www.outtheresomewhere.ca » Thailand

The Thai island life

Chris Beauchamp — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:09:20 +0000

Longtail boatman, Ko Phi Phi Lei.

I’m sorting through some of the photographs I’m carrying around on my laptop from seven months on the road, and I realized there are a bunch of shots from the Thai islands that I haven’t put up here yet. So here are a few. Enjoy!

The fishies. Laura shot this one. We rented an underwater camera (just a lowly point and shoot unfortunately) during our dive training and took turns trying to get some shots. It’s very difficult, especially for novice divers.

Laura passes her fins up to one of the boat crew (who snapped this after we passed the camera up). The rest of the photos are all mine, I swear!

Jess and Julian, a couple we met in dive school.

Laura doing the traditional Thai greeting, or “wei.”

Fire dancer! (on Ko Tao)

The overnight ferry ride between Ko Tao and the mainland. It was pretty cramped, but the rocking of the boat and the sleeping mat were far better than any overnight bus we’ve taken to date. I slept like a baby.

Sunset, Ko Phi Phi Lei. This is “the Beach,” of book and movie fame.

We slept under the stars on Phi Phi Lei, at least until the rain kicked in. One of the single best experiences for me of our entire journey was the night swimming here, after everyone else had gone to bed. To float, alone, in the lagoon while staring up at the brilliant night sky... words cannot explain it.

The Phi Phi Lei crew. These were the folks who did the overnight trip with us. Most people visit the island by day only, since it is a national park. But one company has permission to bring small groups over for the night. (damn, I spoke too soon. This was shot by one of the guides)

One of our Thai guides.

Laura takes the plunge, jumping bravely from the upper boat deck into the sea. The snorkelling around Ko Phi Phi was unreal. Better in fact than the diving we did on Ko Tao.

What’s a Wat?

Laura Beauchamp — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:00:21 +0000

While visiting Chiang Mai, Thailand Chris and I strolled around the city visiting a few of the wats. You might be asking yourself, “What’s a wat?”

One of the buildings of the Wat Chedi Luang complex in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

According to Wikipedia:

“A wat (derived from the Sanskrit word वात Vattaka) is a monastery temple in Cambodia, Thailand, or Laos.

Strictly speaking a wat is a Buddhist sacred precinct with monks’ quarters, the temple proper, an edifice housing a large image of Buddha, and a structure for lessons. A Buddhist site without a minimum of three resident monks cannot correctly be described as a wat, although the term is frequently used more loosely, even for ruins of ancient temples. (As a transitive or intransitive verb, wat means to measure, to take measurements; compare templum, from which temple derives, having the same root as template.)

In Cambodia, a wat is used to refer to all kinds of places of worship.

In everyday language in Thailand, a wat is any place of worship except a mosque.”

Wat Chedi Luang, the 600 year old temple that is surrounded by a large complex of small temples and buildings in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I found the elephants on the 600 year old Wat Chedi Luang, very interesting. Thai love and worship elephants and it isn’t hard to understand why. They are magnificent creatures.

Some detail on the Wat Chedi Luang.

This reclining Buddha is found in its own small temple next to the majestic Wat Chedi Luang.

A small temple this is also part of the Wat Chedi Luang complex.

Chris in front a huge tree growing in the Wat Chedi Luang complex. Apparently the scarves have been blessed by monks and tied around the tree.

The prayer hall at Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I just caught a school group passing. All students wear uniforms in Thailand. I saw one school uniform that went so far that they even standardized the backpacks.

Wat Phra Singh is just a short walk from Wat Chedi Luang.

A Buddha statue on the wall outside of Wat Phra Singh.

A dragon guards the entrance of Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The inside of Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Not knowing if I was allowed to take the Buddha’s photo, I quickly snapped one anyways. Eeeeekkk. Beautiful hey?

The famous Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai which is around three hours north of Chiang Mai. We took a small van from Chiang Mai to the Laos border and were fortunate enough to stop at this wat for lunch. We could only imagine it in all its glory without the scaffolding.

One of the guardians of Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Greedy hands claw at you as you walk over “hell” on your way to the bridge that takes you into the Wat Rong Khun temple.

Skull construction cones line the road next to the Wat Rong Khun. The wat is surrounded by symbols of human vices.

Gruesome heads hang from the trees surrounding Wat Rong Khun.

Scuba diving at Ko Phi Phi Ley island in Thailand

Laura Beauchamp — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 15:00:07 +0000

Ko Phi Phi Ley island, Thailand.

I was filled with anticipation for our two dives at Ko Phi Phi Ley because they were our first dives that were not part of our scuba training and also our first dives not in the waters around the Thai island of Ko Tao.

