Last Post in Bangkok

This is my first blog and I have to say it is very odd to continually writing in the first person. I feel very egocentric every time I post an update. Anyway, on to some more rambling.

It was a nice R&R day, but I did manage to venture out to see a house called the Jim Thompson's House. Another girl from the hostel, Christine from South England, tagged along with me. I'm only two weeks into my trip and she only had two weeks to go. You could easily tell she was excited to be getting back home.

So onto the house, which was just amazing. It is all classical Thailand architecture, and was built by an American expat from WWII. The entire building is made of teak wood and is elevated off the ground. Gardens and Buddha statues surrounded the buildings.

The guy, Jim Thompson, is credited with reviving the silk industry in Thailand. He brought some silk back to New York in the 50s and showed it to design magazines and the one thing led to another. However, during a hike in Malaysia he disappeared. All sorts of conspiracy theories abound about what happened, but the most likely story is that he was struck by a truck and his body was hidden.

A nice nap in the afternoon capped off the day. Time to finish packing for tomorrow. Kho Samui here I come. I can’t wait to find out what this full moon party is.

Bangkok

27-May “Last Day in China”

Last night we finally found the disco area. We were all very surprised how good it was. Similar to the bar scene on the lake there is a large concentration of bars and clubs. About six of us from the hostel hopped around the bars and clubs until 3:00 am.

Surprisingly, I got up at 8:30 and felt pretty good. I got in another five mile run along with the pointing and staring as I ran through the streets. After the jog I hit my favorite bun shop for the last time. The cashier knew my order - three prawn buns and three egg/mushroom buns and a bowl of soup.

After dilly dallying around the hostel I decided to go to the Summer Palace – about a 12km bus trip. The day was nearly 40 degrees (a little over 100 F).

The trip out was fine, but the return wasn’t as simple. The easiest thing to do is point on the map to the destination when the ticket person comes around. They look and take your money.

The Palace was immense. It is laid out amongst a lake. There is even a small island with a foot bridge to it. As I walked up the lookout hill, the late night and early morning started to catch up with me. I decided to only wander to the island and call it a day.

The bus terminates at the Palace, so getting on the same bus is all that is required. I get on and we head back the same way I came. Any worries are gone until the ticket agent comes to me. I point on the map where I’m going and she insists by shaking here hand that I’m on the wrong bus. We’re doing the typical pointing and hand gestures and getting no where fast. She won’t take my money and keeps shaking her finger. Finally, a girl toward the back says she can help and speaks English. Everything turns out fine and I get back to the hostel. While riding to the stop the girl asks if I speak any Chinese and of course I don’t. She couldn’t understand how I was able to get around, and called me very brave.

The rest of the day was hanging out at the hostel and talking to the other folks staying. I need to get to be early since I leave at 9:00 am.

28-May “In Transit”

5:30 am – time to get up. Leaving the country is no bigger deal than coming in.

Final thoughts on China

People – Great people. Everybody is very helpful even with the language barrier.

Favorite Site – The Great Wall. It is just amazing how immense the wall is.

Biggest Let Down – The Forbidden City. Everything being under construction, the fact that you can’t see any of the relics behind the dirty windows and that there is just no much to see other than the grounds just did not make it all that great.

Night Life – Not bad. The lake area was nice and a pleasant surprise. I would say that a beer costing only 10-20 Yuan definitely helped.

City Layout – It is a huge city. The subway is simple and the buses are all brand new. The Olympic preparations helped speed up the modernization of it all.

Cost - One word – “Cheap”

Food – Good and cheap. I easily ate for less than $5 per day and every meal was more than I could eat. However, I would have to say I’ve had better Beijing Duck in San Francisco.

Communication – Difficult to stay the least. Always, always have a map in both Chinese and English. Also, ensure you have the hostel write the destination and the directions back.

29-May “Thailand”

After about a five hour flight, I arrived into Bangkok in the late after noon on the 28^th. Getting to the Hostel was no problem. The bus ride was only about 45 minutes. I checked in and decided to explore a little bit.

