Back to Manila

Next morning I awoke at 10am feeling a little bit sluggish. I was not sure what I wanted to do. There are plenty of trekking opportunities around the area, but I got an itchy foot all of a sudden and decided to leave. The rice fields were beautiful, but in the end they were all the same. Guides offered to take me to other villages in the area to see other rice fields, but the best of the terraces was right outside my guesthouse window, so I felt like I have given sufficient time to the rice fields of the Philippines. Since I had only a couple weeks left in the Philippines, I wanted to see as much as possible. In retrospect, I wished I would have stayed a couple of more days at the very least to relax and chill out a bit because this itchy foot was going to cost me later.

I checked out of my guesthouse and began the back breaking walk back up to the ridge line. I walked back up to the ridge, which just about killed me. It was an hour straight up. I was not sure how I was going to get from the top of the ridge back to Banaue. I asked a guy up above if a jeepny was leaving for Banaue soon. He said all the jeepneys were privately rented. He said I could always ask for a ride when one was leaving. I waited about a half hour, but no one came, so I got ready to start walking when a Filipino family came up the trail. I had seen this family at the guesthouse and had said hello to them. I asked if I could ride with them to Banaue and they said sure. He asked first if he could take a picture with me as he liked the backpacking gear I had. I felt kind of good about this as I thought I looked like kind of an idiot with my stupid Thai mat sticking straight out of the pack. May be he felt the same, but was just being polite and wanted a picture with the idiot tourist.

I sat across from the husband named Benjamin and we talked about the Philippines during World War II after I told him that I was going to look for a history teaching position upon my return. We also talked about the American Civil War as he wanted to know how it started. I asked him how much I should give the driver, and he said nothing as he had already paid for the ride. I thanked him when we got to Banaue and gave him a Chicago Bulls t-shirt. The same trike driver that drove me to Batad approached me and he gave me a ride to the bus station to Manila. I drove off and waived to the nice Filipino family.

The bus was not leaving for another 2 hours, so I had dinner and then went back to the bus station. This bus was almost completely empty. The only problem was it was freezing. They had the air-conditioning at full bore and it was not that hot as it was night time in the mountains. I and the whole bus froze the whole way. Many of the people on the bus were using whatever they had to clog the air vents. At about midnight at one stop I finally asked the driver why it was so cold on the bus. He enlightened me by telling me it was because of the air conditioner. I asked if he could turn it down, and he said he would although he never did. The only thing I could think of is that they had the air-conditioning so high that may be they were transporting food or something below in the compartments. This trip they allowed me to put my backpack in the compartment, which ended up kind of sucking because all my clothes were in the pack, which was inaccessible until the end of the trip. I did not think to bring in any warm clothes into the bus with me because I did not think it was going to be the polar bear express to Manila.

Banaue Rice Terraces

I got out of the bus in Banaue at 5am. A smiling tricycle driver named Denard took me to a restaurant. He wanted to drive me to the Rice Fields, which were 12km away. I declined because I knew from my guide book that there was a jeep leaving soon. I had a couple of cups of coffee and decided I did not want to wait for the jeep as it would be another 2 hours. Plus, I was tired of my bags getting in everyone’s way and I knew the jeep might be crowded, so I got a ride on the tricycle as soon as it got light enough to travel. A tricycle is basically a little side car attached to a motorcycle. It is funny how each country had some sort of rudimentary designed taxi. In Thailand it was the tuk-tuk and in Vietnam they had these self-propelled tricycles, especially in Saigon. Here in the Philippines they had jeepneys, which were elongated truck like buses and the one person side cars that they called tricycles.

I arrived at Batad junction at around 7:30 after a beautiful ride through the mountains. There were rice fields all over the place. Batad is a little village of about 1,000 people and is supposed to have the most beautiful rice fields in the area. The tricycle can take you to Batad Junction, but the only way to Batad from there is on foot and it takes two hours.

I said good bye to Denard and then got my back pack on with my awkward mat from Thailand still sticking straight out of it. The first part of the sojourn was straight up. It took about 45 minutes to get to the top of this ridge and by the time I arrived at the top I was covered in sweat and out of breath. The view was beautiful as the sun was rising over the mountains and you could see the rice terraces below. There was a bunch of locals on top selling Gatorade and other drinks and offered to guide me the rest of the way to Batad. There was one guy up there that offered to have me stay at his house for 100 pesos. This was twice as much as the guidebook stated, so I declined. I had a Gatorade, which I drank in one guzzle and started to walk down. The guy who offered for me to stay at his place had a brother that was going down, so I followed him.

Everyone says that they backpack SE Asia, but to describe the activity as backpacking is really a misnomer. No one really backpacks Southeast Asia, they just have all their crap in a backpack. People go from bus to taxi to tuk-tuk to motobike, but rarely do they actually walk any length with their backpack. I am included in this description. For this couple of hours and the hour back I actually am backpacking in Southeast Asia, and I am hot as shit wishing a taxi was around.

I got to the town of Batad and the view was absolutely breathtaking. There were several guesthouses in town, but I approached the first one I saw to the annoyance of the guy I had been following. It had a little café looking over the village of Batad and the amazing rice terraces below. Batad is in a little valley that reminds me of Telluride, Colorado except that the mountains were not as steep or high. The mountains here are pretty high, but they are more like the Appalachians as they are completely tree covered. I asked how much and a cute little Filipino said 100 pesos. I looked at the room and it was sufficient. No electricity in the room, but for 2$, no big deal. The Filipino girl named Jarmaine and an Aussie girl were eating breakfast and she invited me to join them. I had some rice covered with some egg and tomatoes.

I took the room and headed off to bed. I wanted to take an hour nap and start exploring, but I was pretty bushed. My one hour nap turned out to be about four as I was more tired than I thought. I woke up around 2:30pm and finally left at 3pm. Everyone in this village wanted to be my guide, but I just wanted to walk around the village and go to a waterfall that was 45 minutes away. I figured I could find this myself.

The guesthouse was on the ridge overlooking the town and the trail was a steep descent down these steep steps. Once down in the valley you had to cross the rice fields. The Ilfigau rice terraces are these terraces that are built right into the mountain and descend like giant steps down the mountain. Each terrace is covered in bright green rice paddies. It is like a giant amphitheater of green. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

The walk to the waterfall was really interesting. There was really no set trail. I was walking down from the building through the people’s houses down into the rice terraces themselves. Walking through the rice terraces was really cool, but kind of tricky as the stones that divided each field was narrow and there were stone steps that descended up to each level. The steps were not the widest steps, so it could be tricky and one had to be sure to keep your balance. After walking through the terraces the trail then went up a ridge again through more houses. Once on top of the ridge the trail descended down towards a mountain river. The trail now was made out of concrete and was easy to follow and had steps going down to the river. I descended down the steps going back and forth down the ridge as the trail kept switching back directions. I then came around the corner and there was the waterfall. Since I got a late start I could not stay too long. The waterfall was beautiful as the river dropped about 200 feet from a gorge and there was a nice volume of water going down into the pool. There were a bunch of Filipino people getting ready to leave. One girl smiled at me and said she was happy I was there and then she and her group left. I then went swimming for a bit in the pool and it felt incredible. I was extremely hot from the walk and the temperature of the water was cool, but felt perfect after the walk in the hot weather. I definitely felt revived. I knew I had to go back and the incline up to the ridge and back to the guesthouse were not easy and it made me wish there was another pool to swim in after I got back.

