Kuriketto onegaishimasu!

Some photos from our cricket extravaganza, courtesy of Phil, this lovely guy to the left. He shashinned so I didn't have to.

Australia Day. Oi, and indeed, Oi.

Friday was Australia Day, recognising the arrival of the first European settlers in Australia, and all of that moment's subsequent consequences, for better or worse. I celebrated by listening to the end of the Hottest 100 online, then eating Tim Tams and salt and vinegar chips with Richard. Saturday was a day of belated celebration involving cricket and the Aussie Bar, and lots of Australian company.
First, my expert analysis of the Hottest 100. For non-Australians, the Hottest 100 is a music poll run by Triple J, a national radio station. It's apparently the largest publicly-voted poll in the world. As the name suggests, it's a countdown of the one hundred best songs of the past year. It's been going since 1993, when it was won by Denis Leary's poetic anthem "Asshole." This year's poll was won by perhaps the most unlikely winner ever: One Crowded Hour by Augie March. This is a brilliant song, packed full of imagery and growing from a hushed whisper to swirling, spinning crescendo. On the other hand, it's not exactly catchy, and with all those words, it's impossible to sing along to. Let's just say it's not exactly Jet. Still, in my humble opinion, perhaps the best winner ever, besides Franz Ferdinand. So good for them. Elsewhere, five songs for Hilltop Hoods - the only South Australian band and the only Aussie hip-hop band of any importance. And then the obvious biggies - Scissor Sisters, Gnarls Barkley, Muse, Killers, Snow Patrol.... nothing to really complain about. Good show, kids.

So on Saturday, a bunch of Australians, a Welshman, and three curious Americans found a space along the Asahi River in Okayama to play a bit of cricket. Japan, of course, is not known for it's open public land, and it took a thirty-minute walk to a fairly desolate bit of riverbank in order to find any open space whatsoever on which to play. Still, a good time was had, and it was nice to have a bit of Aussie company, which I don't get much of these days.
Now I just have to get these damn stubborn grass stains out of my trousers.

This is what I get for never using Japanese in class

It's a year 3 class at elementary school, and the lesson's topic is jobs, and the structure "I'm a ~." I open with an example.

"I'm a teacher. Matsumoto-sensei [the classroom teacher] is a teacher too."

Boy at the front: eh! He spoke Japanese!

Apparently, I shouldn't say people's names in Japanese. I should translate the kanji.
"Pine-origin-teacher is..."

Video of the week!

Not a video in the MTV sense, but brilliant nonetheless; a live performance of Tame by Pixies. Brilliant watching just for Black Francis, looking genuinely barking mad, and screaming like the end of the world. It's rather loud.

Ko Tao and beyond

I wrote the rest of my Thailand stories a good while ago on Word, and I've only just remembered to put them up. Whoops!
Also, for a lot more photos than I can be bothered to upload here, have a look at this: http://cowssaymoo.photosite.com/Thailand/
On with the Thailand...

