Paradise, or Paradise Lost?
Ah, Southern Thailand. The Malay Peninsula. An incredible stretch of land, with archipelagos and blue seas on either side. It’s most often stereotyped as a tropical paradise, though a growing school of thought that the over travelled nature of this place has had negative effects on both the physical beauty and cultural soul of Southern Thailand.
As you’ll see from these pictures there’s still a unimaginable amount of beauty here. You lose some authenticity with occasional big crowds and bars with club music cranked to 11 – but this is still Thailand. For better or for worse (I can’t tell you which), it’s what parts of Thailand have become.
On to the pictures: Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, Maya Bay…three islands that are well travelled, but full of life. Click HERE to move along to the complete gallery.
Khao Sok
On my first trip to Thailand, I remember really loving the country. I wanted to go back.
It’s entirely possible that my adventure to Khao Sok was a crucial part in that. Upon my return home, when I started talking about the places I’d been, Khao Sok was the first place I’d ramble about. I’d tell stories of floating raft houses in the middle of the rainforest, and trekking through an environment straight out the Jurassic Period. I’m so happy I ended up returning to Khao Sok, and in many ways, the stories are even better this time around.
You may want to see all of my Khao Sok pictures in one spot HERE.
Or, you many want to look at only the new ones, here.
Capturing BKK
When I photograph Bangkok I try to capture the beauty in chaos. The street-side food vendors. The speeding tuk-tuks. The character of the people. The marvelous colors of the century-old temples.
I still have yet to meet many people that love Bangkok, and I often struggle to define what it is that I love about this place myself. It’s busy, polluted and rude – but it makes no effort to hide this fact from you. It is what it is. It’s also remarkably photogenic.
In the next 50 photographs: you’ll see the Bangkok’s holiest temples. You’ll see a police officer on his motorcycle, talking on his cell phone, wearing a fraudulent copy of a Rolex wristwatch. You’ll see animal carcasses hanging in the street, for sale, in 40 degree heat. You’ll In other words, Hopefully you’ll see some of what makes Bangkok such an amazing place to visit.
For the full Bangkok gallery, click here.
Ko Sumui & the Gulf of Thailand
In a part of the world famous for tropical islands, sandy beaches and coconut palm trees, Samui is one such island where I ended up. It’s not Thailand’s most famous island, or most visited, but Koh Sumui one could argue is not as spoiled as those destinations, either. That’s not to say it isn’t a tourist hotspot; it’s transformed from a fishing community to a tourist based economy for certain. However you’re still able to find traditional fishing villages and empty beaches along with your usual “catered to foreigners” developments. With dozens of other islands nearby, it turned out to be a great place to start exploring the islands of southern Thailand.
Inside a Tropical Rainforest. Khao Sok.
In a country once covered by lush rainforest, Khao Sok is one of the few places in Thailand where you can visit an actual rainforest. Sure, the rest of Thailand is still lush and green, but in truth most of the indigenous rainforest has been replaced with farmlands, rubber and palm oil plantations. Though Southeast Asia has the oldest rainforests in the world, these are also the rainforests the most at risk for destruction – logging, hunting, overpopulation, political instability – all factors in an ongoing biological catastrophe.
Khao Sok is a pocket of mostly untouched rainforest in southern Thailand, where gibbons, hornbills, and even tigers still exist in their natural habitat. Being able to live a few days in the rainforest is an experience of a lifetime. The gibbon calls at the crack of dawn, the tropical downpours…or sometimes just staring up into the dense canopy above, these are some of the things that make Khao Sok unforgettable. Click here for the gallery.
Indochina’s capital: A Bangkok gallery.
I’ve mentioned before that Bangkok might be one of the least inviting major cities you can visit, and I stand by that statement. The relentless heat and pollution in this concrete jungle won’t initially please the tourists who come from all over the world to visit Thailand. Most will leave BKK in a hurry for the beautiful tropical paradise that is southern Thailand.
But if you’ve come all the way across the world, leaving without experiencing Bangkok would be a mistake. The temples are among the most exquisite you’ll find anywhere. The shopping is ridiculous enough that even shopping nonfans will enjoy it. Bangkok is just plain interesting culturally – halfway between India and China both in essence and on the map. Lively and full of character; sweaty, congested and tropical; this is Bangkok, city of life.
Click here to see the gallery. Use the info button (i) to get captions. Peace.
Mu Ko Ang Thong
My last day in the Samui area, I headed to hop around Thailand’s least touched islands.
There was only one small fishing village that I saw on the collection of islands. No electricity, no plumbing, off the grid!
As I write this, I’m back in Bangkok for a long layover. There’s a lot of concern, rightfully so, around Thailand about the flooding coming in from the north. It’s all the cab drivers can talk about. I didn’t imagine it would be a problem, I mean, everything was fine a week ago when I was last here.
I was wrong though. I can’t even walk outside my hotel without rubber boots.
