Full Moon and Beyond

I'm not going to mince words here: Full Moon was a shitshow. It was the shittiest of all the shitshows. Imagine tens of thousands of kids, many of whom are incapable of holding their liquor, partying on the beach. It was loud, obnoxious, dirty, and seemingly never-ending. And fun!

Around 12:30, I snagged a water taxi from Haad Thien (where the Sanctuary is) and set off for Haad Rin. Normally I wouldn't go to a party that late, but seeing as how I had to make it to sunrise, a late start seemed appropriate. The boat ride alone was almost as memorable as the party. We raced over the water in near blackness, with only the stars and the full moon overhead providing illumination. As we rounded the cape, the lights of the party were but a shimmering in the distance. The drone of the engine monotonously carried on as the wind rushed through our hair and the boat tore through the calm waters. No one onboard bothered trying to carry on a conversation; we all sat quietly and soaked in the moment. The whole scene had a very Michael Mann feel to it. Add some Phil Collins and you've got an aquatic version of that famous scene from Miami Vice. Crocker and Tubbs were probably heading into a much more dangerous situation, but never underestimate the potential deadliness of Full Moon parties. People have died (for real).

Slowly, the lights grew larger and brighter until the entire beach and its nocturnal inhabitants were clearly visible. Once the boat's engine was shut off, the repetitive thumping of bass coming from dozens of simultaneous beach parties became audible and was to serve as the soundtrack for the next however-many hours. As I jumped off the boat and stormed the beach in a humorous EDM version of D-Day (EDM-Day?), I realized the World War II analogy could be stretched further. There was already carnage everywhere: the beach was filled with people, most of whom were still upright, but already some good men (and women) had been lost. Not even 1:00 yet, and there were dozens passed out in the sand, couples making out on the ground, and intoxicated bros using the ocean as a toilet. A toilet that you stand in. Welcome to Full Moon!

Half of the partygoers had neon Full Moon shirts, half had buckets, half had body paint, and all of them were Westerners. The only Thai participation in Full Moon comes in the form of bartending, serving food, driving taxis, and possibly offering medical assistance. I didn't see any police presence the entire night, a feat pretty incredible considering there were literally tens of thousands of people in a fairly small space. I would say "Welcome to Thailand!", but I think the more accurate sentiment here is "Welcome to Koh Phangan!" I've heard enough stories from locals and expats to get a decent idea of the shady dealings and minimal law enforcement that keep this island operating smoothly.

Most of the parties played a style of music that I'll describe as house-slash-dance-remixes-of-popular-songs. The two bars at the north end of the beach, Kangaroo Bar and Mellow Mountain (who both openly serve mushroom shakes), played very danceable house, one party played terrible drum-and-bass (redundant, I know), one party had a trance/progressive vibe and a chill-out lounge next door, and a few other DJs played techno and psy-trance.

A quick note about the "buckets" I mentioned earlier: imagine those little plastic buckets that kids play with at the beach. Now imagine that you take out all the sand and put in ice, vodka, Coke, and Red Bull. You might think that serving those en masse to young adults on holiday for a few bucks a piece would be a disaster, and you'd be right. As previously noted, people were dropping like flies barely past midnight at an all-night party. I value my health and my personal belongings, so I avoided the buckets like the plague. In fact, I stayed sober the entire night so I could make it to sunrise and be somewhat human the following day. After spending a little bit of time on the beach, I was really, really happy with that decision. There was enough going on without brain modification.

There isn't too much else to note. I bounced back and forth between the two bars on the north end and the trance area, stopping occasionally to eat some street food or caffeinate. As morning approached, I plopped down on the sand with many others and enjoyed the sunrise. Once 8:00 rolled around, I grabbed a water taxi back to Haad Thien and strolled into the Sanctuary's restaurant, still donning sunglasses, a bandana, party clothes, glow sticks, and fluorescent body paint. One of the waiters gave me a smirk when he saw me, to which I responded: "I'm going to need to see a food menu immediately." I enjoyed my muesli, yogurt, and pancakes in my party getup as hippies in yoga pants and sarongs sat at the tables next to me. It was clear (to me, at least) who was making the right decisions in life. It was a delightful end to the evening.

