Falling In Love With Krabi, Thailand

Thailand can be many things to many people. Bangkok, for example, is a world of excitement and access to all things elicit for those looking for some red light action and nightlife. Head out of Bangkok and south towards the beautiful coastline and Thailand becomes a tropical paradise unparalleled in beauty to any other place on earth. After spending some time in Thailand I can say unequivocally that it is the most beautiful place that I've ever traveled to, and I've done my share of traveling.

Most people who travel to Thailand in search of a tropical getaway head straight to one of the more popular tourist destinations like Phuket island or Phi Phi island. These destinations, while as beautiful as any other on the Thailand coast, are often packed with tourist year round and may not afford you any seclusion, if that's what you're looking for. However, if you're hoping to avoid the massive crowds and still lounge in paradise one often overlooked destination on the Thailand coast is Krabi.

Krabi is a town on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River where it empties in Phangnga Bay. As of 2005 the town had a population of 24,986 people. The town is the capital of Krabi Province and Krabi district. You'll find many beautiful, secluded resorts in the Krabi province including the Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Sofitel Krabi, and the Sheraton Krabi Beach Resort to name a few. Recently I had the pleasure of traveling to Thailand and staying at the Sheraton Krabi for 10 days and absolutely fell head over heels in love with it.

The Sheraton far exceeded my expectations. The property is clean, beautifully landscaped and meticulously well kept. It is one of the top rated hotels on Tripadvisor for the Krabi region, which I think sums it all up. From the hotel location in Krabi I ventured daily by boat to the surrounding islands like Hong island, Four island, and Phi Phi islands. The snorkeling in Thailand is the best I've seen, having snorkeled in most of the Caribbean islands, Mexico, and South East Asia Thailand stands out. The islands off the coast of Krabi are the epitome of tropical paradise. There were also a few nameless (to me anyway) islands that we stopped and explored on the way that would give many of the Caribbean islands a run for their money.





In the next few posts I'll get into more detail about the beautiful islands off the coast of Thailand and blog about some other adventures we had inland. For now though, let me leave you with a few shots of Krabi and the Sheraton.

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Hanami in Tokyo

Hanami is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always means cherry blossoms or ume blossoms. From the end of March to early May, Sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa. This is a huge event for the Japanese and there are even blossom forecasts that describe the upcoming cherry blossom front so the public knows the optimal time for viewing.

This year I was fortunate enough to be in Japan for some parts of the Hanami season and got to take part in the viewing. It's difficult to miss the cherry blossom season once you're in town as cherry blossom trees are all over the city, on the sidewalks, and in every park. At the height of the bloom parts of the city are covered in white, pink, and shades of red from the blooms of the various trees. Looking out my window I couldn't help to be impressed by how many trees there are in the landscape and how much care is put into maintaining the beauty of the landscape.

Many Japanese camp out under the best Sakura trees to ensure that they keep their spot for them and their friends. Some arrive as early as daybreak, spread a tarp under the tree of their choice, then wait for the friends to arrive with drinks, food, and music. The scene in some parks is absolutely chaotic, not unlike a huge outdoor concert. There is tons of drinking and consequently drunk people, but it's all done in good clean fun.

There are numerous places in Japan where people gather for Hanami parties and it's certainly not centralized. I managed to visit 3 different parks and each had a different, unique feel. As always I will leave you with a few pics to get a better feel for Hanami in Tokyo.

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Diving in Bali

The American USS Liberty shipwreck in Tulamben is Bali's most famous and accessible dive site and one of the safest wreck dives in the world. This large war victim is just meters from the shore and can be easy reached from a beach dive. The armed cargo ship was built in 1918 and served as a supply vessel during World War II. It was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-166 in 1942 while in the strait approx. 10 nautical miles south-west of Lombok. The ship was rescued and towed towards Bali by a Dutch destroyer the HNLMS Van Ghent. However, damage done to the ship was so great that the attempt to reach Singaraja failed, the crew was evacuated and the ship was beached in Tulamben.

