Thailand
Thailand
Click on the map link to the left of the country name to see our route
Currency - Baht, Exchange rate as of
November 2005 £1stg=72Baht. Day 25 - Wednesday 2nd November 2005 - Colin's Account Well today is our first day in Thailand, a sort of holiday from our holiday if you know
what I mean as we will be here at least a couple of months. All went smoothly this morning, we left the Wang Fat hostel in central Hong Kong, walked round the corner and immediately caught the airport bus 40HK$ for a journey of about 45 minutes. On arrival we checked in straight away and I only had a minor negotiation to be able to take my guitar on board rather than put it in the hold. A simple 'it will get broken if I do that sufficed'. By the way it weighs 3.8kg with the case. Our flight with Gulf Air stopped at Bangkok on the way to Bahrain. I initially thought that dinner would arrive with a choice of soft drinks only, this being an Arab airline, but then I remembered a story recounted to me by an old work colleague about all the Arabs staggering back blind drunk across the bridge separating Bahrain from its more austere neighbour. Sure enough there was wine with dinner which was a tasty beef curry with rice and quite spicy. On arrival in Bangkok most of the passengers alighted, leaving large queues at passport control. Our concerns about having a one way ticket proved groundless, as I suspected. None the less we had both made an effort with our appearances so that we did not look like travellers and therefore potentially suspect. Sam had applied some make up and I had had a shave, job done! The airport was chaos and a metered taxi was a 45 minute wait. We therefore decided to go with one of the touts instead as the wait was negligible. We paid 700 Baht (about £10) instead of the 350 Baht it would have cost, but it was worth it. We had absolutely no idea where we were going except to the hotel that Sam's mum &
dad were checked in to. Our plan was to say hi to them and then find somewhere cheap
nearby as the £30 per night at their hotel is too steep for our travellers budget. We
found them in the Old German Beer house across the road and with the help of Luke's (Sam's
brother) Thai Fiancée we found a place 50 metres away for £11 per night with air con,
bathroom and kitchen. Dinner was my favourite Yam Neua (Thai beef Salad) followed by a
walk through the local market and nightlife. The prices here are a blessed relief after
Hong Kong and I can order a beer in a bar or a meal without asking the price first.
Bangkok is as wonderful as I remember it from my first trip here in 2001. Day 26 - Thursday 3rd November 2005 - Colin's Account Had breakfast at the Old German Beer house (OGB), which was amazing value at 99Baht (£1.30) for Cornflakes, tea, toast, egg, bacon and fried potatoes. There was enough for two to share and they have free wireless internet for their customers. Went walking (again!) and stopped at a dentists to see how much teeth whitening and/or porcelain veneer's would cost. The clinic was just as good as anything in the UK and the cost for teeth whitening only 6000Baht (£80). Mike and I stopped at a bar and ordered a large beer each, but when they arrived we found we had ordered a jug each! Lunch was a Thai green curry, followed by more walking around. The temperature is a bit difficult to cope with mainly, because of the constant switching between ice cold air conditioned indoors and humid 33° outdoors. One or the other is fine, both is hard work. After a game of pool in a bar, where the Thai girls ran the waiting list for the next game with ruthless efficiency, we went back to the OGB for dinner. It seems that every time I go to the loo, I come back to find that Mike has ordered me another pint! whether or not I have finished the last one. There are lots of westerners here, far more than anywhere else we have visited so far. We would prefer to see less, but that's Bangkok I guess. We had a brief chat with 2 Hawaiians and horror of horrors a chap from Hull who used to be a communist and is friends with John Prescott. Actually he teaches English, although evidently not to two jags Prescott. In reality he was a nice enough guy, so apologies for the slur. Day 27 - Friday 4th November 2005 - Colin's Account As you might imagine, I have felt better, but apparently the beer I was drinking called Chang is nicknamed Changover as it is renowned for making you feel bad the next day. I will stick to Tiger or Singha in future. I booked my dental appointment for Monday and then Sam and I took the skyway, which is their equivalent of the underground/metro, except up in