Hey, everyone! I am currently at the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, waiting to board the first of quite a few flights to get me back to… the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I can’t believe this year in Asia has come to a close. It has been such a chock full year. BUT before wrapping up, I wanted to share what I’ve been up to in my final days.
A few housekeeping things:
1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.
3) Leave a comment at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think of this post!
Bamboo Rafting
Back in Khao Lak, before going on the week-long diving liveaboard, I decided to squeeze in a very quick day trip. While looking on GoogleMaps, I discovered that there was a “bamboo rafting” activity 10min outside of town, where people left reviews saying they spotted multiple sleeping snakes while on the ~40min adventure.
Well… count me the fuck in! Because I didn’t have to be at the dive center until 6pm (and had basically an entire day to kill), I decided to go for it.
There are certain towns throughout Southeast Asia that have a “taxi mafia” – where Grab isn’t operable and you have to rely on local taxis to get you from point A to point B. These places are always very annoying. Grab is great because no one’s trying to screw you over. But with taxis… anything goes. They set the price, even if it’s absurd.
I walked through town and realized I would, unfortunately, have to get a taxi. It was only 10min away, so couldn’t be that expensive, right?
I talked with a driver who said 400 baht “there and back”. WHAT? That’s like USD$16 for a 10min ride. Insanity! A grab bike would have gotten me there in probably 50 baht. Alas, I didn’t have that luxury. So, 400 baht it was. I told the driver specifically where I wanted to go, a rafting site called Komol’s Corner. Well, we got the area and he ended up driving me to a rafting site a few blocks further. I checked my map and then told him he’d taken me to the wrong one. “Same, same,” he told me. Well, no, I specifically mentioned Komol’s Corner multiple times – and was paying to be taken there. In theory, yeah, there are a bunch of rafting places around, but that was the one I had asked to be driven to. He tried to push his location but I was insistent on going to Komol’s Corner because of the reviews. I imagine the driver probably would get a small commission for taking me to his rafting site. Sigh. It’s always some bullshit, isn’t it?
Anyway. I make it to Komol’s Corner. After paying, I get loaded into a pickup truck that drives down the road to the launching point. A small queue of people were waiting to board the bamboo rafts. Was I going to be part of a group? But no! I got a raft all to myself. Right away, I told the guide I was hoping to see snakes. The Google reviews had said if you mention you like them, the guides will point them out for you.
Oh, I was hoping to see snakes! Especially a python. That was a big ticket item for me.
The first snake was a Wagler’s pit viper, much lower on the tree than the Khao Sok resident. The guide pulled the raft to the side of the river so I could stand and take a few photos.
We continued along. The scenery was lovely and the ride itself was pretty tranquil. Because its dry season, the water is much calmer/lower than normal but that was fine for me. I was alright with a leisurely ride down the river, snake-hunting.
A few minutes later, the guide pointed to a snake slithering through the bush next to the river. I hadn’t been expecting to see any active snakes – I figured all we would be seeing were nocturnal snakes resting during the peak heat of the day. But alas! I still have to check which species this is, but I’m thinking it’s some kind of keelback. I really struggled to get a photo of it.
We also saw two MASSIVE frogs. One was high up in the tree. After spotting it, I quickly realized why the area was a snake haven. With frogs that large, they were eatin’ good!
We then spotted our third snake… a mangrove cat snake. I haven’t seen these guys since my time in Indonesia. It has been a while. They’re pretty interesting snakes. While they’re mostly black, their ventral scales (belly) are a different shade – with the slippery-looking texture, they’re quite unusual looking. And of course, the tell-tale yellow stripes. Mangrove cat snakes can be black & white as well.
The fourth – YES, FOURTH, snake was a red-tailed green racer, of which I’d only seen once before in Khao Sok. Success! And what an adorable coil.
And finally, the fifth and last snake was another mangrove cat snake.
All in all, the journey took all of 30min. And in that 30min, I saw five snakes. To put it into perspective – I walked Khao Sok day and night looking for snakes. I saw six snakes in eight days. And now, I’d seen five snakes in 30min. They say snakes like “edge habitat,” which is basically the edge of forest, next to homes, etc. Wherever mice and rats may live (think, under some patio floorboards, etc.), that is where snakes will be.
