Well my time is Thailand is slowly and I stress slowly coming to an end. I finished a 13 hour bus ride from Phuket and have been waiting at the airport since 10am for a 1040pm plane to Seoul. I intended to walk around Bangkok and go to the big mall there to finish some last minute shopping. But the mall didn't open until 11:30 considering it was a Buddhist holiday; thus, considering it was only 9am and I had to poo. I said f*** it and went to the airport had a nice clean poo, a meal, and a random 3 hour-ish nap on the ground. Still 5 hours to flight time though.
So I decided to stay in Phuket longer because if not, my last few days would have been rushed and mostly spent on buses or trains.
First off the place I stayed was pretty disgusting, like sleep on top of the sheets disgusting. The bathroom ceiling was covered in mold, and the air condition woke me up during the might because it smelt like it was blowing out this moldy smell. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't so I got my deodorant out and sprayed the whole room. It helped a little but it was still gross. I probably should have found a different place for the second night, but I had activities planned for the whole day so I really didn't have time. Plus you can't beat the bargain price of $12 a night, score!!!!!
So I did this tour to the James Bond island as it is called. Nothing to special, I guess this island was featured in a 1970ish James Bond movie. With the tour we also got to go canoeing within caves, the greatest part about it, was that we had paddlers for us. And as a fat North American I was sold on that idea. It was pretty amazing some of the places they took us. In most parts we had to lay flat in the canoe just to get underneath the ceilings of the cave. At another spot we paddled into this entrance that had no sunlight and thus head lamps are needed. And upon exiting we enter into this lagoon style area that is enclosed on all sides by walls. You could only get to it by going through the cave or by climbing the mountain/island and then repelling down into it. And to top it all off there was only like 3 feet of water through out the whole lagoon. Words can't describe how cool it was, it really felt like a "traveling moment". It was neat to think that if you were boating past this mini island and you weren't a local, you would have no idea of what you were missing.
After the tour I had a 2 hour break until I left for this thing called "Fantasea". I read a couple reviews on it and it sounded good, but man was I surprised when I got there. It was this little mini theme park that allowed you to play carnival style games, eat greasy foods and do some sleazy tourist shopping. And then to finish off you go watch this huge show that incorporated magic, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, and more animals then you could imagine. Before the show as you walk through the park, they are giving elephant rides through the same park you are walking through. Literally as your walking through this park, your reaching out and petting huge ass elephants. It was crazy and so out of this world.
After all that you walk into this huge auditorium to watch the show. Again "where the hell am I", was a constant saying to myself as I watched this show. They had chickens and goats running across the stage, tigers being used for magic tricks, water buffalos as props, and at one time they had 12 elephants on stage. All of which was choreographed to perfection, if I had 12 elephants on stage I know I wouldn't be letting off huge pyrotechnic explosions. again the show was amazing. I wish you could have taken in cameras, but you should do a google search of this "Fantasea" show, because as I said words don't do it justice.
So one thing that was annoying about the bus ride, was when I bought the ticket I assumed I would be dropped off in downtown Bangkok. Instead what they dont tell you is they drop you off outside of Bangkok, 30km or so out of Bangkok. Why the hell would I buy a bus ticket to Bagnkok and not get dropped off in the downtown area. Again it must be a Thai thing. So instead I made my way downtown during rush hour on the back of a taxi scooter. Kind of a bad idea on my part at one point I think the guy was doing about 90 km an hour. Not so fun when you got your packback on. Plus we were squeezing in and out of traffic as we progressed through the morning traffic jam. It was a fun experience after you survived and reached your destination. But I think for next time I'll take a "car" taxi. Well that's it for Thailand folks 4.5 hours until my flight leaves for Seoul, South Korea.