Ken Curtis' blog Travel «

I left Chiang Mai a few days ago with the basic idea that I would take a slow boat down the Mekong River. I really don’t have a good reason that I was going to be doing this since it was about five years ago that I did the exact same thing. I managed to rationalize it by telling myself that when I did it before I didn’t remember some of the key things that I had done. I remember tubing down a river, or I remember a certain temple, but I couldn’t remember what city I was in when I did some of these things. I was on a tour when I did it before, everything was taken care of along the way, so all I had to do was show up at a certain time and get in the jeep or tuk-tuk. I think that made it so I didn’t have to remember the details. This time is different though, I’m doing all the logistics on my own and am forced to know what the name of the next city is.

Mekong River Ken Curtis' web site — As the boat made it’s way down the Mekong River we would stop to pick up passengers. This was a young girl wait for the boat to stop.

My hostel was about 200 meters from the bus station and there is a bus leaving every half hour, so I left the hostel and was on my way to the border in about 30 minutes. The bus was old, maybe about fifty years old… maybe older too, it had wooden floors and very uncomfortable benches, but it was fun just riding along, the windows open and

The bus dropped my off at a bus stop outside of Chiang Khong where about five taxis/tuk tuks were waiting. Only two of us got off the bus and we both jumped into a tuk tuk. In about five minutes I was at the border to exit Thailand. The last time I went across the border here I had to take a ferry to cross the bridge to Lao, but now there is a bridge. I have to admit though I kind of liked the ferry better. It just felt more authentic, or exotic to get on this little boat and have it motor it’s way out of Thailand. Anyway, passport control took maybe five minutes and I was on the shuttle to cross the bridge in about another ten. Like I said things just were going so smoothly… it was almost scary. :)

As I headed to get my Lao visa I was approached to buy a ticket for the slow boat down the Mekong, which as I mentioned was my goal. So I bought my ticket and proceeded to get my visa. Because I was kind of late to the border and the slow boat was going to be leaving in about an hour the lady that I bought the ticket from gave me a ride to the dock on the back of her scooter. I’m not going to lie, I was kind of terrified that I was getting a ride from her. She had my day pack on, I was sitting behind her with my full pack on, and we were going down the highway at probably about fifty kph. I made it there though safe and sound and got on board the boat. Since I was running late I was probably close the last person to get on. It was okay with me except that there didn’t appear to be any seats. I finally asked someone if I could sit down and to my surprise she said yes. This part of the boat trip takes about seven hours and to be honest I had a really good time. The girl was from Germany and was taking a few months off before she goes to college, there were two guys sitting across from us were taking two months off from their jobs in London to see the area. It really surprised me how nice these three were. We even met up later for dinner.

The dock where we started out for Luang Prabang. These boats are very large and hold about 100 people, ours was full.

I got on the boat about 7:30 this morning which was really too early. I ended up just sitting there for about an hour and a half before the boat finally left the bank. No worries though.

I am now sitting on the boat killing time writing for the blog. It about 11:30 and I think there is supposed to be probably another four hours before we arrive at Luang Prabang. The boat is pulling up on the shore to either pick up passengers or drop some off. More later….

I was in Chiang Rai for a few days (I think about three) and I had a good time I didn’t really do anything touristy or fun. I basically just walked around or hung out in the hotel. I was only there for a few hours before I realized that if I wasn’t going to be doing any side-tours that I really wouldn’t have anything adventurous to do. I don’t mind though, I consider this trip to be more of a time to renew, or strengthen past memories. Again, like Chiang Mai, I would get small flashes of the time I was there before.

The city is okay, like I mentioned there really isn’t a lot of things to do if you don’t go on tours so relaxing was my best option for my time there. I felt like the city was small and nice. There is a great night market that is held on Saturday nights so that was my first stop the first night I arrived. It was packed with people. So many people that you pretty much had to keep walking so as not to get run over by the mass of people following behind. I think my heel was stepped on about twenty times. J The food was fantastic though and I had to admit it, but I ate probably enough street food for at least two people. It was the first time on this trip too that I saw some of the more exotic Thai cuisine, like fried mealworms and crickets, and no… just no.

So I’m sitting in Starbucks in the city of Chang Mai, Thailand and after ordering my drink I found out that they don’t have internet access. What? I came here specifically so I could plan the next part of my journey, which requires access to the internet. So after sitting here for about fifteen minutes just staring at the ceiling, I decided to write something for the blog, whether or not it ends up getting posted will remain to be seen.

To update what I’ve done and where I’ve been in the last few weeks since my most recent entry; I have been traveling around quite a bit. I was in Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia for about a week. I’ve been there several times so I didn’t really do a lot of sightseeing, (which is a theme for most of the places that I’ve been to recently). Even though I’ve been to Georgetown so many times, it was kind of nice to take it easy and not do much. The hostel that I stayed in was a remodeled historic house, and was absolutely beautiful. At night with the lights on, it looked more like an art gallery than a hostel. Unfortunately I got bored pretty quickly and was ready to leave after a week. I ended up becoming friends with the owner of the hostel too. It’s always kind of nice that when I leave there is someone that makes a point of giving a hug or handshake and telling me that they hope to see me again. Sometimes I do, but more often than not it is the last time I’ll see them.