Overjoyed, I returned to Khao Lak, happy to have passed time in such a pleasant way ahead of my diving liveaboard.
Snakes, snakes, snakes! But hey, I have to make the most of it. I probably won’t be seeing snakes again for a long time… and even if I do, it won’t be with nearly the same frequency.
Hua Hin
After my dive liveaboard finished, I had a long journey to Hua Hin. First was a bus to Chumphon, which took several hours. I was able to kill time by typing up my last blog post about the liveaboard. And lastly, I had a train to Hua Hin, which was another few hours. Oof. BUT it was the last major commute until my flights departing from Thailand.
I arrived at Hua Hin around midnight and was slightly worried about whether or not I would be able to find a ride to my accommodation. Grab can be hit or miss, as mentioned earlier, but luckily it worked. By 12.30am, I was in my private room and crashing.
My main reason for going to Hua Hin was to do a tour to Kui Buri National Park, allegedly the #1 best spot for seeing wild elephants in Thailand. Count me in! The only unfortunate thing is that the tours are quite expensive. They pick you up from Hua Hin, drive a little over an hour to Kui Buri, go on a safari-style tour, take you to dinner, then drive you back to Hua Hin. USD$100. Not bad, but not cheap, either. Especially considering it’s only about 3 hours in the park looking for elephants. AND considering something even worse… if you had your own mode of transportation, you could rock up to the visitor center and pay for a guide to drive you around for 800 baht, or… $25. Unfortunately, after much research, it seemed there was no feasible way for me to get to Kui Buri town via public transportation. Hua Hin was my main option, which meant I had to rely on the tour. If only I’d felt more comfortable driving a scooter for nearly two hours each way, then I could have saved quite a bit of cash!
Anyway.
I got picked up around noon and was met by – surprise, three other Americans! We had a small group. One from New York, one from LA, one from Virginia, and me. We had got the US covered from coast to coast. Funny how so much of my travels, I’ve hardly bumped into any other Americans but now that my time in Asia was winding down, they were all coming out of the woodwork.
The three of them were older. One of them, the guy from LA, seemed particularly interested in my travels. He had started traveling somewhat later in life and so he kept repeating how smart I am to do what I’ve been doing at my age, etc. I was flattered but also reminded him that we’re all on our own journeys, etc.
Eventually, we arrived at the park and were transferred to a safari-style jeep. It reminded me of my time in Kruger National Park so many years ago. Back in 2017, if you can believe! Almost a decade ago.
Much like Khao Yai, the guides were all in constant communication. If someone spots something of note, they’ll alert the others. A couple days prior, they’d spotted a black panther. Our guide was off work that day and said after working at the park for 16 years, he’d never seen a black panther. And he missed it! Shame.
The main road going through the park wasn’t particularly long, but it was rather bumpy. We were told we would go to three main spots, starting with the furthest one and slowly making our way back to the entrance over the course of the three hours.
Early on, someone radioed that we’d seen an elephant. We had almost passed the second spot (where the elephant was), but we ended up making it in time. We parked the safari jeep and headed to the fringe of the gravel road, peering out into the field. Off in the distance, further than those I’d seen in Khao Yai the first day but much closer than the one I’d seen the second day, was a lone, bull elephant. He was mostly masked by the foliage.
We got to enjoy him for a few minutes, including all of 30sec where he was in clear view. And then he retreated back into the forest. Damn!
We waited for some time and then continued on to the furthest spot along the road, continuing our search.
This was now my fourth bull sighting in Thailand… but what I really wanted was to see a matriarchal herd – the mommas and their babies.
At the next spot, we were able to see some birds, including pied hornbills. They were pretty far away, although I think it would be difficult to get such an intimate sighting like the one I’d had on Koh Adang about a month prior. I’ve seen hornbills plenty since being in Asia and most of the time, they keep a relative distance.
We also saw gaur, a creature I’d yet to see but had heard about. They are sort of a mix between cows and water buffalo. Pretty creatures and nice coloring. In the distance, we saw a few of them grazing. It wasn’t until much later, basically moments before reaching the exit, that I spotted one just at the edge of the road, munching on vegetation. The driver stopped the car and we watched it munch for a few minutes. It was REALLY a massive creature, which was apparent at such a close distance. I was bummed I couldn’t get a clearer photograph, but the vegetation was very thick. Still, cool to hear it munchin’!