After about twenty minutes I left myself. The water felt great, but it was too cold to stay too long, especially since the sun was going down. I caught up with the group that was at the pool climbing up the steep hill. The girl that smiled at me was named Antoinette and she was teaching religion in Banaue for a year. I followed this group the rest of the way back to the guesthouse. Antoinette said that later they were having a party with a bonfire and drinking rice wine and she said she would come to my guesthouse and get me. I thanked her and returned to my guesthouse for dinner and to wash up.

Back at the guesthouse I had a beer and a vegetarian pizza. There was a Scottish guy that had checked in and he was outside talking to the Aussie girl that I was talking to before. After dinner Antoinette came back and got both me and the Scot named Craig and took us to a local’s little hut. The huts owner was named Romeo and he looked like a Filipino Albert Einstein. He had long brown crazy hair with a mustache. He was the owner of my guesthouse and also the local rice wine brewer.

The Filipino rice wine was much better than the crap I drank in Vietnam and in Thailand. It was brown colored compared to the clear color in other countries and ten times smoother yet still contained a bite. It was sweeter too than the stuff in Thailand. This gave it a pleasant taste compared to the flavor of the Thai rice whiskey, which tasted like nothing I have ever had before, but its disgusting taste could only be compared to something like formaldehyde. Romeo informed me that they also make wine out of coconuts too. I am struck by the ingenuity of mankind because the whole world over and all through history whenever we want to get fucked up, we always find a way to do it.

An interesting conversation ensued while the Aussie girl named Rachel, Romeo, and this other Aussie girl named Danielle talk about some of the customs involved in growing the rice. Rachel is studying rats and that is why she is there. Apparently in the rice fields rats are a problem. Rachel says that she has found in her research that many of the old tribal customs in the village were very effective in keeping rats out of the fields, but many people now that are growing rice do not follow some of these customs and they are having more of a problem with rats. I guess that the old tribal customs appear out of date and superstitious to many of the present rice growers, but actually there was a rhyme and reason to these practices. Despite Romeo’s appearance, he was very eloquent, and he discussed the growing of the rice wine and also techniques for growing rice, which was very interesting.

We then leave the hut after a couple of drinks and head down to the bonfire. At the bonfire, Antoinette and her friends are there along with two brothers named Orland and Romel. Orland is playing a guitar. He is really good and has a great voice. His brother Romel also has a great voice. I had told Craig earlier that I played guitar myself and he mentions that to Orland and Orland passes me the guitar. I play “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and a short sing a long occurs. I am a little out of practice as I had not played much in the past couple of months, but I am able to get through a few songs.

The rest of the night each of us takes turn playing a couple of songs and then hands over the guitar to the next person. I have always been hampered by two things when playing guitar in front of people in campfire like settings. First, I am usually really drunk, and secondly, I do not have many sing-a-long type songs in my repertoire. I always intend to rectify this each time I bomb out at a campfire by learning songs I know everyone knows, but I soon get bored of learning those and want to play what interests me. I did pull out a few that got good reactions like “Take me Home Country Roads” and “Into your arms,” by the Lemonheads. Other than that and a couple of others, I think I bored the hell out of them when I played, but they were very respectful and gave me a little ovation after each song.

I was really impressed with both the guitar and vocal abilities of the two Filipino brothers. The song selection they played was also very interesting. They were really into Reggae and played several Bob Marley tunes, but they would then pull out a big surprise and play “Handy Man” by James Taylor or “Wish You Were Here,” by Pink Floyd. Those are definitely two songs that I would not expect to hear a Filipino to sing in the middle of nowhere in Northern Luzon. Antoinette kept asking me if I was happy and having a good time. Yes, I definitely was. Drinking rice wine, playing and listening to guitar around a campfire, and talking with great interesting people is about as good as it gets in my humble opinion.

Angeles to Banaue

Next day I felt horrible. I tried to take the edge off my hangover a bit by ordering a long island iced tea while sitting around the pool. It did not work too well. I sat in misery in my pool chair as my phone chirped with quotes from Jesus. Richard came by the pool at 5pm with his wife and took me and Brenda back to his house. We enjoyed seeing Richard’s three month old baby Amy who was adorable. Brenda then left for church and Liza turned on the TV and I was excited to see college basketball. My excitement turned to disappointment to find out it was the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. This happened a week ago. I could not watch an insignificant tournament knowing the one that really mattered was being played out in the states.

Richard, Liza, and I went to a Chinese restaurant and ordered a feast. I was so grateful to have Richard and Liza take me around. We ended up doing another bar crawl this time till 3am.

After two nights out until 6am and 3am respectively or disrespectively, I ended up doing absolutely nothing this next day. I hung around the pool and drank coffee all day and had a great breakfast. That was the highlight of my day.

Next morning I sent a text to Richard who had sent some text messages the night before which I did not reply to. I apologized for not responding the night before. He said he had a friend named Wayne coming from out of town and they were going to hit the bars. He asked if I was interested. After taking a day off I felt a little better and thought that I was up for it.

Brenda came by for a little bit and visited me at the pool with her cousins Judith and Daylin. I hung out with them for a bit, but then they left. While sitting around the pool that day I had a pretty Filipino girl borrow my lighter. She was hanging out with a fellow behind me. When I met Richard later that night I was to find out that this guy behind me was Richard’s friend Wayne and the girl was Wayne’s girlfriend.

We met around 9pm and ended up having a drink at every bar just about in the area. I think there are like two-hundred bars in the general vicinity, so to have one at every bar would take weeks may be months. That night we did a good job of trying hard to make as many at one night. In each bar, Richard would order for us. He would point to each reveler and go around the table saying “San Miguel, San Miguel, San Miguel.” It got to be a joke as the night wore on.