My original plan was to head to Thailand after Georgetown, but the Thai government has a rule that if you cross the Thai border by land, you only receive a 15-day visa, if you cross by air, you get a 30-day. Since I wanted to travel around Thailand 15 days was not really an option, so I had to book a ticket to fly in. The problem was, was that I needed to go back to Kuala Lumpur to fly into Thailand. I’m not really on a schedule so there wasn’t a problem with doing this, it just seemed a little bit strange.

I stayed in KL for a few days. This was the first time that I didn’t stay at my friends hostel though and I felt kind of guilty. There were multiple reasons that I chose to stay somewhere else, the biggest being reason was I constantly was getting bitten at night, even after liberally covering myself with insect repellent. I got to the point where I was convinced that there was bedbugs at his hostel. I didn’t want to say anything to him though because it’s maybe the worst thing that a hotel/hostel can have. I was in KL only long enough to plan the trip into Thailand.

I flew into Krabi, Thailand and instantly felt good. I didn’t mention, but KL, and most of Malaysia, has been covered by a blanket of smoke that originated from forest fires in Indonesian. The smoke was really thick and with the high heat and orange colored sky sometimes it was very uncomfortable. Once I walked out of the airport in Krabi I was hit by blue skies and warm temperatures. It was just perfect. I stayed in Krabi for about five days mostly just enjoying the food, and taking an occasional trip to Ao Nang beach about twenty minutes away.

My next stop was Bangkok. I didn’t really have anything planned for being in Bangkok, it was simply the best stop on my way to Chang Mai other parts of Thailand. I took a bus from Krabi and although it was a pretty simple journey, it was still a rough journey. The bus arrived in Bangkok at about 5am and just dropped all of us off on a street. I didn’t really have a clue where I was or what I needed to do. The stop was packed with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers all trying their best to get people to commit to hiring them. It can be somewhat overwhelming when you woke up like two minutes ago and you have about five taxi drivers all hounding you to drive you somewhere.

I hung out in Bangkok for about three days. I didn’t go see much, though I did walk around quite a bit. I enjoyed my time there mostly because I liked the hostel that I booked. It was another restored historic house and just like the one in Penang, it was also very pretty. I got along well with the owner too. She and I talked for quite a while and it seemed that I had stayed longer we would probably have become friends.

I took the night train from Bangkok to Chang Mai about four days ago. I was looking forward to being on a train and it was just as good as an experience as I had hoped. There is something that is unique to sleeping on a bed, while the train makes its way through the jungle. The sound of the train going over the tracks and the occasional muffled blast from the horn is, along with moving silhouettes of the jungle trees through the light of the moon, almost magical. There is the slight jostling from left to right and sometimes up and down that is soothing.

The train arrived in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and I’ve been here since. I’ve been here before, but it was long enough ago that I don’t remember very much. Every now and again as I’m walking around, I’ll get a flash of memory about something, the moat that surrounds the old part of the city being the strongest memory I’ve had. I can’t believe the amount of old white guys here though. Every where you go, there is some old, like 60-70+ year old white guys sitting around drinking coffee or beer, and many of them have a young(er) Thai woman with them. It makes me uncomfortable because I’m close enough to them by age for some people to consider me one of them. The city also seems to cater to them as well. Everywhere you go there are massage parlors with young Thai women sitting outside along the sidewalk. As I walk along I hear them call out to me, asking if I want a massage, sometimes, like last night I was eating dinner and across the street from me was two massage parlors each with a group of women sitting outside. Every time I looked up it felt like there were eyes on me. Once, one of the girls even crossed the street to the restaurant and sat at the table next to me. I also want to acknowledge that I am more expressing how I felt and maybe it was just a coincidence (or wishful thinking).

Tomorrow I am going to be going to Chiang Rai for probably about a week. Like Chiang Mai, Chang Rai is a normal stop for most backpackers venturing into Northern Thailand, and just like Chang Mai, I have been there before. The difference between the two is that I think I remember more about it than I have about Chiang Mai. I’m hoping that it will be fun.

In all honesty I’ve written quite a lot of blog posts, but for whatever reason I don’t post them. In the past few months I’ve lived through a typhoon and have hiked all around Taipei. I’ve spent time going out with people that I’ve met and have struck out on my own just for the exercise. Through it all I took photos and wrote about my experiences but never uploaded them. It’s unfortunate because now it seems like the moment has passed.