Khao Sok -> Koh Samui
Thailand hasn’t disappointed! The scenery has been incredible. The people, generally, have been friendly. The heat, if your within jumping distance of a swim, has become bearable. It’s usually (but not always) inexpensive. It can be unfortunate and beautiful in the same sentence. I’ve seen some of the most spectacular sights, and also some things that made me want to turn away. That’s my short commentary on Thailand, without going into too much detail.
Anyways, my journey now brings me to Koh Sumui, a tropical island off Thailand’s east coast. First, can I share a few more from Khao Sok?
Jungle trekking
Iguana, I think.
Sunset in the rainforest
Looking up to the canopy
Island paradise, Samui
For 6$ a day, instead of complaining about bad Thai drivers, I decided to become one:
More to follow.
Khao Sok and the rainforest
I’m not sure where to start about Khao Sok. Wikipedia will tell you it’s Thailand’s last untouched true rainforest, and that it’s more biologically diverse than the Amazon. I’ve got pictures and stories to share. For me, being fascinated by rain forests since I was a child, it’s not an overstatement to say this was one of the best experiences of my life! Tropical downpours, kayaking the jungle canals, living off a bamboo raft house, and seeing the unspoiled wildlife up close and personal.
It wasn’t easy to get to, being 130km from the nearest railroad or airport, and then another 45 minutes by boat if you want to stay on the lake in the rainforest itself. You don’t get pampered, either. You will sleep with the ants and the geckos, literally in your bedroom. That being said, wow, absolutely one of the great travel experiences of my life.
The raft houses.
Morning mist.
Lots more to come, but I want to get on a bigger screen to go through them with a finer touch. I’m getting closer to home! I’m in Koh Sumui, really, an island paradise. Peace!
One more thing on BKK
Bangkok has a not so classy reputation, which doesnt need to be stated here, and I’m sure its well earned. And, like i mentioned previosuly its disgustingly hot, and the street fumes are probably to thank for this interesting dry cough i’ve developed over the past few days.
But even if one has no interest in nightlife, facemasks, or sweating from new places…I’m telling you…this city is still so incredibly captivating.
My fondest memory: waiting with the locals for the Saen Saep express boat just after dark. (I’d like to describe these boats for you, as they’re so perfectly un-western…but its compicated. Not unsafe, just…awesome. I’ll add a pic below, but that probably won’t help. A giant canoe with an engine). Humidity is 100%, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who notices. It’s about to rain, i can feel it. Bats are flying over head, dozens of them, some of them look like they’ve got a 4ft wingspan. Lightening lights up the sky as we board the boat, and the moment I find the last seat beneath the tarp canopy, heavy, tropical rain breaks. The main with the helmet who’s responsability it is to hold the boat in place while the rest of us hop on yells something in thai. He makes a run and a short jump onto the ledge of the already moving boat, as the down poor intensifies.
So this is Bangkok. Yea, you can easily pamper yourself, as your western dollar will get you quite far without any effort at all. You can visit the holiest and most exquisite of buddhist temples, enjoy great thai cuisine, and hop on and off of speedboats as they’re floating away. Its a tropical jungle of markets, concrete amd tuktuks. If you ignore the downsides, what’s not to love?
And with bkk said and done. I’ve got a 12 hour night train to catch.
City of life
Bangkok, city of life, i saw on a poster on the skytrain. Bangkok is different than any other major city I’ve been to in that it really has no center. There’s the old Bangkok, cluttered with temples, markets, and the working class thai. Theres the new Bankok, mostly the east side of the city, with shopping malls, resorts, and nightclubs, catered to tourists, expats, and the more social elite among the thai people.
There is perhaps no such “born on the other side of the tracks” example of any city I’ve seen.
Seoul ——> Bangkok
Seoul – where do i begin. As a megacity with 20 million people, I was somewhat surprised not to find the city overwhelming. Perhaps it was my time in Beijing and Shanghai, both of which felt more hectic and massive, that prepared me for Seoul. It might be the mountains and huge rivers that help decrease the sense of being closed in. Who knows.
Its got what you’d expect from a city this crowded in Asia; vibrant markets, great food, bright neon sign posts, disobediant motorbike drivers and so on. Apparently, in Korea, if they like the appearance of an off white 35 story apartment building, they’ll reproduce it a thousand times. You really see this if you perch yourself on one of the many surrounding mountains in the area – they find a template and they stick to it. I was told that 70-80% of seoulites live in apartments of 12 storeys or more, so i’d imagine they’ve got to get them built quickly and effeciently.
And now, Bangkok. Initially, not a welcoming place. The heat and humidity drain your energy. It’s polluted, its congested, and there’s poverty abound. With that said, It’s also one of the most affluent places in all of Asia. The markets are incredible. The palaces are grand. Stray dogs roam the street and modern highrises flying hundreds of feet above the slums. An amazing skytrain transport system the average thai can’t afford. Amazing pad thai for a dollar, brand new jeans for 2. These are my first impressions of BKK.
