May the Best Bull Win - Thai Bullfighting

I want to see a Thai bullfight. I am not quite sure why, but I do. I read in a tourist brochure that bullfights are on the first Saturday of every month in Hat Yai. so we specifically return there Friday, September 4 on our way back south to Malaysia which will be our gateway to Indonesia.

Being led to the ring for his bout

Once in Hat Yai I need to get the exact information about the event - time and location. Pinning down correct information in Thailand can be difficult. People seem to tell you things even if they are not sure about its validity. The first person I ask tells me the schedules are erratic and that I already missed the bullfight for September. The guy at our hotel tells me for whatever reason to ask any tuk-tuk driver. We see people in a beauty salon actually watching a bullfight on DVD. They tell me it is on Sunday or Monday. I go to the Novotel because international  hotels will usually have someone who can speak English well.** The concierge checks online, and I finally get the info that I want to hear. The bullfight is tomorrow. Plus the front desk writes down for me on paper in Thai where I am going to show the driver.

Thai bullfighting lasts all day from morning until evening. The stadium are two sets of shaded, standing room only bleachers on opposite sides of each other. The ring is a wooden fence with a dirt and mud floor. I arrive just at the start of a match. I am the only noticeable foreigner. People are friendly and slightly amused to see a farang at the bullfight, but no one speaks English well enough for me to learn exactly what is happening.

The handlers lead their bulls to the ring take off the horn cozies and rub the beasts faces with bananas. The bulls are carefully led to the center of the ring where they then do what bulls do...lock horns. The bulls fight for position and push. There will be some quick action, then they will lock horns again in a standstill with chests heaving and the handlers trying to encourage them by throwing ropes from a relatively safe distance. The contest lasts for around 20 minutes and ends when one bull decides he has had enough and walks away.

It is like in nature. Two male buffaloes, wildebeests or mountain goats butting heads to prove its dominance over the other. It is just this is forced and performed in front of hundreds of screaming Thai people. And to my untrained eye there seems to be one reason why hundreds of Thai people want to see this -- betting. Bookies stand all through the stands taking wagers. People in the crowd are flashing signs and yelling in their bets. It is like the New York Stock Exchange. Throughout the fight when the bulls have locked horns again after a flurry of action the betting starts again. The roar of the crowd raises to very high levels with bookies selling the odds and people trying to their bets in.  

Capping horns

People are betting big money too. Men are flashing wads of cash. I see many 1000 Bhat (US $33.33) notes changing hands, a huge sum for Thailand. Very interestingly there is a very honorable system here. People verbally place their bets and sometimes seal the deal with a slap of the palm. Money is only collected when the match ends. People pass money back and forth through the crowds.  

In the most exciting match of the day one bull wins after the usual round of shoving and snorting. His handlers are jumping excitedly. This bull decides he wants more, so he attacks the loser again. This means the fight is not over and the bets still stand. The same bull wins again and is running around the ring very agitated. Men use bamboo poles to keep him from attacking again though the betting losers hope the fight will continue. Suddenly this bull hurdles himself over the gate on the otherside from where I am standing. This wild bull, I think, is declared winner, but some losers are irate absolutely screaming at some officials. The crowd is in a frenzy of clattering Thai. I do not understand anything.

So the big question is: Is this humane? No, of course not. I equate it to something like American rodeo. Probably not great for the animals, but they are not hurt too badly. Regardless it is still much better than Spanish-style bullfighting where the poor bull is stabbed by banderilleros, speared by a picador and then finished off by the matador.

The Hamburger on the left cost me 100 Bhat (US $3.33)

The other big actiity planned for Hat Yai is to eat Bird's Nest Soup. We saw the caves where they harvest the nests made from the saliva of swifts so I figure that we might as well try the delicacy. Bird's Nest Soup is not used in Thai food, but Hat Yai has several tourist Chinese restaurants selling it. Thailand is one of the cheapest places in the world to buy the soup. It comes in varying qualities. Our restaurant has 100 - 500 Thai Bhat portions. We order the smallest and lowest quality. It tastes like a sweet gelatin.

