Koh Lanta, Thailand

We arrived in Koh Lanta by bus that was supposed to drop us off at our hotel but mixed up the names. Kantiang View vs Kantiang Bay View is pretty easy to confuse but we had to walk up a hill to Kantiang View just to be told we were in the wrong place and then had to ask the other hotel to come pick us up. Luckily they were very very nice about it and picked us up right away.

Kantiang Bay View, Koh Lanta, Thailand

Koh Lanta Beach at Kantiang Bay

Koh Lanta was not exactly what I expected. I was hoping that the further we went down the island the more we would be on a secluded beach surrounded by wildlife. There were a lot of tourists and a lot of resorts along the beach. That being said just our first afternoon sitting around and relaxing we saw a lot of birds including Greater Coucal, Brahminy Kite, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Indian Roller, Pacific Reef Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Common Myna, Zebra Dove, Green-billed Malkoha, Dollarbird, Common Sandpiper, Intermediate Egret, Olive-winged Bulbul, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Common Iora, Coppersmith Barbet, Swallow sp., Olive-backed Sunbird and Large-billed Crow.

Common Iora

Female Indian Roller

The rivers in the area was quite dried up but a Common Water Monitor was eating fish trapped in small pools of water and at night a few frogs and toads were in the wetter parts.

Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

The reef outside the hotel had a lot of fish but you had to go pretty far out along the rocks to see anything cool and the coral isn't very spectacular. I saw a massive puffer fish approximately a meter long and an adorable pair of clown fish on an anemone. My favorite fish that was common was these little black and turquoise tangs (I think they are babies).

Tiny crab making an intricate design on the beach

Crab-eating Macaques are all over the island and we saw them from our room, along the road and all over the National Park. The National Park is quite lovely with some amazing views but the hiking trail is actually a fairly short loop and the majority of the park you can access is manicured. Because we got into an motorcycle accident on the way and then stopped to take photos of the Macaques (who actually jumped on the bikes) we had a much later start than desired and birding was quiet. There were a few Commonn Sun Skinks and Oriental Garden Lizards along the trails and Water Monitors in the ponds of the park.

Crab-eating Macaque

Koh Lanta National Park Map

Koh Lanta National Park, Thailand

Common Sun Skink (Eutropis multifasciata)

The park closes quite early and we didn't have a chance to go snorkeling here but I hear it was better than other places on the island. I think that maybe Thailand is a place where going out diving in one of the best locations might actually be worth it but maybe it was just around Koh Lanata that the reefs were a bit far away or hard to find.

My favorite trail was actually up to a waterfall between our hotel and Bamboo Beach. They charged 20B for safe parking but you can just drive past this and park at the trailhead for free if you aren't worried. The trail is a loop that is a bit rocky in places and since many broken flip flops littered the trails I believe it is best to wear something more appropriate for a hike. In dry season the trail goes to right along the river up to the waterfall and you can actually hike up the river above the waterfall to areas with small pools of water. These are lovely for a quick dip or relaxing in while it's hot. They have very chilly water and some small fish and crayfish were living in them.

Waterfall in dry season, Koh Lanta, Thailand

 Along the other side of the loop the bat cave has a large entrance just off a small short branch of the trail. Despite the large entrance you can't actually walk very far into the cave. You can hear the bats but at first you can't really see any of them. We went up in the evening and actually got to see the bat coming out of the cave. They started to come out slowly and were perching around the entrance. It wasn't really like movies where they come out in a large swarm.

Flying Lizard (Draco sp.)

Sheath-tailed Bat (Family Emballonuridae)

The herping on the way back along the trail that evening was also quite good. It was mostly geckos and two species of frogs with a few toads. One large species of gecko got away from me as I slipped on a wet root right when I saw it. It was a stunning contrast of black and white stripes. Not as big at a Tokay Gecko but larger than any of the house geckos. Most of the frogs along the river were Rain Frogs but around the dam green frogs with black stripes were more common. Some frogs were calling from higher up in vegetation but it was impossible to find one lower down. My herp list from that night included Green Paddy Frog, Asian House Gecko, Blyth's River Frog, Common Asian Toad, Tokay Gecko, Flat-tailed House Gecko, Limborg's Frog and Three Lined Grass Frog.

Pegu Forest Gecko (Cyrtodactylus peguensis)

Green Paddy Frog (Hylarana erythraea)

Blyth's River Frog (Limnonectes blythii)

It is very hard to get food early in the morning. Koh Lanta is definitely on island time not birding time. The 7-11 on the corner down from our hotel was actually a god send for this reason. I thought I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere on a secluded island but getting some coffee and a bite to eat before early morning walks was definitely appreciated. In terms of food the Drunken Sailor was the best food we had on the island but everywhere had pretty similar menus and prices from what we saw.  The Drunken Sailor had the best smoothies with my favorite being the yellow submarine with mango and banana.

