I Want to See The World ! : Leaving Koh Tao... hikz

My lovely breakfast... Thai basil nasi goreng

Jan 25.... Check out day.... Today we're going to start our long trip back to Bangkok, then hop on the plane heading to Singapore the day after. The trip to Bangkok will be this afternoon around 1400, then took overnight bus, and we're expecting to arrive there around 0500 back to Khaosan Road. My hope is that we could get dropped off at Hualamphong station then just wait for the first train to go to Don Mueang instead of going back to the station from Khaosan Road. I hope the plan worked out well and we don't miss our flight :D

My coffee dealer every morning :D

Very lovely girls working here.... I'll definitely come back to this
restaurant again next time

My thoughts of Thailand? Just like Indonesia.... beautifully gorgeous! And everything is just like how travelling to Indonesia is, of course, any touristy places they would jacked up the prices... again, it's not a rip off, I'd call that fair trade and people are just trying to make a living. Tourists do make a lot more money than local Thai people, so as long as you're happy with the price please don't give them a hard time. There are many things you can't get for such cheap price in our own country..... There is a difference though between that and quoting you outrageous price, taxi drivers are notorious for that especially when they're not using meter. If they do use meter, please tip them as to encourage the honest effort. Two things Thailand does gets a lot of points from me are the streets are noticably more clean than in Indonesia, and definitely the traffic in Bangkok is hell a lot better than Jakarta. I was suprised to see how clean Khaosan Road is, regardless of the tonnes of activities going on around the area. It's just a proof that in Indonesia, we can do the same! Change the mentality to think of Indonesia as our home, our place to live.... you don't throw cigarette butts or garbage anywhere in your house don't you? Most Indonesian houses are very clean (definitely cleaner than mine :D) and why can't we think of everywhere else as our home? Let's say.... Malioboro is a good start :D or how about not throwing garbages into the river? What's so hard about just putting the damn garbage into your bag or pocket? Sad to see sometimes, a very beautiful river or beach but yet you also see garbages all over the place :( Everybody loves clean place... so why not start where ever you might be? Clean and recycle! Indonesia is so pretty, I'd say it's a natural beauty without make up! But my analogy is, a naturally pretty girl even without make up is okay but still need to have a bath and be clean no? :D I'd say Thailand is not perfect yet, but I see the effort is there to clean up the city. I consider Koh Tao very very clean and I'm glad to see the effort is there! I also found tourists also need to have a sense of just because locals do it, doesn't mean you can't give example! You don't just throw garbages or cigarette butts anywhere at your friend's house right?

Another thing is, in countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, there are many convenient stores such as seven eleven, circle K etc. Whenever you can help it, you can help the local businesses by buying stuff from local stores instead. Large chain convenient stores do kill local businesses, and do what you can to help support small local businesses. I tried to buy my cigarettes from the warung (a small shop, more like a stall) near my dad's house. It's closer than convenient stores, a bit more expensive (maybe 2000 rupiah more, umm... that's about 5 cents more expensive :D), but at least it supported his small business. Large corporations operated on a big budget, so they can survive a bit of lack of customers :D Village such as Munduk, I hope circle K will never get in there.... it will be sad to see local shops close down because of it and it's the local shops I enjoy the most! They reminded me of my childhood, where we have all these little shops owned by local neighborhood people. Now, my dad said the presence of convenient stores in my neighborhood now kills all the smaller shops. I guess it can't be

Food begga caught in action

helped looking at the growth of Jakarta! I hope the villagers in Munduk will put resistance when the time comes ! Overall... good impression of the beautifully gorgeous Thailand so far, but it gave me thoughts of how we could improve Indonesia without destroying local beauty that is the culture! I think I lived overseas for too long, that I see local cultures of places I went to as too precious to lose. I remember growing up thinking western culture was the coolest and everything that was foreign was the way to go (yepp... I grew up in Jakarta :D) but now I see how beautiful my roots are! That's what travelling do to you I guess.... You see the world from a different perspective... what so cool about western culture isn't so cool to me anymore... I think Balinese gamelan is really cool, while in the past electric guitar was the way to go :D ! Maybe combining Balinese gamelan with punk music? :D Who wants to contribute? :D

Koh Tao ferry port

I'm sitting here trying to enjoy my last few hours in Koh Tao at the coffee shop I've been going to every morning that I was here. I hope starbucks never make it here. The family that owns this small coffee shop is very lovely that's why I hung out here every morning for my caffeine dose. And... they're conveniently located two steps away from my favorite restaurant :D. I thoroughly love this gorgeous place, but it also made me appreciate what Indonesia have even more, as that is where my soul is, my home sweet home! Before long it's time to hop on the 'taxi' (more like back of a pickup truck... that's nicer than my truck (-_-)) and board the ferry. The trip to Chumphon ferry port was gorgeous when the sun was setting. Even though the sky was cloudy, still the scene was breathtaking, along with the shades of the little islands along the way, made want to jump into the water and hide in one of those little islands to I don't have to go back to Canada. Quite sad being on the ferry, because it means my trip is almost over, and I despise the cold in Canada so much. With each minute passed and we were almost arrive in Chumphon, the harder it was to let go such beauty when you realize you are getting closer to returning to the Canadian cold. It is hard to describe the feeling of heaviness that grows more as we approach Chumphon. Finally we arrived in Chumphon, and our bus will right away leave within the hour. Everything started smooth and according to my plan. The bus was the usual (over) air conditioned bus, just like in Indonesia, they pick up passangers along the way. It's okay, we have time since we left 2 hours earlier than scheduled time. Before long it was oyasumi time....