but there are more, just click on the photostream to the left and enjoy the show.

Sooo my dear friends and family, I know you have been waiting for this a long time – and here it is: My first Thailand Monthely.

Alright, I don’t know really where to start at but, but things have been far different from what I’ve seen in the Middle-East.It started at the airport of Bahrain where I had a stop-over and stayed for about almost twenty hours at the gates to the world.Which wasn’t that bad, because you recognised all the other people walkin’ around the airport in the same time period-so I had a couple of chats to a lot of really nice people.With a massive delay, finally they announced that Gulf Air flight to Bangkok was ready for boarding.It was a strange feeling, because there were three different major cultures, a lot of Asian people, then Arabian fellows and of course Western people – I lhave been looking to the Asian people most, so I kind of knew what will expect me for the next three months. I went into the plane, took a seat, had my meal – grabbed a bear and instantly fell asleep until the stewardess woke me up again and that we are about to approach Bangkok International Airport! I had a window seat and so I had a great view over the landscape of Thailand.

It’s Thailand time, I thought for myself and I was in a good mood and ready to explore my next destination!At the passport check-counter was a really big sign that said: “Welcome to the Country of Smiling Faces”, which prooved to be absolutely right! So I grabbed my backpack, met up with the German girls I met in the plane and we were directly heading out of the airport, and they said oh my god this is so hot out here – and I was smiling, because compared to Oman and the Emirates, this was quite cool! After paying for a taxi about 4 Euros into the city between four of us, the taxi driver dropped us at the legendary backpacker street ‘Kao San Road’, with an amount of backpackers you would probably never see in a time span of ten years in Oman – wicked – but awesome! So we found quite a cheap accomodation and spend the day pretty much in walkin’ around and explore the tiny square we lived in! The same day we talked to a lot of locals who highly recommended us to leave Bangkok city as soon as possible due to elections and public demonstrations! So we bought right away a train ticket up north to Chiang Mai and left the next morning with two quick stops in Ayuttaya and Lop Buri. Ayuttaya was quite interesting and stuffed with old temples, Buddhas, Chedis and ruins. And Lop Buri was the monkey’s place to be – seriously, we got out of the train station, walked for about five minutes and the first litlle monkey showed up, followed by hundreds. The funny thing is if you give them a bottle of water, they take it and drink it!

After a short delay of the night train, we arrived mid-day in lovely Chiang Mai.A quite big city but with character and easy to orientate in, since the city’s city is surrounded by water and an ancient wall. We found a really cheap guesthouse for less than 3 bugs a night including a nice atmosphere and swimming pool! That’s where I met a bunge of people I’ve been travelling for a long time in Thailand. Justin, Dean, George and Sam and of course the three German ladies Tanja, Rini and Natalia from mother Russia – we all did the jungle trekking together which was absolutely awesome and one of my favourite things so far in South-East-Asia that I have experienced! It took us three days in which we hiked in total for about seven hours, enjoyed a massive and super fuckin’ funny bamboo raft and had the joy of riding an Elephant for nearly an hour – which wasn’t in the eleohants’ minds.But anyway, we had a great time, met locals, even helped them working on a rice field and enjoyed local food and a soccer match between local kids and us travellers!

After the trek, almost everybody decided to leave down south – and after a few days of hesitation I grabbed my backpack and made it within less than 36 hours the 2000 kilometers down south to Surat Thani. From there I travelled by nightboat, which was a kind of freighter, to Koh Pan-Gnag. I really enjoy Thailand because you meet people from all over the world – just everywhere – and almost everybody is some kind of same minded. So so, the day I arrived there was really nice, shallow chrystal clear blue/green water – awesome! I ended up staying about three weeks on the east-coastern Islands.Where I actually hopped from one island to the next one, including tourist island Koh Samui, which was my least favourite but still dad a good time on it! And then there was Koh Tao, a small divers’ paradise located two hours north of Pan-Gnang.Staying there for about 4 nights and celebrating Natalia’s birthday – which was one of my greatest nights going out on my travels! But the day must have come at some stage, the day that people from whole south-east-asia come to celebrate what some people consider one of the biggest beach parties in the world: The Fullomoon Party on Koh Pan-Gnang. Which is something I kind of had to do – and it was worth it! We met up again with Canadian Justin and the English lads to have a sleepless night, full of dancing and partying!! The whole beach was full with 6,000 to 10,000 people and that’s nothing compared to the high season, where almost 30,000 people come! But partying has an end and after we all recovered after this tremenciously night / 24 hours / or whateva’, everyone followed his own path again and so did I.

I went north of Koh-Pan-Gnang, a place called Bottle Beach, so damn nice and astonishing atmosphere that I ended up staying there instead of two nights almost ten!! Super chilled-out. nice weather and the hosts were not just normal hosts, they gave you this kind of feeling, feeling a bit home! And that’s where I found a treasure in the sea. Okey, some might don’t believe this, but it’s true. I guess almost everyone has seen the movie “The Beach”, and I’m sure you somehow remember the scene, where they did a night swim and were surrounded by lightning phospherous that showed up as they moved in the water? Ohh yes! The other night on Bottle Beach, a few Irish llads and me went out for a swim and it was for real!!! That was absolutely, well something you can’t put in words, something I will never forget in my life! Imagine everything around you is dark and as soon as you move, some small with any electricity filled up phospherous begins to shine – and thousands, no millions of them – wow!

But then the chill-out zone in me closed, and my inner watch told me it was time to leave, heading back north again! So the other day I bought a ship / bus / train ticket which took me withiin the same time up, as it took me down!! So arriving in Chiang Mai, it was a good feeling having left behind expensive party islands and spending too much money – and now open again for culture and maybe other countries, since Chiang Mai is not far from the boarders to Birma, Laos and Cambodia. So I settled myself down in a nice and cheap guesthouse within the city’s city, and some days later Justin showed up again. Which was really cool, he gave me the last inspiration on doing a meditation course for 26 days, which seems to be long, but I already changed my next flight to South Africa for the end of October! Yeah, so the last couple of days I was hangin’ out with Justin, doing some really cool activity like going to art galleries and doing some awesome shots with my camera! I think it’s the perfect time to leave for the temple, and I am sure I will go further north to other countries after my retreat!!

Sooo, I hope you guys enjoy reading my stuff and in total the whole homepage!! It would be really awesome getting some feedback or anything like that – and hey, if you have any questions or whatever, write on my wall or send me a personal message through the contact form. You will hear from me again after I found the karma!! So everyone out there: Have a good time, enjoy everyday as it would be the last one and – fuck – let’s rock n’ roll!!

Cya and big hugs

Love n’ Peace