Random Facts

Hey Hey,

So yeah we're in Malaysia at the moment. A country we didn't plan on coming to and had/have absolutely no knowledge about. Funny how travel works out. We've just had 3 solid days on a collection of ferries, buses and trains going from the Gulf of Thailand to near Kuala Lumpur and we're wrecked. So as downtime I figured I'd finally post a list of random facts and reflections I put together to send as a Christmas card thing, got to lazy, then figured I'd send it for New Years, then got to drunk. Enjoy!

Best Moment In Thailand: In Ayuthya we met a Thai named Pui. Lovely dude, I was convinced (and still am) that he was a goddamn serial killer who preyed on backpackers (Jono says he was just lonely). He took us out on the town on a Sunday for the authentic Thai experience. After dinner and several beers, we went to a random Thai nightclub slightly outside of town. Live bands, hot women, two bottles of whiskey, and three Australian guys who hadn't showered that day, hadn't shaved in a week, were wearing the same clothes as the day before, and were just generally bogans getting drunker. The music was FANTASTIC and I think we were so goddamn surprising to the Thais that they didn't care we looked like hobos. They even danced with us and posed for photos. And we didn't get eaten or end up in Pui's freezer with his parents! Awesome night.

Worst Moment in Thailand: We had to catch a ferry from mainland Thailand to Ko Tao in the Gulf. The seas were massive and I was sicked before I jumped on the boat and stood at the bow getting saturated. So by halfway through I was soaked, freezing, tired, and so sick that I eventually passed out in the toilet. Not my finest day.

Most Surprising Moment: The second night of our trek in the north of the country we stayed at a cosy little tribal village in the mountains. We spent the whole evening and night playing with the insanely cute village kids, drank a cartoon of beer, and chewed down 4 hour old cow meat.

Random Things:
- there are no bins in Thailand and Thais throw trash everywhere, yet the streets are insanely free from rubish. Where does it go?

- Our second night in the country, on the Khao San during the Kings Birthday celebrations, I gave a 500 baht note (about $16) to a random old lady street hawker because her outfit made her look like a colourful Aztec lady. Yes I was drunk at the time.

- We've eaten the lungs/ear/ocsaphagus/rump/rib of a 4 hour dead cow and cooked by proper Thai villages. It was a once in a year event apperantly. The meat was rrrannncid until you dosed it with seasoning. Ear was very chewy and I enjoyed the lung and ocsaphagus. The meat was also as fresh as you can get. The dude literally went off, cut it off the dead cow and brought it back and cooked it within about an hour.

- At a night market in Ayuthaya we were sitting down eating coconut icecream (mmmmm) when we had a baby elephant (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) come up and trumpet at us for a pat. We paid his handlers a buck each for some sugar cane to feed it.

- We have so far: riden elephants, patted tigers, and stared at monkeys. Strangely they were all slightly disappointing in some way.

- For New Years we each got a phat bucket of alcohol to drink and then shared a MEGAbucket before Jono drank the whole thing and was wretchedly sick the next 24 hours.

There's more but I left the rest of the list in the room and I'm to lazy to grab it. So enjoy kiddies, next few posts from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.