Koh Tao Pub Crawl

We flew from Chiang Mai to the island of Koh Samui, and from there took a ferry to a smaller island called Koh Tao.  In Thai, koh means "island" and tao means "turtle"; several species of turtle come to the island's beaches to breed.

Here is a view around the harbor near Sairee Beach.  The island's primary industries are tourism and fishing.

Here is a view of the island from the ferry.  Very green and tropical.

We came here mostly for scuba diving.  We did four dives over the course of two days, and saw some interesting corals and fish as well as giant clams.  But of course we left our underwater housing for our camera at home, so there are no photos.  We do, however, have photos of a pub crawl we did on our last night.  After dinner in town, we made our way back to our hotel bar which had a DJ playing techno music for a mostly empty room.

My Mai Tai came in a glass shaped like a woman.

After a couple of fruity drinks, we headed to Lotus beach bar.  It is right on the ocean, and has mats on the beach where patrons can lounge while sipping cocktails.

It was a very comfortable place to sit and watch the three firedancers who started performing around 9 o'clock.

They would dip either batons or poi (a wick on a chain) into a large container of kerosene and then light it and begin twirling.  In a little while, the whole place smelled like diesel.  



At times they came awfully close to the people sitting down, but they seemed to know what they were doing.

We were mesmerized for at least two hours, but they showed no signs of stopping.

But finally we had to tear ourselves away so we could head to the last bar on our itinerary, the Queen's Cabaret. 

The cabaret show had started several hours earlier, but we arrived just as they were lip-synching to "It's Raining Men".



I think it must be a requirement for these shows to include at least one version of "Lady Marmalade".  This "lady" was clearly channeling the Christina Aguilera version.



The "singer" for Aqua's "Barbie Girl" was very pretty...



But not nearly as sparkly as the "lady" performing the Abba medley.



Afterwards the performers came around and took photos.  I'm not sure who's face is scarier -- mine with no makeup or "hers" with so much makeup!

Chiang Mai Walking Street and Muay Thai Fights

Earlier this week we went to the fun but very tourisy Night Bazaar here in Chiang Mai.  Tonight is Saturday night, when they hold the weekly "Walking Street" market.  It seemed to us to be more of a fun local thing to do on a Saturday night; we saw lots of families out and about and there were definitely fewer obvious tourists.

There were lots of musicians playing everything from traditional music to singing karaoke on portable machines.  This little girl was very talented.  I think she is playing a khim, which is a hammered dulcimer.

We enjoyed walking up and down the street, checking out all the booths.  But the main reason we came here was for dinner, to try some local foods.  Of course we started off sharing an order of phad thai.

Then Kevin had a local sausage (kind of like the ones shown here, but shaped differently and from a different stall).

This lady sold all kinds of good-looking things; we bought a delicious grilled banana skewer to share.

And for dessert there was a tasty ice cream square.

There were a few delicacies that we just weren't adventurous enough to try.  Normally, Kevin loves calamari, but this squid on a stick just didn't appeal for some reason.

And not even the low, low price of 20 baht (about 65 cents) was enough to tempt us to try these fried insects.

After our street-food dinner, we took a tuk-tuk to the Thai boxing stadium.  Our driver was a lady, which I thought was pretty cool.  We haven't seen any female tuk-tuk drivers here.  She also had the most tricked out tuk-tuk in town.  The rear passenger seat sat on top of a thumping bass, and the ride was equipped with speakers that could be heard down the block. Very fun!

We arrived at the Thapae Boxing Stadium just in time for the start of the fights.

Muay Thai is a style of boxing/fighting that originated in Thailand.  It is nicknamed the "Art of Eight Limbs" because fighters are permitted to use fists, elbows, feet, and knees.

The stadium had an interesting setup.  Most of the spectators were farangs (foreigners) although there was one section full of Thai people, most likely friends and families of the fighters.  There were several bars selling overpriced beers.