The 29th was a traveling day. First, a flight to Bangkok, then a flight to Surat Thani, where we encountered our first attempted scam. At Surat Thani airport, all the foreigners hopped on the same bus to take us to the pier for ferries to either Ko Samui, Ko Pha-Ngan or Ko Tao. As soon as we set off, a guy in a yellow shirt told us that the weather was very bad, the seas were rough, and that we shouldn’t take any ferries tonight. He suggested we all stay in Surat Thani and get a ferry in the morning. The bus was to drop us off at a hotel, and there we could decided whether we would stay or still take the ferry. When we got to the hotel, some people immediately cancelled their ferry plans and checked in, and guess what - Yellow Shirt works at this hotel. Fancy that. Of course, we stuck with our plan, since the only ferry to Ko Tao was the supposedly dangerous night one. Eventually, after much sitting around and wondering what on earth was happening, we were delivered to the pier, where we had another hour to wait for our ferry. At first glance, I thought the ferry looked like a disaster waiting to happen; it was a big fishing boat, with the upper level divided into two rows of futons. Everyone had an assigned spot on the futon-row, and those spots were about 2 feet by 6 feet. It was certainly cosy, and the seas were a little rough, but I slept a bit, so I consider it a victory (I have a thing about not being able to sleep on transport).
We arrive on Ko Tao, and guess what, it is beautiful. Even more so than I expected. The settlement on the island is restricted to a two-street village around the pier, and a cluster of restaurants, dive shops and bungalows along the main beach, ten minute’s walk north of the pier. Add a few more isolated hotels scattered around the coast, and that’s it. Our bungalow overlooked a rocky bit of coastline between the pier and the beach, and suited us just fine. We spent the first day exploring and swimming at the main beach (Hat Sai Ree). The stroke of planning genius that makes Hat Sai Ree so ideal is that the beachfront is pedestrian-and-bike-only; the actual road is further inland. So there’s a lovely promenade lined mostly with shops, bars, restaurants and all the rest. The beach itself was surprisingly quiet and clean, all things considered. I already decided that even if I didn’t go snorkeling (which is what everyone comes to Ko Tao for), I was glad we’d come here rather than the other two bigger islands, Pha-Ngan and Samui. On the next day, New Year’s Eve, Dawn, Chris, Dave and I hired some snorkel gear and walked to a smaller beach with supposedly good snorkeling on the other side of the island. Distance from one side of the island to the other? Two kilometers. The beach we went to was tiny and pretty, though there was a surprising amount of rubbish there and in the water. At first, we same straight out from the beach on a search for fish and coral, and found nothing, perhaps not surprisingly. Then, we followed the rocks along the shoreline, and, hallelujah, we found fish! And coral! And sea cucumbers that look like lumpy poos! It was fabulous; whenever I thought I’d seen every fish on this reef, another swam past. I don’t know fish like I know birds, but I did recognize butterflyfish, parrotfish, batfish, cleaner fish, and maybe a tiny dogshark. I could’ve stayed out there for hours, but when snorkeling, it’s kind of easy to forget that you’re having to swim the whole time, and wherever you drift, you’re going to have to swim right back. So swimming exhaustion got the better of me and it was back to the beach. That night was New Year’s Eve, and Hat Sai Ree put on a fine show for us, mostly involving fire, and lots of it. There were fire dancers, hundreds of candles, and a couple of man-made palm trees set alight. People were setting off fireworks wherever they pleased, often within a few metres of where people were drinking. Indeed, Dave and I were both burned by stray sparks (though it should be said, I didn’t notice at the time; I woke up the next day with mysterious marks on my arm, and fireworks were the most likely explanation). Many locals were lighting Thai balloons (don’t know the actual name), which are rectangular and made of cloth, and have some sort of flame burning at the bottom, creating a hot-air balloon effect. There were dozens of them, and the coolest thing was that the wind currents tended to carry them all away in the same direction, creating a line of balloons in the sky. We chose a bar with beanbags on the beach, and tucked into the drink of the night; vodka buckets. More specifically, vodka and Red Bull buckets. You might imagine that that combination could get a little messy, and you’d be right. I’ll leave it there. New Year’s Day was the only day on the whole trip in which we did absolutely nothing. It was fab. On the second, I took a day-long snorkeling tour of Ko Tao without the others. My boat had six Koreans, a Swedish couple, a Thai teenager and her grandma, and two Aussies. Naturally, the two Aussies became my single-serve friends (© Fight Club) for the day. We were first taken to Shark Island, hopefully to see sharks. It