I really enjoyed my time in Angeles. It was great to have a group of friends to hang out with on a regular basis. This is something that I have not experienced since I left home. I could have stayed in Angeles for my whole three weeks, but I did want to see some other areas of the Philippines. Richard scoffed at my attitude and said the only place worth visiting in the Philippines was Angeles City. Richard is definitely not as adventurous as me. He told me about his trip in Palawan and how boring it was. They stayed at this place where the electricity went off at a certain time and there was absolutely no night life. There was also a horde of mosquitoes in the place they were staying. I told him I would like to return to Angeles before I went home as it was convenient to get back to Manila for my flight to Japan.

My next destination was the Banaue Rice Terraces in the north of the island of Luzon. The Philippines are an archipelago consisting of over 7,000 islands. Luzon is the biggest island and the most important as the capital Manila is found here. Angeles was just north of Manila and Banaue was about ten hours north of Angeles. Unfortunately, there was no direct bus to Banaue. I had to first take a bus to Baggio and then connect with a bus to Banaue.

The trip to Baggio (pronounced Baggy-O) took about six hours and the last hour or so was very scenic. Baggio is located basically on top of a mountain right along the coast. The view toward Bagguio was nice and the view of the ocean from Baggio was beautiful too, especially with the sun setting as we were arriving in to town. The bus pulled into the station and I found my connector to Banaue. I kind of regretted not staying in Baggio as it was very scenic here. Plus, as it turned out, I really could have used the rest. I could have stayed a night or two there and taken an earlier bus to Banaue. I have a cat named Baggy, and he would have been disappointed I did not spend more time at his namesake.

The bus to Banaue was leaving in two hours. The man in the bus said I had just enough time for short time and laughed. He was referring to the fact that I could find a prostitute for short time and still make the bus. As tempting as the short time suggestion sounded, I went into town and had dinner and then found an internet café.

The bus to Banaue was absolutely packed. It was holy week and many Filipinos from Manila came up to Banaue for the weekend. I had my huge back pack with me as they would not let me store it underneath the bus. Because of my seat they made me sit in the very back. This turned out to be the most uncomfortable seat crammed against the seats in front and my luggage to my left. Fortunately, two nice Filipinos on the other side saw my predicament and made more room on the other side for my bag, which relieved some of the tension against my crushed legs. About an hour short of Banaue, most of the people got off the bus, so at least I had some comfort the last hour of the trip. Unfortunately, I knew I was not going to get any sleep. The bus into Banaue was scheduled to arrive around 4:45 am. It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night, which I really did not need after a paucity of quality rest in Angeles.

Arrival in Angeles City

Next day I caught a bus to Angeles City just north of Manila. I took a cab to the bus station and there were all these beggars trying to get me to give them money for helping with my bags. As I got on to the bus after paying for the ticket a guy in the bus helped me with my bag. He said the bag was too heavy and this would cost 50 pesos. Not thinking I gave it to him. I thought it was fishy, but I thought he worked for the bus company. Just turned out he was a crafty beggar as after taking my money he got off the bus. The bus trip was a couple of hours away. I was glad to have the number of someone as it is always nice to have a contact going somewhere new.

I got out of the bus and called Richard. I talked to Richard in the bar for 5 minutes in Manila as most of the time he talked to Roger as the two had not seen each other for over a year. As soon as I called he asked where I was. I told him I did not know. He told me to look around and described what I saw. I looked around and did not see much. After naming off a few stores he figured it out and said he would pick me up in 15 minutes. He picked me up and then dropped me off at a hotel in the center of the town. He brought me into the hotel and greeted the manager. Richard does the sound for many of the bars here in town and knows quite a few people. It was my good fortune to meet him in Manila.

I settled in at the hotel and this hotel is absolutely awesome. It has a huge gorgeous pool in the back with all sorts of chairs around it. I sat out at the pool all day and drank a few San Miguels. Richard sent me a text at 7:30 saying to meet him and friends for dinner.

If there are two things that Filipino’s are obsessed with it is text messaging and Catholicism. I now have three Filipinos in my phone book. Rafy, a girl I met in Manila, and a girl I met on the bus coming up to Angeles. My cell phone chirps constantly with incoming messages. Some just are how are you doing type messages, but many of them are in the smile Jesus loves you category.

I met Richard for dinner and he was accompanied by his very pretty Filipino wife Liza and Jack from the Netherlands along with his son Dave and wife Vina. I had my first steak in two plus months. A pork tenderloin that was fantastic. After that it was bar hoping until 6am. Angeles is like Bangkok and Las Vegas put together. It is the sin city of the Philippines. Every bar has 10 go-go dancers up dancing to music. It is quite a crazy place. During the night I met a sweet girl named Brenda and ended up having her join our entourage for the rest of the night. I entered her into my phone book and now have a fourth person sending religious text messages.

A Day in Manila

Somehow I got put in the wrong room though in the pension. I wanted the drunken/hung over traveler’s room, but somehow I got the movers and shakers room. Half the people in the room came to life at 5:30am dressing, showering, and making noise. The other half left at 7:00am. After being woken up twice, I finally got back to sleep and woke at 9:30am to an empty room. I could understand Roger leaving early as he had business to take care of, but what was everyone else’s hurry? That is the problem with this type of sleeping arrangements. Not everyone (or in this case, no one) is on the same schedule as you.

This pension had a really nice courtyard with tables and offered food and coffee. They also had several English newspapers. The Philippines has its official language, which is called Tagalog, but just about everybody speaks at least passable English here. English is the language that is used on many of the store fronts, so it is really easy to get around here. I read in the newspaper that an uprising in a prison was brutally suppressed by the police and over twenty inmates were killed. The victims were part of the militant group Abu Sayef, which has ties to Al Qaida. The Abu Sayef vowed to revenge the killings. They even threatened to bomb churches during the Holy week. The Philippines is a fervent Catholic country, which was one of the major differences between this country and the other countries that I visited.

I also began to write in my journal. I was joined at the table by an Englishman named John and a young Filipino lad. We began to talk. John was not feeling well as he had just arrived from England and was a little jet lagged. His Filipino friend was from Manila, so I asked if he could recommend a place to buy a cell phone. I was not going to screw around this time with used phones. I had heard that a phone in the Philippines is essential and that the country is just crazy about text messages. He gave me some confusing directions. I tried to write them down. Rafy, short for Rafael, was getting confused himself telling me the directions. John told him that he should just take me there himself. He said he was not feeling well, and that we could go while he was taking a nap.

I thanked both of them for the help and Rafy and I departed. Rafy informed me that he had met John over the internet. John apparently had a homosexual lover other than Rafy and that he and John were just friends. Rafy was definitely gay himself and walked in an overtly effeminate matter, but I did not mind. I appreciated his help with getting a phone.

