Thailand
Photo of the Day 6/20
by Sean on Jun.20, 2009, under Photos, Thailand
Thalen Bay in southern Thailand
I first have to thank my Australian friend Matt for taking the time to take each photo and run it through a computer program that stitches each photo together to create a panoramic view. Unfortunately, my website’s width isn’t great enough to see the width of the full photo, so what you see is a compressed version.
Once we arrived in a beach area called Ao Nang near Krabi town in the south of Thailand, we decided to rent scooters for two days in order to ride around the area for ourselves. The first day it rained, but we didn’t let that stop us. At one point we got partially lost, and in doing so found the Thalen Bay. The rain formed a beautiful mist coming over the small mountain, creating an eerie atmosphere.
Soaked to the core, a local man unable to speak English approached us and stared. He generously took a few photos of all of us, and quickly retreated home upon the completion of his task.
Photo of the Day 6/16
by Sean on Jun.16, 2009, under Photos, Thailand
Krabi, Thailand
I was in a small forest heading towards a cave, which on the map was meant to be something beautiful for visitors to see. The map failed to mention that the only way to reach it was to get into the water and swim across, something none of us wanted to do. To reach the end of the forest that touches the lake, we walked on the boardwalk, and were fortunate enough to see wild animals like this monkey. There was a group of 6 hanging out in a tree, and they were quite curious about us, even though I’m sure they’re used to seeing humans.
Fey was scared of them, but I approached them to take pictures and observe them. They sat in the tree and stared at us, except for this one that jumped down in front of us and stared even harder. I think he was trying to tell us to get lost, but we ignored him and walked on, to which he jumped back in the tree to continue playing.
Upon leaving the forest, I got into an accident on my rented scooter, jumping the ramp and hitting a tree. I caused a few hundred American dollars worth of damage to the bike. A truck driver saw the accident happen and quickly stopped. He picked me up and helped me into his car and drove me to the hospital. The hospital cleaned me up and gave me drugs. The best thing about the hospital was the guy handcuffed to the bed next to me with stomach injuries. The police were hitting him with their sticks, but he wouldn’t say anything.
Photo of the Day 6/12
by Sean on Jun.12, 2009, under Photos, Thailand
Ao Nang, Thailand
This photo was taken on a tiny beach in the southern Thai area of Ao Nang, near Krabi town. You can see the boats moving with the waves as their owners are behind me taking a break from work to enjoy a nice meal. During the day, they act as flat-fee taxis, bringing people from one tiny beach to another upon request. It doesn’t pay well, but if you can pack people onto your longboat, you could earn probably $20 usd a day.
That is what life in southern Thailand is like: slow and poor. You make all your money when the tourists come around, and survive on that until the next season. They don’t show signs of weariness, as their work isn’t so hard or complicated. I think they might just enjoy that kind of life.
Special Thailand Update
by Sean on Sep.05, 2008, under Thailand
Okay guys, so I’m now back in China in the city of Shenzhen. Tomorrow evening we will take a train back to Wuhan (ticket was 280rmb, or $40). I will upload all my pictures and videos this weekend.
Enjoy the post I hid from public view while I was in Thailand:
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Went to Railey Beach ( a 10-minute longtail boat ride to the east of Ao Nang, around a little mountain. We found a nice spot in the shade near a ton of rocks jutting up from the water. We swam and relaxed for a few hours before a storm rolled in. We took the boat back around 3:30pm and had to walk 15 minutes in the rain to get back to the hotel. Me and Nick jumped into the pool at the hotel to get the sand off and met 2 germans and 4 Americans. I got really burnt on my neck and shoulders, so today I have to wear a shirt when we go to the beach.
Side note: the day we left Bangkok, thousands of protestors stormed the prime minister’s compound in an attempt to provoke a military coup. Thailand has a constitutional monarchy with a King and Queen, but the Prime Minister has all the power. Thaksin, the previous PM, was corrupt,so the military took over Bangkok and took over the government (the King endorsed this). During this time the PM was overseas, so the coup was easy to get away with. The PM stayed in exile. The military ruled the country, and had elections for a new PM. The same political party won by an overwhelming amount. The next PM was in the same party as Thaksin, and he is corrupt as well. This is why people are trying to provoke another coup. We found out about this on BBC because internal news won’t talk about it.
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Things not sold in Wuhan that I freaked out and bought when I saw them in Thailand:
gummy bears, pepperidge farm cookies, twix, reeses.
What I miss about home:
Lucyia; speaking Chinese; eating Chinese food; my friends; and people who speak to you just because, rather than trying to sell you something.
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In the end, the country of Thailand held a referendum, and the result is that the PM will not be resigning.
Not Stuck In Thailand :)
by Sean on Sep.02, 2008, under Thailand
Okay people, you need to start watching the international news, PRONTO. There is a huge situation in Asia that I can’t specifically mention for reasons stated a few posts ago. What I can update you on is that we are back in Bangkok now with a flight on the 5th to China. The flight might be cancelled, though I can’t be sure (not my doing).
Last night we took a bus from Krabi to Surat Thani, got off there and got a different bus up to Bangkok. We had to do this because the main road was closed. During the night, the staff of the bus stole all the money they could find from every passenger. Matt lost 15,000 baht (3,000 RMB, or $500), Nick lost about 10,000 baht (2,000RMB), and Fei lost 6,000 baht (1,500 RMB). Thank god Qi and I didn’t lose anything. I can attribute that to me having my wallet in a side pocket full of change, so any attempt to open the pocket would wake me up (even though this was an afterthought).
So we arrived this morning to our original hotel (which was nice for what we were paying). We found out about the money when we took out the wallets to pay for the room. We tried changing our flights to China for today, but AirAsia was charging 800rmb to do so (and the flight cost us 600rmb to begin with). Not to mention the airport was closed so we would not have been able to go anyways.
The Misadventures of Sean, Part 2
by Sean on Aug.31, 2008, under Thailand
Ever since the accident I’ve been careful. So careful I missed out on one of the most amazing experiences in life: a speedboat tour of the Phi Phi islands in Thailand. I told myself I have to come back to Thailand one day so I can do this tour. Maya Bay was the filming location for “The Beach,” a Leonardo DeCaprio film. I have rested in bed each day and missed out on the opportunity of swimming and other things.
The staff of the hotel felt bad for me, so the first day they made a 3 or 4 egg omelette with rich instead and didn’t charge me (brought it into my room). The following days they used the hotel truck to drive me to get food and see the doctor 
I am feeling a bit better today because much of the initial shock and pain have subsided. Last night I went to a neighborhood doctor and he took my dressings off and cleaned out all the wounds. Before I saw him I knew my big toe hurt so I couldn’t walk on it, but I didn’t realize until after I saw it that the whole toe was swollen. I asked him to look at it and he determined nothing was broken (obviously, because I could move the toe to walk, but it still hurt). He said it would be fine.
The thing that sucks about living/traveling in third world countries is that Thailand doesn’t believe Neosporin or other bacitracin medicines don’t work. I asked the doctor and several pharmacies in town, and none of them carried it, except one place that wanted to charge me 200 baht for a small tube (about $5). So now I have to use rubbing alcohol and iodine for the next week before I can get home to China and start using the Neosporin (and I hope it won’t be too late for my wounds to heal properly.)
Today we are going back to Bangkok. Because of protests in Thailand, the main road from Krabi to Bangkok is closed, so we have to get off at a city 3 hours away called Surat Thani and take a different bus down a different road so we can make it.