After four days at the Sanctuary, I decided to relocate to a quieter part of the island. I was actually quite happy to leave as the Sanctuary was a bit of a disappointment for me. I happily offer the disclaimer that I'm not in their target demographic since I didn't go there for any healing or meditation or yoga. My stay there was unconventional: I wanted a quiet place close to Full Moon (but not in Haad Rin) and I wanted good food. The Sanctuary's menu is quite phenomenal for a restaurant in Thailand, but unfortunately the execution is sorely lacking. Everything was hit-or-miss, mostly miss. It's hard to describe succinctly, but almost everything I ate or drank there was just "off"; I could usually identify two or three things wrong with every dish. It doesn't make me happy to bash them, so I'll stop there. The culinary variety was still very much appreciated. In the interest of ending on a high note, I will say that the cashew-pesto-cheese wraps were legitimately awesome.

After leaving Haad Thien, I relocated to Haad Yao, where I settled into Shiralea Backpackers Resort. Within two minutes of getting there, I already knew I liked it ten times better than the Sanctuary and knew that my stay would be much longer than the three days I booked. I wasted no time in extending my reservation as long as I could and now I'll be here until the day before I leave the island. The staff is fantastic, the food is delicious and cheap, there's a swimming pool and massage hut onsite, the bungalows and the grounds are really nice, and Haad Yao is a much nicer beach than Haad Thien. I feel like I'm in a treehouse for adults when I'm listening to hip-hop, mashups, and Pablo Francisco standup over the stereo in the open-air, bamboo-constructed restaurant with a thatched roof and a full bar.

My main concern each day is going to the clinic for a cleaning and new bandages, but fortunately that never takes much time. Because of my new location on the island, it's now much cheaper and faster to rent a motorbike and drive myself rather than take a taxi or walk. Motorbiking around the island has been a real treat, both for exploring and for enjoying the scenery; there's nothing quite like zipping down a road at 80 kph with a jungle on one side and a beach on the other to reinforce the fact that you're on holiday in a pretty cool place. Other than my daily medical attention, my main tasks, in the name of recuperating myself, are sleeping, eating, drinking tropical shakes and lassis, getting massages, laying on the beach, and reading. If I'm feeling energetic enough (which is difficult in the heat and humidity), I'll try my hand at photography or writing.

I anticipate that my remaining four or five days on Koh Phangan (and in Thailand in general) will be mostly the same, which is just fine by me. I've already booked my flights and lodging for Bali, September's locale, so I'm feeling very happy about my immediate future. I've started correspondence with the two animal shelters in Ubud concerning volunteer opportunities and I feel that one of them will definitely pan out (once my rabies vaccine is complete in a week). More to come once I'm in Indonesia.

For no particular reason, here is a list of things I've gotten used to in Thailand:

• Dangerous forms of transportation
• Stupid Thai-style bathrooms that don't have a separate shower (basically the entire bathroom is the shower)
• Pineapple and watermelon (alongside bananas and raisins) in my morning muesli
• 7-11 stores (and 7-11 knockoffs) everywhere
• Skin care products (even from famous international brands) advertising their skin-whitening ability
• Breaking thousand-baht bills whenever possible because they're annoying
• Dirt cheap everything and no tipping!

As requested by a friend, here's my current reading list:

• The last three months of Wired magazine
• When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin
• How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Franklin Foer
• Nightfall and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov

Full photo album: Koh Phangan

And The World's Your Oyster...

Here we are three weeks into the trip and I haven't written a damn word. Mostly I blame the heat. And the constant distractions. Who has time to write when you're spending your days eating and drinking coconut shakes and getting massages? Life is tough.

Singapore

Let's backtrack a bit. About three weeks ago, twenty hours of flights and airports culminated in an arrival in Singapore, the city that's somewhat famous for being the reluctant stopover for Southeast Asia backpackers. It's not that Singapore is a bad place; it's actually very clean and modern and safe. The reason it's a less-than-ideal destination for backpackers is that it's just not that interesting. It's a city of transplants and mostly generic culture. It's sterile. For travelers, it's temporary. Fly in, stay the night, move on.

Nevertheless, we decided to stay the entire weekend and soak up some of the city's famous nightlife. For me, Singapore was a great transition to Asia; it's very much a modern city and it's easy for Westerners (English is the official language). We rode the metro a lot, ate some good food (including some great Indian food in Little India), and stayed out late in Clarke Quay both nights. I really can't think of much more to say; Singapore was fun but forgettable.

Bangkok

On Sunday we scrambled to barely make our flight to Thailand, where we had one night in Bangkok (yeah, for real). After wandering through Silom for a long time, we finally managed to find our guesthouse, owned by a very friendly American expat named Mac. We treated ourselves to some noodles and spicy tofu salad, which was legitimately amazing, something I never thought I'd say about salad. We considered heading out for a night on the town, but once we realized how tired we were, we opted for the massage recommendation from Mac. He walked us a few blocks to his favorite local spot, where we indulged in an hour-long session for the ridiculous price of $5 a piece. It was at this point that I realized how cheap Thailand was going to be and that I was going to be spending more time getting massages than eating. Game changer.