the sky. We got off at Siam where there are several shopping centre's as we wanted to buy a Thai mobile. My French mobile will be switched off soon and anyway since the Russians blocked mobile communications at the border post with Mongolia, I have been unable to send texts. The price of a phone was 1800 baht and a sim card only 199baht, really excellent value for money. By using an 008 or 009 prefix before the international number you want to ring the cost of a call to the UK is reduced to 7baht per minute, which is great. We will keep the phone and buy new sim cards anywhere we are staying for a long time. I am also looking into the cost of laser eye surgery, which is carried out at Bumrangrad International hospital. It is the only hospital in Thailand with International recognition and is very smart and professional. Unfortunately the difference in price between the UK and here for the laser treatment is much smaller than with dentistry. The cost per eye is 30000baht, non negotiable, so at about £400 it's not hugely less than the UK. I also found a travel agent that was prepared to book our train tickets for going down to Chumphon after the wedding, where we will catch the speedboat to Koh Tao. The journey is about 12 hours overnight and as 1st class is only £10 we have decided to go in relative comfort as we did on our last trip here in 2001. An early night tonight. Day 28 - Saturday 5th November 2005 - Colin's Account I should have known better than to have an early night, I was asleep at 10.30pm and awake at 2.30am. Having realised that I probably wouldn't go back to sleep I rang my daughters on the new Thai mobile and spoke for half an hour, its the 1st time I have spoken to Danika since we left and the first time I have spoken to Deyna since her birthday, which was only a minute on the trans-Siberian. It was great to catch up and they have already had a trial packing of their rucksacks and been walking around with them on. Standing on my balcony at 4.30 in the morning I was surprised by a Thai girl who walked out on to the balcony a few yards down from me wearing not much at all. After saying hello to each other I averted my eyes I waited a few moments to allow her to put a bit more on. However she quite happily carried on hanging up some clothes without batting an eyelid, perhaps I should have gone for that eye laser treatment after all! Sam's mum & dad have decided that they also want a Thai mobile, however Luke has advised against DTAC, which is the network we are on, as the coverage is a bit patchy on Koh Tao. We therefore went for 1twocall. Lunch was in a Japanese restaurant in the MBK shopping centre, the waitresses all wore traditional dress and I went for some sashimi, which was raw tuna with wasabi. Sam had sushi and soup, the soft drinks were incredibly sweet, in fact almost undrinkable. Mike is not a shopping fan and had 'done a runner' the moment the phone purchase had been finalised. I also left Sam and Melanie after lunch and went to look at the price of DVD's. The prices are ridiculous, I bought Kill Bill 2 for 49Baht on DVD not VCD. I walked up to the hospital to see if the eye laser treatment was cheaper by going direct to the hospital rather than a clinic, but no luck it was the same price. On the way I saw a place called Happy massage we was a very professional looking place and only 400baht for a 1 hour Thai massage. Later on with Sam & Melanie in tow we headed back to give them a try, we never made it. On the way the heavens opened and we ducked under a tree, soon after we migrated to the awning of a night club. The rain lashed down without end and after 40 minutes or so of waiting we gave up and hailed a cab to go back to the hotel. The roads by this time were all heavily flooded and some of the tuc tuc's (3 wheeled motorbike taxi's) were cutting out as the water got up their exhaust pipes. The ride back was only 400metres, but in that rain and flooding it was the only way to go. The night-club bouncer even took pity on us a gave me an umbrella to walk from their door to the cab. Wading over to the bar the water was up to our knees and lots of people had evidently decided to go for the take away option as a poor Thai bloke was constantly braving the flood carrying room service food & drinks across the road, equipped with an umbrella in one hand and the plates piled up on the other. Most people have arrived tonight for the wedding, some of Luke's friends and Mike & Melanie's, so a celebration was in order. It's ladies night in the OGB so if you buy one bottle of wine you get one free. The only problem is that the ladies have to order