Along the journey, we saw a number of birds – many of which I don’t know the names of. I know one of them was a kingfisher, though. And one of them was an Asian stork. I liked the stork – it reminded me of the African shoebill birds that I find so funny-looking.
We spent time at all three of the spots. Each of them had viewpoints that looked over large, open fields. Typically, in the afternoon, the elephants will come out to feed and hang out in the cooler temperatures.
But, we only ended up getting that one elephant sighting.
I tried not to get my hopes up and knew that I was lucky to have seen the elephants so close back in Khao Yai. But from all I’d read, Kui Buri was supposed to be such an excellent spot for seeing them. I really thought we would be seeing multiple groups of elephants throughout the day. Needless to say, I was disappointed. And felt I’d spent a lot of money for… well, not much. I could have gone on two full-day tours in Khao Yai for the same price and would have had a better time! Alas.
As mentioned, I really had been hoping to see a big herd of elephants marching along together. But no. All my sightings were of solitary bulls. The next day, I had a thought – maybe it is sort of a reflection of me. I, myself, am a bit of a lone bull at the moment.
I still had one more day in Hua Hin. Once getting back from the tour, I wrestled with whether I should spend another $100 to try my luck the next day. But then I thought – nah. I’ve been lucky enough to see the elephants that I have. There’s never a guarantee with wildlife. Imagine I went the next day and didn’t see ANY elephants! So I decided against it. I told myself that in the future I’ll go to Sri Lanka, which is TRULY like the #1 place for wild elephants.
Instead, I hung out at my accommodation all day – which actually was probably the worst I’d stayed at. No Wi-Fi in the rooms and I hadn’t realized when booking but the location was SO far from everything, even restaurants. Annoying! Needless to say, I was ready to head to Bangkok the next day.
However, Hua Hin had one little surprise in store for me. While walking to my hotel after grabbing dinner, I spotted… a vine snake! It had been so long since I’d seen a vine snake, not since… geez, Malaysia? I used to see them all the time. It had recently fed, with a plump belly. I snapped a couple photos and then let it be to digest in peace. I thought to myself, “maybe this is the last snake,” but I’d said that about the sea snakes on the liveaboard, too. Maybe there was hope yet that I’d see some more!
Bangkok Green Spaces
And then I’d made it to my final destination in Thailand – Bangkok. While I’d been very briefly before (a night here, a night there, in between other destinations), I hadn’t spent much time exploring. At the same time… I’m tired of exploring, y’all. It has been a long ass adventure. I knew upon arriving that I would not be going temple-hopping, etc. I just don’t have the energy for it.
However, there were a few things on my list. I wanted to check out a number of green spaces and… yes… continue to look for snakes. It became a sort of feverish obsession. I WANT TO SEE AS MANY SNAKES AS I CAN BEFORE I LEAVE ASIA! I will not have such plentiful snake sightings back in the States, so I wanted to make the most of it.
I started with a late afternoon around Benjakitti park, an area about an hour away by bus. The park itself was really lovely. Really large and many areas to explore. There was a spot with wetlands, a spot with a massive pond, some more forest-y trails, etc. There were plenty of crows flying about and I saw a monitor lizard or two. As the sun was setting, I saw something slither away but it happened so fast, I wasn’t sure if it was a monitor lizard or snake. I think probably a lizard.
I had marked a few other places on GoogleMaps that I intended to check out and I realized I was near two of them. One was passing through Nana Plaza, which was… well, I didn’t know what to expect, I just knew I met someone who said they sell vapes there haha. I walked into the Nana district and realized that THIS was where all the ladyboys were at. They were EVERYWHERE! A couple tried to get my attention, one touched my arm lightly.
I realized early on that the area wasn’t something I was necessarily keen to explore. More than anything, I just passed through, occasionally glancing at the westerners who were enjoying the company of ladyboys.