We went to a local mall first and I hit an ATM. After that we boarded the metro. It was rush hour and the subway was just crammed full of people. It was like the red line after a Cubs game in Chicago. The security was tight getting in as they checked anyone with a bag due to the Abu Sayef threat. I could see why as this subway would be a great place to inflict many casualties at one time as the subway stops were just filled with people. It would be like the Madrid bombings.

I successfully bought a phone for seventy dollars brand new. They said they would buy it back for fifty dollars, so it was like renting a phone for twenty dollars for three weeks. It seemed to work perfectly, so I was happy with my purchase. On our way back Rafy brought me into a famous Catholic church. The devotion to Catholicism was evident the moment I walked in. The church was pretty crowded for a weekday evening. They had a likeness of Christ in a glass window and his feet were sticking out. There were many Filipinos bowing by this likeness and praying. A line formed past it and people touched the feet that were protruding out of the glass.

We returned to the pension and John had emerged from his slumber. We were on the patio talking and Roger emerged all happy because he had received his passport. He asked if I wanted to go get some dinner. I asked John and Rafy if they wanted to accompany us. John demurred as he was still a little tired, plus I think he was waiting for his lover. Rafy decided to join us. We hit the boardwalk, which is a series of restaurants along the bay front. After dinner we went back to a few bars near our pension. The Filipinos really love Western rock music. Every bar we entered had someone performing rock music. They were all pretty good to. I was leaving for Angeles city the next day and Roger was heading to Palawan, so we got home and got some rest for our mutual departures the next day.

Arriving in the Philippines

Next morning I said goodbye to Gick and took a taxi from the hotel to Kho San road. I had bought a shuttle to the airport for one dollar and fifty cents. I bought a few things at 7-11 and headed to the stand to wait for the taxi. There were three other travelers in the car with me. Two Japanese girls and I think either an Englishman or an Irishmen.

The cab driver asked us if we to take the regular roads or the toll roads. I told him I had no idea. I figured that was your job to figure that out. He said that the toll would cost more. I told him I had no more baht left. I only had enough for the departure tax. He went on the toll anyways and then before entering the toll gate began to ask for more money. The girls in the back had none either. The cab driver began to get visibly upset. Finally, the Englishman in the back took off his earphones and asked what the problem was. He got this annoyed look on his face and dug into his pocket and saved the day. He handed over the baht to the driver and berated him for his greediness. The taxi was supposed to be 60 baht each paid up front with no extra charges. It was unfortunate to leave the country on such a low note, but I was not going to hold several million Thai people accountable for one unprincipled cab driver.

I was shocked getting through security as it was pretty tight. I had my bags checked going through the security checkpoint and then also before boarding the plane. Welcome back to the world of Al-Qaeda I thought. One of the reasons I chose the countries I have traveled in so far was the peaceful situation of each of the countries. Southeast Asia is for the most part pretty stable and with not many extreme terrorist or militant groups. Thailand has a small Muslim minority in the south that from time to time causes problems, but for the most part is a very peaceful country. The Philippines of all the countries I was going to travel in has the largest Muslim minority and they have been known to cause some problems. For the most part this group, called the Abu Sayef, is limited to the southern island of Mindanao, which I had no intention to visit, so I was not worried. They have been known to kidnap and bomb other areas of the Philippines, so that explained the tight security. I was also to find out when I arrived in Manila that there had been some recent problems with the Abu Sayef , which also explained the tight security.

Arriving in Manila was a little crazy, but every new major airport is. I managed to navigate the immigration line with no problem. My next order of business was to set my ticket for my departure to Japan. The Philippines has an automatic twenty-one day visa for staying in the country without an official tourist visa. So I had to leave in three weeks or apply for an extension. My ticket to Japan was originally set for March 23rd, which would only give me a week in the country. I was told that I had an open ended ticket and could adjust my departure for any date up to six months from when I originally purchased my departure for. There was a Japanese air office in the airport here, so I reasoned I might as well take care of this now.

I found their office and in ten minutes I had a new ticket for an April 7 departure to Japan. I also obtained a departure from Japan to home for a week after. I have nothing but great things to say about Japanese air. They were incredibly efficient; everyone who worked for them that I had any contact with was very friendly and accommodating.

Then I went outside and found a taxi. A man in an SUV offered me a ride for 300 pesos. He then drove past check off place where a couple of uniformed police were orchestrating the taxis through. There was a warning in my guide book about unauthorized taxis robbing tourists, so I was a little skeptical about this arrangement. I approached the policeman and asked if it was safe to take a ride in that SUV. He shook his head and flagged down a cab, and I got in. This cab ended up breaking down on the way to the pension I was planning on staying at, but he flagged another one for me and I paid him for part of the ride and gave the rest to the other driver.

I checked in to the pension and got a room for five dollars, or a bed, in the dormitory section, which was basically a dorm room. I picked a lower bed and took a nap. Once I awoke I met my bunk mate who slept above me. His name was Roger and he was from England. Roger was having a little bit of a crisis. He had lost his passport and wallet with credit cards while walking down by the Manila bay front. He was a pretty experience traveler in the Philippines, so he was a good source of information. He was there for several weeks, but he was being detained in Manila until he got his financial and passport situation under control. There are some nice things in Manila, but no one who comes to the Philippines wants to spend too much time here as it is crowded. However, Manila is the hub of Philippine travel as all ferries and planes and buses go through here, so I found it necessary to spend quite a bit of time here while I was going back and forth to other places.

Roger and I went out for dinner at the closest McDonald’s. I felt kind of lame, but I went two months and one week without American fast food, so I figured I could let my standards down. We then went to a local bar called the LA café. There was some good music being played and the San Miguel beers tasted pretty good. Roger turned to me and said that he thought he knew this guy coming in. A littler later he motioned to this guy and he came over and said hello. He was a fellow Brit named Richard and Roger introduced him to me. It turns out that Richard lives in Angeles City, which was a place I was considering a visit to on my way north to the rice terraces of Banaue. I told this to Richard, and he said excitedly to come on up and visit. He gave me his number and said that he would get me situated in a good hotel. It is always nice to have a contact when you are visiting a new place. Roger and I had a few beers and called it a somewhat early evening.

Ladyboy breakfast in Kho Yai National Park

When I awoke I took another walk and again saw many hornbills. After my short walk I came back to the camp and my neighbors were awake and had started to pack up. They gave me a cup of coffee and they were making breakfast. I started to pack up myself. They again reiterated their invitation of breakfast, but I did not think I had time. I was a little worried about this because I wanted to have breakfast with them as I really enjoyed their company and wanted to sit with them a little longer before they left, but I did not want to make my ride late. I was afraid of offending my new friends if I had to leave with my ride, but this problem worked itself out. Angh came and picked me up and came over and talked to my new Thai friends. She said that I should sit and eat and she would wait in the truck for me. That is what I love about the tourist industry here. They are just incredibly accommodating.