so we are reliant on them if we want the two for one deal. I sloped off to bed at 12.00am as I was very tired, but Sam rolled in at 4.00am having left the others still going. Day 29 - Sunday 6th November 2005 - Colin's Account Up early and as there was no chance of Sam waking up any time soon I went out for breakfast and to bring the site up to date. Luke turned up and hour later and having looked at the prices on the menu of the OGB decided to go and but brunch from a street vendor. Five minutes later he was back with his food and sat down to eat it at my table, the waitress didn't seem particularly bothered about it. Another hour passed and the others turned up looked decidedly jaded. Mike apparently thought he had gone home at 1am, but Melanie assured him it was in fact 5am (beats your missing hour, Kev!). We are not really doing any sightseeing at the moment, so not very much to report on that score. Sam is having a silk Chinese dress, tailor made and we went for a 1st fitting. I yielded to temptation and am having a pair of trousers made in cashmere/wool for about £20. We succeeded in the making it for a Thai massage today, the cost at 400 Baht for one hour is really good value and it is a modern clean health & beauty centre. Relaxing it wasn't, I was walked on, bent in two and pummelled all over. I admit that I feel better, but will go for a softer option, at least next time. I guess all the walking and our rucksacks have made our muscles a bit tight so we really felt it. More people have turned up today and we now have nearly the full complement here for the wedding. The evening was as usual spent in the OGB, although I went out to get dinner from a street vendor, several satay sticks with chilli and some pad Thai noodles for 40baht. Back at the OGB our friendly waiter called Air even brought me a plate and fork over, brazen huh? Days 25, 26, 27,28, 29 & 30 - Wednesday 2nd - Monday 7th November 2005 - Sam's Account I apologise for grouping these days together. It has been a whirlwind extravaganza of partying, catching up with my family and having fun, fun, fun! Very tiring though and there does not seem to be any signs of slowing down because today, Tuesday 8th November, we are travelling up to Buriram for Luke & Jam's wedding as I write. There are 30 of us in the hired coach and the trip will take approximately 6 hours. Just briefly though, here are the highlights of the last few days : Just one last thing you should know, the Grand President Hotel where everyone is staying (other than Colin and myself who are in a cheap hostel) is currently having its restaurant refurbished. In the interim period the German Beer House, just opposite, is being used as the hotel's restaurant & bar. The GBH became our club house over the next few days. Some people didn't really leave it ... naming no names (dad!). Wed 2/11 : Arrived in Thailand and hooked up with Mum, Dad and Jam. Luke was still in Koh Tao as he had some last minute organising to do. Great to see M & D! A few beers were drunk to celebrate even though we were all weary from travelling. We all went to bed fairly early believe it or not. Thurs 3/11 : "Orientation day" I know, how American! Mum & Dad slightly jet lagged. Fri 4/11 : The groom arrives - hooray, the family is reunited! Mum & Dad invite Luke, Jam, Colin and me for a very good local Indian curry for dinner. Everyone is tired but a few glasses of red wine are drunk anyway. Luke & Jam are understandably quite stressed with all the wedding organisation. Sat 5/11 : Made our way to the Siam shopping centres & Siam Square. I bought a Thai
mobile, SIM card and 950 Baht credit all for £30. Sun 6/11 : Dad is cross with "Air", our waiter from the last few nights, for not having closed the bar & restaurant earlier! Took Mum & Dad shopping at the Siam Centre. They bought a Thai mobile phone too and looked for a digital camera. I order a Chinese silk dress from a local tailor and get measured up. First fitting in the afternoon, the dress looks like a sack - quite a few adjustments to be made... More of Mum & Dad's pals arrive; Dave & Shirley from the UK, Tom & Siobhan from Ireland and last but not least John from Canada. A few more celebratory beers are drunk... Graham virtually nods off at the GBH, the dreaded jet lag is being harsh on a good few of the early arrivals. Colin and I actually are sensible enough to get an earlyish night. Luke goes out with all his mates for a wild night out. Mon 7/11 : Arriving in the GBH for brekkie we see that Luke has only just arrived back
from his night out! He'd been to pubs, clubs and a champagne party for some Thai celebs.