Krabi, Thailand

I would recommend taking the first class room if you are traveling as a couple by train because you don't have to worry about your bags and can just relax in a nice space. BUT I wouldn't recommend taking the train if you have to go all the way down to Krabi or Phuket - Just fly! The train was fine but the transfer from train, bus and shuttle was an absolute pain and the wait time between each is terrible but you are not in a location where you can actually do anything with this time and everything arrives early or late so the schedule is a bit flexible and I wouldn't risk wandering much.

The one thing that was a bit disappointing was that with traveling at night you really only have a view of the city as you leave before it gets dark and you have no scenery to look at. Still we ended up getting to Krabi for the morning and without losing any daytime to travel so there was a plus side to the train.

Krabi Town, Thailand

River in Krabi near Khanab Num Pier

Krabi is very nice city and staying near the markets, pier and temples was a very good choice. A restaurant near Khanab Num Pier served amazing food for lunch that was extremely affordable! 50TB for a meal and 20TB for a nice cold drink. The Thai iced tea is extremely good!

Restaurant near Khanab Num Pier

At low tide the areas near the river are full of Mudskippers and you can watch these goofy fish flop themselves all over the muddy banks. They actually can move surprisingly fast when they want to and frequently fight each other.

Boddart's Blue-spotted Mudskipper Fish (Boleophthalmus boddarti)

The markets in Krabi have mostly food but you can great a great freshly made smoothie for 30TB in the afternoon when its hot and you need a break from walking and seeing so many birds. Throughout the day of just walking around the city we saw Zebra Dove, Common Myna, Asian Glossy Starling, House Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Scaly Breasted Munia, Great Egret, Whimbrel, Rock Pigeon, Brahminy Kite, Pied Fantrail, Pacific Swallow, Sunbird sp., Oriential Magpie Robin, Chinese Pond Heron, Brown Shrike and Large-billed Crow.

Asian Glossy Starling nesting in camera box

Great Egret

Brahminy Kite

Oriental Magpie Robin

The pier and Wat Kaew Korawarm were the best birding I found within the city. Although the temple is not as decorated as temples in Bangkok it has a very simplistic and natural beauty to it through the contrasting blue and white colours and forested areas nearby. In a few places trails appeared to go into the forested area but I wasn't able to figure out from any locals if you can walk on these.

Wat Kaew Korawarm, Krabi, Thailand

Wat Kaew Korawarm, Krabi, Thailand

The night market was a lot of food stalls set up around the pier. They served food and there was a large area of tables. All the food was served on reusable plates that were washed on site after they were used but if you asked for food to go you got it in a tiny bag. This tiny market had the best food I had in Thailand! It was also incredibly affordably.

In a grassy area within the middle of the city I found two Malay Pit Vipers near a garbage pile. A Changeable Lizard was also around. The Changeable Lizard actually changed colour in front of my eyes as I watched it for a few minutes. It got so much more pink! It is amazing how much wildlife can be seen in the middle of cities in Thailand.

Malayan Pit Viper (Calloselasma rhodostoma)

Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor)

Changeable Lizard (Calotes versicolor)

Bangkok, Thailand

I am normally not a city person but a short visit to Bangkok was quite nice. I stayed at the Sinsuran Airport Suite ($50 including breakfast and airport shuttle). It is actually quite easy and inexpensive to get public transit into the city if you are near one of the train routes.

Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand

The Grand Palace was incredibly crowded. As we were walking the grounds and saw the huge lineup of tour groups going in we decided it was not worth going in just to see the jade Buddha since we wouldn't want to fight through the crowds.  Just down the street was the Saranrom Royal Garden. A much more peaceful place the garden just had a few people walking, running or using exercise machines in the park. I found the fact that there were public exercise machines that were free to use brilliant. I would love it if Canada had something like that. The machines included a variety of weight machines and bicycles. The weights were under a pavilion but the bicycles reminded me of a kids playground since they were mostly plastic. They still work great and definitely would be a good enough workout. I wish Canada would get past all the bullshit insurance issues and just put something like this in public parks to encourage people to be active.

Saranrom Royal Garden, Bangkok, Thailand

The park was also one of my first looks at some birds in Thailand. These included: House Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Rock Pigeon, Red-collared Dove, House Crown, Black Collared Starling, Barn Swallow, Pied Fantail, Coppersmith Barbet, Zebra Dove, Pond Heron, Asian Koel and Common Myna.