Koh Samet

We weren't meeting Sabina's friend Sonnie until the weekend, so we decided to head to one of Thailand's many islands for the days in between. We settled on Koh Samet, an island close enough to Bangkok that it's a popular weekend destination for Thais. The bus ride from the city was about four hours and our timing was accidentally perfect: our ferry ride from the mainland to the island (about 45 minutes) was just before sunset and was very picturesque.


Since it was a weekday (early in the week) and there had actually been an oil spill in the area only a few days before, we decided to play hardball a bit and shop around at a few of the places. In Thailand, the price of almost everything can be haggled and we felt that we had some leverage in the situation. I was more than happy to turn Sabina loose and sit with the bags while she visited a few bungalows and talked pricing. Eventually we settled on a small operation after she was able to talk them down to less than half of the starting price. It was a simple bungalow, but it was clean, close to the beach, and close to town.

The next morning I woke up at 5:45 to go for a sunrise run on the beach. It was overcast, quiet, a bit moody, and actually very pleasant. At the start of the run, I was a little lethargic and my muscles were tight, but after ten minutes I started feeling pretty good. That is, until I ran past a pack of resting dogs, evidently spooking one, who freaked out, lunged at me, and sunk his teeth into my leg.

Let's stop here a moment. This is Day 7 of the entire trip, Day 5 in Asia, Day 3 in Thailand, and basically Day 1 on any kind of beach. Also, I didn't get the rabies vaccine before we left because the odds were so low that I would run into any problems. Here's a more accurate transcription of my thoughts on the matter:

IT'S MY FIRST DAY ON A THAI BEACH IN THE FIRST WEEK OF A MULTI-MONTH BACKPACKING TRIP AND A MOTHER FUCKING STRAY DOG JUST BIT ME. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!

I hobbled back to the bungalow and as I entered, Sabina asked "How did the run go?" My response was "Not good", at which point she noticed that my hands and lower right leg were covered in blood and I was feverishly cleaning the wounds with antibacterial wipes. After stopping most of the bleeding and crudely applying some bandages, we walked to the international clinic, which was about fifteen minutes away on the other side of town. The clinic wasn't open yet, so we called the emergency number, which went to the doctor's cell phone. I could tell I had just woken him and once I said I had been bitten by a dog, he started mobilizing immediately. Luckily he lives above the clinic, so he and one of his assistants came right down and ushered me in.

As they started cleaning the two holes in my leg, they gave me a tetanus booster (slightly different than the one I received before leaving the States) and started me on the post-exposure rabies vaccine, which is a series of five shots spread out over one month. The doctor also explained that if I received immune globulin (basically a shot of antibodies), the odds of getting rabies would be "practically zero". The only catch with this shot is that it's expensive. In Thailand, a poorer country, the shot is $1,500; in a rich Western country, the shot could be anywhere between $2,000 and $7,000. Thank you Thailand for being poor!

Obviously I had secured a travelers' insurance policy before leaving and I had even opted for the zero-deductible option because I had a feeling that something was bound to happen eventually. Knowing that I would be reimbursed for all expenses, I didn't hesitate to order the immune globulin. It took a few hours for it to be shipped to the island by boat, at which point I went back to the clinic and they administered it. They also started me on ten days of antibiotics.

Here's the synopsis of the situation: I am very confident that I will not contract rabies because the medical staff was able to take action very quickly and because the stray dog that bit me had a collar, implying that it wasn't as wild as it could have been and probably doesn't have rabies. I have received four out of the five shots of the rabies vaccine and will be immune in about two weeks when I receive the final shot. I have been going to a clinic every day (with one exception, see below) to have the wounds cleaned and the dressing changed. The injury has never really hurt that much except when I accidentally hit it or when it's being cleaned.

It sucks that I have to go to a clinic every day and I can't go in the water at all (for fear of infection), but I see two silver linings to this cloud. One is that I've gotten to see a part of Thai culture that I wouldn't have normally seen. Before leaving the States, I had read that Thai hospitals and clinics are very good and very well respected and now I can see why: I have been receiving excellent medical care everywhere I've gone at a fraction of the price back home. Everyone has been very professional and helpful and most of them speak English too. It's been a very positive and eye-opening experience, especially given all the talk of health insurance back in the States.