Jammy git! Day 30 - Monday 7th November 2005 - Colin's Account Spent quite a lot of time on my own today as I didn't fancy mingling very much, but I did a lot of work on our Website uploading much of our Hong Kong pictures and journal. Made a much needed visit to the laundry, but as they charged by the item rather than the kilogram we only put 5 items each in at 20baht a go. My dental appointment was at 2.30 (tooth hurty, ha ha). After a big de-scale they painted on a gel and then shone some type of blue laser on them which made them tingle and feel hot. After nearly two hours with a gum shield in, which was quite uncomfortable, it was over. I was disappointed with the results, sure my teeth are very clean, but not much whiter in my opinion although others say they are. Apparently I have very hard teeth and I will need at least one more treatment, fortunately at no extra charge. Later that evening i.e. at one in the morning it was decided to go for a massage. Rather tan the painful Thai massage we decided to go for the oil massage. There were 5 of us with girls and boys in separate rooms. The masseurs were a bit cheeky, constantly whipping our towels away and then leaving them off much longer than necessary. Rather late to bed! Day 31 - Tuesday 8th November 2005 - Sam's Account Feeling rather hung over, again (!), we pack our bags and everyone meets outside the Grand President Hotel at 9.45am for a departure at 10am sharp. A double Decker coach had been hired for the duration of the wedding to ferry us around over the next few days. No-one could be late as we had a very tight window to get us all into the coach and on our way - this is because the Prime Minister uses the road regularly and no parking is allowed either side of the road. Everyone knew this, but unfortunately couple of Luke's mates arrived nearly an hour late. Everyone who had been conscientious about arriving on time had already been hanging around for an hour and a half before we eventually set off. Not a good start as understandably we were all getting rather hacked off... All was soon forgotten and we settled into our 6 hour trip. Most people slept and it was a long haul, however the journey was perfectly broken at lunchtime as we stopped at a remote restaurant overlooking a beautiful lake and surrounding hills. On arrival the whether was hot sunshine and not a cloud in the sky, we all ordered our food and tucked into some tasty Thai food. Half way though our meal the heavens opened and torrential rain ensued; amazing how quickly the weather can change. On arrival at the hotel in Buriram we were tired from the trip and it was dark. Colin & I hadn't booked anything but Jam had ensured a budget room had been held for us, at 350 Baht per night it was not only the cheapest but also the best room we had stayed in. Perfect, thank you Jam! Dinner was in the hotel, the food was not good at all but the company was fantastic! We caught up with my cousin Simon and his wife Lucy who we hadn't seen for ages and Karen & John Champs and as the red wine flowed the laughs got louder. Dinner was quite pricey due to the wine but worth it! Day 31 - Tuesday 8th November 2005 - Colin's Account Today we are off to Buriram for Luke and Jam's wedding. At 430km from Bangkok going Northeast it will take us six and a half hours and put us within 130km of the Cambodian border. This is an important point as Jam's father is Khmer and the wedding will therefore be a Thai/Khmer fusion with perhaps a touch of European, who knows. On the way we stopped at a really beautiful spot on the edge of lake from which rose steep hills covered in tropical rainforest. Unfortunately within 10 minutes of arrival the heavens opened and the rain poured down for nearly an hour. Arriving at the hotel Sam and I were somewhat concerned to find that it appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. This concerned us because we had not gone along with the block booking, preferring to find something cheaper nearby. We need not of worried as Luke & Jam had booked us into one of their economy rooms at 350baht per night (about £5). Not only is it cheap, but also the best room we have had so far on our travels. The prices in the restaurant soon ate into the saving we had made, mainly due to the wine everyone ordered. Even so it was a great evening anyway although the food was very average. I went off to bed at 12am, sensible for once, but Sam stayed on chatting until 3am. Day 32 - Wednesday 9th November 2005 - Sam's Account Colin brought me a cup of tea in bed this morning, a real treat! Knowing that we didn't have to be