I grabbed dinner and then walked to Makassan subway station. I’d heard from Reddit that the road behind Makassan is pretty overgrown with vegetation and it’s a good spot for seeing vipers and pythons. I was really, really hoping to see a python before leaving Thailand. Spoiler alert: I did not. The road was dark and locals were hanging out on their motorbikes. It seemed like some homeless were squatting in the area but that was at the very beginning of the road. “Bad idea?” I asked myself, but then as I walked another minute or two, I’d pretty much passed everyone by. I turned on my headtorch and began scouring through the vegetation. YES, this would be perfect for vipers, I thought to myself.
The road took all of ten minutes to walk from one end to the other. But since I was walking slowly, scanning, it took longer. About halfway through, a couple dogs started approaching. Ruh-roh. Y’all know dogs HATE ME when I’m out herping at night. It’s like no one in Asia walks around at night, they all use their motorbikes, so when they see a foreigner, the dogs flip out and bark like crazy. The number of dogs went from one to four all of a sudden, which put me on edge. “It’s okay,” I told them. “I’m just looking for snakes!”
I hadn’t seen a local sitting on his motorbike, but he called out to me and said, “it’s okay, they’re nice.” Oh, good. I thought so, I just can never be sure. I asked him what he was doing. It was really weird that he was just like sitting on his motorbike in the dark. Was he waiting for a friend? Was he a drug dealer? “Not doing anything, just playing games on my phone.” Weird. Sure, Jan!
I walked the length of the road, then took the bus back to my accommodation. It had been a lot of walking and aside from the pretty walk at the park, the night had been uneventful in terms of snakes.
Snake Farm
When I posted on Reddit to see where good places to see snakes would be in Bangkok, I had several people recommend the “Snake Farm.” Well, shit, I don’t want to go to some snake breeding ground or something!!!
But then… upon researching it, I learned it is part of the Thai Red Cross Society. The Snake Farm has been around since the early 1900s, where the King had raised/donated his own money to build the space. Why was it important? Well, the King wanted Thailand to start doing venom extractions on snakes in order to create antivenom. It’s known that when dosing horses with small amounts of snake venom, horses will start creating antibodies, which then can be used for antivenom on humans. Alright… maybe this place was worth checking out after all!
I got to the Snake Farm just before 10.30am, giving myself enough time to get my ticket and secure a front row seat for the main attraction: witnessing a venom extraction!
Seated in an amphitheater, guests are allowed to watch the employees perform venom extractions from behind a glass partition. These extractions happen once a day from Monday to Friday, and was a major point of interest for me.
Come 11am, the lights were turned on, the bins housing their respective snakes had been brought in, and the three employees were ready to go. One of them gave the crowd information about what would be happening. And before we knew it, the first snake was brought out. It was a monocled cobra, which was an insane coincidence to me. I had only recently seen a monocled cobra in Khao Sok – a very exciting sighting for me.
So crazy to watch the employees pull the cobra out of the bin and maneuver it onto the table in order to extract the venom. Basically, they have to grab the snake behind the mouth to hold it open – then they kind of force the snake’s teeth onto a paraffin funnel, where its venom drips into a container placed below.
I thought there would only be one extraction, but there ended up being four. For some reason, I thought it would be four different snake species, but no. They essentially were trying to extract enough venom to fill up the container, so they needed to use multiple snakes. Honestly, such a crazy experience!
One of the monocled cobras was a light tan color, so unusual and unlike the others. Species of snakes can have widely varying color variations, to be fair.
After the extraction, I still had much to see. I hadn’t even walked around the building yet!
I was tickled to see… well, a VERSION of the Malaysian blue coral snake – probably on my top five in terms of dream snakes.
I first went up to the second floor. It was filled with snakes in formaldehyde, snake skin, snake bones, and tons of informational placards about snake features like their organ placement, egg incubation, etc.
I couldn’t believe the skeleton of the king cobra and the python. Such large creatures!
There was also a little photo-op moment that I could not pass up. Too cute.
I took a lunch break and then returned to the Snake Farm. There was still one more demonstration at 2pm, so I was slowly making my way through all the areas.
On the main floor, surrounding the amphitheatre, were tank after tank of snakes. There were vine snakes, vipers, pythons, red-tailed green racers, mangrove cat snakes, cobras, rat/water snakes, and more. It was cool to see how many of the species I’d seen in the wild over the past year. It was kinda like – oh, hey, y’all! A “greatest hits” moment, kind of.