I then ate away at breakfast with Toon, Tik, and ladyboy Wit. Once again they had many fresh fruit, along with a tomato and fish dish, rice, and beef. I was just thinking last night how much I am going to miss Thai food. They took out their camera and took about 5 pictures of me with them and I took some as well and then gave me their address and told me to send them a picture. They also wrapped up some of the beef and rice in a plastic baggie and the lady said take this when you get hungry walking. I got in the truck and they smiled and waived to me until I disappeared around the corner.

I was given a new guide this morning named Sompeth. The first half of the day’s walk was completely uneventful, but then things started happening fast. In fact, I was getting a little annoyed as the new guide moved much quicker and was not as good as Chiawet. This feeling changed dramatically as in a sequence of a half hour we saw three really cool things that each alone would have made the day. The first was we heard a big squawk and Sompeth excitedly pointed to a hornbill in a tree. I got up and snapped four pictures of him as he posed in the tree with his wings out. I am not sure, but I think he also smiled and winked at me. These birds seem to be shy and elusive, but I finally got a good still shot of one.

We walked a few more minutes and my guide was a little ahead of me. All of a sudden he came running in my direction right into me shouting “Chang, Chang.” This is the Thai word for elephant. He grabbed my arm so hard that it later bruised. It is a little disconcerting to see my tour guide in such a huff. I was not sure if I should run away or if everything was ok. I have received conflicting reports about wild elephants. I have heard they are gentle peaceful creatures that pose absolutely no threat. I have also heard that they can be ornery pissed off animals that need to be give a wide berth. I am sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle, but I was not going to take any chances, so I hurried down the trail behind my guide and we took cover behind some large trees and peered back.

The elephant was coming straight towards us up the trail crashing through the trees on each side of the trail. From our vantage point behind a bunch of downed trees we noticed that the elephant had stopped. Sompeth urged me up the trail to take a photo. I got to within 20 feet of the elephant and he was staring straight at me. Unfortunately, I could not focus the camera in time. I had his whole face in my zoom and he raised his snout over his face with his tusks in view, but I couldn’t focus in time to take this incredible picture. He then started to take off and I got a sideways picture of him. This might turn out good or it might be all blurry. It is unfortunate that I did not succeed in taking this picture at the perfect time, but I will always remember his face looking at me in my minds eye. Anyways, I think that sometimes on vacation you live through your camera too much. The most important memories of a vacation are the ones not stored on a hard drive, or in a photo album, but those lodged deep in the membrane of your mind.

The elephant took off and crashed through the trees. I tried to follow along the trail in hopes of getting another photo, but I stopped after a few minutes. I did not want to bother the beast too much and plus he was moving pretty quickly. At least I got another view of him running through the trees. I thought that I was lucky seeing the 5 elephants in the salt lick the night before, but this was even more exciting.

A few minutes later we were walking and I noticed a quick movement to my left. It was a snake. The snake looked harmless as it was not too large and it was slithering away anyways. It had its mouth open for some strange reason. I looked a little closer and the snake had a horned lizard in its mouth that was twice as large as its head and it was attempting to swallow it whole. I took a few pictures of this and we headed on. These three events happened all with in a half hour of each other.

Soon we were done with the trail at a waterfall. This waterfall was just a fall though as there was no water going over the rock except an occasional drip of water. For waterfall viewing it is best to come in the rainy season. My ride was there and it was time to head back. Angh drove me to the park gates where I got a bus back to Pak Chong. I went to 7-eleven for some snacks then walked across the street to the bus station. There was one bus out front. It was for Bangkok. I got on this huge luxurious bus and paid my three dollar fee for the 5 hour trip back to the nation’s capital replete with AC and it was only a quarter full. As soon as I boarded and got comfortable the bus pulled out of the curb and left Pak Chong towards Bangkok.

Traffic was horrible as we arrived in Bangkok. It must have taken almost an hour and a half to get from the city limits to the bus station which is not even close to being city center. I then had to fight the hordes of taxi drivers wanting to take me into town for prices twice as much as a metered taxi would cost. I bargained and got a decent rate and collapsed into the cab. It probably took another hour to get to the hotel. I sent a text message asking if Sofia wanted to do something tonight, but she said she was with her sister and could not. It was just as well, as I had had a long day and collapsed in front of the TV around 10pm. A day of breakfasts with ladyboys, trekking through jungles, running from elephants, and long bus trips can really take a lot out of a man.

Camping with Lady boys in Kho Yai National Park

The next morning one of the other students told me that the walk through the jungle had to be canceled. I was not sure why. I thought may be the guide had canceled. I said goodbye to my new friends and bowed and said thank you in Thai, they bowed back and clasped their hands together. Adjacent to the camp they had a little cafeteria place that served some really good food. I got some coffee and sat and thought about how great the evening was last night. I was so happy that I had this experience. As I was sitting drinking coffee some of the students came up and had breakfast with me. Then Kak emerged and he looked green and almost like death itself. I now knew why the guided trip was canceled. Kak was too hung-over. They said their goodbyes at 11am again, and I was now by myself in Khoa Yai. I had my gear with me and walked over to the visitor’s center to get information on where to go for camping and walking in the park.

I was told there were two trails that led from the visitors center and a guide would cost 7.50$ for the 4km and a 12.50$ for the longer one. She asked which one I wanted to do and I said both. Being 11am it was too late to do both because the guides go over the trail really slowly. I told her then I would like to do the 4km one today and the other early tomorrow morning.

The guide prices were pretty cheap, but what they really get you on is the taxiing around the park. After the hike I would have to go to the tent camping spot because the place I stayed at before was a reservation only place for groups. Since I was now alone I had to move and the camping place was about 8km away. It cost about 4$ a trip to the camping spot and around 15$ to get a ride to the edge of the park. I paid for all this because I was kind of in a hurry to see as much as possible and leave the next day. I knew I could have hitch hiked, but I was not sure how long it would take for a ride. Plus, I was afraid that another group of college students would pick me up and get me drunk. After two days in a row of hitting Thai whiskey pretty hard, I was in need of a break. One of the reasons I came to this park was to dry out for a day or two. This sure had not happened so far.

I was then introduced to Chiawet, who was my guide. He was dressed in fatigues with insignia from the park on it. He did not speak much English, but we were able to communicate. This guy had eyes like a hawk. He saw things way before I did, and sometimes I still could not see what he was pointing to. We were walking through the jungle and the vegetation was pretty thick. The trail though was well marked, plenty wide enough, and pretty easy to follow. There were a few ugly thorny thistle like plants, but if any stretched across the trail Chiawet would break it and throw the branch off the trail. I was expecting huge spider webs across the trail with giant spiders in them or at least giant pythons slithering through the trees, but there was nothing of this sort. Actually, after fifteen minutes I felt completely at ease in the jungle as if I was walking through the Appalachians.