The intact ship sat beached on the Tulamben coast until Bali's volcano Gunung Agung erupted in 1963. The Liberty crashed beneath the water during this violent eruption and now sits on a black sand shelf that slopes from about 6-30m. The Wreck lies parallel to the beach with her bow pointing north. The Liberty has become one of Indonesia most beautiful artificial reefs.

A couple of coworkers and I decided to venture off on our own and do some diving while in Bali. The Liberty shipwreck was the recommended site as it's easily accessible and safe. The dive started with a 2 hour bus ride to Tulamben across the Bali countryside. On the way we passed some very beautiful scenery of rice fields and volcanic mountains.

Once we arrived in Tulamben it as time to suit up and go in. The dive company provided all of the equipment as always, though there lacked a full HD underwater camera. That was rather disappointing considering how stunning this dive was. They made it up by providing some delicious local food at a restaurant yards from our dive point.

Our dives, we did two, launched from the beach which was a first for me. Beach diving is incredibly convenient and much less intimidating than diving off a boat in deep water. For the most part you don't even notice how deep you're going until you look up at the surface. The wreck took about 10 minutes to get to under water and was truly vast. The amount of sea life and interesting formations were more than enough to keep us amazed for the two 30 minute dives.

On my second dive I tightened my mask a bit too much above water. Once I started descending the mask got tighter and tighter until it was excruciatingly painful and I had to adjust it under water. Which meant taking it off, adjusting the straps while blind, putting it back on and then clearing the mask of water. Besides that the dives were uneventful and easily the highlight of my 4 day trip to Bali. 

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Meanwhile, in Bali...

It's not everyday that you get offered a free trip to Bali for a few days. So whenever that day comes there is only one right answer, hell yeah! That's right, by some stroke of the gods I was part of a large group of people at work who were presented with a very nice award. As part of that award and for recognition of significant hard work the group was flown to Bali for a 4 night all expense paid trip complete with private villas, private pools, and a muddy river to raft in. Bali was such an incredible and fabulous, I never use that word but it's highly appropriate, place that I'll have to cover it over a few posts. However in this post I'll like to talk about the great accommodations we stayed in during the trip.

Our hotel was called The Villas Bali Hotel & Spa and to be honest it wasn't a hotel but a series of villas all completely fenced with everything you could possibly need inside. We rented a few villas as the group was quite large. I was in a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom villa with a full kitchen, pool (all had pools), and comfortable living space. The villas were extremely well kept, clean and had most of the trappings of a 4 star hotel.

We spent a lot of time in the pools, actually the pool parties were some of the best parts of the trip. The rest of the time was spent roaming around the island looking for interesting things, and there were a lot of interesting things to do. Bali is a place where you can experience whatever vacation you like. If you like lounging at a pool and sun bathing you can do that. If you prefer to go on adventure treks there is diving, snorkeling, rafting, Kayaking, and a host of other activities to keep you buys. Or if you prefer seaside bars or a party scene there are certainly lots of those. In short, I found Bali to have lovely tropical weather, the opulence of hollywood, and the tact and service of Asia. It's a perfect combination.

Bali has some of the best beachside bars that I've been to and that's where things really got fun. I'll save those adventures for another post, for now enjoy these pics from the villa.

I never travel without my rubber ducky

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I Left My Soul In Seoul

Well, it's that time again. Time to go rushing to the airport to catch my flight. This time I'm leaving Seoul and heading back to Tokyo. It's been a great trip and I got a lot of valuable work done. As I leave the city heading towards the airport I can't help but feel that I'll be back again soon.

Even after visiting a number of Asian cities I was a bit surprised by Seoul. The city is a delightful combination of western and Asian cultures. The new part of the city, or "new city" as a few persons called it, feels very much like an American city - it reminds me of Chicago. I felt immediately at home, safe and comfortable here. Much more so than I felt in cities in Japan and China. Tokyo is by far the safest city I've ever been in, and it feels that way, but you still feel like a stranger in a foreign land. Not so in Seoul though. In Seoul I felt like I could move here from the US and not skip a beat.

