Bangkok

I made it to Bangkok safe and sound. But just found out that the Vietnam embassy is closed until Monday! What a bummer! I would have much rather spent the next 4 days in Phuket on the beach!

Phuket to Bangkok

I hope all is well with each of you!

I am flying from Phuket to Bangkok today at 1:55PM on Thai Airlines flight TG1214. It arrives in Bangkok at 3:20PM.

I will be in Bangkok for whatever period of time is necessary for me to get my visa from the Vietnam embassy. Hopefully this will only take a few days. But I won't get to the Vietnam embassy until Thursday AM and they are closed on weekends.
My plans are to go to Kathmandu, Nepal from Bangkok. After Nepal, I intend to return to Saigon for Tet which begins January 26th. At the moment, I have no plans beyond Tet in Vietnam.

My next update will be when I am departing from Bangkok for Kathmandu - earlier if there is anything worth reporting?!

All take care and have a safe NYE celebration!

Crock's and Insects' Demise

Many people have commented about the crock's I've worn since leaving the US more than 120 days ago. They are the only shoes I've worn, never with socks, and very comfortable. But, after 6 countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma) and trekking no doubt 100,s of miles in them, they have finally met their demise. As the pic shows most of the tread is gone and there is a hole in the crock on the left along with a phillips head screw that I picked up in Saigon months ago! However, you WILL see me wearing crocks again. I brought an extra pair with me that I will begin wearing tomorrow!

Insects are sold by street vendors and consumed throughout Southeast Asia. I particularly like the small (not large) grasshoppers. They are always deep fried and here in Thailand, just before serving, they spray them with a sweet vinegar and sprinkle very spicy hot salt on them. That's a huge tropical cockroach on the left accompanied by worms, grubs, and 3 different types of grasshoppers. The bigger the bug the "juicier" their inners that squirt when you bite into them. I've tried them all, but because of the "squirting", I like the smaller ones. best. Bon appetite!

Phi Phi, Monkey Beach & Other Andaman Sea Isles

Today I did a speedboat excursion of some of the incredible Andaman Sea's limestone islands.

Phi Phi Island was the first stop - made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio's 1999 movie "The Beach". There are 2 beaches on the island. The most famous one is shown in this pic. From the open sea, you pass through a narrow gorge into a large bay surrounded by limestone cliffs. This is what you see after passing through that gorge.



Me with the gorge entrance to Phi Phi Island in background. Note perfect white sand and turquoise water. It was a cloudy day so much of its beauty is missing.





Me on Phi Phi beach. Note steep, undercut limestone cliffs which make up most of the Andaman Sea islands. Most of these islands don't have beaches and therefore are uninhabited.





As I said before, there are 2 beaches on Phi Phi. They are linked by a sandy, fairly level pathway that cuts through a major limestone gorge - as was depicted in the movie "The Beach".. The pathway is covered with vegetation making it too dark to take pics. This is me at the entry to the gorge pathway leading to the other beach.




We have all probably seen a Nat'l Geographic or Discovery Channel TV show about the Thai's "harvesting Swiftet birds nest in island caves". The nests are constructed with the birds' saliva - and they are tiny birds. This is one of those caves. Note the bamboo scaffolding and, as is the case with most Andaman islands, no beach. Families evidently have long-term leases for these caves with the Thai government. To protect their investment, they live in these caves 24/7. It's difficult to judge how large this cave is. That bluish/green structure in the center of pic is their house. Given that "Grade A" nests sell for $3000 an once, I guess I would camp out too!

This is another Andaman Sea island "gorge harbor". Note undercut steep limestone cliffs. Of course this, like most such islands was uninhabited. They are really breathtaking!

We stopped at Monkey Beach Island. It appeared to be a rather large island but, like most its shoreline was primarily very steep/high limestone cliffs. This island had a very small, shallow beach - maybe 20 yards long and 5 yards deep with a few trees surrounded by steep cliffs at least 100' plus tall. This small beach is inhabited by monkeys. Boats stop daily to feed them bananas. There didn't appear to be any other sources of food for them!





This is another pic of me chillin with m primate buddies. This pic shows almost the entire beach!

Burma - Republic of Myanmar

Prior to Dec 2nd, Thai tourist visas were only good for 30 days. I arrived in Thailand on Nov 16, which means my visa expires day after tomorrow - Dec 15th. I don't intend to leave Thailand until after Jan 1st. This means that I must leave Thailand and then return - at which time I would receive a 15-day visa - as of Dec 2nd, Thailand will only grant 2-week visas. This means I'll have to do this trip again!

The least expensive and quickest way to do this is a 1 day overland and boat "visa excursion trip" to Burma - which I did today.