The second silver lining is that I'm now (or will very soon be) immune to rabies, which opens the door for previously unavailable volunteer opportunities for working with animals. Even though I'm a bit gun-shy now around stray dogs, I still love dogs in general and will be looking into some volunteer work next month at a Bali animal shelter. At least one of the dog shelters in Ubud requires the rabies vaccine, so I see this incident as something of a blessing in disguise.

Once all my treatment is done, I'll be submitting a claim (and a lot of itemized bills) to my insurance company. I expect that everything will be completely covered, so I won't be any worse for the wear, except for a couple small scars on my leg and a good travel story. And all the antibiotics has forced me to go into a detox, which is something I was hoping would happen anyway.

Aside from having my flesh ripped open by dog teeth, Koh Samet was actually very pleasant. We spent our days eating, sleeping, laying on the powdery white sand, and walking along the beach. In the evenings, we would sit on bean bag chairs a few feet from the water, smoke hookah under the stars, enjoy the perfect weather and the sea breeze, listen to music, and watch the local children put on fire poi shows.

Bangkok

Once the weekend came around, we caught a bus back to Bangkok and checked into a nice hotel in Riverside (Tongtara Hotel). The hotel was running a deal to attract tourists and we ended up paying only $30 a night. We spent the weekend exploring Riverside and Silom and hanging out with Sonnie and her husband Randy in the evenings. I would leave during the day to walk the city and go to a clinic while Sabina would visit temples. It was really nice to walk around Bangkok and get a feel for the culture, though I was often frustrated by the size of the city. I got lost several times because I thought I had overshot my mark, when in fact I hadn't walked nearly far enough.

Both Friday and Saturday night we ended up on Khaosan Road, a Westerner-catering shitshow reminiscent of Bourbon Street. The road extends for several blocks and is filled with bars selling cheap beer and buckets of mixed drinks, hookahs, the same American party music played loudly and repeatedly, street vendors with piles of bugs (for eating), racks of cheap clothing, ladyboys, and hawkers trying to convince you to go see ping pong shows. The party goes well into the night and makes for some pretty fantastic people watching. The novelty wears off really quickly though; after one night, you're pretty annoyed with the entire scene.

On Sunday, we ventured out to the Chatuchak weekend market, one of the largest markets in the world. We walked around for hours, looking at food, art, clothing, toys, and knickknacks, and probably saw only one-tenth of the entire market. It's massive. Again, the people-watching was fun. The weekend market is a really great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and be productive with some shopping at the same time.

Koh Phangan

After the weekend in Bangkok, we decided to head south to the island cluster of Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, and Koh Tao. Each island has its own reputation and all three are major tourist destinations. Spas, world-class diving, restaurants, bars, beautiful beaches, and the infamous Full Moon Party all beckon travelers from all over the world. Initially we thought of going to Koh Samui, but after getting an idea of how developed (read: expensive) it is, we opted for Koh Phangan instead. We hopped on a flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani, took a random bus to a random hotel, ate $1 pad thai at the night market while dogs and rats ran the streets, took an hour-long bus ride to Don Sak, hopped on a multi-hour ferry to Koh Samui, then took a 30-minute ferry to Koh Phangan. I fell asleep on the deck of the ferry to Koh Samui and treated myself to a pretty righteous sunburn.

We found ourselves some nice mom-and-pop bungalows (Blue Lotus) that were $14 a night. Yup, you read that correctly. A bungalow on a peaceful part of the island only feet from the water is $7 per night per person. Add to that $3 dinners and $7 massages and you're starting to see why Thailand is pretty great. What's funny is that we haven't run into any other Americans on this trip, just Europeans and Australians and the occasional Canadian or Kiwi. I've had this same conversation with locals and other travelers and none of us can explain the absence of Americans. They just don't come to Thailand for some reason.

The next week at Blue Lotus was very peaceful, filled with eating and walking along the beach and exploring the island a bit. It was at this point that something in me finally gave out and I succumbed to some tummy issues. Sabina pointed out that taking antibiotics for ten days probably killed off the good bacteria I needed to cope with everything, leaving me vulnerable to foreign stomach bugs. After vomiting some pad thai one morning (which did not taste nearly as good the second time around), I spent the better part of two days floundering in bed with stomach pains and nausea, feeling completely lethargic and dead to the world, and making some less-than-ideal trips to the bathroom. Luckily I had procured some Thailand-specific antibiotics before we left, so once I started popping those, I started to feel better very quickly. However, I didn't make it to the clinic during those two days and without my daily cleaning, my wounds became infected. Uuuggghhh. When I finally did make it into the clinic, the doctor prescribed me four days of two new antibiotics, which I just finished up yesterday. Let's hope this cycle doesn't repeat itself.