I took the skytrain down to Saim square. It is the central shopping area with everything you would find in the West. I found an Irish bar (there is one in every city in the world) and had a few beers. I ended up chatting with some locals that worked at the hotel across the street. I even learned how to write my name in Thai. By 12:00 I was getting tired from the day’s travel and took a taxi home.

I got up fairly early with the intensions of going out for a run, but between the heat, pollution, and lack of an easy place to go I realized I’m not going to get in any running until Samui.

I decided to see the Grand Palace and the Wat Phra Kaew. These sites are amazing. The bright colors and size of the temples are just amazing. Even though most of the exterior and interior has been repaired a couple of times over the years you still get the original intent of the temples.

Within the Wat Pra Kaew the sacred emerald Buddha resides. It is a small jade statue about 22cm tall that was lost, found, and moved around between Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. It eventually got back to Thailand and now resides in the temple. Every season the robes of the statue are changed - rain, hot and cold are the seasons.

As I was leaving the temple area I hear my name shouted out. My initial thought is who in the world knows me Bangkok. It ended up being a guy I talked to as I was waiting for the bus to the hostel. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the day. He was staying at Khao San road which has a lot more backpackers than where I’m staying. It is a lively street with vendors and bars. At a bar we started chatting with some Croatians and ended up hanging out with them too. Bars have to close at 1:00, but we found some that serve “coffee” after 1:00.

When you think about the odds of running into someone you first think. We are both tourists and the palace is the most popular site so it is feasible and maybe even likely. However, I decided to take the bus instead of a boat which took longer. If I chose the other I would have gotten there earlier and left earlier. Then, I would have not have had the same night. It just makes me wonder.

30-May “Boat Ride”

Last night was a long night and I didn’t get up until pretty late. Actually, I only got up because at 11:00 the air conditioner automatically stops. The small room becomes unbearable and you want to get up and take a cool shower.

The day ended up being pretty relaxing by taking the boat up and down the river, stopping at some neighborhoods and another Temple called Wat Pho. It wasn’t nearly as immense as the one hosting the Emerald Buddha but it was much less crowded and worth the cost of admission 20 Bhat (~$0.75).

Back at the hostel I did the typical exchange of travel stories with some others. I tried to rally a group to go down to the Red Light district, but found no takers. The guys and girls from the previous night had interest and we decided to meet at 10:00. However, either I missed them because I got there late or they didn’t make the trek. I wondered around the area solo. There is a night market with all the fake Gucci wallets and Rolex watches. Then “strip bar” after “strip bar” with every type of show you could imagine being hawked in the street. After an up and down of the street I had enough and headed home. While talking to others at the hostel our biggest topic was the number of old grey haired men with young women. One word – Creepy.

31-May “Chill out”

Today is do nothing and relax.

Beijing

22-May “Arrival”

After a 12 hour flight I was very happy to be on the ground. All things considered the flight was not that bad. I was able to sleep a good portion and at the right time. I think I’m in one of the best shapes for jet lag in a long while. My cold continues to linger and the kid next should have been thankful that I took some medication to ease the wonderful cold noises that could have been going on throughout the flight.

Immigration and customs was not as bad as I was expecting. I was ready for an inquisition and a lengthy ordeal, but after about 20 minutes of standing in line I was stamped and ready to go on my way.

After getting my bags and some money it is time to get to the Hostel. I reread the directions and finally decided that with the rain, being a bit tired I would take a cab. I missed the sign for the cab queue and was bombarded by individuals trying to convince me they were cheaper. A regular guy realized I was being ambushed and pointed me in the direction I was looking for. In the end it was 120 Yuan ($40), while the others were trying to charge triple!

By the time I got in a cab it was close to 4:00 pm and pouring rain. The driver spoke no English, but the directions were printed in Chinese which was immensely handy when it came to looking for the small alley where the Hostel was located. The hostel workers/owners came out and guided me down the alley. A private room with two beds only runs about $18/night. Between being tired and the rain I was in no mood to start exploring.

23-May “English Teacher”

I was up about 7:00. Unpacked, took a shower and setup everything in the room

Then, I took a 15 minute walk in search of coffee. I remember seeing a McDonalds down the street and figured at least I would find some there. Also, I need so more money because the ATM at the airport only allowed a withdraw of 1000 Yuan ($120). Well, I was able to find the McDonalds, but not a single ATM would work with my card. I was getting worried but I was able to find one that was on the Visa network later in the day.

