Street Meat is Hard to Beat

We are gifted to have such a variety of cheap street food right outside of our hostel.  We have fruit, rotti, fried chicken, grilled meat, Pad Thai, and others depending on the day; each cart is actually the sidecar to a scooter, so they can come and go as they please.  For the most part it is all cheap, 20TMB ($0.65) per stick or piece and 30THB ($0.97) for a rotti, and delicious.  We then run into the 7/11 that is next door and grab a 640ml cold beer for 42THB ($1.36).  We watch them make the food in front of us, so I don't think we can get too sick from it.

The stick food is marinated in a savory sauce and comes with a cherry tomato and pepper on the end.  

The fried chicken is maybe a little overcooked and dried out, but the alternative could be dangerous.  The skin is crispy and seasoned with a spiciness that tastes great.  

The rotti is either plain, as Renee likes it, or a dessert, like the banana, condensed milk, and powdered sugar one I got.  

We did find a Swedish run place that had great pizza for 200THB ($6.49). While, it wasn't truly street food, it had the carts in front of it and it had draft beers for 49THB ($1.59). Great food and the owner was willing to shoot the breeze with us.

Planes, trains, boats, and buses: Will it end?

We just completed a marathon travel session.  We left July 24, at 6:30pm and got to Koh Samui the next day around 2pm (bus and ferry).  We left for Koh Phangan on the 28th at 5:30pm and got back the next day at 6am (minibus, speedboat, minibus).  We started our journey back to Bangkok at noon the same day and arrived the 30th at 10am (minibus, ferry, bus, train).  We are officially tired of traveling!

We wish that we could slow down or stop for a bit, but our Thai visas expire on the 2nd, so we are now enlisting the one thing we though we would only need to get to Hong Kong and then again to get home.  That is right: an AIRCRAFT.  Just the thought of sitting on anything that moves slower than 200 mph gives us chills.  I don't care if it is a VIP, super, rapid, express, direct, sleeper, 1st class, air conditioned, magic people mover.  I want to just stay somewhere for a while and even that isn't likely to happen soon.  As I dread moving to the next place, we are in talks about buying rail and air tickets for coming home twice more and getting around China and Europe.  All this has caused us to open our wallets and deal with airport security to get from A to B as fast as possible without dealing with C.

Granted, all our land and sea crossings are cheap by comparison (especially when a hotel isn't needed for sleeper trains/buses).  But nothing beats the allure of shooting to your destination at 36,000 feet in hours rather than days.  W also have a time crunch as we cut out some stops (anything hiking related) to make room for the ones that we can relax at (read: beaches).  So wish us luck and hopefully the roll of the carriage can once again swing us to sleep.

Koh Samui: Chaweng beach

This island was just too commercial.  On the Chaweng beach area there were at least 2 McDonald's, a Starbucks, and Burger King.  This is on top of the normal assortment of bars and restaurants that cater to tourists alike.  It was also interesting to see so many families with younger children there.  The area wasn't too seedy, but it didn't give off a wholesome vibe at the same time.  While some might like how everything is assessable, that wasn't what I was looking for in a beach community in Thailand.  The island is fairly large and it could be more rustic outside of this popular area, we were just on a time crunch and we figured the popular place has to be popular for a reason.

I shouldn't knock convenience and availability of products in reviewing a location, it was how all this spilled out onto the beach.  Resorts practically touch the water, they are so close and vendors have no problem hunting in the sand.  There was even a suit-tailor-shack on the sand like it is normal to go swimming and get fitted clothes.  The buildings along the ocean even overtook the palm trees that should have added a hint of nature to the area.

On the plus side, the water was generally clean of human garbage (palm fronds can be forgiven in the ocean) and standing shallow for about 100 yards from the surf.  The clear, blue green water also added a nice ambiance when going for a dip.  It was in the water that the anger of commercialism melted away and the natural beauty of the island stood out.  The jungled topped mountains that surround the cove shrink the buildings into the sand, which allows for a nice sunset overhead.  After several days of laying on the beach and floating in the water, the island grew on me and I'd saw we would return again.

VT night train BKK

7/23

We took the train from Vientiane to Bangkok, well actually a hard seat car from Thanaleng station outside of Vientiane to Nongkai, Thailand and then a sleeper train to Bangkok.  The whole ordeal cost 560,000 kip ($68.18) per person and 12 hours.  It is a farther distance than taking a bus, but it gets in quicker because the boarder formalities are easier and only costs a few dollars more.  We didn't know how expensive food would be on the train, so we brought snacks, but had to buy beers at an inflated train-price.  Interestingly enough, time flies when you drink several 640ml beers and play 12 games of UNO.  

Renee got the bottom bunk, which was our seats folded out and it was slightly roomier than my top bunk.  My bunk folded out of the wall like a Murphy bed and was fine for what it was, but the light came through the curtain and made an eye shade a life saver.  Generally everyone kept to themselves and no one was loud after the sun went down.  

The bathroom was a toilet that gave an excellent view of the tracks below and several wash basins were provided for simple freshening up. 

All around this was a pretty good introduction to trains in southeast Asia.