Not too bad for bird spit

**The International Rambler Travel Tip: Even if you cannot afford to stay at fancy hotels, they are still a great resource at your disposal. The staff are always helpful and usually speak good English, and the concierge is great for informaionMika also got band-aids from the front desk while I got a free copy of The Wall Street Journal - Asia Edition from the cafe.

Krabi, Lively Town, Lovely People

From Koh Lanta we take a tourist minivan to Krabi which picks us up at our hotel and drops of at our new one. It is a luxury not having to deal with a bus tout or tuk-tuk middleman. Rolling into town we see a large welcome sign that says Krabi Lively Town, Lovely People. This sounds promising.

Central Krabi is fairly small and easily walkable in an hour. Krabi town is near two touristy beaches Ao Nang and Railey and is a good launching point for going to the famous Phi Phi Islands. Krabi itself has plenty of hotels and restaurants geared to foreigners, but the town also feels self-sustainable without tourism. Downtown has the ubiquitous sign of South East Asian civilization - a large department store. Out of town there is a mall and very large Tesco (a British Wal-Mart). The center also has a main central market and two night markets. The night market by the river feels bland for Thailand. The stalls all carry the same uninspiring menus. I am not sure if this is just for tourists or not. The next evening we find solace in the larger night market. Most Thai people are getting food in plastic bags to take home while others eat in the market. There are no menus and nothing in English. It is the point, ask price, and eat places that we have come to enjoy everywhere in South East Asia. We eat at different stalls in this market our remaining nights in Krabi. If this is not enough markets, there is also a weekend night market. They close off a street, and people sell crafts. It is Thailand though so there is, of course, a much larger area with food stalls and a live performance cranked to deafening decibels. Overall, the people in Krabi are very friendly, and we like our time here. My official slogan for the town is Krabi, Mildly Active Town, Lovely People.

The night market in Krabi

Loud concert, sleeping baby, and dried squid at the weekend market

We also make some small trips outside of town. Our first is to find the waterfall hot springs. The most economical way to go (apart from hitchhiking) is to rent a scooter for the 50 km (31 miles) journey. To get there we have to ride on the highway. I am not convinced that having a scooter on the highway is a brilliant idea, but Thai people do it. What we call ‘the shoulder” is the motorbike lane in Thailand..

We make a few stops to break up the ride. The first are at some man-made hot springs, but Mika is not impressed. The Japanese know their hot springs. Next we stop for lunch in a small town market. A woman is selling coconut stuffed waffles. I have never seen waffles in Thailand. We get them piping hot right from her waffle iron.

We arrive and a sign leads us to an elevated cement trail through a jungle. We follow a slow stream of warm water that cascades down into five separate naturally formed soaking pools and ends in a larger river. The area is shaded by trees, and luckily not too busy. There is no need to share soaking pools with strangers. We stay in the pools much longer than the recommended 20 minutes.

The ride back is through rain. The mirrors are blocked by the flapping brown plastic.of my poncho so I just hope there is nothing coming from behind that I need to see. Tired and with a sore butt, I push the scooter to 43 mph which, believe me, feels blistering fast on the shoulder of a wet highway. Mika crouches down so my back shields her face. In the end, we make it back safely, so I cannot say that this form of transportation is a mistake. However, I now know that 31 miles (50 km) is far to ride on a scooter. The wind is relentless on the face. My hand cramped from constantly holding the throttle. After our short two-wheeled jaunt, I do not understand why anyone would want to ride a two-wheeled vehicle across country. Screw the Easy Rider/freedom of the open road mentality. Give me a car, give me a windshield and throw in a seat belt while you're at it.

You Jane

Me Tarzan

On our last full day in Krabi after breakfast I rent a scooter again to go see Wat Tham Sua (Tiger Cave Temple). Mika decides to relax at the hotel. The temple sits on top of a mountain, and it is a gruelling 1,237 steps to the top. Before going I knew that I would need to go up 1,237 steps, it is just that I did not quite comprehend what 1,237 steps meant. 1,237 steps with steep vertical climbs in Thailand heat means a lot of sweat. My pants and t-shirt are soaked and being the dummy that I am, I have no water. My sweat is getting more profuse so my breaks get more frequent. At the top by a divine miracle someone has placed a water cooler for pilgrims and idiot foreigners. I cool down with the water and a fresh breeze on top of the mountain. There are gold Buddha statues with 360 degree views of hills, green fields and the sea. I milk it for as long as I can. Not sure if my legs are ready, but I go back down. 

