Final Shots from Thailand

Looking back through a lot of the photos from the trip the past few weeks I've been struck by the fact that no matter where we visited, it was the people that I was traveling with that made the experience so amazing.  The following pictures were from an afternoon spent training at a park near Anan's house in Bangkok that was one of the highlights of the trip for me.  Not only because it was a great spot, but because of the playful atmosphere and general "fun" that was had that day (aside from me making a goose-egg on one of my shins).

Bruno, Annty, and Leon sizing up a jump.  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Finding a new way to use some of the structures in "Anan's Park".  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Annty about to jump.  Photo courtesy of  Andy "Kiell" Day.

A great shot by Kiell capturing one of Anan's signature jumps.  Photo courtesy of  Andy "Kiell" Day.

Before moving on to the next adventures, I want to make sure to give a big shout-out to Andy and V for their photos of the trip.  Traveling with professional photographers was a pretty new experience for me, and I've found that it is much easier to include pictures in blog posts when they capture the context of the voyage better than I can in a few paragraphs. It also helps when the photographers that you are traveling with are awesome travel companions as well and well versed in bumming around foreign countries.

Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

I would also like to give a big shout-out to Annty Marais (known in some circles as "the Annty Marais of Parkour Generations"). Not only did she put up with eating, training, rooming and traveling with me for 3 weeks, but she also managed to make almost an outing into an adventure and is a ton of fun to train and hang out with.  Although we may have differed on the amount of time per day that is is appropriate to take pictures of animals and bugs, her pictures have been really great at showing our day-to-day life and adventures and she has already proven to be much better at visually chronicling her around the world trip than I have been.  You can follow her adventures on the PkGen site.

Annty breaking a jump in one of the Bangkok parks.  Photo taken by me for once.

Training in Ayutthaya

One of my favorite training adventures in Bangkok involved a day-trip to the city of Ayutthaya, a 2 hour train-ride from the center of Bangkok but well worth the early wake-up.  The city is actually a UNESCO “World Heritage” site and was the capital city of the region for over 400 years before it was destroyed by the Burmese army toward the end of the 18^th century.  During our visit it was pretty easy to see that the “city” that is there today survives mainly due to the busloads of tourists that come through to see the numerous temples that are scattered around the “city limits”.

On the train out of Bangkok.  Kiell and I were still a bit groggy.  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Annty and Leon were a bit more enthusiastic.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

The train ride to Ayutthaya was pretty enjoyable (since we had to leave pretty early) and the first thing we did after getting off the train was to rent bikes and scooters to make our way around the city.  While we did have the specific objective of “getting good photos”, we hadn’t really planned much beside that and we decided to split up to better explore the city at our respective paces.  I headed off with the bicycle contingent and within 10 minutes of riding along one of the main road we had found our first temple.

Our first temple.  Still hesitating a bit before climbing all the way up.

In various states of disrepair, but not entirely forgotten.

Annty, the first one up.

Although the maps we had gotten at the bike shop seemed to be rather dominated by the temples, I hadn’t quite grasped the fact that apart from the small “modern area” near the train station at the south of the city, the “city of Ayutthaya” is pretty much made up of patches of ruins and clusters of houses spread amidst the huge grassy expanses that separate the enormous temples and complexes.  The temples themselves range along the entire spectrum of disrepair, with the larger and more popular tourist destinations usually in much better shape than the smaller and “forgotten” locations, sometimes no more than a small pile of bricks tucked into a corner.

Leon investigating another temple.

There are actually 2 pillars here...

Of course being curious and particularly gifted at moving around and exploring foreign landscapes, our group soon started getting a better look at the temples.  While some may argue that it is disrespectful to climb or jump around on another culture’s sacred monuments, it should be stated that we meant no disrespect in our movement, and from my perspective, I think that moving around in the temple complex was our form of paying homage and respect to the culture that had built these structures, currently lying in disrepair by the cultures that had originally built them.  We also followed the “leave no trace” creed of responsible traceurs, limiting our activities to the structures that were still in good shape (in the interest of historic preservation as well as self-preservation).  Cultural disclaimers aside, it should be noted that being “up close and personal” with the temples and complexes gives one a much greater appreciation for the workmanship that goes into these structures in order for them to last this long.  It also makes one think about what will be left in our own cities for people to climb around on in a few hundred years…

Bruno documenting the ascent with his GoPro.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Pondering life and the view.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

We ended the day at one of the largest complexes where our awesome photographers managed to snag a some good shots for a fitting end to a pretty awesome day.

One of Kiell's shots from the last temple complex.  Photo courtesy of Andy "Kiell" Day.

One of V's shots from earlier in the day.  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

No comment.  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral

Annty taking advantage of the fading light.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

The whole gang.  Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

A day at the beach

Since it wouldn't be fair to talk about Koh Tau without some shots of the beaches, I thought it would be appropriate to include some of the great shots that Violetta (V) got of us one of the few times that we actually went to "hang out" on the beach.

Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

Photo courtesy of Violetta Beral.

An abandoned resort and other adventures on Koh Tau

The overnight night ferry ride to Koh Tau was a very enjoyable one, despite the fact that we all woke up at some point or other in the middle of the night to feel the boat pitching and rolling underneath us in what seemed like monstrous swells.

Tight sleeping quarters but surprising comfortable (minus the pitching of the boat).  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.  