ready until 2.30pm we went for a walk around Buriram. I bought a book to use as a Guest Book for Luke & Jam's wedding. The best I could find was 40 Baht. We wandered around the market and although fascinating the smells of the meats and fish turned my tummy. In the relentless heat from the sun we were sweating buckets and bought some water and walked back to the hotel to have a spot of lunch with Mum & Dad before the off. Following a quick change we all piled into the coach again and made our way to Jam's family's village for the first time. The journey is not far but takes more than one hour in total because the roads are not good. The coach cannot reach Jam's village and therefore we drove as far as we could to then transfer to a fleet of pickup trucks to go the last leg. We were all dressed in our finery and sitting or standing in the back of pickup trucks driving along the bumpy muddy roads up to Jam's house. On arrival we all piled out and we were warmly greeted, although we could not communicate everyone was bowing heads to say hello. A few ice cold drinks were distributed with lots of ice and then the ceremony began. This first ceremony of 3 in total over the next couple of days was for Jam. Luke was not required and technically we should not have been there. However, we had been invited not only because we had all come so far for the wedding but also for us to see the location and house plus meet Jam's family friends before the actual wedding day tomorrow. Jam looked beautiful. I had never seen her with make up on before and her dress was stunning. The ceremony was in her parents house and a master of ceremonies, who has to be a monk for at least 5 years was running the show. He had a microphone and he spoke and chanted and sung as he directed the proceedings. Jam was sat on a mat on the floor with her bridesmaid and white cotton bracelets were tied onto her wrists and then everyone else did the same thing for other people. We all had these cotton bracelets on our wrists too. Mum & Dad & Jam's parents had white paint smeared on their cheeks too. Unfortunately I don't yet know what all this symbolises - will explain when I find out. The ceremony lasted an hour and then we all had some delicious home-made Thai food and drinks - a few Chang beers were drunk, they are evil! On our return to the hotel we all relaxed for a while and freshened up for dinner at a local restaurant. The food was much much better than at the hotel and we ate with Simon & Lucy and Dave & Shirley. They had a live band on which was sooo loud you could hardly make yourself heard but the music was good (guns & roses, Santana). Everyone was making an early night of it, even Luke's pals from Koh Tao who had arrived that afternoon, so Lucy & I left Colin & Simon chatting to go back and crash - we were the last ones to leave anyway. Day 32 - Wednesday 9th November 2005 - Colin's Account Woke up disgustingly early, but I never mind now that an exciting day full of new adventures beckons. It beats radio 4, a cup of tea and work any day. After breakfast, I brought Sam a cup of tea in bed, a real treat I hope, despite their milk being the evaporated kind. I had my revenge for the restaurant bill by using their broadband connection for free internet access as they had not bothered to secure their wireless network. A symbolic victory, at the very least. We walked into Buriram to get some fresh air and saw the odd buffalo or two wallowing in their mud holes, normally in front gardens. There were some excellent markets, but quite smelly in places. At 2.30pm, we were back on the coach and off to the Jam's village about 45 minutes away. Today is really just for Jam and none of us including the groom need to be or in fact should really be there, but it had been agreed that it would be best for us to meet everyone and see the village before the main event tomorrow. The coach cannot get any closer than 2 miles from the village so we had to transfer by pick up truck for the last bit, which meant many of us arrived with slightly wild hairstyles. Jam's parents are friendly and made us very welcome with food and Chang beer, Oh no, not more Chang beer! There was a sort of master of ceremonies who did a great deal of singing & chanting while Jam knelt demurely next to her bridesmaid. Luke was spotted peeking round the corner on several occasions! After the singing ended Jam's family came and tied cotton strands around our wrists. The number of strands varied, but I had five, some had more some less. A small celebration ensued and one of our crowd had had the foresight to bring some wine along