After some discussion, Sabina and I decided we should split for the rest of the month (i.e. the rest of Thailand). While I was sick and praying for death, she went out and enjoyed the nightlife and was now sort of over it, so she wanted to move on to another island. On the other hand, I felt like I needed to settle down with a single clinic and a single doctor so I could more effectively close out my medical issues before moving on to the next country. Also, I decided that I wanted to be in Koh Phangan for the Full Moon Party, knowing full well that it'll be a sloppy, drunken mess filled with annoying 20-somethings. I figure that I'm here only once in my life, so I pretty much have to attend. Even if it is an annoying spectacle, I'd like to come to that conclusion myself. Besides, how often do you get to party until sunrise on a Thai beach with thousands of people?

I think that pretty much brings us current. Sabina is enjoying the island paradise of Koh Phi-Phi and I've recently moved into a bungalow at the famous Sanctuary, a holistic/wellness/yoga resort in the jungle accessible only by boat. I don't think I'll have the time or energy for any yoga or cleanses or fasting, but I will happily take advantage of their location and their restaurant menu, which is probably one of the best in the entire country. Full Moon is tonight and this feels a bit like the calm before the storm. After Full Moon I'm planning on bouncing to another part of the island since my current commute is annoying, considering I have to trek to the clinic once a day. More to come on that later.

Full photo albums: Koh Samet, Chatuchak Weekend Market

Southeast Asia Adventure

As I start to type these words awkwardly with my thumbs on my tablet, I find myself on a 747 somewhere over the middle of the Pacific. The noise of the engines is unusually loud and my stomach is growling because the only choices for lunch were chicken or beef. I am homeless and all my necessities are crammed into two backpacks. I'm feeling emotional from leaving my friends, family, and city behind. My eyes, red from tears, are hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

And this was all my choosing. An explanation is probably in order here so let's rewind a bit.

A bit after I started my sabbatical earlier this year, I started looking into an extended trip to Southeast Asia, specifically Bali. I had come across a blog written by an American expat who lived in Southeast Asia for pennies on the dollar (compared to the United States). He worked remotely and enjoyed a cheap, tropical lifestyle. I was intrigued. A couple months later, my friend Sabina went to Bali for a couple weeks for a yoga retreat and fell in love with it. I took particular notice to the fact that she was happier and more affectionate after she returned and this encouraged me further to start planning something big.

After her return home, Sabina decided it was time to close the chapter on her job and look for something new. One evening over drinks, I picked her brain about Bali and we joked that instead of her getting a new job, we should take a trip to Southeast Asia together. Little did I realize at the time that that conversation was only a half-joke.

The next time we saw each other, the conversation was less of a joke, and the time after that it was even less. At some indeterminate moment, the scales tipped and suddenly we were talking about flights, timelines, subleases, travel insurance, and storage units. As the to-do lists started mounting and I started confiding in family and friends about our plans, it finally hit me that this trip was actually materializing.

For a few separate and unrelated reasons, we set next March/April as the absolute end of the trip. Given the lengthy duration, the geographic scope of the trip grew to include all of Southeast Asia, not just Bali. Singapore, Thailand, and Bali are definitely happening and Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Burma are all fair game. The trip will be very flexible and open-ended and we'll plan just as far ahead as we need to.

I had already been thinking of getting a new apartment anyway, so I started the process of putting my things in storage, which wasn't my first choice, but I didn't want the hassle of keeping an apartment I no longer wanted. Sabina has a gorgeous Nob Hill apartment that she pays way under market value for, so finding a subtenant was a no-brainer, which she did with relative ease. The last few weeks have been filled with travel shopping, selling and donating things (which inevitably leads to Craigslist assholery), vaccines, guide book research, bucket listing, and tearful goodbyes.

This leads me back to today, the conclusion of the "farewell tour", as I've been referring to the last month of concerts, barhopping, dinners, dancing, getaway weekends, and general merriment. Everything is simultaneously thrilling and terrifying and I'm really not sure what to expect in the coming months. Our destinations, our timeline, our activities, and even our personal dynamic are all question marks at this point. Really anything can happen.

So that's the story. One of my favorite songs ever will pretty much serve as the soundtrack for the next however-many-number of months.

Life's waiting to begin.