The atmosphere was completely different from Ban’s Diving School. It was relaxed and calm. None of the boat crew or our two dive masters did anything very fast. They were truly living life at island pace.

As I spat in my mask one last time before preparing to go down for our second dive, our dive master asked me, “So, what do you want to see?”

“Um......I’d love to see a giant moray.”

“And have you seen a string ray?” she asked.

“No, never. It’d be fantastic to see a Lion Fish also.” I replied, thinking to myself that I must be asking for the world wanting to see all three of those creatures in one dive.

“Ok. I’ll see what I can do,” she smiled and gave me the “Okay” signal before the “Let’s go down” signal.

Chris preparing his scuba gear for his 10th dive, although Princess is the last word I’d use to describe Chris. Hee, hee.

Once we got down we had about 15 meters visibility. It was the best visibility Chris and I had ever had because unfortunately while we were learning in Ko Tao they were experiencing a bad month for visibility. I counted my breath, 3 seconds in and 5 out. I tried to relax all the muscles in my body. I tried to relax about all the things that can make you nervous under the water and have you constantly checking your gauges.

I looked at the fish swimming all around me, the school above who could only be seen as varying degrees and shades of grey silhouette’s.

“I am a fish. I belong here,” I thought to myself. I laughed a little at myself and smiled at how wonderful this dive was.

In the water you can spot one of the dive masters with a beginner diver. They were part of the group we went scuba diving with here at Ko Phi Phi Ley, the island where Leo filmed, “The Beach”.

We slowly swam above a sandy patch and hiding in a lonely piece of coral was a box fish! If you’ve never seen one before or never heard of one they are definitely worth checking out. Their tiny fins are simply unable to control the direction of their body against even the slightest current. I suppose being shaped like a box doesn’t help their aerodynamic ability either.

Continuing above the sand I saw our dive master stop. I didn’t see a single thing but low and behold with her pointing stick she directed our attention to a stingray. Upon seeing it I took a deep breath to ensure my somewhat inconsistent buoyancy didn’t send me downward on top of it. After all they contain a poison in their tail that they will whip over their bodies to stab potential threats. Many of you may recall the “Crocodile Hunter” dieing when a Bull stingray stabbed him through the chest.

We swam on and spotted another ray. I looked at my air. 60 bar. I didn’t have much time and that meant Chris had even less. Our dive master was motioning to us again.

“Wow,” I thought. She sure is amazing at finding the animals.

I swam closer and sticking it’s head out about 1.5 feet was a Giant Moray. Awesome!

And finally the fish I’ve liked since learning about it in Grade 6, the Lion Fish. I imagined it being around 5 inches in diameter but the ones we saw were only about 3 inches. What beauty.

I surfaced happy and content, eager to do diving again. Hopefully we’ll find a good deal in Vietnam. We’re heading there on August 15 via a 17 hour bus ride. I hope to dive at Nha Trang, but with such a tight schedule it might not be possible.

After our dive while we relaxed on the boat with hot cups of tea, another boat load of divers arrived. Before their boat came to a complete stop they started barreling off the back.

Leo DiCaprio’s beach, Maya Bay, on Ko Phi Phi Ley island in Thailand

Laura Beauchamp — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 08:05:59 +0000

The dramatic clouds shifted and folded over one another as we sat on the deck of the ferry from Railay to Ko Phi Phi island. Even with the threat of rain on the horizon Chris and I held our ground because if Thailand has taught us one thing it’s that it doensn’t kill you to be wet. In fact it’s a strange day if I haven’t jumped in the ocean for diving, snorkeling or a game of frisbee with Chris.

Our ferry started to make it’s way to the docks. As it did so I saw ahead of us Ko Phi Phi Ley, the island from “The Beach”. Dark silky water cradled it as clouds tried to suffocate it from above.

The first time we laid our eyes on Ko Phi Phi Ley island.

Ko Phi Phi Ley island, Thailand and one of the bays that is absolutely fantastic for snorkeling.

The Viking cave on Ko Phi Phi Ley.

Chris lookin’ good on the way to the island.

Maya Bay beach, Ko Phi Phi Ley island. This is the beach used to film, “The Beach”, starring Leo DiCaprio.

Maya Bay beach, Ko Phi Phi Ley island. If you look to the right of the boat you’ll see a tiny black dot. That’s Chris enjoying a swim.

Sunset on Maya Bay.

Just before the sun wet down it shined through the clouds and cast beautiful light on Chris and the cliffs of Maya Bay.

Two couples that were part of our tour snap sunset photos of each other.