Black-collared Starling

Asian Koel

The gardens even had a few reptiles basking or foraging in the afternoon. A sign said that previously during a different kings reign there were crocodiles in the ponds but these are no longer there. Many water monitors and turtles were around the ponds in the center of the park. 

Common Water Monitor (Varanus salvator)

Wat Pho/Wat Phra Chetuphon was much less crowded than the Grand Palace but we did arrive at the end of the day so maybe it was just our timing that made the different. The temple is even more colourful than the Grand Palace, which was very very brightly decorated on the roof. The temple complex had many chedi, intricate archways, statues, small gardens and planted trees as well as all of the buildings having brightly coloured roofs and mosiacs. Everywhere you look was patterns and colours. The chedis were my favorite part of the temple complex and the four large ones (42m!) called 'Phra Maha Chedi Si Rajakarn' were massive and had intricate colourful mosaics all the way up.

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

Phra Maha Chedi Si Rajakarn, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

I have never seen so many statues of Buddha in my entire life! This temply complex is said to have the largest number of Buddhas in Thailand (more than 1000) but I can't imagine a place that would have more anywhere. Most of the statues were painted gold but the simple stone ones were actually my favorites.

Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

 The Reclining Buddha is a 46m long statue in its own building with a passage that you can walk around it. Large pillars block you from having a good view of the entire statue but it is huge and literally fills the entire building.

Buddhas, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

The main building of the complex is the only place where they enforced needing long pants/skirts to enter (as well as taking off your shoes that is). I would recommend to all travelers visiting Thailand to bring a sarong or something you can put on quickly when you visit temples to meet this requirement so that you can still walk around in shorts in the hot weather. Phra Ubosot is the main hall for Buddhist rituals and had a large open area to sit (NOT WALK OR STAND) and a large Buddha statue on a high pedestal.

Inside Phra Ubosot, Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand had a

 Visiting the temple complex at night also had a lovely perk of seeing the lights turn on and light up the scenery around sunset. It was like seeing everything for the first time as we walked a final loop around the grounds. I would HIGHLY recommend visiting Wat Pho at the end of the day for the lack of crowds and the sunset.

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

Phra Maha Chedi Si Rajakarn,
Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand

As night crept up on the city, geckos came out over almost every wall or tree you could find. They moved quickly but I was able to identify at least three different species. The largest species I found was the brightly oranged blotched Tokay Gecko.

Chinese Gecko (Gekko chinensis)

Flat-tailed House Gecko (Hemidactylus platyurus)

Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko)

Tokay Gecko (Gekko gecko)

Despite not being a city person I would actually have liked to spend some more time exploring Bangkok. I believe there is a lot more to the city than you can see in a day. I would have also loved to visit more restaurants. The Navy Boat Club near the Grand Palace area had great seafood and curry for reasonable prices but I'm sure Bangkok has many hidden gems to eat at.

On our way out of Bangkok by train from Hua Lamphong Station we visited Wat Traimit. This temple contains the Golden Buddha, officially called 'Phra Phuttha Maha Suwana Patimakon'. The Golden Buddha is a gold statue weighing 5500 kg. The story of the Golden Buddha is that it was covered in stucco and coloured glass to hide the gold during a time of war and for 200 years people didn't know there was gold underneath. When it was moved from its temple to a new location the stucco chipped and revealed the gold underneath.

Golden Buddha, Wat Traimit, Bangkok, Thailand

Tosayamada to Okayama

I left Tosayamada Station heading for Kochi City to transfer to a bus headed for Okayama. I stayed in Okayama for one night before flying to Thailand.

I was worried about transportation and getting lost or missing a bus I needed so I figured out and prepared everything ahead of time. Traveling in Japan was incredibly easy. All of the stations had automated ticket systems with options for English. It cost me 3600 Yen to get from Kochi to Okayama by bus. The bus ride was fairly long but it would have been scenic had it not been for the very very thick fog.

Foggy Mountains Behind Okayama Castle

What I should have been worried about was booking the hotel. I assumed that since I was just one person I should easily be able to find space in a guesthouse or hotel. I was incredibly wrong. I was incredibly cold and soaking wet walking to every hotel trying to find something that I could afford that had space. Hotel Sunshine was the first hotel that even had room and it took me 4 hours of walking around to find that. So I took the opportunity as soon as they said it.