The food choices in Korea are an enjoyable blend of Asian and American cuisine. I ate at some great local, traditional restaurants and there are American chain eateries all over the city, if that's what you're up for. If you do make it to Korea you've gotta try the Korean BBQ. Though it'll be tough to avoid as there are Korean BBQ restaurants everywhere. Traditional Korean food is also tasty and not BBQed, it's more of a traditional Asian meal. As for the food itself, it's somewhere between Japanese and Chinese. What do I mean by that? It has some of the simplicity and elegance of Japanese food with some of the spice and flavor of traditional Chinese food. I found it to be the perfect combination for my admittedly western taste.

There's lots to do in Korea and the landscape is breathtaking. Seoul is definitely at the top of my recommended list for places to visit while in Asia. You will not be disappointed. Besides, if things get too dull you can go to the DMZ and try to run across the border. Although I don't recommend that.

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It's A Kia, And It's Wicked

For the past few days I've had the luxury of driving in a number of Korean made cars, specifically Kia's and Hyundai's. I have to admit that I wouldn't bother giving these cars a second look back in the states, but driving in them here is Seoul has changed my perspective. These cars are cool, way cool. I see many models that understandably aren't in the US at the moment. However, if they were, I would think long and hard about buying one.

I heard from a coworker that Kia hired a BMW designer to help them redesign there line of cars. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. However, whatever they're doing is working well in my opinion. The K5 and K7 are 5 series and 7 series knock-offs for sure, but they're good knock offs. The SK7, pictured below, looks mean and sits like a boss. I am excited about this line of KIA cars and look forward to taking one for a spin some day.

One last one, from the back.

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The DMZ

I'm in South Korea. A place that brings a slight amount of fear and apprehension when mentioned if for no other reason than it's close proximity to North Korea. When visiting a country one has to try to do the things that you can only do in that country. When you're in China you go to the great wall or to see the Terracotta warriors. When you're in Japan you go to Mount Fuji. When you're in Egypt you go to the pyramids. France, the Eiffel tower. You get the picture. So, what's there to do in South Korea that can't be done anywhere else? The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ for short. What is the DMZ?

"The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. It is 250 kilometres (160 miles) long, approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide and is the most heavily militarized border in the world. Owing to the theoretical stalemate of the Korean war, and genuine hostility between the North and the South, large numbers of troops are still stationed along both sides of the line,

each side guarding against potential aggression from the other side. The armistice agreement signed after the Korean war explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Soldiers from both sides may patrol inside the DMZ, but they may not cross the MDL. Sporadic outbreaks of violence due to North Korean hostilities killed over 500 South Korean soldiers and 50 U.S. soldiers along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999." - Wikipedia

The DMZ has been receiving a lot of attention lately due to the recent military incidents between North and South Korea. Ever so often North Korea would seek to grab some attention or flex it's muscle by launching a cruise missile, testing a nuclear bomb, or sinking a South Korean ship. The DMZ was closed for some time and had just re-opened last week for visitors. Yes, there are safer places with much better scenery to visit in South Korea. But hey, when will I get to do this again?

My trip began like any other tour operated trip with a hotel pick-up at 7:20AM sharp. After a quick taxi ride to the waiting tour bus we jumped on and went trotting north out of Seoul towards the northern border. The ride was roughly 1+ hour to the beginning of the Civilian Controlled Zone, a buffer of land just below the DMZ.

Once we arrived at the civilian controlled area we were greeted by a heavily armed checkpoint with troops from the US, South Korea, and the UN I believe. The US officer, who was Korean himself, came onto the bus to check all passports. Once he was satisfied that we were who we said we were he exited the bus, signaled to the other soldiers to let us through and waved the bus forward.

As we started driving towards the beginning of the DMZ we were repeatedly warned not to venture off of the beaten path. Why? Because the DMZ is one of the mot heavily landmined areas in the world. After the Korean war both the US and Russia air dropped roughly 100 thousand land mines in the DMZ to prevent the other side from getting any ideas. Not to worry however, as these mines weren't designed to kill you. They were designed to take off your legs instead. Reason being that if you're dead then you will just be left on the battlefield. However if you're injured then one of your buddies will be forced to take you off the battlefield, thereby eliminating two people for the cost of one mine. You gotta love war.

