Went to Thailand

After deciding on Thursday that I was going to go to Thailand, I was taking off from Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan the following Sunday evening. I arrived in Bangkok at 9PM after a 3.5 hour flight and promptly got a Thai dish, which was spicy as hell, but good nonetheless. One cool thing about Thailand was that every time after you purchased something the cashier would put their hands together and give you a little bow in gratitude. After dinner I took a bus to Khao San Street, west of downtown Bangkok, popular for the countless backpackers you’ll find in this high-density hostel area. I was headed to the small island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, so I had 6 hours to burn before I caught a bus at 6AM to Chumpon, where I would then catch a ferry to the island. Prostitution was immediately apparent in the area with women struttin’ around in their high heels and short skirts. Passing a pack of four I noticed one kind of nod in my direction alerting her comrades. As I passed one broke off from the group and approached me, all business, asking where I was going. No hello? After saying I wasn’t interested about 50 times she/he and their strong jaw line left me alone. I kind of just bar hopped around to pass the time after that, did a sodoku, half a crossword and dodged two more attempts for paid sex.

My bus arrived in Chumpon around 12:45 after 6 bumpy hours of half-conscious sleep. I hopped on the ferry and passed out for the two hours it took to get to the 21 square km destination.The island is just north of Koh Pha-Ngan, which is famous for its full-moon beach parties. Upon arriving the scenery was incredible with cerulean waters, palm tree-covered peaks and bungalows dotting the shoreline. I stayed at ‘Sunshine Divers’ a diving resort on Chalok Bay to do diving and snorkeling for the week.

Ferry to Koh Tao, in Chumpon

Arriving in Koh Tao

Classic Thailand

Each carefree day included diving in the morning followed by lunch, a nap and then some dive videos and instruction for the next day. After that I would usually rent a kayak and paddle out to do some snorkeling in adjacent bay’s as the sun set. Chalok Bay had bars and restaurants on the beach so good food and drinks were never hard to find.

Bench I would take naps on. Small waves break under the bench as the tide comes in and out

Diving was incredible. This being my first scuba diving experience, I didn’t really know what to expect, but it really is another world down there. The best day was my last day of diving as we went along the coral reef. Since this was my open water certification, I was able to get down to 18 meters or about 60ft. If you look across the room, just imagine that it is filled with water and be able to maintain the same visual clarity and that is how clear the water was. There was essentially no difference besides the tint of a turquoise blue on everything. Below the surface, I saw everything from stingrays, eels, and sea snakes, to crabs, barracuda, and thousands of fish. Because its spring-time, there were tons of ‘baby everything’ and all the little fish circling the huge coral rocks looked like space debris orbiting a planet. Schools of fish would circle around us as they looked for food in the early morning hours, not paying any of the divers much attention at all. One thing that I found interesting was the personalities of some of the fish though. A very aggressive fish called a “trigger fish” would watch us as we floated by, and if we got too close to its territory, it would attack. The puffer fish did the same thing, watched carefully from a distance to see what we were going to do. It was much different from the mindless wanderings of a goldfish in a fish tank, which is what I am customarily used to. There was also this type of coral worm that would attach itself to coral rocks and sway freely in the water, but when you got close enough and made any kind of noise it would immediately retreat into the hole it was living. Seeing this happen was really cool as a rock covered in 20-30 colorful worms would suddenly disappear, leaving dozens of black voids the width of a straw scattered across the surface of a coral rock. After being down for an hour we exhausted most of the air in our tanks and had to surface. I don’t have an underwater camera, so unfortunately there aren’t any pictures to illustrate the beauty and diversity of a coral reef, but if you ever get the chance to dive in Koh Tao, you won’t be disappointed.

After a day of diving I would usually rent a kayak and paddle out around 4 or 5 to go snorkeling in adjacent bays. I went to this one bay called Shark Bay, to which it is named for good reason. About 3-400 meters from the beach I jumped in the water with my snorkel, mask and fins and began to observe underwater life once again. It is around dusk that I was told that reef sharks swim into the bay looking for food. Reef sharks are easily identified by the black tip on their dorsal fin. Free floating in the warm water, I saw three dark figures as they swam in my direction toward the beach. Upon first seeing the sharks swimming toward me I have to admit my muscles did tense slightly and did get a little nervous. I think we can thank movies like “Jaws” for that. Intimidating, but incredibly graceful and quietly powerful they swam past me continuing toward the beach. Broadening my scope, I noticed that there were sharks everywhere. I must have seen 10-20 reef sharks swimming all around me, the closest one getting to about 5 meters away. One incredible image that I will not soon forget was the intense dusk sunlight penetrating the surface water and seeing a school of 4 or 5 reef sharks swim through the light, only visible for a few seconds before disappearing again into the distant water. This being the first time seeing sharks in the wild, I can confidently say that they are badass looking fish. After I lost interest in the sharks I looked around a little more and saw a giant sea turtle, its algae covered shell feeding half a dozen fish. It was massive - if I stretched my arms out, from left flipper to right flipper, that’s about how wide it was. It was huge. And of course there were the smaller fish swimming all around, the bigger ones always bullying the smaller ones, snacking on the algae on rocks and doodling along. It was really cool.