I packed up the camera and gear and time to head out and see some sites. First stop, The Forbidden City. After a small detour, AKA wrong turn, I found the site, and spent the majority of the day there. Unfortunately, the major buildings were under reconstruction, but it was still amazing. Apparently, there is a continuous resurfacing that goes on, and after every ten years it will have been completely repainted.

Guide books and comments on web sites talk about how there are a number of scams. A couple of them being “artist students” that want to show you their work and girls in bars that want you to buy them over priced drinks. While in Tiananmen Square I was approached by a guy and girl that wanted to practice English. I immediately started to think about all the various scams that they could be trying to play, but in the end it ended up just a chat for 30 minutes. By the end of the day I was had to say no to others. I’m still trying to figure out the angle, but apparently nobody in the hostel had a better explanation.

24-May “The Great Wall”

It is 6:00 am and time to get up. Today some of us from the hostel are going to the Great Wall. A private coach was booked to take nine of us to the less touristy portion of the Great Wall. We were dropped off at Jinshanling and hiked about 10km to Simatai. The trek took about four hours of come pretty intense inclines. I defiantly got my hill work out in for the week. The views and engineering accomplishment are amazing. Unfortunately, there were two down sides. First, the smog that looked like haze and secondly the woman that traversed half the route along side me trying to sell post cards and books.

Another interesting tidbit is that you have to pay fees as you go along the wall. Once you get to a certain point it is another 20 Yuan, then another 5 Yuan to cross a bridge. Each time you have to wonder the reasoning, but oh well.

Before leaving we were told we had until 4:00 to finish the hike. All but one of us finished around 2:30. We sat and relaxed at some hotel like place and waited, and waited and waited for the last guy. The driver that spoke no English wanted to go at 3:00, but knew he had to wait until 4:00. Then, right at 4:00 the drive was insisting on leaving without the last guy. Just in time, he appeared wondering down the path to the parking lot.

The ride to and from takes about thee hours, so within 20 minutes everybody was out cold. I crashed at 8:00 and didn’t get up until the next morning.

25-May “Haggling”

Agenda today consists of the Temple of Heaven Park, Silk Market, and Beers at Beihai Lake.

The Temple of Heaven Park was interesting. It was were the Emperor would perform ceremonial rites. I was easily able to spend half the day wondering the immense grounds. A random fact…Henry Kissinger visited the Park 12 times.

Off to the Silk Market via taxi. This is the place to get all the fake designer crap. I left with a nice collection of wallets and watches. Also, when I was heading out for the trip from my apartment I took a taxi to the BART station. I ended up leaving my jacket I intended for South Africa in the cab, and didn’t realize it until I was on the plane. This was my opportunity to get a replacement. I got a jacket for $10 US that would cost at least $150 back home. I’m curious how well it does. Haggling is quite fun. They start off at a stupid price and you come back with 20 Yuan. They keep lowering the price and I keep saying 20. After 5-10 minutes I end up with it for 25 Yuan, but I will say after an hour the whole thing gets tiring.

It is nearing 5:00 and time for a beer. I’m determined to find the Beihai Lake area. One of the better bar scenes. I get within ½ km but end up wondering a Hutong for an hour. It is amazing how easily you can get entertained by local activates. Eventually, I found the lake front. As I’m walking a British guy yells out if I’m lost. Flags go up with some type of scam, but he ended up being a pretty interesting fellow. Being 20 years old he had lived in China for about a year and was studying kick boxing in another province. He came to Beijing for a few weeks before he heads to Thailand to continue studying boxing. He said he became practically fluent in Chinese after about three months of being in China. Later in the night some American students were talking to us, and most of them had been studying Chinese for years and were no where close to his level. I hung out with him and few other local folk for the evening and then headed back to the hostel.

26-May “Running”

Got up this morning to finally get in some running. The air quality in the city is just horrible. Between the lingering cold and the smog I was coughing most of the way. I was able to get in a 5 miles before full on wheezing took over.