So to catch up on what I’m doing since my last post, I’m now in Langkawi, Malaysia. It’s an island near the border between Malaysia and Thailand. I flew into Kuala Lumpur after spending nearly five months in Taiwan. I loved my time in Taiwan, I was really having a great time for the first four months but I kind of hit a wall and stopped going out or doing anything that could be considered fun. So it was time for me to move on… though at the time I had no idea where I should go. Like it has been for nearly a year, Kuala Lumpur was my base to venture out to other places in the region and hopefully other adventures. So I left Taipei less than a week ago for KL. Unfortunately, I got into Kl and was instantly bored and knew that I wasn’t going to last very long, so the goal of finding someplace to visit was on. I honestly didn’t have a clue where to go, just old destinations that I’ve enjoyed or had planned on visiting at some point. Langkawi was one of the latter so I left KL after about five days for where I am now.

Langkawi is really beautiful. It has a very Thai feel to it. The area where I am is basically a city situated on one main road. The road is lined with guest houses, restaurants, and other businesses. The area seems completely dedicated to being a tourist destination, just like most of the islands in Thailand. At least for now though, Langkawi seems to be controlling the ‘over the top’ tourist feel that many of Thailand areas doesn’t seem to.

I think I’m going to stop this post now just so that I upload it.

the group photo at the beginning of the hike. There is one person not in the photo. I'm posting this one because I think it's the only one that I don't have the goofy hat on. — **The group photo at the beginning of the hike. There is one person not in the photo. I’m posting this one because I think it’s the only one that I don’t have the goofy hat on.**

It’s been about a week, maybe as long ago as two, since I went on my latest hiking trip. This hike was to see some waterfalls, the actual name of the hike is something like, Sandiaoling Waterfalls to Houtong Cat Town. Of course I was happy to be getting out and getting the muscles working, and better yet, I went with about ten other people.
The group met up at the main train station near my hostel at about 9am, and was at the hike’s starting point at about 10. It was a pretty uneventful hike, something that I think anyone would be able to do. In fact I saw many people with canes and a few people that looked like they were in their 70s or 80s. That may be a little misleading though, there was a majority of the trail that was easy enough for almost anyone to do, but there was maybe a third of the trail that was difficult. There were long areas of stairs and climbing up the side of small mountains.
The whole hike took maybe four hours and that was stopping along the way for lunch beside the trail. I met a lot of new people and it was an easy, fun way to spend the day. Along the way there was one hiker that was taking the time to take massive numbers of photos of the group. It took him until about three days ago to upload them. I quickly went through them looking for some good photos of myself, but I couldn’t find any. I look like a fool in all of them that I saw. In two group photos my hat is on crooked… what a dork! :)

Note to self: get a different hat or stop wearing the hat I have.

On our way back to the city while on the train, I was surprised to see so many people complaining on how tired they were. I felt a little tired in my calves, but nothing that I would consider being exhausted, but several of the people that went were falling asleep on the train. Here are a few of the photos that he uploaded.

It was coming up on three months that I’d been in Taiwan. I know, it’s hard to believe that it’s been that long that I’ve been here, but to put it into context, the first six weeks was waiting around for my debit card to arrive and I still had about two weeks before my three months was up. So in reality I guess of actual tourism/exploring Taipei I had been busy for about a month. Regardless I wanted to renew my visa before I ‘had’ to renew. So I thought that the best place to go was Hong Kong.

Ken Curtis in Hong Kong — This was a photo I took of my refection in some chrome. For some reason I really like it.

I left Taipei on a Monday morning and arrived in the afternoon. It was pretty uneventful and to be completely honest I wasn’t too enthusiastic about having to make the trip. I think this kind of set things in motion for a sub-fun experience. –It’s all in the mind.—If the mind is happy everything goes well, if it’s unhappy, then you can bet that things will go wrong.

I had been to Hong kong before about two or three years ago, so I didn’t really have anything special that I wanted to do or see. It was nice to be immersed in the chaos that Hong Kong is known for. It is a stark change of what I’m getting used to in Taipei. I remember writing about the amount of people in Hong Kong, and there is, at least in my opinion, nowhere else in the world where there are so many people packed in such a small place. It can be a little bit of an overload to the senses.

So I got here Monday afternoon and made it into the hostel within a few hours. The flight is only like 90-minutes long, but all the traveling to and from the airports add about 5 extra hours. I even got lost finding the hostel that I was going to be staying. The directions were spot on when it came to the macro, but in the micro it was a little tough. As a result I knew that I was really close, but it ended up taking about an hour just to find the building.

I did my usual things when I go someplace, I explore. I walk around with the idea that maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get a little lost and hopefully stumble on to new places. It didn’t really happen this trip to Hong Kong though. I think I just wasn’t in the exploring mood.

I really haven’t done too much since I’ve been here. I’ve taken a few trips to places like the waterfront and to the night market. I made one trip to the night market in the day, but it was empty… go figure. Traveling around the area it seems really familiar and I have yet to get lost. That is saying quite a bit considering I get lost all the time.

My name is Ken

Category Archives: Travel

On to Laos

Chiang Rai for Three Days.

Going North Now

New Place and New Outlook

Yet another hiking adventure

Hong Kong for Three days