Bookies competed with each other to convince the foreigners to wager on each fight.  Here are a group of tourists placing bets.

Traditional music accompanies each fight, getting faster as the rounds progress.  The clarinet-style instrument is called a Pi Muay, Pi Java, or Pi Kaek.



One of the fights we saw was a championship fight for the 85 lb weight class.  These were some tough kids!

For intermission, they also had a "special fight" -- five guys blindfolded and forced to duke it out with each other (no kicking allowed).  Things got interesting whenever they mistook the referee for a combatant.



Afterwards, the blindfolded guys came around asking for contributions and taking photos with the spectators.

Chiang Mai Night Bazaar

This morning we left Bangkok bright and early to catch a plane to Chiang Mai, in the north part of Thailand.

Guardian statue like the ones at Wat Phra Kaew in the Departures area

Our hotel in Chiang Mai (The RatiLanna) is gorgeous.  The lobby and common areas are all decorated in the Lanna style.  The Lanna Kingdom existed in the north until the early 1700's, when it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Siam.

Our room is stunning, with hardwood floors, a waterfall next to the tub, and even traditional clothes for the water bottles.

Our balcony has a lounge bed and fantastic views of the Mae Ping river and the lily pond below.

We spent the day lounging at the hotel, and then went for dinner and shopping at the Night Bazaar.

It is a huge tourist attraction and it's open every night of the week.

Vendors sell clothing, DVD's, knockoff luxury goods, and local crafts.

I did buy a few things: a pair of "Havianas", a "Pandora" bracelet, a scarf, and a belt.  Most of the vendors spoke English but they seemed to like that I was able to say numbers in Thai.  Very helpful when haggling!

My favorite things for sale were the colorful lanterns, so pretty!

We also made sure to stop at some of the food kiosks for dinner.  Chicken satay with peanut sauce in the food court...

And these delicious banana cake/crepes covered in chocolate sauce from a vendor cart.  Yummy!

Of course, some people find shopping boring so there is always the nearby cabaret show.  We didn't go (we might another night), but the "ladies" were kind enough to let us take a photo!

Night Cruise on the Seine

It's getting dark earlier in the evenings now, so tonight after dinner we decided to take a cruise on the Seine to view the city lights.  The cruise began at Pont Neuf, Paris' oldest bridge.

Directly across the river is the Samaritaine building, one of the oldest department stores in Paris.  The building is currently closed and is being redesigned as a luxury hotel.

Here is one of the clocks on the facade of the Musée D'Orsay.  (Sorry that nearly all of my pictures are blurry, the boat didn't slow down for photos!)

Next door is the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, a museum displaying French medals, honors, and decorations.  The Legion of Honor is the highest decoration in France.

Here are a couple of shots of the Left Bank

After going under the Pont de la Concorde bridge...

Arch between some of the bridge's pilings

...we were rewarded with this lovely view of the moon over the Assemblée Nationale.

Then we went under the Pont Alexandre III.

And also under the Pont des Invalides.

This was my best attempt at catching the moon and the Eiffel Tower in the same shot.

The boat paused for a minute as it turned around at the base of the Eiffel Tower.

At the base of the tower is a carousel which is also lit up at night.  The tower is open to visitors until 11pm.

From there we traveled back the way we came.

The Louvre and the Pont Royal

When we got to the  Île de la Cité, we could see that the evening picnics were in full swing.

The brightly lit building with the white bands of light is the Institut du Monde Arabe.

Coming around the other side of the Île de la Cité, we passed by the Conciergerie.  Marie Antoinette was imprisoned here just prior to her execution in 1793.

We had another chance to view the Pont Neuf and the carved heads that decorate it as we approached the dock.

We were now back where we started and our cruise was at an end.

As we walked home, we passed by the brasserie Au Chien qui Fume ("The Smoking Dog"). It looked inviting, but we had already eaten dinner and weren't feeling like drinks so we just headed home.