We came across some elephant dung and Chiawet picked at it with a stick and then declared that it came from this morning. Right there was worth the four dollar admission price. One does not get the opportunity to have a guide in a Southeast Asian jungle pick at elephant dug everyday and then add commentary about the whereabouts of the source of said dung. I was next expecting him to take a taste of it and tell me more, but this did not happen.

The walk was nice, and many interesting birds were seen, but nothing really outlandish. Towards the end of the trail we came to a salt lick where I think we saw the elephants the night before. There were bones scattered everywhere from Tiger kills and elephant dung everywhere as well. Most of the big exciting animals do not come out in the day as it is too hot, but it was evident from these kills that the Tigers were busy here at night. We headed toward the end of the trail and all of a sudden I heard a squawk and looked to my left and this huge pterodactyl like looking bird came flying over head. It had a large crested hornbill and looked a bit like Toucan Sam. I learned that it was called a hornbill and there are four varieties that live in the park.

As soon as the bird flew over us we continued on and shortly came upon three Thai people taking pictures with these huge cameras. They also had a huge telescope. They set up the telescope in front of me and beckoned me to look through it. I did, but it was pointed to the sky. They told me to focus it, but I told them I could not see anything. They then came over and reset the telescope into the trees. I thought may be they were inviting me to see the hornbill because if flew in the general direction of where they had readjusted the telescope. I began to look through it and tried to focus in the trees. While I was doing this the Thais were taking pictures of me looking through their telescope. They then came over and said thank you very much, and then left. I think that they just wanted to take pictures of me looking through their giant telescope. It was kind of strange.

A truck was supposed to be waiting for us, but it was not at the end, so we walked the 1km back to the Visitors center. I was thinking about complaining about this, but it turned out better that we walked as I had more time with my guide and we ended seeing quite a lot on the way back to the visitor’s center. On the way we saw a giant black squirrel, and it was just that. It was a large squirrel, probably three to four times the size of our largest squirrel, with a big bushy tail. We also saw an impressive looking hawk at the top of a tree. It had this cool looking plume on top of its head that looked like what a quail has on their head.

The forest ranger Angh apologized for not picking me up at the trailhead. She said she was just about to leave when we arrived. I said goodbye to Chiawet and got in the truck and headed to my campsite. On the way there about 5 hornbills flew out from a tree. I got out of the car, but they were gone. I was trying to get a picture of one of these, but they proved very elusive. Two minutes later we were driving and a huge 6 foot long monitor lizard was on the side of the road. I rushed out and tried to take a photo, but it cruised away. Angh told me that once I set up my camp that I should walk down this road around 6pm and I would see a lot. She wasn’t kidding as we were already seeing a lot and it was still early in the day.

I got to the campground and paid my 75 cents for camping, set up my tent, had dinner at the campground restaurant and then went for a walk. You could tell that Thai people are really into food as even in a far away place like Khoa Yai, they have a restaurant at both the visitor’s center and the campground. On my walk I immediately saw a bunch of deer. Hornbills were flying all over the place. This was the Thailand I imagined when watching the jungle scenes from Bridge over the River Kwai. I was looking through my zoom lens at some hornbills when I saw a flash of gold run through the field to my right in the distance. It was Tiger like color, but too small. It turned out to be three Asiatic Wild Dogs. I got a few pictures and kept walking. I then came upon a tree with over 50 hornbills on it. I walked over and they all flew away. I got a few pictures, but not of any close ones. I was getting a little frustrated at this because I really wanted a good picture of these impressive birds.

After walking I returned to the campground around dusk. I was at this point afraid to even make eye contact with anyone because I just wanted to relax and take it easy tonight because I was waking up early for a hike the next day and the Thai people here were just so friendly. Going back to my tent I passed a cute Thai couple eating in front of their tent. The man held out a glass and said “Thai whiskey?” I hated to turn down his offer, but I did. Then I passed my neighbors which consisted of two men and a lady, or maybe it was two ladies and a man, or maybe it was one man, one lady, and one in between. Regardless, as I passed they all swung their hands in the air yelling “welcome to Thailand, come here.” Well, I could not pass up this gesture of extreme friendliness, so I walked over and said hello.

This group consisted of a man and wife and the wife’s brother. They had all this food spread out and encouraged me to eat. They also had a bottle of Thai whiskey, which I passed on. Once again these people had so much food and drink with them for their one day camping trip. Once again they must have said, “what if we meet a hungry American tourist that is camping next to us?” and decided to buy way more food and alcohol than they really needed. They had a tray of pineapple and mango along with fish, rice, and other treats. Even though I had already eaten I was still hungry. Thai food sometimes is not the most filling, so you can eat and eat and not get completely stuffed. Thai people tend to eat this way. Instead of two or three big meals, they seem to eat smaller size entrée meals and then snack at different times through out the day. This is especially true at night. Except when we are drunk and salivate for Taco Bell, we usually do not eat after dinner. I think Thai people sometimes have two meals after dinner.

The man and wife were very normal looking. Toon was an airborne ranger in the army. His wife was named Tik, and she was really pretty. She said she had a 27 year old son, which shocked me because she could have passed for 27. She told me she was 47 and that just floored me. Her brother reminded me of the Saturday night Live special where the person’s sex was hard to tell and the person’s name was Pat making sexual distinction even tougher. Tik’s brother’s name was Wit and although completely flat chested and had an Adam’s apple, smiled and acted very, very feminine. He also had this little nervous laughter that sounded like a high school girl giggling. He was a hairdresser. Tik referred to her brother with the pronoun “him,” but she sometimes called him her sister. I thought it was mistaken English perhaps, but I soon realized that Wit was a ladyboy. The term ladyboy, or as the Thai’s call “Katoeys,” does not necessarily mean the man has a sex change to female. I think it could also mean a very effeminate male. I do not base this on personal experience of lady boy genitalia, as I have not gone there, nor do I plan to, but this is just what I think after what I have observed. The term can be used very loosely. It is also viewed as a good natured rib to any male. It is interesting because one could call anyone at anytime a ladyboy in Thailand and get a laugh out of it. Even the ladyboys would laugh. No one gets offended. In America if you call someone a fag, gay, or queer it can be very offensive to certain people and might even land you in sensitivity training. Another difference in Thailand towards ladyboys is although there is a lot of teasing and joking about it there is absolutely no hate directed towards them. This is similar to our society too, but unfortunately there is a small minority that hates gay people and even attacks them. That sort of occurrence I think is unheard of in Thailand.