The point on the right is Tiger Cave Temple

Some years ago in a cave outside of Krabi they found a large skull of a humanoid estimated to be 43,000 years old. To honr this historic arc haeological find Krabi built four caveman traffic lights at a busy intersection.

To Phi Phi or not to Phi Phi

We finally pry ourselves away from the island Koh Lanta (click link) and head a bit further north to Krabi. Krabi has a few attractions, is near several popular tourist beaches and is a launching pad for going to Phi Phi Islands (pronounced P. P.).


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Koh Phi Phi consists of two islands situated in a national park, Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le. Only Phi Phi Don is inhabited. These islands became very famous and popular ever since they were used as the backdrop for the movie The Beach. The Beach is based on the book by Alex Garland - the backpackers‘ must-read of the late 1990‘s and early 2000‘s. It is about escaping the heavily beaten down tourist trail to find something truly unique. Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le serves as the film’s untouched paradise. However, in a splash of irony, by using this location, Hollywood has essentially created on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand the exact garish tourist destination from which the characters in the book (and film) are trying to extract themselves.

After the film’s release in 2000, tourism and subsequentially construction boomed. In 2004 the tsunami wiped out everything sadly killing 2,000 people in the process. The tsunami gave them the chance to start anew and create a true island paradise. But as usual money won out and from what people say Phi Phi Don is built up even much more than before the tsunami. I am waffling about whether we should sleep on the island or just do a tour from Krabi. From talking to travelers and doing internet research the over-built, over-priced Phi Phi party scene really does not sound like somewhere I want to stay at the moment. Regardless, I am curious and do want to see it (kind of like watching a Formula One crash or seeing a two-headed snake). So we decide to just do a one day tour to Phi Phi Islands.

Our Boat 

The tour consists of snorkeling, beach visits and sightseeing. Snorkeling for the day is okay, not great, not terrible. A lot of coral was broken in the tsunami and has yet to recover, and I do not think the legion of boats helps. There are many other tour boats today, but it is expected. The good news, strangely, is that a lot of people do not swim or are not comfortable in the sea. This is on our boat and all the other boats. Most people wear life jackets when snorkeling and do not stray far from their boat. Only a few of us venture out. At the second snorkel point in a nice lagoon Mika and I find a nice spot by the rocks all to ourselves with several larger fish species and a school of hundreds of anchovy sized small ones. Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me swim lessons as a kid!

Mika's underwater photography is improving. A Moorish Idol. 

The advertised highlight of the tour is a stop at the beach from The Beach. Maya Bay is a crescent-shaped white sand beach surrounded by limestone cliffs. It truly is spectacular. The beauty of the location makes it easy to look past the boats and people. It is too soon back on the boat. Tours always manage too much time at some places and not enough at others.

Longtail boats like these come from Phi Phi Don while larger speedboats arrive from Krabi and Phuket

Sightseeing on this tour is a bit silly. We are on a speedboat. The seats are low so to that we have to stand on the bench to have a view that is not through tinted Plexiglas. The most interesting sightseeing spot on the tour is Viking Cave. There are cave paintings some of which resemble a long Viking boat. We, however, do not get off the boat, nor are we even allowed to enter the cave if we could get off the boat. We cannot enter because it is monopolized by locals for the lucrative harvesting of swift nests. Swifts reside in the limestone caves and their nests are used to make bird’s nest soup - a Chinese delicacy. The nests are exported to China, Hong Kong and Singapore for big money. Our minuscule tourist dollars cannot compete with that. Our guide says she has never seen the cave drawings either, nor has she eaten bird’s nest soup. Our boat just slowly glides by the cave.

Viking Cave as seen from the boat.

A Blue Lagoon

Lunch (included) is at Tonsai Beach by the main pier of Phi Phi Don. The beach here is completely full of boats. I am not sure if swimming is possible, and I doubt anyone would want to either in the petrol filled waters. A quick walk through town past countless, scuba shops, restaurants, guesthouses, bars, and souvenir stalls all hustling for customers reassures me that I am glad to be leaving. . I am sure staying at Phi Phi Don could be quite fun if in the right frame of mind like on a shorter trip with a bigger budget. There are also other beaches on the island, some of which have walkout snorkeling and are probably lovely. Access though is not easy, and we are not the type of travelers who enjoy having to always use a water taxi or having to eat most meals at our hotel.