The red-tailed green racer seemed somewhat interested in me, slithering up the wall of the tank. The vine snake did the same. Actually, they probably didn’t even care about me and just were looking for a way out. Nevertheless, I pretended I could speak parseltongue.
Outside the building were even more areas filled with snakes. Some of them were native to Asia, others were not – they even had an anaconda!
There was an albino python that I also pretended was curious about me. It slithered up its wall. I couldn’t believe the size of it. Seeing that in the wild would absolutely blow my mind.
I was saving one cage for last – the largest of them all, the one devoted to none other than the king cobra. It was a really massive cage, like probably the size of a basketball court. The cage was filled with all sorts of vegetation and I began to wonder if I would even be able to spot him.
Then, at the very edge, tucked into a hiding space, I could see just the end of its tail… and, wait, its FACE TOO! It knew I was there, and was keeping an eye on me. I visited the cage again after the demonstration and was shocked to see that there were actually two king cobras nesting together. Blew me away.
Perhaps more exciting than the venom extraction was the 2pm show. The employees began with something that honestly had me SHOOK. They brought out a king cobra and demonstrated how they handle them / catch them. Of course, most of the crowd was seated on an amphitheater and a safe distance away… but some of the crowd had overflowed onto the floor and were only a few yards away from a deadly snake slithering out on the floor.
This thing was massive. I mean MASSIVE. Calling him a king ain’t no joke.
And yet the employee handled it with such tact, such skill.
After the king cobra, they brought out two monocled cobras. The employee crouched down, bobbing his knees side to side – holding the cobras’ attention. He would occasionally kick out his foot, agitating the snakes and causing them to lurch forward and make a “hissing” noise. He held their attention, continuing to bob back and forth.
Another person on the microphone explained how the snakes really tend to be one-track minded when focusing on a potential threat. And so it’s easy to grab them from behind in order to “handle” them. And that’s what happened. As he kept their attention with one side of his body, he grabbed them from behind and lifted them up into a submissive position. Insanity. My jaw was on the floor. At times, the crowd would gasp and shriek.
I was also surprised when they brought out a banded krait – those guys are very deadly as well but it was so much more docile than I considered it would be.
They also brought out a mangrove cat snake, a VERY aggressive non-venomous rat snake that bit the handler, a viper, and a sunbeam snake. Sunbeam snakes are especially cool because they have reflective scales that look iridescent when the sun hits them, hence their name.
And to conclude the show was… a python. We were afforded a photo op with this guy and while I questioned whether I should at first, I decided to just go for it. Compared to the last time I’d held a snake, back in Bali, where I was shaking and slightly terrified of a teeny-tiny little slug snake… I was much calmer. The snake looked me in the eye as I admired it. I couldn’t believe how well-behaved it had been. I was the last person in line and I watched person after person after person hold this poor snake – and he just dealt with it with such grace! I’m surprised he didn’t bite anyone. I would have!
I may not have seen a python in the wild, but I did get to hold one. Cute!
It was such a delightful time at the Snake Farm, but the day wasn’t over yet. Because I was nearby, I walked over to Lumphini Park, a place iconic for its monitor lizards. While taking the bus to another spot a couple days prior, I had seen a couple large monitors basking at the edge of the bark. But, whoa, I was not prepared.
There was one section of the park where it was literally like monitor-lizard SOUP. So many massive monitor lizards, nearly Komodo-dragon-sized, swimming atop one another, climbing over one another, walking next to one another. One would swim up to the bank and crawl out of the water, two more would come out of nowhere. Insanity. I was very glad I visited there, too!
A very, very reptilian day.
Prawet
I had two final snake-related adventures. Sorry, people. I’M SORRY! This is a very sneaky, snake-y post, okay? But there won’t be any more for the foreseeable future. Sadly.
I had been considering going on a herping tour and reached out to a couple of places. According to their websites, it seemed like they usually went to either an area called Prawet which was about an hour and a half by bus from my accommodation, or Bang Krachao… which was also about an hour and a half by bus.