to alleviate the now boring diet of lager. Regretfully same person had omitted to bring a corkscrew, which of course is something that does not exist in a tiny Thai village. Fortunately I was able to fall back on my old exhibition hotel bedroom trick of pushing the cork in thus saving the day. Dinner was at back in Buriram, but not at the hotel. Not 200m away there was a superb open air restaurant with a very good live rock band and excellent Thai food. Simon who is Sam's cousin and I stayed up chatting until about 11.30 before calling it a day, amazingly this made us the last to bed. Before turning in I checked to make sure Sam's dress and my shirt had been pressed ready for tomorrow. Not only had they not been pressed, but they were in an even worse state having been screwed up into a carrier bag and put under the desk in reception. After a few choice words they promised some immediate ironing and within half an hour they were delivered to our room finally allowing me to go to sleep in preparation for tomorrow's big day. Day 33 - Thursday 10th November 2005 - Sam's Account THE BIG WEDDING DAY! A very early start this morning, we left the hotel at 6am to arrive at Jam's parents house for 7am which is where all the ceremonies and the actual wedding takes place. The monks were already in place and it seemed everyone had been patiently waiting for us all to arrive. Luke looked the bees knees in his cream suit and sash - very smart indeed. We were very proud of him. Day 33 - Thursday 10th November 2005 - Colin's Account So today is the big day and the reason why we have raced through the 1st part of our world tour. Somewhat bleary eyed and dressed in our finest we hoped on the coach at 6am. On arrival at Jam's parents house we saw the monks, all eight of them, were already sitting cross legged on the floor. Luke and best man Dave were in there cream suits, but unfortunately there had been a mistake over the length of Luke's trousers so they had to swap leaving both of them with different shades of trousers and jackets. Dave also had to hold his breath in all day! The bride & groom had to sit in front of the chief monk, a mobile phone using, smoking holy man. The 1st order of business was to present the monks with some food after they had spent some considerable time chanting and dipping a kind of wicker stick into a bowl of water and tapping Luke and Jam on the head with it. One slightly more mischievous monk also flicked a large quantity of water over us. Each monk had a large circular tray in front of him with the food on and then we went down the line scooping rice into their bowls, 3 scoops in the first large bowl and then one scoop in all the others. Holding hands we then presented each of them with an envelope provided by Jam's family. We then walked down to the mayor's house with Luke while the pick-up truck followed us with numerous plates of food. Why you may ask? Well after reaching the mayor's house, where the mayoress looked like she was trying to flog Sam some Thai silk, we had to walk back to the house carrying the food as a gift to Jam's parents to allow the wedding to proceed. All the way music was playing and we danced a bit. At the front of the procession a man had some live birds tethered to his wrists and he leapt up and down dancing around and throwing them up into the air. I meanwhile was carrying the pigs head on a tray with, I assume, some of it's insides, I felt a bit like Salome. The sun was beating down and it was very heavy. When I finally offered it as a gift to a lady she nearly collapsed under the weight or possibly the smell as it stank after 2 days hanging around in 35°C. I felt happier about it when Jam told me that it was the main offering and it was not only a honour to have carried it, but lucky as well. Next up, the master of ceremonies, who must have been a monk in the past carried on with the business of marrying them. More chanting and stick tapping ensued and then he wrapped their hands together is some silk. All this while Luke & Jam were joined together by a rope which had a loop at each end and was placed on their head like a circlet. Mike and Melanie were lead in to the room both wearing a sarong type garment and each had a type of scarf around their necks which they were being led along by. Of course we didn't understand a word, but suddenly some Thai whisky was poured down a large plant in the middle of the room, dry rice was thrown and they were declared man & wife. The bride & groom then knelt on an ornate type of altar surrounded by flowers. Their hands were held out of front of them clasped