Thailand continued

Besides all the foreigners going to party and do things like drink mushroom shakes in Thailand, I found Thailand annoying for all of the people trying to scam me and take my money. But when I heard from others who traveled to Vietnam and Camboda, I realized Thailand was tame (just perhaps worse than East Africa). Apparently one common Visa scam in Cambodia involves taxis bringing unsuspecting tourists to totally fake government houses where people pay a lot of money for fake paperwork that gets them nowhere. This is elaborate and goes further than anything I encountered in Thailand or elsewhere. Thailand is definitely more set up for tourism, I encountered a fair amount of dishonesty, manipulation, and flat out lies that surprised me. For example, there was a tuk-tuk driver who told me the famous Grand Palace was closed because monks had gone to pray (I knew this wasn't true). Of course for a small fee they would take me to another great nearby site and back just in time for when I knew the Grand Palace would be closed. Another lie involved a "tourist information center" where we were promised cheaper train tickets (not usually a believable promise). The woman there tried to convince us to take the more expensive VIP bus because the protests in Bangkok meant everyone was "panicking" and trying to leave the city so the train would be full. Since I was at the protests I knew this was a lie.

Happy ending massages are another part of Thailand people know about. While I didn't experience this personally there I was proposed a "special message" for a slight $30 increase to my $10 hour long masage. I wondered how negotiating prices works in this case and how awkward that would be.

I had a quick 60 or so hours in China, visited my bro, and after considering a few different touristy options (the Forbidden City, the Lama Temple, Tianamen Sq., etc.) I decided to do a hike with Beijing Hikers on the Great Wall as this would be a more unique experience. The wall where we were was more authentic, not really together in many places, and we got a bonus of learning how to make dumplings afterwards followed by a dumpling making competition (needless to say my recent accomplishments did not  winning this).

Beijing reminded me in a strong way that it's actually winter time now. It will be a long time before it's warm again...damn.

New friends traveling in Southern Thailand

Traveling Monkeys!

On the way to Ko Lanta