After one final snorkel point we race back at warp speed. We are flying over waves sometimes smacking down loudly and painfully at impact. Everyone looks at each other questioningly as to why the driver needs to torture us. A third of the passengers appear seasick. A big Australian guy at the front of the boat is yelling for him to slow down. A 3-year old Thai boy starts to cry.

We finally and happily come to a stop. Once safely on land I can process all that I have just seen. The tour and the islands obviously has their flaws, but we had plenty of time on the sand, in the water and we did see “The Beach”.

To read about my previous encounter with Leonardo DiCaprio in Japan click here.

'Tis the Low Season in Koh Lanta

Now is the low season in Koh Lanta. Some call it the rainy season, and those more optimistic will call it the green season. I am not really worried about rain. I enjoy the respite from the beating sun. There are only two downsides as far as I can see. The first being that the ocean is wavy and terrible for snorkeling and dive shops are asking snorkelers a lot of money to tag along with them for the day. The second is that the Thai boxing arena is closed until high season.

Waiting out the rain in the market

Koh Lanta is a fairly large island. There are quite a lot of resorts for every budget. It is not built up (not yet anyway) as much as other places like Koh Samui or Phuket but there seems to be plenty of construction and plenty of ads geared towards foreigners who may want to buy their own piece of paradise. Beaches are spread out, and there are two small towns on opposite sides of Koh Lanta plus a few villages scattered about. You can visit the whole island in one or two days, but definitely need some form of motorized transportation. The most common being motorbikes.

It is quiet in Koh Lanta now. Really quiet. I love it here. Many places are closed. Restaurants that are open have just one or two tables occupied, if any. Bars will only have one or two customers. Hotels are also sparsely populated. There are great deals to be had too. For example, one new, swanky hotel is offering rooms for 2,500 Thai Baht with stay three and get the fourth free which comes to 1,875 TB. In October the price is 4500 TB per night.

Mika checking out a fancy hotel with no intention of staying there

We book something online for our first two nights and use a motorbike to find our next accommodation. Our second place* is a larger place, also right on the beach. Most of the bungalows are around $40 US, but then they have three cute, fan-only bungalows for 300 Thai Baht (US $10). The fan-only bungalows are much nicer than everything in the same price range that we have seen. Currently there are five bungalows occupied including all three cheap ones. We end up staying here for a week.

Our home for one week

Now settled into life on Koh Lanta we spend our days exploring the island by motorbike. We soon discover our favorite beach. On our first visit to Bakantiang beach there is nobody else. The sand is free of debris which is uncommon on Koh Lanta. The waves are perfect for body surfing. It is our own private beach. I love Koh Lanta during the low season.

One day we hike through a jungle river to visit a cave and waterfall. The man at the entrance tells us during the high season there might be two hundred people a day on the one km trail. We meet six people leaving the waterfall as we get there and pass five others on our way back. We unfortunately do not see any wild animals. Though there was an ornery monkey who bared his fangs and swiped at us when we passed him on our motorbike.

"Don't worry Mika, I will check the scary cave, um  just let me tie my shoe first..."

We  also visit Old Lanta, Sea Gypsy village, beaches galore and, most importantly, find many places to get cheap local food and fruit. We also discover that 7-11 is an incredibly reliable resource for the budget conscious traveler in Koh Lanta. The iconic convenient store has the cheapest beer, snacks, ice-cream, water and coffee (their coffee sucks) in town, fixed prices, a toilet and air-conditioning. We go to 7-11 at least twice a day.

A traditional style home in Old Lanta town

A Sea Gypsy painting his boat

Curry in a bag - buying dinner in Koh Lanta

In the end the weather is perfect. Our first three days we have afternoon showers. Our fourth day is a complete downpour and after that five days of just blue sky. But please do not tell other tourists this because I love Koh Lanta in the low season.

Having a picnic lunch under the shade of a palm tree

*For My Homies: The owner of our hotel is an American from Ohio whose nephew is the second string punter for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team.


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