as in prayer. Everyone came forward one by one and with a ornate type of spoon poured water in a line along their hands. Each person also tied a cotton thread around Jam's wrist for our side and Luke's wrist for Jam's family. Each cotton thread had a note (money) entwined in the thread. After a couple of photo's (including one taken by the chief monk on his mobile phone earlier) the celebrations commenced, but only for a short while as we then went back to our hotel for a sleep and to freshen up for the main evening party. Due to coach problems, traffic problems etc, we arrived an hour late for the evening party, Luke was not amused. We were directed to the top table and there was a live band and dancers, one of whom had ridiculously high platforms heels on her boots. Mike and Melanie were called up on stage with Luke & Jam and had to make a short speech. Then out of the blue Sam & I were called up to make a speech as well which Jam then translated for the Thai guests. After all the short speeches the dancing commenced in between the tables on the stage in fact everywhere. Villagers who weren't officially invited danced in the street and the local children were hovering around the edge peeking through bushes and watching the goings on. The Thai's were keen to dance with us, some of them too keen as they were all plastered having been drinking Laowkow (Thai white whisky) for a day and a half. We finally left at 3am and staggered back on to the coach. Back at the hotel Sam & I were starving, but there was no food to be had so we ended up eating a huge block of nutty brittle at 4am! A really wonderful day. Day 34 - Friday 11th November 2005 - Sam's Account Set our alarm to wake up for breakfast early as we had been sooo hungry the night before on our return home from the party. Scoffed a good breakfast and then with those who were up and about we hired a mini bus to take us to the Elephant festival in Surin. It was a great day. Exceptionally hot as usual but the market was very good and we all had a fabulous lunch at a make-shift restaurant at the market. Unfortunately the Elephant show was not until much later but we did get the chance to see one elephant and feed it some bamboo. I loved it. I'd never touched an elephant before (rode on one yes but not touched one) and I fed him too. Their skin is cool and covered in little black bristles but their trunks are really soft, smooth and warm. I fell in love ! Mum & Dad did some shopping for their house on Koh Tao and bought 4 Thai recliners & some place mats. we carted it all back to the mini bus and headed for home late afternoon. I went to bed and watched movies back to back all evening and Colin went out with the others again for dinner. I was absolutely knackered. Day 34 - Friday 11th November 2005 - Colin's Account We set the alarm for 8.30 as we were starving and then we decided to go off to Surin where there was an Elephant festival. In the end we only saw one Elephant, but it was very well trained and handed or 'trunked' out bags of food, for a fee of course, which it would then pass back to his owner. We walked around the market and stopped for lunch in a big open air cafe, the bill was 33baht each (about 47pence). Later that evening we ate out at a local restaurant that was having a kind of Korean BBQ. In the loo's we had a bit of a shock, while standing there doing the business so to speak, a hot towel was suddenly applied to your neck, followed by a short massage of neck and shoulders. Then my neck and back muscles were cracked, excellent, but rather surreal. Day 35 - Saturday 12th November 2005 - Sam's Account Early start again as the coach was leaving at 7am to take us all back to Bangkok. Again, it was a long old haul and we arrived in Bangkok at about 1.30pm. Having missed dinner last night & breakfast this morning I went to the GBH once again for some food and a Tiger beer. We updated the site as much as we could, chatted to Dave & Shirley about Australia, Klaus about the disagreeable Thai girls trying to sell sex everywhere and then left on foot and by metro for the train station. We caught the overnight train to Chumphon which left at 7.15pm and were distraught to find that there was no restaurant car aboard. Our disappointment was not because we were hungry but because we had had the most fabulous time 4 years ago, the last time we had been to see Luke in Koh Tao, and we'd been looking forward to this journey for some time. Of course things are never as good as you remember them and without a restaurant car we were fed some awful food in our cabin and interrupted every 15 minutes