Walking off the boat at 5am.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

We arrived unscathed in Koh Tau at 5am and managed to dodge the swarm of blood-sucking taxi drivers that awaited the bleary-eyed tourists coming off the boat.  After hanging around on a corner to figure out a gameplan, we started by finding a great little place that offered good, cheap food, with free wifi (this place became a regular dining option for us).  We then found a great place to stay at a really low rate, and even managed to rent scooters before lunch (we had become hooked on the range and flexibility that scooters offered us.  All-in-all a productiveness that was tough to match for the rest of our time on the island).

Making friends at our favorite restaurant.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Stopping to enjoy the view.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

We spent much of our time on Koh Tau speeding up and down the small country roads along with the rest of the small army of scooter-mounted tourists (mostly divers) that inhabited the island.  Although we did some bouldering, the weather or the environment conspired against us on most days so we ended up doing a lot more exploring than anything else.

Coconut tree + long bamboo pole = Blake trying (unsuccessfully) to knock a coconut down.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

V taking advantage of good weather and a temporary lack of mosquitoes.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Kiell at work.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

The abandoned hotel pictured below was one of the best adventures of the trip and was something that we essentially stumbled upon after someone had mentioned it briefly in passing.  Although it has only been out of operation for a few years (it was actually owned by the woman who owned the place we were staying in on the other side of the island) nature was gradually reclaiming the area, especially the only road through the hills to the resort.

The perfect place to spend an afternoon.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

A welcome view after 45 minutes hiking on a path through the jungle.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day. 

There were also some great rocks right next to the resort so of course we couldn’t resist the chance to climb and jump around on them.

Scouting out a jump for Kiell to shoot, and pondering the rather large drop below.   Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Eyeing the jump.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

The jump.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

Hanging out afterwards in one of the abandoned bungalows.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Of course, being on an island, we also spent some time hanging out on the beach (both in and out of the illusion of training).

After nearly a week on Koh Tau, it was time to head back to Bangkok to meet up with the rest of the PkGen crew the official launch of PkGen Asia at the Queen’s Imperial Hotel...

Krabi and the Tiger Temple

En route to Koh Tau, we spent a night in Krabi on a tip from some good friends in London.  After finding a great bargain on a place to spend the night we decided to check out the city on scooters that we rented at a nearby store (no experience or license needed, just a passport and cold hard cash).  The scooters turned out to be one of the best decisions we could have made, as it afforded us a great deal more flexibility and range in our explorations- and we a ton of fun.  We spent the rest of the evening roaming around the city and getting used to the bikes (I’ll admit that I started off driving like a grandmother, especially since the all similarities to jet skiing stop with the difference between pavement and water).

The next morning we set off early to explore the Tiger Temple, another tip from our Thailand experts back in London (thanks Shirley and Blane!)  The drive there was pretty enjoyable and it was nice to be on the road and not packed into a crowded bus that was either roasting hot or blasting sub-arctic air conditioning.  One we got there we encountered the 1,237 steps that led to the temple at the top of the “mountain”.  (Note: these stairs were much higher and narrower than in the “standard” Western staircase, perhaps because the monks like the challenge, or perhaps because they didn’t want to lug the extra cement up to build them).  The climb was a different sort of fun and although it didn’t take that long, we were all sweating pretty profusely by the time we reached the top.  The views en route and at the top definitely made up for any discomfort and we spent a while taking photos, doing handstands, and watching the troupe of monkeys that acted like they owned the place.

Slightly intimidating for some... a mere morning jaunt for us.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

The view from halfway up.

The view from the top.

Enjoying the view from the top, and scaring the crap out of the tourists watching below.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.  

The local inhabitants of the temple and very effective at hustling tourists for food.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

Shameless brand placement?  Yeah, maybe.

Hunger and menacing clouds on the horizon finally drove us back down the stairs, where we found little food of and substantial quantity and even more aggressive monkeys.  Despite that, we had to drag Annty away from the wildlife (she has an intense urge to watch, film, and photograph most of nature’ creations, be they insect, mammal, or unidentified moving objects).  Fortunately she enjoyed whizzing around on the scooter even more than watching wildlife so it wasn’t too hard.

The PkGen biker gang.  Photo courtesy of Annty Marais.

As we had a few hours left on the bike rental (we took the 1-day rental pretty literally) we decided to use up the last of our gas and freedom to explore a bit before grabbing our bags and heading to the bus station.  We came across an abandoned boat in our wanderings, with a rickety ladder conveniently set up by the bow that afforded us to this “time capsule playground”.  While I struggled to quell my American instinct of “it’s not my abandoned boat and the owner of said abandoned boat may be angry that I am exploring it- and said owner may be armed”, Annty, V, and Kiell were already well ahead of me and scrambling up onto the deck.  However, once I was on deck and started looking around I was able to put my doubts aside and enjoy our find.  The boat was a pretty awesome place for pictures so of course Kiell and V got some good ones.

The "entrance" to our new playground.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.  More photos can been seen at his site and Tumblr page.

Feeling a bit more at ease with the whole "trespassing" thing after looking around a bit.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

V scouting out some shots.

The trademark pose of the trip.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

Kiell in action.

So tempting...  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day. 

I couldn't resist.  Photo by Andy "Kiell" Day.

After stretching our time on the boat to the last possible minute we whizzed back to the city to give back our bikes, grab a bite to eat at the local market, and board yet another bus to go the dock for the night-ferry to Koh Tau.

For more of Kiell's pictures from the trip, and some amazing shots from other journeys, check out his website or his Tumblr page.