The end of Thailand, beginning of Japan

We left off with us back in Koh Samui, this time staying at the more upscale Baan Chaweng Beach Resort and Spa. It was a nice place with good deals on their older bungalow rooms. We didn't do much on Samui - ate at The Deck and got massages. In a rare moment of poor decision making, we ended up getting a foot massage one night in a sketchy room on Hooker Alley. It was by far the worst foot massage we've ever gotten. From the way the masseuses were greasing up our calves and rubbing our legs up and down, it was obvious their real skills lay elsewhere.

After another day relaxing on the beach on Koh Samui,
we took the ferry back to Koh Phangan and headed over to The Sanctuary. The hippies who worked at The Sanctuary botched our reservation and so we ended up negotiating a stay in their nicest bungalow for a cheaper rate. The bungalow was incredible - a 360 degree tree house built high up on the cliffs overlooking Haat Tien beach. With no walls or windows we had a number of guest roomates from the animal kingdom including a ridiculously large bat who flew into our room causing us, in so many words, to fucking freak out.

Our bungalow at The Sanctuary


View from our bungalow at The Sanctuary when we weren't hiding under the bed afraid of the bat


Another guest roomate. His mother was a leaf, his father was a praying mantis. We call him Mr. Overholt (shout out to our Hale Jr. High Class of 1990 readers).


Other *lesser* bungalows at The Sanctuary


People go to The Sanctuary to fast and do colonics. But the food in their restaurant is too good, so we compromised with a 2 day raw foods only "mini-cleanse" and then food free-for-all after that. We also indulged in a Balinese Body Scrub at the Sanctuary's spa that included a full body rub down with a hot ginger scrub, a cool down dunk in homemade yogurt, and then some sliced cucumbers layered gently over your face. The Body Scrub occurred on day 2 of our mini-fast. Ande tried to eat the cucumbers as they were being applied to her face.

Noodles of the Sea, Noodles of the Sand - beach at Haat Tien in front of The Sanctuary


Flowers. In Thailand.


After The Sanctuary, we headed over to the northwest side of Koh Phangan and spent a couple days on the beach at Haad Yao. We stayed at the High Life Bungalows perched on the southernmost cliff above the beach. It was a cool place and very cheap. The name pretty much says it all; the friendly receptionist didn't bother to put down his joint when he checked us in.

View from High Life Bungalows


After leaving the islands, we spent a few days in Bangkok with Ande's college friends Kate and Matt. They're teachers in Bangkok and claim to have at least 4 kids in every class named Porn. The Noodles had both been to Bangkok before and hated it. But Kate and Matt were such amazing hosts. They showed us a side of Bangkok we didn' think existed - a cool and fun side where you're not sucking down tuk-tuk fumes 24-7. Here's Kate's and Matt's expressions after the Prime Minister of Thailand walked into the sushi restaurant we were eating in (his name is *not* Porn).


Tan or just dirty? Kate and Matt take the Noodles to a Bangkok bar called Tapas. There were no tapas. Only whiskey.


Next up, the Chadachuk (sp?) weekend market in Bangkok. You can buy everything there - underwear, monkeys, pad thai. And at last Jen was able to get a good bargain on those giant, dried pea pods she loves.


Some thoughtful shoppers put together this shrine to the god of Fanta.


Kate and the rest of the Thai fitness buffs spend their days jogging, stretching and aerobicizing 80's style in Bangkok's Lhumpini Park. But when the Thai national anthem is broadcast over loudspeakers every day at 6pm, everyone immediately stops in their tracks and stands at attention. Being the superstar host that she is, of course Kate managed to get us to Lhumpini Park exactly at 6pm in time for the show.

Standing at attention for the national anthem. When the song was over, we continued with our 10 km jog.


We left Bangkok sad to say goodbye to Kate and Matt and a city we were just getting to know all over again. But arriving in Tokyo, we were greeted by another incredible host in a long line of incredible hosts - Kirstie (Peen).

Kirstie-chan and Jen embrace the madness of the world's busiest intersection in Shibuya, Tokyo


Shibuya main intersection by day


Night view from Legato Bar in Shibuya - known as one of the best views in Tokyo


Peener takes the Noodles out to lunch in a glass pod - Ebisu, Tokyo


After the glass pod, we ate Japanese food in an Indian teepee. Nawa restaurant in Ebisu


There is one Japanese hippie and we met him and his dog inside our teepee at Nawa


Noodles went shopping in Daikonyama and Harajuku and discovered Tokyo's latest boom: designer dog clothes. The saleslady helped us put the clothes we liked on these dog manequins so we could eyeball whether they would fit our dogs at home.


The real Harajuku girls.


We started another boom in Kirstie's apartment that night - kind of like reverse strip poker, but with Korean Posoi instead of poker.


Kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi in Roppongi Hills


Sculpture outside Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills; onset of typhoon Amadeus