turned out that ours was only one of three boats doing the same route that day, so the water became quickly packed with snorkellers. With no sharks and poor visibility, Shark Island kind of sucked. Luckily, the next stop was Ao Leuk (the snorkeling beach from two days prior), which was still beautiful, and I was able to enjoy it even more by figuring out how to balance the pressure in my ears and thus diving deeper. I found a semi-giant clam and poked the rock on which it lived, making it snap shut dramatically. Fun! We went to another three bays for snorkeling, each beautiful, each packed with fish, though none any better than Ao Leuk. The final stop for the day was Ko Nangyan, which is a private island taken up by a single resort, and claiming to be one of the world’s ten most beautiful islands. After hiking to the island’s peak, I’d believe it. The island is actually three tiny islands joined together by sandbars; the shape of the sub-islands and the sandbars creates elaborate bays filled with garden-like coral. Really spectacular. Unfortunately, because ferry connections between Ko Tao and elsewhere suck mightily, we had to take the night ferry back to Surat Thani to make our flight back to Bangkok the next day. The boat was fine; what sucked was having to spend 11 hours (4am to 3pm) waiting around in Surat Thani, the suckiest suckhole that ever sucked. It wasn’t a complete loss; Wayne and I found the smelliest and most congested (and therefore best) food market we’d yet seen. In the end, we spent seven hours sitting around Surat Thani airport; it’s a good thing I’d bought ‘Tis by Frank McCourt in Chiang Mai, or I would not have been such pleasant company. Bangkok! Is enormous and overwhelming, and we only saw a tiny portion of it. I’ll have to come back. For our last two nights in Thailand, we splashed out on an actual hotel, meaning hot water, clean towels, air conditioning and breakfast. Lux-u-ry! We stayed at the Royal Hotel, a sort of art deco place neatly positioned between Khao San Road and the monuments of the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Keow and Wat Pho. It’s also where Kevin and Drew stayed, in case anyone saw the first Amazing Race (probably not). On our first evening, we explored the budget traveler haven of Than Khao San. The highlight of this evening was the spectacularly bad band that played whilst we ate dinner. The non-singer of this duo was terrible for a) not being able to maintain a beat on bongos, b) whistling in inappropriate places (The Scientist does not need whistling!!), and c) having an unfortunate fondness for windchimes. Oh dear. On the first of two full days in Bangkok, we hit the big sights. First, Wat Phra Keow, home of the Emerald Buddha, and the most garish, bejeweled thing I’ve ever seen. It was also our first encounter with mass tourism, in the form of busloads of Japanese, Koreans, and various westerners. Dave, Chris and Dawn had to wear rented sarongs and pants (because they’re always such indecent people), which were actually rather snazzy, and worth nicking for the 100 baht deposit. After Wat PK, we popped into Wat Pho, home of the Reclining Buddha. For me, this temple (the Buddha, mostly) was much more beautiful than Wat PK, and yet it was also much quieter. This was also where Nancy and Emily were tragically beaten by Joe & Bill (TAR reference, sorry I’m such a dork), in the put-a-coin-in-every-pot game. The game was there, so we had a go. You buy a bowl of coins, and place one in each of a long line of copper pots along a wall. If you happen to choose a bowl with as many coins as there are pots, you get good fortune. We did not earn good fortune. After Wat P, Dave and Chris returned to the hotel, while Wayne, Dawn and I took a tuk-tuk to Siam Square, home of some pretty spectacular shopping malls. The tuk-tuk driver charged us 500 baht; the taxi driver on the ride back charged us 71 baht. Damn. Tuk-tuks are great fun to ride in, but for the sake of your health, a half-hour ride in one through central Bangkok is not recommended. You may as well smoke a pack of cigarettes.On our final day in Thailand, we took a tour of Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, except for Dave, who went exploring on his own. Turns out Dave might have made the right choice; we saw some wonderful things that day, but the tour itself was a shambles. First, the good: we saw the summer palace, an enormous white chedi, another reclining Buddha, and fields upon fields of ruins – beautiful stuff. On the downside, our driver was rude, didn’t tell us anything (ie we had little idea what was happening all day), and the guide appeared to be stoned on something strong, as he spent the day mumbling incomprehensibly, regardless of whether anyone cared or not. He also had an annoying habit of saying “nyah” at the end of every phrase, kind of like Singaporeans with their “lah.” All in all, it was a decent trip, and the frustrations of the tour folk ended up being a source of amusement, nyah?We returned to Bangkok, had dinner, got our bags, and headed to the airport. And that was it for our whirlwind tour of Thailand. Bada bing bada boom.