Time for lunch…

Leaving Today

It’s almost 12:30 am and I leave in less than eleven hours. All that is left is to finish filling up the iPod with new music, take a cold tablet, and then head to bed.

It still hasn’t quite hit me all the places I’m going to visit and people to meet and that I’ll actually be running an ultra on the other side of the world.

The weekend was quite busy with finishing up packing, last minute errands, a few nights out on the town, Bay to Breakers, and a fighting a lovely cold I picked up earlier in the week. I feel sorry for whoever is seated next to me tomorrow. I’ll be sniffling and coughing the whole flight. Hopefully, a few Tylenol PMs knock me out for a good portion of the flight.

Time to get back to the iPod and watch a bit of Wedding Crashers for the nth time…

First Post

Alright, this is my first posting to my blog. There are just a few days until I embark on my trip. I think I’m fairly ready to go. Only yesterday did I finally receive my Passport back from getting the required visas. I don’t think I could have cut it much closer. The lesson learned is not to procrastinate getting a Visa. It took nearly five weeks to get three visas - China, Kenya and Tanzania. The past three weeks have flown by and were well needed to get ready and for my final bit of training. I’m about as ready as I can be for the big race in South Africa. It is going to be fun finishing up the training in different countries on my way.

If you have not heard of the Comrades Marathon it has a long history and is considered the most popular ultra-marathon race. The race has been going on since 1921, and it was started to remember the soldiers that gave their life during WW I. It has been run between the two cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg every year except a few pauses during WW II. Check out the race page at www.comrades.com. Also, this month’s issue of Runner’s World has a good article on the race.

I leave Monday morning with my first stop Beijing China. The schedule for my trip is:
Beijing 22-May
Thailand 28-May
South Africa 2-June (Comrades Marathon 17-June in Durban)
Kenya/Tanzania 30-June
Portugal 19-July
UK 27-July
Las Vegas 2-August
Phoenix 10-August

The beauty of a Round-The-World ticket is that you can change the dates of departure anytime at no additional cost. So, if you are having a great time in one place or are tired of another a quick call and off you go to the next stop. I’m curious how much I stick to my schedule.

A question that keeps coming up is how did I book the flights for the trip? I will say it was, overall it fairly simple, but did take some time to investigate. For anybody else that may be interested in doing something similar in the future here is how I came to my decision (this is from an e-mail I sent a couple weeks ago)…..

There are two major alliances that offer around the world tickets. The first being One World with American and BA being the big airlines. The second is Star Alliance with United, US Air, and Lufthansa being the big ones. Pricing is similar between the two but the Star Alliance by far and above has more destinations and members. However, I read that One World added a few more airlines in the past month. Also, if I recall correctly, One World has better South America coverage.

Anyway, I went with the Star Alliance because it had better Africa coverage. The ticket pricing is as follows, all before taxes, $3950 - under 29k miles, $4550 - under 34k miles, and $5350 under 39k miles. You are allowed up to 14 stops, not including layovers/transfers. The destinations have to be set when you book the ticket so they can determine the mileage bucket. You are allowed to change the dates for free, but if you want to change/add/remove a city it will cost $200.

A couple other things - you must travel east to west or west to east. In general you are allowed to fly both ways if you are within a continent. I ran in to an exception in the US and couldn't figure out why, but in Africa I go west to S. Africa, but back east to Kenya.

Both alliances have a handy tool that allows you to plan your trip. It has a database of all available flights and airlines and will add up the miles as you progress while verifying you meet the all the restrictions. I highly suggest having the route determined before calling.

Link to Star Alliance: http://www.staralliance.com/en/travellers/index.html
Link to One World: http://www.oneworld.com/

All said and done my ticket ended up being the $4550 option with another ~$600 in taxes. I booked it through United. They were much more familiar with the ticket than US Air, but it also depended upon the representative on the line. Apparently, it isn't one of the more popular tickets purchased. Being patient and kind to them paid off tremendously. My last name was misspelled and the rep was able to fix the error within the day and before the final ticket issue. That being said, double check everything, because if they need to reissue a ticket it is $200 regardless of the problem.

This has been a much longer post than I expected. Drop me a line and talk to you along the way...