I wasn’t sure where exactly in Prawet that was good for herping. I knew there were canals where pythons and water snakes were seen regularly, but I didn’t know the precise location. I had been talking with one local herping guide and was considering doing a tour with him. However, in the end, I thought USD$100 for a 2 hour tour was just too expensive. I’d rather continue doing what I’d been doing – walking around in the hopes of seeing snakes. However, the guide had told me where the meet-up location where his tour would be. I decided to skip on the tour. But I kept thinking about the area. After some detective-work and looking at GoogleMaps, I figured I had spotted a likely area. So, off I went. (I’ll talk more on an interaction I had with that guide in the next section.)
After dinner, I took the bus and then a subway train to Prawet. I noticed my heart was beating pretty quickly. I was really excited to go scope out the area.
The area around the canals was cool. All around Prawet, there were concrete boardwalks running parallel to the canals. To the left, I would have the canal, to the right, more often than not, were thick shrubs and vegetation – an ideal habitat for snakes.
I walked and walked and walked. And in the end, I saw three vine snakes. Of course, vine snakes AGAIN! If you’ll remember, months ago I was getting sick of seeing all the vine snakes. But now it felt serendipitous. After all, vine snakes were probably the absolute #1 snake I had wanted to see prior to coming to Asia. I thought they were so strange looking. How could that be a snake? It didn’t even look like a snake, with such strange eyes and nose as that.
Bang Krachao: the Green Lung
And finally, Bang Krachao – the last herping spot.
I had heard this was THE PLACE to go for snakes but, like Prawet, I initially felt it was too much of a trek to get to. As my days in Thailand were ticking, I couldn’t help but pay it a visit.
I took the bus to the pier, then took a longtail boat for five minutes to get to the little island of Bang Krachao.
After walking for ten minutes, I made it to the park, where I spent a few hours walking around. There were lots of squirrels jumping along the trees. Lots of birds flying about. I even went to a birdwatching tower and spotted some shedded snake skin at the top of the tower. I scoured the area for snakes but no such luck during the day.
On my absolute final night in Bangkok, I returned to Bang Krachao after dinner. I took the ferry over and told myself – you can’t spend much time here. It’s 7pm, it takes over an hour to get here. You still have to finish packing, shower, and get some sleep before being up at 5am. You have ONE HOUR, KID.
And that’s all I needed. Maybe 20min in, I spotted it: a big-eyed pit viper. I’ve seen plenty of pit vipers before, but never this particular species. And oh, how small they are. I find it so interesting that such venomous creatures can be so small. It was about the circumference of my index finger, and maybe only a foot and a half long. It sat perched on a pipe that was running parallel to the cement boardwalk.
“Thank you,” I said to the universe, for sending me a new species before leaving Asia.
Maybe five minutes later and I spotted another one, this one slightly larger. I was so pleased!
Of all the snake species I have seen since being in Asia, I think vipers have to be the #1 I’ve encountered most frequently. Solo-herping, it would be vine snakes, but the tours I’d done in Indonesia brought my viper count up to probably… geez, 20? 30? So, again, it seemed fitting that these two species were my last sightings in Asia.
I so wished I’d had more time to explore, but I didn’t want to risk being over-exhausted the next day. I also didn’t want to chance getting accidentally bitten JUST before I was supposed to be leaving the country haha. What a nightmare that would be.
So, I returned back to my accommodation, talked with my parents, and went to bed.
My time in Asia was just about done.
Rude People
I’m sick of all the rude BULLSHIT!!!
In Khao Lak, when I was going to do the bamboo rafting… the driver said “400 baht there and back.” That means there AND BACK, right? 400 total? I didn’t even think about it – it seemed so clear. Well, we got back into town and I handed him a 500 baht note. “No. 400 there. 400 back.” That’s $32 for like 20 minutes of driving. That is outrageous by Asian ride-sharing service standards. And this had happened to me once before in the Philippines. “I don’t think so,” I said to him. “Enjoy that,” I said, clearly not getting change for my 500 baht note. I get it. I am a foreigner and so I have “a lot of money,” right. But I hate being taken advantage of like that. If you mean 800 baht, say 800 baht total. Don’t leave room for error. But I suppose that’s what happens when I’m not being clear, either. This is how scams happen. I was fuming after that.