A minivan picked up me and 6 others this morning at 5:20AM. Then a 3.5 hour mad dash drive to some small Thai fishing village near the Thai/Burmese boarder. Here we were guided to a small concrete building (hut) that housed the Thai Immigration Authorities where they stamped our passports with a Thailand "exit stamp".

Then we boarded a Thai longboat for a 30-min ride to some sort of remote Burmese peninsula that looked more like an island to me. There, in another small concrete hut with a large "Republic of Myanmar" flag flying, where we found the Burmease (Myanmar) Immigration Authorities that stamped our passports with entry visas. We then wandered around the peninsula for about 30 minutes, returned to the Burmese Immigration hut where they stamped our passports with "exit stamps" and re boarded the Thai long boat for our return to Thailand Immigration hut where they stamped our passports with a new 15-day Thai visa.
Of course we then had another harrowing 3.5 hour drive back to Phuket - during which I wrote this email. I just got back to my hotel

I will be departing Phuket and going to Bangkok Dec 31st for several days to get my visas for Nepal and Vietnam (my old visa has expired). My intentions are for my next major stop to be Nepal - with Kathmandu serving as my exploration base.. I want to do some Himalayan (sp?) trekking and see Mt Everest. I was surprised to discover that Nepal's high season is our Winter months!

After 3-4 weeks in Nepal - I intend to return to Vietnam for Tet which begins January 26th.

Wish me luck with my visa excursion to Vietnam's and Nepal's embassies in Bangkok!
I hope all is well with each of you!

We were not allowed to photograph the Thai or Burma frontiers (huts) - so attached are pics of the shorelines of each as we approached.

Holiday Greetings

The hotel where I am staying put up a Christmas tree today - one of the very few symbols of Christmas I've seen here in Thailand. Today was also my dad's (better known as "Ducky") birthday.

Seeing the hotel's Christmas tree reminded me that I haven't been in the US for what suddenly felt like a very long time. Being so far from relatives, friends, home and people that speak English at this time of year is really making me very homesick.

I will be reminiscing about the good and sad times I've shared with all of you.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- David

PS - it's not too late to send Linh a Christmas card and I promise I won't mention this again.

The King's Birthday

Today, December 5th, is Thailand's King's birthday. Banners and portraits are all over Thailand including Phuket - most highlighting the royal yellow color. The attached pic is one such huge (20+ feet tall) display in which took a small army 3 days to erect in his honor right on Patong beach front. Note "Long Live the King" in both Thai and English. The emblem to the right in the picture is the King's symbol - "coat of arms". All bars are closed. This evening there are intermittent fireworks going off here and there. The Thais love their king very much.

"American Christmas" Reminder

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving and are getting geared up for Christmas/New Year's celebrations!

The purpose of this email is to remind you to please send Linh Pham - a 20 yo university sophomore majoring in English - a Christmas card.. To those that have already done so - thank you so much! To those that have not - I ask that you please take the time to do so - soon to ensure that she receives the card before Christmas. To remind you who she is - below is a summary of what prompted this request.

Linh was one of the first Vietnamese I met and befriended in Saigon. Linh has explained to me that since her early childhood she has always been fascinated with the "American Christmas" holidays <-- first via television and later through printed articles with pics. In Vietnam, there is nothing equivalent to "American Christmas" - not even Tet comes close! Although Linh knows a lot about "American Christmas", she is also ignorant about many of its customs - for example she didn't know about our custom of sending Christmas cards. Linh's dream is to someday visit the US during the Christmas season to see all the street/store/home decorations and experience first-hand the goodwill of families and friends. Unfortunately, it will not possible for her to do this anytime in the foreseeable future - and perhaps may never be possible. Hence this request. I am asking that you help me convey the spirit of "American Christmas" to Linh by snail-mailing her Christmas cards (1 or more with Xmas postage stamps if possible) and emails w/digital pic attachments (eg, families by Christmas trees, street/home decorations). I believe this act of giving by American strangers (to Linh)would truly capture and convey, in many different ways, the spirit of "American Christmas". Write to me for Linh's snail-mail and email addresses.

I believe the cost of a snail-mail card would be about $1 and it will take at least 2 weeks for a card from the US to arrive at her address in Ho Chi Minh City.

I have told Linh that I would be sending this email to my family and friends. She is incredibly excited about receiving pics and cards - even though they would be from people she doesn't know. She also asked me to thank everyone for "giving (her) so much Christmas happiness".

I also encourage you to pass along this email to friends and relatives and ask them to send her cards! I hope that all of you will take the time to convey "American Christmas" to Linh.

Regrettably, it is very unlikely I will not be in the US before or during Christmas - so I won't be able to even find let alone mail her a Christmas card. Thank you all for helping me with this request. And, of course, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

- David

PS - Linh is a very shy and endearing person with a beautiful personality.