I excused myself from this company early as I had a long day the next morning. I thought I would not see them again because I was being picked up at 8:30am. Before leaving they invited me to breakfast. I thanked them and wished them a good night.

Kho Yai National Park

Next morning I predictably felt like hell and all hopes of getting an early start to Khoa Yai were dashed. I went up to Ollie and Harry’s room and woke them up around 11:30am after getting breakfast. We agreed that we would leave for Khoa Yai in an hour. I went on the internet and came back to the hotel in an hour, but they were nowhere to be found. I waited another half hour, but still no Ollie and Harry. This was a tough call because I wanted to leave, but I was thinking that knowing Ollie and Harry may be they found an expert guide in town that would drive us to Khoa Yai and show us around. Anything was possible with them. I finally gave up and wrote a letter telling them to meet me at the tent camping area in the park.

I started to walk to the 7-eleven and ran into them talking with some Thai people making new friends. I told them I wanted to get to the park because since I was tent camping I was in a hurry to get set up before it got too late. I told them to meet me in the park if they wanted and shook hands with them in case I did not see them again. The lonely planet says that there is a bus for 50 cents that goes to Khoa Yai that picks up at the 7-eleven. When I got to the 7-11 there was some guys advertising a taxi to Khoa Yai for about 8$. I said no thanks to the scam and walked around the corner and found the 50 cent bus.

I got to the park around 3:30 pm. I paid the entrance fee and asked where the tent camp was. The man at the gate said 14km. I said any food available, and he again said 14km. The lonely planet did not mention this. He said I could hitch hike. I started walking into the park and stuck my thumb out and the first car sped past. I was a little dejected. I started walking and it looked like it was going to be another hike your ass off Asian National Park experience. I pretty much was resolved to walking and knew I could get there before dark.

After walking one km with no other cars I heard one approaching and before I even pivoted around to stick my thumb out it began to slow. It was a pick up truck with about eight young Thai guys in the back. They said you come with us. I threw my bags in the back and took a seat. I was very thankful I found this ride as the 14km into the park was straight up. At one point in the ride there was a sign warning of Tiger habitat as we were driving through all this lush vegetation. Not the kind of place I wanted to be walking by myself, although I am sure anywhere near the road is completely safe during the day.

They were all smiling and began to ask me the normal questions. They asked also if I liked soccer. I said not really, but I liked NBA. I told them I lived in Chicago and they yelled “Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen.” They also asked if I liked to drink. I said that I did and they all busted out laughing. They told me that I should come with them.

When we got to the visitors center they motioned for me to follow. We then headed down a hill to a bunch of buildings, which was like a camp. There were wild monkeys walking around all over the premises. A man from the park began to collect fees and the Thai people began giving him money. I asked how much, and they said for you free. I turned out these guys were all Thai university students and they had just finished an exam and were taking a break. In fact, their teacher was with them.

We began to set up camp. I took my camera out and was going to take a picture of the Thai people putting up the tent. They all stopped what they were doing and excitedly got all together and posed. There was one guy who was about 50 meters away. When he saw I was taking a picture he sprinted over yelling for me to wait. They then got a camera out and made me get into one of the group pictures. They also had me take a picture with their teacher when they found out I was a teacher also.

After setting up camp they gave me this bamboo pole that was cracked in half with this purple matter in between. They told me to eat it. It turned out to be this delicious fruit. Then they got out these Styrofoam containers which had rice and meat entrees inside. They gave me one. I tried to give them money, but again they said for you it is free. Then they got out the Thai whiskey and poured me a drink. Once again I tried to pay and was refused. They brought so much food and drink to this little camping trip it appeared they were going to be here for a week. They were only spending the night. It was almost like they asked themselves when shopping for this excursion “what if we meet a dumb tourist hitch hiking with two backpacks who is hungry and thirsty?” and then decided to get more food and drink. Every time my glass was even near empty they filled it with more whiskey, soda water, and ice. Later they brought out a 12 pack of Leo 24oz beers and same scenario ensued with the beer.

When in Pak Chong there were many tours available that were very tempting, but I have found through experience that it is a better deal to just get to the destination and then make arrangements. One of the perks of these tours was a night safari. The students told me in one hour they were going on one of these and asked if I wanted to come along. I said sure. Around 8pm a pickup truck drove down to our camp and it had railings all around it. We all stood up and held on to the railings while we drove around the park. One of the Thai students had this hand held halogen light that he shone around the side of the road. We saw civits, which are big raccoon looking creatures, many deer, and then we got to a salt lick and there were five wild elephants sitting in the salt lick. Unfortunately, my digital camera’s flash was not strong enough to catch the wildlife, but the experience was great. There are also about 30 Tigers in the park and other smaller wild cats, but we did not see any of these. The Tigers are incredibly shy and are rarely, rarely seen. I asked a few park rangers who had worked there if they had seen any, but not one had ever seen a tiger. One woman had worked there for ten years and had never seen a Tiger. With 10 chatting Thai students in the back of this truck, I knew the chances of seeing one were basically none. It was funny, at one point one of the guys stopped talking for a second turned to me who was not talking and put his finger to his lips in the quiet gesture then turned and continued talking with his friends.

We returned back to the camp and continued drinking. These guys were leaving the next day, and they were intent on getting drunk. One of the guys that spoke decent English named Kak said that he would stay the next day until 2pm and we could get a guide and walk around the jungle a bit. He kept repeating many times that he was leaving tomorrow and tonight was for fun and asked if I was happy. I said I was. At one point someone’s cell phone rang and he answered it. The first five minutes of his conversation concerned me. I heard him say farang, Chicago, and then other things like Vietnam and Philippines that made me know he was talking about me. I think they were as excited about having me as I was having met them. Even though I had brought only myself, I think they were happy to meet me and would go back to school and tell their friends they camped with an American from Chicago. Since I had no food or drink to offer it made me feel good that they felt this way.

One of the guys said I was lucky to have seen elephants. I said I did not care so much about the elephants, but I was lucky to have met such good people. They loved this and a loud boisterous chung kow(Thai for cheers) ensued and many more followed. Unfortunately, later, my friend Kak threw up and that pretty much ended his night.

Off the beaten track in Thailand

The next morning I took a flight out of Hanoi back to Bangkok. Before continuing my trip to the Philippines, I wanted to back track to Thailand and see a few places I had missed in and around Bangkok. I had no idea when I would return to this part of the world, so I did not want to regret missing anything. This flight was about the easiest flight ever as the plane took off almost to the second of the departure time and in less than two hours I was in Bangkok. I had the best seat on the plane as it was a window seat and right next to where the stewardesses sat for take off and landing. There were no seats in front of me so I had infinite leg room and during the take off and landing two cute Thai stewardesses sat across from me and asked me about my travels.