Maya Bay cliffs at sunset. Look how wonderful, soft and white the sand is!

Chris and Laura on Maya Bay beach, Ko Phi Phi Ley island, Thailand.

One of our guides entertaining us with a fire show late at night on Maya Bay beach on Ko Phi Phi Ley island.

Fire show.

Our other guide showing off his skills with fire.

I’m enjoying my very own bucket. Buckets, consisting of red bull, coke and Sangsom (cheap alcohol), are pretty big around the Thai islands, but the next day usually isn’t so great.

That night we slept on the beach with a woven mat, foam pillow and thin sleeping bag. The bucket probably helped with how comfortable it all felt when Chris and I found a spot on the sand where the tied wouldn’t get us.

Before I knew what was happening, Chris was yelling at me and I was running down the beach with the woven mat flopping behind me like a cape as I held it over my head for protection. The sleeping bag and pillow were stuck under one armpit and my hand oddly grasped my purse.

“The umbrellas! The umbrellas!” I yelled to Chris as we ran.

“What? What are you talking about? We don’t have umbrellas,” he hollered back as he bounced along the sand.

Apparently when it started raining on me while I was sleeping I started dreaming about umbrellas, and when I was half awake running down the beach I was convinced they were real and that we had left them behind. Oh goodness.

To say the least our sleep was quite uncomfortable. Nearly every part of me was wet, mosquitoes were having a feast and the humidity made the sleeping bag stick to my skin. Chris and I joined the rest of our group under the sheltered sleeping area which was made of tarps over pieces of ply wood. Besides the red bull, coke, Sangsom hangover, I was glad to wake up and enjoy looking at the beauty of the beach over a cup of Nescafe.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Chris Beauchamp — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 02:04:35 +0000

Happy birthday Dad! You’re A-Okay. (that’s the underwater symbol for OK, of course)

It’s my Dad’s birthday today, or at least it’s still his birthday right now in B.C. Canada (August 4th). We’re so far away we’ve already moved into tomorrow. Anyway, miss you Dad. Hope you have a good day. Don’t do too much work on your renovations. We’re thinking about you.

Love,
Chris (and Laura)

Learning to scuba dive in Koh Tao, Thailand at Ban’s Diving Resort

Laura Beauchamp — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:00:12 +0000

Chris and I have now been in Thailand for two weeks and it is truly the vacation from the vacation that we both needed. I cannot think of one thing to complain about. The food is amazing, the weather is perfect flip-flop and bikini weather and we had fun learning to scuba dive!

Everyones tank ready to go.

We are currently on a very small island off the east coast of Thailand called Koh Tao. The island is only 21 square kilometers. We decided to learn how to scuba dive here because it’s pretty much the cheapest place to do it in the world and there are many dive sites surrounding the island.

We choose Ban’s Diving Resort because it was highly recommended by our faithful Lonely Planet. It certifies more scuba divers every year than any other scuba school in the world! Last year they certified 40,000 people!

We did the first two dives of our lives on July 17. We descended 12 meters for 45 minutes for each dive. On our second dive a videographer came along. We’ll put parts of her video on our blog later.

Ban’s Diving Resort pool, where we started our scuba training. We had the morning off so you can see Chris relaxing while another class is doing their scuba pool training.

In total we did four dives to get our Open Water certification which allows us to dive to a maximum of 18 meters and then we did five more dives to get our Advanced Open Water certification which allows us to dive to a maximum of 30 meters.

In the Advanced Open Water course we learned how to navigate underwater, how to read a dive computer and how to plan our dive with a site map and based on how much nitrogen our bodies will absorb.

My tank and gear waiting for me to take it under for one more dive.

We did one dive strictly for practicing our navigation skills and I’m proud to say that Chris and I managed to find our way back to our instructor using only our compass. This is important because at the time we couldn’t see more than 3–5 meters in front of us. I have come to understand that the water is not crystal clear, instead it is mirky and filled with thousands of particles.

We also did one deep dive where we went 29 meters below the surface. When you are that deep is it very possible for some people to get something called nitrogen narcosis. They can start to act funny, sometimes trying to take off their scuba gear. Mostly, people’s brains don’t work as well. To test if we had nitrogen narcosis our instructor did a math game.

For example, he would show us four fingers with the palm of his hand facing us and we simply had to show the correct amount of fingers so the total was ten. We also had to show him the opposite side of our hand, so in this example I’d have to show him six fingers with the palm of my hand facing me.