The tour operators also went out of their way to warn us not to take photographs outside of specially designated areas. They followed up these warnings with a story of a lady who tried to take a photo one morning on the south side of the DMZ when she thought nobody was looking. She was shot and killed by a North Korean sniper. Ouch. It pays to follow the rules.

The highlight of the tour came when we were allowed down the 3rd tunnel of aggression dug by the North Koreans and discovered by the US in 1978. The tunnel is large enough to accommodate 30 thousand troops per hour with light weaponry. Considering that it's only one hour from Seoul, this means that one tunnel can land 30 thousand troops in Seoul in one hour. Scary, yes it is. A fourth tunnel has been recently discovered again with the help of a defector and they suspect there to be 20 tunnels in total. The third tunnel is now a tourist attraction and services many visitors from across the globe. The trip ended around 1PM when we got back onto the bus and headed back to Seoul.

While we were at the DMZ we were made to watch a propaganda movie made by the south and the US. It was probably the worse propaganda movie I've ever seen and an absolute waste of my time. We were also taken to a train station that was built some years ago when the north had agreed to allow train service between the two countries. North Korea has since reneged on it's offer and the station is now just sitting there empty as a tourist attraction. Below is some video of me buying a ticket to North Korea. This is completely symbolic as the train doesn't actually run. However, whenever it does start running I will be coming back for my ride!

In summary the DMZ was a great experience that cannot be duplicated elsewhere. If you're even in Seoul and have a day to spend sightseeing I highly recommend going to the DMZ, it's worth it at the least for the historical perspective. Above is a view of North Korea from the DMZ.

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Dinner And A Show

It's dinner time and I'm hungry. So I went to the hotel concierge for some restaurant recommendations, just like I always do when I'm hungry in a foreign country and staying at a hotel. I asked for a great restaurant serving Korean cuisine, but not BBQ as I had that last night Their recommendation was , a fabulous traditional Korean restaurant housed in a large traditional Korean building. The restaurant was about a 5 minute walk from the hotel and I have to admit it was worth going out in the 15 degree cold.



To make it even better there was a one hour performance of traditional Korean folk art during dinner. Below are a few clips from the show, enjoy.

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Professional Basketball in Japan

So there I was, sitting at my desk minding my own business when an email popped into my inbox offering free tickets to a basketball game in Tokyo. As it so happened a fellow Googler had come into possession of a pocket full of premium seat tickets and was exercising some Googlely generosity. With nothing to do that night and a a new found interest in Japanese basketball I quickly replied, "yes I'll take two". And off we went...

The tickets was for the Tokyo Apache basketball team vs. another team of equal or worse skill. The team played at Yoyogi National Gym #2 which is located not far from my house near Yoyogi Park. After work I hoped in a cab and headed to the stadium for the game in much anticipation of some solid basketball.

I must admit that my expectations of the skill level were not high at all. At best I expected some NBA rejects with a few college drop outs and maybe some High School prodigies to round out the teams. Sadly, however, even those expectations were too high. These guys were bad, I mean real bad. I've seen many high school teams who would blow these guys out of the water. I've seen ad hoc teams in the playgrounds who would blow these guys out the water. There is no way they're being payed for this.

I left after the first half just so I can save whatever precious moments I had left in my evening. I felt like just being there was a wasted opportunity and I could be outside counting cars instead.

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Vegas, Dancing on Water

If you've never made it to Vegas or haven't seen the Bellagio water fountain or Caesar's animatronics show then you're in luck. Below are a few clips from each show for your enjoyment. The Bellagio water fountain is legendary and can be seen in countless movies including Ocean's 11. Or was that 12? I was pleasantly surprised when the show started while I was at the top of the Eiffel Tour in the Paris Hotel, background of picture at left. The show was incredible at night and from that high up. If you make it to vegas try to time a trip to the top of the tower just to see the fountain, it's worth it.

The Bellagio water fountain, Las Vegas



As a bonus here is the same show from atop the "Eiffel Tower" on Paris hotel, Las Vegas at night. It was freezing but worth it.

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