When taking the boat to Bang Krachao the first time, I paid 40 baht for a return fare on the boat. One boat rocked up and unloaded passengers, but then he immediately pulled away before I could get on. A longtail boat was there waiting for me. Halfway through, he started collecting everyone’s tickets. I looked down and realized the ticket the lady had given me only said “20 baht”. So… if I was giving him my ticket, where was the proof that I had paid for the return fare? I had even read reviews online that said the lady was exceptionally rude and overcharges tourists. That’s true – locals pay 10 baht, while foreigners pay 20 one way. Whatever, I don’t care about that. But now I didn’t have a return ticket! I kept thinking about it while exploring Bang Krachao. “MAN, she GOT ME,” I thought – again, fuming. It spoiled my morning, to be honest. I would have spent longer walking around Bang Krachao but I was repeating it over and over in my head. “If I have to pay extra to go back then I’m gonna just wait at her desk until she gives me back my money!” I was like imagining getting into an argument with her and how if she was refusing to give me my 20 baht back, I would just stand at her desk until she relented. In the end, I spoke to someone at the Bang Krachao pier and she put me on the boat back. A different guy was at the desk and asked for my ticket. I explained the situation and he said, “oh, yea, that guys does that scam all the time.” Okay. Annoying.
I was trying to get some Thai baht exchanged from 1,000 baht notes into smaller currency denominations. I have gotten in the habit of doing this because a lot of places struggle to make change. I’ve exchanged currency like this before. Never an issue. I also don’t try to take advantage of it. I’m not going to one exchange shop, asking if they can make change for like 10,000 baht. At the most, I’ll do 1,000 baht at a time. One shop was fine. I decided to go to another one down the road and she looked at me with such a hateful look. Then, as if it took all of the energy in the world, she just shook her head at me. “Really?” I asked. She shook it again. I considered asking “why?” but I couldn’t believe the attitude she was giving off. Instead, I called her rude and walked away. I went to another currency exchange and tried to do the same. “We exchange CURRENCIES here,” he said. “Well… yeah, but this is a money exchange, isn’t it?” He wanted to know why I wanted to exchange it. “When I go to smaller shops, in case they don’t have change.” I always feel like such an inconvenience when shopkeepers don’t have enough change for me and have to go ask their neighbors for money. “If they can’t make change, don’t go there.” Okay, whatever. It’s funny because really I was trying to make the lives of locals a little easier but in the end, it just bit me in the ass. FUCK IT!
But you know what, I am rude, too. I do not have the patience anymore, y’all. Scam after scam after scam… and just being lost in a sea of discomfort and unfamiliarity – I definitely have my guard up a lot and am quick to become frustrated and annoyed.
Sometimes, I am apparently rude without even intending to be. When I went to Prawet, I actually ended up bumping into the tour guide whose tour I had skipped. Whoops! I was like “fuck, I didn’t know he would be doing a tour tonight” LOL and I rushed by him and his guest, listening to music and hoping he didn’t recognize me. Well, he did. He messaged me on Instagram later that night, telling me how it was so disrespectful of me to say it was too far to travel to (I felt it was at the time), that I wouldn’t know about the spot if it wasn’t for him, that I am a cheapskate and he will never, ever give out resources or do a tour with someone like me ever. And he also said I passed by like three snakes without realizing it with my shitty, weak torch. That one stung! I KNOW I need a better torch! I did feel bad. It wasn’t my intent to be malicious and it’s not that I was completely in the dark in terms of where to look for snakes in Prawet… but… him sharing the meeting location did help me narrow it down a lot. But I just could not stomach spending $100 for 2 hours. In Indonesia, I was spending $60 for like 5-6 hour tours. Same in Vietnam. Maybe a little pricier in Vietnam.
Last Moments
My last day in Bangkok was an absolute whirlwind. I slept in until 10am, then grabbed lunch at a restaurant my brother had recommended – Pad Thipsamai for some pad thai. Afterwards, I hustled back to my accommodation to sketch out a tattoo idea I had. I then went to get a haircut, got a 2hr massage, and then got a tattoo. It was perhaps the most impulsive tattoo I’ve ever gotten in my life, but a fitting one. With all this talk of snakes… what better than to get a snake tattoo to represent my time in Asia?