Steve (on the right) our awesome instructor briefs us on our next dive. (Photo by Chris Beauchamp)

We all settled on our knees at 29 meters. There was a very strong current coming right through the middle of us and pushing on Chris’s back. He was having a lot of trouble staying on his knees because the current was so strong. I saw Steve flash five fingers, palm facing himself, towards Chris.

Chris, simply trying to hold his position waved his right hand, five fingers with his palm facing out, trying to signal “Hold on, I need to regain control”. Little did Chris know, he showed the right number of fingers in the right direction! He passed the test and he wasn’t even trying (reminds me of university). I chuckled to myself a little in my regulator but then quickly focused my attention on Steve for my finger test.

A boat of scuba divers coming back while we look on from the bar with beer in hand.

Chris looking content after the first two dives of his life.

The beautiful island of Koh Tao. (Photo by Chris Beauchamp)

Laura getting her wet suit on, or off, it’s hard to tell. (Photo by Chris Beauchamp)

Laura and Chris are now Advanced Open Water scuba divers! Woo-hoo! (Photo by co-diver, Richard)

Bangkok, Thailand

Laura Beauchamp — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:00:13 +0000

We’re still hanging out in Koh Tao. We plan on leaving the island today or tomorrow with Surat Thani as our next destination where we’ll catch a bus to Krabi on the west side of the country. The beaches are supposed to be absolutely stunning over there. We’ll soon find out.

Here are a few shots I took around Bangkok. I really enjoyed Bangkok with its huge roads, skyscrapers, prostitutes, millions of massage shops (careful which one you go in), lady-boys, cheap clothes ( bikini $6-$9), sidewalk shops and restaurants that can establish themselves anywhere.

This is the inside of the hostel we stayed at in Bangkok, called Suk 11. They converted an apartment building to look like you’re in a jungle paradise.

Hostel Suk 11 in Bangkok. For $22 CAN we got our own room, shared bathroom and breakfast.

Chris enjoying his dinner on the streets of Bangkok’s China Town.

Temple in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok traffic.

The majestic roadways of Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok, Thailand.

The jungle of Bangkok or Bangkok is the jungle.....? Um?

Bangkok, Thailand.

Kung Po soup. It is very, very spicy, but delicious.

Bangkok, Thailand.

I thought these girls were just to cute, so I asked if I could take their photo.

Happy Birthday Kel

Chris Beauchamp — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:25:08 +0000

Hey Sis, we’re thinking of you. This dive’s for you!

Love,

Chris and Laura

We’ve done our four dives, and are certified PADI open water divers. Next stop: the advanced open water course. Woot.

Singapore-bound

Chris Beauchamp — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 07:15:29 +0000

Hey all,

Well, it’s our last few hours in Iran. We’re catching a flight after dinner tonight to Bangkok via Bahrain. Iran has really grown on us, with the friendliest people we’ve met yet. We can now totally relate to celebrities, who have to greet their fans everywhere they go. No, our blog is not super famous in Iran, they just treat all foreign visitors like this. We literally can’t walk ten feet sometimes without being stopped and welcomed to Iran.

That said, Iran was a little tough at first. I don’t know if we were just getting burned out on travelling in Muslim countries (Turkey, Morocco, Iran), or if it was the one to two week culture shock that we’ve noticed we get in every country we visit, but when we first entered the country we were feeling ready to move on. We were also still feeling pretty sick from some food in Eastern Turkey. Thankfully that all passed, and after having some amazing experiences we could definitely see ourselves coming back here to explore the parts of the country we missed this time around.

We’ll have some more to share from Iran in the next little while as we catch up on things. It’s always hard when we go to a new country to find the enthusiasm to write about the last one, but we’ll make a go of it.

Since Thailand technically requires an onward flight in order to enter the country, we’ve made another addition to our itinerary. The cheapest flight we could find was from Bangkok to the island city-nation of Singapore. So, we’re going to Singapore!

Our rough plan right now is to stay in Thailand until the end of July, then fly to Singapore for 2–3 nights, before catching another cheap regional flight to Vietnam. From there, we’ll spend our last few weeks traveling overland back to Thailand, hopefully making stops in Cambodia and Laos as well. But knowing us, this will probably all change. One thing’s for sure: Laura will be getting authentic Vietnamese soup one way or another.

I’m writing this from the hotel computer in Shiraz, so unfortunately I can’t add any pictures. But we spent yesterday visiting the archeological sites near Shiraz, including the grand-daddy of Iranian history, Persepolis. So we’ll definitely have some pictures soon.

Take care everyone. And peace be upon you. Apparently today is the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) so it’s a holiday here. Hopefully we can find somewhere to eat lunch.

Cheers,
Chris and Laura