Ishiyama Park, Okayama, Japan

Visiting Okayama Castle in the rain wasn't as enjoyable as it might have been in nice weather but I can see why it is very popular as a tourist attraction. The castle is along the river with a nice area for gardens. It was built in 1597 but what is currently there is actually a rebuilt castle since it was destroyed by a bombing.  It is called Crow Castle (烏城 U-jō) because of the black walls and roof.

Okayama Castle /Crow Castle (烏城 U-jō)

Okayama Castle /Crow Castle (烏城 U-jō)

 You can walk all the way up to the main castle for free but have to pay to see the inside.

Okayama Castle /Crow Castle (烏城 U-jō)

I was frozen and hungry so I left the castle area. Across the river is the large botanical garden area that I would have like to see but I imagine that another season would be better for this as well since most of the trees didn't have leaves during my visit. This you have to pay to enter. Birding along the river was alright but with such miserable weather only waterbirds were active at all.

Cormorant on the river

I started realizing how hungry I was as the smells from all the restaurants on the main street hit me. It was early and I was one of two people in a ramen shop at that time but it was exactly what I needed. Warm, yummy food hit the spot and I was able to actually dry off a bit before making it all the way back to the hotel.

I visited 290 bar for a drink after warming up in the hotel for a bit. The advertisement that all drinks are 290Y is false since my bill for two drinks was over 1000Y.  Since I had no clue how to question them about if it was an error on my bill or just false advertising that I didn't understand I just got stuck paying it. They do light up the canal at night making it quite pretty.

Canal in Okayama lit up at night

This small trip made me feel quite hopeless. Despite the success of getting to Okayama without any trouble I failed at finding accommodation (taking 4 hours to do this is a fail even if I eventually found it) and at carrying any sort of conversation in a bar that I got overcharged in.

Getting to the airport, which was the entire point of the trip to Okayama, was actually fine though. Again just a quick shuttle from the station to the airport and I was on my way to Thailand. At least getting around Japan is easy! 

Shrine Rituals in Japan - Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

Despite all of my walking around in the countryside I haven't really explored Tosayamada much in terms of visiting temples or shrines.  The first shrine I visited was the Hachiōji-gū Shrine.

Torii Gate at Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

A torii gate is the boundary line between holy ground and the secular world and you are supposed to bow once when entering it and pass through the side rather than the middle. Shrines and temples may also have a "temizuya"for performing a purifying ritual where you wash your hands and mouth with the ladles provided.  The ritual goes:

・First, scoop up water in a ladle with your right hand and pour water over your left hand.
・Next, hold the ladle with your left hand and pour water over your right hand.
・In your left hand, take some water that you have scooped with the ladle and rinse your mouth. Never touch the ladle directly to your mouth.
・Lastly, using the remaining water, tip the ladle to rinse it off.

"Temizuya" washing basin at Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

 After purification rituals are complete you go to the altar bow twice, clap twice and then bow again to pray. After praying you ring the bell, leave your donation and bow twice and clap twice again before leaving.

 

The shrine and trails around the shrine have many small altars and strings where prayers have been hung.  You can purchase paper to write prayers on at an office in most shrines and temples. I am unsure about the etiquette of bringing your own paper for this but would say it is best to buy from the office. I would also ask where you can hang it if it is possible for you to communicate this.

Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

The Hachiōji-gū Shrine has trails going up a small hill with a large monument at the top.  Unfortunately the signs were all in Japanese so I have no clue what the monument is for.

Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

From the hill you can actually see that the town is a lot more spread out than you expect of a small area like Tosayamada. The town does join to others adjacent to it and houses are small but farms are all around the town as a patchwork. It is quite a nice view with the mountains in the background and a very peaceful place above the town.

View of the Town from Hachiōji-gū Shrine, Tosayamada

Birding in Tosayamada

The Monobe River flowing between the Kochi University of Technology and Tosayamada is a great place for spotting a diversity of birds. Shorebirds,herons, grebes, egrets, ducks, kingfishers, cormorants and morhen can all been seen along the shoreline.  Sitting along the river near below the dam is a hotspot for birds of all kinds.

Great White Egret

Common Sandpiper

The extensive fields surrounding the town are great places for starlings, kestrels, buzzards, crows, sparrows, wagtails, thrushes, bulbuls, redstarts swallows and shrikes.

Daurian Redstart Female

Daurian Redstart Female

Eurasian Kestrel

Like vending machines, Eurasian Tree Sparrows are everywhere in the countryside. You will have no trouble spotting them on campus and on countryside roads or even on vending machines in the middle of nowhere!

Eurasian Tree Sparrows on Japanese Vending Machine