Kayaking back

After snorkeling I would paddle back to Chalok Bay where I was staying as the sun was setting and enjoy the color spectrum in the sky on my kayak in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. The fresh air, and the warm pleasant breeze was nothing but comfortable as I passed the silhouettes of docked dive boats listening to the water drip from my paddle and my kayak skim the surface as I made progress homeward. Often times I would just pause to just soak in the beauty as the sun sank into the gulf day after day and the sky faded to black.

Upon my return to land I would shower then head out to dinner at one of the many restaurants overlooking the bay eating an authentic Thai dish. Afterwards I would head to a bar called “Eazy Bar” where all the guys did every night was make really good drinks and smoke weed. Nightly there would be another guy that would spin fire, providing a show. The cool thing about it was that he wasn’t doing it to impress anyone or to attract business. He was just doing it because he liked to do it. It really added to the whole chill-out island vibe that I was seeking out from the beginning.

Eating dinner and watching the moon rise over a peak across the bay

A week later, I left Koh Tao with the intention of going back in June as I am likely going to backpack all during that month in SE Asia. It was one of the coolest places I had been and if you’re ever in need of some solid R&R be sure to check it out.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year

With an explosion of the color red and lanterns, Chinese New Year announced its presence in celebration of the Lunar New Year as it has done for centuries. It is a big deal in Taiwan and is the equivalent to Christmas and New years in the States. Generally before the celebration, everyone cleans their home, “sweeping” away bad fortune and making room for the good.Everyone has the entire week off and most people head home, generally in the south, leaving Taipei relatively empty and boring.

I headed south as well to stay with a couple of my uncles. First I went to Kaohsiung, for the most part just relaxing and practicing my Chinese. For the New Year, we had an abundance of food complemented with saki, which was delicious. The dishes included fish, shrimp, vegetables, hot pot, etc. I’m not sure what the dishes were called so I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Each dish generally has deeper meaning. For example, a certain vegetable may symbolize long life and not eating the fish dish entirely symbolizes having “extra” for the upcoming year. The older generations (this guy) usually give the younger ones red envelopes filled with money. The denominations should be even numbers as odd ones are given during funerals. The number four is considered unlucky so anything with '4' is a bad idea. Further, there is a common exchange of congratulations as well as saying “wan shi ru yi” (may you have whatever your heart desires). At midnight everyone sets off fireworks to scare off evil spirits in celebration of the New Year, which continue throughout the entire week. There is also an honoring of the deceased parents, burning incense and placing an offering of fruit on small temples dedicated to them that every household is likely to have. Chinese New Year extends over several days and each day has separate meaning. While I won’t detail all of them, the first day is when the sons return to their parents home and celebrate with the family. The second day, the married daughters return to their homes to celebrate with their parents. The last day, 15 days after the start of Chinese New Year, is the Lantern Festival where many light paper lanterns, commonly painted over with Chinese characters symbolizing prosperity, good fortune, love and family and float them into the air. While the traditions differ, Chinese New Year, like Christmas is a time of family, high spirits, abundant food and relaxation.

On the second day of Chinese New Year I rode with my cousin to his wife’s family’s house in Meinung. This area of Taiwan was settled by the Hakka people, of which I am ¼. Their primary harvest back in the day was tobacco and there is a famous tradition of making paper umbrellas that continues to this day. While there, we visited these fields of flowers- fields and fields of flowers in the calm countryside among distant mountains and rice fields. Afterwards, my cousin drove me to my youngest Uncles house, which is probably the most relaxing place on Earth. He lives in Gaoshu, meaning “Tall tree” in Chinese just north of PingTung City where my Mom grew up. My Uncles property is several acres, which he uses to grow fruits and vegetables, just as his neighbors do. We had a bbq that night, eating homegrown produce, some of the freshest I’ve had, among a cool breeze as the sun set. The surrounding area smells like flowers and overall was incredibly calming. Some of the things that my Uncle grows includes coffee, papaya, mango, grapes, this small green fruit similar to an apple not in the States, bananas, corn, lettuce, tomatoes and so on. All of it was delicious and I felt healthier just eating it.

After a good nights sleep I awoke at 6:30 to the cool morning air billowing through the open window above my head and the sound of frogs and birds, a luxury not commonly offered in my apartment in Taipei and headed with my Uncle and Aunt to a nearby mountain where we hiked to a 120ft waterfall. The water, clean enough to drink, pooled crystal clear at the bottom. The cascading water off the rocks offered a misty breeze, which was so crisp and refreshing that it awoke the body and mind better than any cup of coffee could. Just soaking up the freshness, each breath I took felt like I was adding years to my life. My uncle meditated for 20 or so minutes on a nearby rock facing the waterfall, explaining afterward that after relaxing and meditating each morning he was relaxed all day. With that, I realized that I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without a smile on his face. We returned back home for a hearty breakfast of eggs, toast, vegetables, fruit and a flower tea that was perfectly sweet, not over or underwhelming, but just right. The rest of my time there was nothing but satisfying as any stress melted away and I sat on the couch eating cookies and drinking tea.

Leaving Southern Taiwan was difficult, but I made it back to Taipei for a few days, where it unfortunately rained perpetually for the remainder. As a result I didn’t do too much except enjoy the relative calm of a major city during Chinese New Year. Overall, it was a great experience and will likely visit Taiwan during this time in the future in order to experience it again.