It was nice being back in Bangkok as for once in my trip I was at a place I had already been too, so I knew exactly where to go. I confidently walked out of the plane to baggage and then knew exactly where to go for the most economical taxi and I got one that took me to the Mo Chit bus station. A couple of Thai people saw me with my backpack and asked if I was going to Chiang Mai. I said no and told them I was heading for Kho Yai National Park. They said window 87 for tickets to Pak Chong, which was right across the way. I bought my ticket and stopped at the 7-eleven for some snacks and boarded my bus. In minutes the bus took off. I am starting to get pretty good at this traveling thing. It is nice when the answers come to you and you do not have to seek them. It helped that the bus system in Thailand is so efficient. They have buses every 15 minutes to Pak Chong between 8am and 10pm.

Five hours later I was in Pak Chong and found a cheap hotel. Two of my favorite Europeans that I have met on this trip were two Germans named Ollie and Harry that I met in Cambodia. I was thinking of them here in Pak Chong because this town was close to Korat, which was a place that Ollie and Harry talked about visiting. They said there were no tourists in this town and they were even greeted by the tourist police there and they told them they were the only tourists there and that they were there just for them. I referred to Ollie and Harry as the German Rastafarians previously because of their love for partying, Bob Marley, and they both had really long hair.

I went up to my room to get situated and then went out to get a bite to eat. I was going to leave my key at the front desk and as I was coming around the corner there was a man with long black hair at the front desk with his back to me. I saw the hair and immediately thought it was Ollie, but I figured it must be someone who looked like him as it was too unlikely to run into him again here in Pak Chong. I came around the corner and the man turned around and sure enough it was Ollie. We both looked at each other and disbelief and then we both smiled and gave each other a hug. We then exchanged happy greetings. I could not believe I ran into these people here. This was absolutely crazy. I grabbed a beer and went up to their room and then exchanged greetings with Harry. We caught up on our travels and talked. Unfortunately, they were a little down as they had some bad luck on their travels. Harry broke a few ribs in Phnom Penh on a moto-bike. They also had their cameras and money stolen in Saigon.

This was very unfortunate because they showed me some of their pictures in Cambodia and both of these guys were talented photographers. Harry had this one picture at Angkor with a monk kneeling down in front of a temple with the sun setting and a temple in the background. This was gone as someone had broken into their room in Vietnam and took it. Ollie had this 1000$ 35 mm digital camera on a tripod and was concentrating on focusing the camera when a moto-bike driver cruised past snatched the camera and took off. Due to these circumstances, they did not have much good to say about Vietnam. I felt fortunate that I had some good experiences in this country to offset some of the bad that I experienced. I also felt fortunate that nothing like this happened to me. On the whole though, they had a good attitude about it and said it was really no big deal. They did have a good time in Northern Vietnam, as they traveled even farther north than I did to Sapa and saw the hill tribes in Northern Vietnam. They said this experience was incredible. I had wanted to go here, but it would have been another three or four days, and I did not have the time.

I have had a few emails from friends at home complimenting me on the fact that I go out of the way and see things in each place that I go to beyond the normal tourist places and also make an effort to meet interesting people. I am an amateur compared to these guys. They are even more handicapped than me as far as language because their English is not that great, but they are really great at meeting the locals. What they do is just cruise out in the countryside on moto bikes and if they see a friendly face they stop and hang out with them. They have even stayed in small huts with families that they had just met. They had some printed pictures in Cambodia of them posing with children and people they had just met. That night in the room they had some printed pictures from Cambodia of them with some locals they had met. A couple of the pictures were of a very attractive girl. I looked at these pictures and thought may be they were one of their girlfriends. They must have understood what I was thinking as Ollie came over to me looking at the girl and he said this girl was a friend and “not for the fucking.” I hate to make fun of people from different countries whose English is not great, but this misuse of English just cracked me up.

They told me that they hated big cities like Bangkok. They also tried to say something like the destination is not important, but the way. They asked me if there was an expression like this in English. I told them the expression “off the beaten track” because I knew that was the kind of places they liked. I tried to explain this to them and finally was able to with gestures like pounding my feet to explain beaten. They liked the expression so much they had me write it down.

We were so busy talking and catching up that it was all of a sudden 11:30pm, and we finally decided to go out and have a bite to eat. We were unsure if any place would be open, but we left anyway. There is a market right close to the hotel and we headed there, but it was pretty much closing. One food stand still had some food and the people motioned us to sit. I sat in the little chairs they had arranged. There were people behind the stand sitting on mats eating. Ollie and Harry bypassed the chairs and went straight for the people on the mat. Ollie grabbed one of the peoples hands bowed and said hello my friends in English. I thought that they would be put off by this and think this person must be crazy, but these Thai people immediately loved him. I got to see the way they met people firsthand. Pretty soon we were all sitting around with these people eating their food and drinking their whiskey. We soon ran out of whiskey, but Ollie bought another bottle at the 7-eleven up the street. We drank with these really kind people until 3am and they were so nice. They had some fruit including sliced mango and other dishes with rice and they encouraged us to eat as much as we wanted.

The people behind the stand on the mat were the owner of the food stand. I assumed the rest of the people were his friend and family. One of the Thai men around the mat took a liking to Harry’s shirt and offered him a trade. Harry was too nice to reject the trade although it was evident his heart was not into it. Harry received a dirty blue shirt from the Thai fellow that barely fit Harry and in return he gave the Thai man his prized Beerlao shirt that he bought in Laos. It was pretty funny as the Thai man had a huge grin on his face while Harry had a resigned but sheepish look on his face. I wished I had a picture of them together after the exchange. I felt a little sorry for Harry as he now lost another possession from his trip, but at least his new shirt would be a prized memento from a great night with really friendly Thai people. Another Thai fellow tried the same thing with Ollie, but he said the shirt was a gift from his dad and no exchange was made here.

At one point Harry left without telling anyone. All the Thai people got really restless and asked where Harry was. They were worried about him. If there is one person I was not worried about it was Harry. He is about 6′4 with long hair and kind of scary looking at first glance. I tried to assure them that he was fine. This did not settle them and they kept nervously looking around for him. He finally returned and they relaxed.

We ended up on these mats until 3am drinking Thai whiskey and having a great time. The only problem here was I knew this would delay my arrival at Kho Yai tomorrow. Pak Chong is 40km from Khoa Yai National Park. This was the reason I came here. My plan was to leave immediately the next day for the park. Ollie, Harry, and I had decided in the room we would go there together. I wanted to stay at the park, but they wanted to just visit for the day and come back. They asked if I would rent a moto-bike. I said no way. I had no desire to get on one of these things and Harry’s broken ribs made me even more adamant about not riding them.