Chiang Mai, part 2

A surprisingly tasty grasshopper. And becardiganed Dave reads a brochure.
Have elephant, will travel. Wayne plays mahout for a day.
One of several deliciously rickety bridge crossings on our trek.
The Thai jungle in the morning; the mist makes it all the more beautiful.
The waterfall was beautiful, but this photo of the sunshine through the waterfall's mist is prettier than any of the actual waterfall.

photos from Chiang Mai

travelling by sawngtheoy (taxi-truck thing)

our intrepid guide braves a funky nest of ants
yet another lovely temple, this one taller than the others
Wat Chedi Luang - it's big.
clothes, lots of clothes, at the night bazaar.

Chiang Mai, the awesomest city that ever awesomed.

Wayne took us to a market he had found in his solo wanderings the day before. This market was clearly not for tourists; it was where local people shop, and I loved it, though I would rather stick a fork in my eye than buy meat there. Still, it wasn’t as gross as the chicken-seller-next-to-a-dumpster scene from Ubud in Bali, and there was more to see. And it was packed, really packed. Markets are so great I can hardly believe it, and you really haven’t lived until you’ve seen a pig’s head hanging from a hook in the tropical air.
On day four, we set out on our overnight trek. Our guide was a Karen man named Det, or Daed, or whatever the transliteration was that day, and another nice guy whose name we missed the first time and never learned again. On our way to the national park, we stopped at a market for supplies, which was smaller but more exotic than the previous day’s (basket of frogs, anyone?). Once up in the forest, our first stop was a gorgeous double waterfall, which we were invited to swim in, though none of us did. After a lunch stop, we arrived at a natural mini-geyser. It wasn’t very spectacular, but still a neat thing to see for Wayne, Dawn and I, coming from geyser-free countries. From there, we began our hike – about three hours, eight kilometers I think. We pretty much hiked up and down two large hills / small mountains, with a break in a village between them. At the top of the second mountain, our guide pointed out the misty hills in the distance, which were in Myanmar. So now I’ve been to eight countries and seen nine. Neat. We spent the night in a Karen village, in a big raised wooden building built for visitors. We had a communication barrier with our hosts, who of course didn’t speak English, but didn’t speak Thai either. It would’ve been nice to chat with them a bit, through translation, but no effort was made on either part, so too bad, I suppose.
In the morning, we hiked another hour or so over the next mountain to reach the next village, and elephant camp. We were here for an elephant ride, of course, though there was already quite a mob of other tourists when we arrived, so we had to wait a while. We passed the time with a friendly dog who very bravely attempted to cross a wonderfully rickety bridge over the river.
When our elephants finally arrived, we hit a snag; the elephants are equipped for two passengers and the mahout; since there were five of us, Dawn and I had one elephant, and Dave, Wayne and Chris had the other, though Wayne had to sit on the elephant’s neck, completely mahout-less. It was a very pleasant and slow journey up the river (often actually in the river), with our elephant’s calf tagging along for the walk. The final stage of our brief trekking adventure was a trip on a bamboo raft. These were incredibly stable for a bunch of bamboo tied together, and we also had the benefit of having two Thai guys punting (the other rafts had one, meaning one of the tourists had to punt too). Again, it was a beautiful, peaceful ride, through forest like none of us had ever seen, it’s safe to say, though two hours of standing perfectly still gets a little achy. We pulled ashore at a sort of rafting camp / resort thing, where we had lunch and returned to Chiang Mai.