After my tattoo, I had dinner at a restaurant I regularly visited in Bangkok – they have excellent khao soi and I felt that should definitely be my last meal.
Once dinner was done, I hustled to Bang Krachao for the viper-night that I mentioned above.
Instead of spending over an hour taking the bus back to my accommodation, I splurged and had a Grab motorbike pick me up. I thought about what a difference it was compared to my first ride. My first motorbike experience was in the Philippines, riding on the back of Jaisy’s bike. I had instinctively gone to reach my arms around his chest, but he basically pushed me off, telling me to hold onto the back of the bike. How much more experience I have now. No helmet (not by choice), one hand on the back handle, one hand holding my bag. Sometimes in Asia, you just have to throw caution to the wind.
Back at my accommodation by 9.30pm, I didn’t have much time left. I packed everything up, ate two plates of mango sticky rice, had a shower, talked with my parents, and… then I needed to sleep, man!
I don’t think I fell asleep until 1.30 or 2am. And then I had to be up at 5.30am to head to the airport.
Driving to the airport, I noticed the moon was full.
A few hours later, I had left Bangkok. A year in Asia, done, just like that.
Wild.
Rose Thorn Bouquet
Rose
As always… the wildlife! The pied hornbills in Koh Adang, the cuttlefish at Koh Phi Phi, the monocled cobra in Khao Sok, the elephants and gibbons at Khao Yai, the vipers in Bang Krachao… Thailand has been very generous with its wildlife diversity. I’d love to come back during the wet season when the wildlife is more active (especially returning to Khao Sok!).
Thorn
Has to be the annoyances lately. I have not been very impatient and I’ve been letting people get to me far more than I should. Mentioned above in the “Rude People” section pretty much covers it.
Otherwise, I think the thorn of Thailand was just… the high season. Because of so many tourists, I felt it was hard to connect with the culture. It was like I had to pull back a wall of vines to get a glimpse into what Thailand is really about. What I could see, I loved. The food, the wildlife… but I felt it was clouded by the overtourism – which is clearly a major issue here.
Also, thorn goes out to the Hua Hin hotel. SUCKED ASS!
Bouquet
I think Khao Yai was the most surprising spot for me. I thought it would be cool, but I didn’t expect it to be THAT cool. The wildlife diversity was pretty insane, and I had a really fun time on the tours there. Easily could have spent a week at the park, enjoying all the wildlife!
Miscellaneous
I’ve visited 7/11s all over Asia and never have I realized until maybe two weeks ago that some of them have self-serving thai tea. I NEVER KNEW THAT. It was a total game changer my final week. I actually got a sugar overdose one night because I drank it too late in the evening lol. Had a really hard time sleeping that night!
I was thinking about my wildlife journey and how when I go on wildlife searches and don’t always see exactly what I hoped to… but there’s usually just enough plus something unexpected. I wish I could shut off that obsession of wanting to find one particular thing, but when you DO see that target, it’s almost like a high. I don’t usually get exactly what I’m asking for, but I’ll get something good. I might not see a king cobra but I’ll see a monocled. Maybe I won’t see a blue viper but I’ll see 15 green ones. I won’t see a python but… I’ll get to hold one at the Snake Farm.
Reflections
I am now sitting at Honolulu airport, waiting to board my next flight. Luckily, my first two flights have been relatively painless. No screaming children. A LITTLE bit of nap time. Decent meals. But best of all… the middle seat was empty, which meant I had MORE LEG ROOM! Yahoo!
It is hard to believe that three years of travel have now come to a close. A year in Australia, a year in New Zealand, a year in Asia. It’s… crazy. Three years, three different lives. I will talk more on that in my next blog post, where I kind of wrap things up.
I even had a layover at Incheon Airport in South Korea, which somehow felt like a full circle moment. It was one of my very first spots in Southeast Asia, and now was my very last. Yes, I was served bibimbap on the flight. THANK GOD!
So, what’s next? Well… it’s a surprise. I’ll tell you in the next blog post. But for now – I am back in the United States of America. Sigh. I made it.
Until next time, sending you all my love. x