by the staff on board either trying to sell us something or explain something that didn't need explaining. We even had some Thai guy creep aboard the train to sell beer at one of the stops. They don't knock either they just barge in. At last we thought we'd get some peace by 10pm but no they wanted to set up our beds and standing there waiting the porter let out the most humungous burp and then barged in shooing us out of the room. By this time we were starting to get pissed off and once eventually we could return to our cabin another porter (who had tried to screw us on the prices of the beers and food we'd bought earlier) had the gaul to come by and try again...! I'm going to try and sleep now in the hope that they leave us alone. I didn't leave the last guy in any doubt that he should leave us be and he got the hint sheepishly saying "OK, goodnight maaam"! Thank god, we arrive at Chumphon at 4.30am so I want us to get some sort of sleep . Night night. Day 35 - Saturday 12th November 2005 - Colin's Account Back to Bangkok today, we have decided to leave earlier, 7am instead of 10am and the journey was long if uneventful. At a rest stop along the way Mike made the error of using the children's latrine as he could see the normal one's. It came up to his shins and gave a bus driver a huge amount of merriment when he saw. We caught the train to Chumphon at 7.15pm, we only had a short walk to the Asok sky train station where you can descend into the metro which then goes straight to the main station. Sadly there was no restaurant car on the train so we couldn't while away the hours, looking out of the windows and eating as we did last time. The Thai version of the Provonitsa was awful, constantly burping, farting and clearing his throat. The train was due in at 3.58am, but arrived at 5am despite this a young German couple waited by the door clutching their luggage the whole time, German efficiency! Day 36 - Sunday 13th November 2005 - Colin's Account Alighting from the train we found Dawn waiting on the platform for us. Karen, another of Luke's friends and someone who Sam & I have chatted to a lot had asked her to look after us. We walked past all the disappointed ferry and taxi touts straight into town, where we stopped for tea and toast at 5.30am. The owner of the cafe organises Catamaran tickets at a good price (500baht) and provides the transport to get there as it is 20km from Chumphon. Koh Tao is 67km from the mainland and the journey took an hour and a half. The Starsky & Hutch film was playing on TV screens, but we only saw bits of it as we kept nodding off. As Koh Toa came in to view rising up out of the horizon we remembered just how beautiful it is, with crystal clear water and hills reaching up to 300m covered in tropical vegetation and palm trees. In fact you have to be careful of the coconut palm trees as people have been killed by falling coconuts from time to time. Karen kindly let us leave our things in her room as we can't get into the house until Mike & Melanie arrive. Although Luke has our main rucksacks we still have 2 little one's and my guitar. We went for a walk up to Shadowlands which is Luke & Jam's fledgling development. We were very impressed, the quality is excellent and it looks fabulous. We didn't explore too much as we know they have 2 dogs and we have yet to be introduced. Instead we walked into town in the baking heat and brilliant sunshine and hired a moped which was 180baht per 24 hours. (In 2 days time we will change the moped for a different more comfortable sort and I negotiated 110 baht a day.) After a very good Greek salad in the cafe Del sol, we bought a couple of DVD's (copies of course), but only a 100baht each, amazing! Back at Twilight which is Mike & Melanie's house in Shadowlands, we are now able to get in as the others have arrived. We have a lovely room with en-suite and aircon. We will finally be able to unpack our rucksacks, I can't really even remember what's in the bottom of mine anymore! I make a few trips on the bike to reclaim our bags from Karen's room and we finally relax. Klaus, one of Mike's friends, has hired a complete donkey of a jeep. It often doesn't start, the handbrake doesn't work and Klaus has to hunch right down to see out of the window. I am a bit sunburnt from our walk into town, but Jam has an aloe Vera plant and she snapped off a piece and rubbed it over my neck and forehead. It works wonders. Well that's it for the moment - Sam & I are having a holiday from our holiday so to speak so unless anything in particular happens we won't be writing up our internet journal for a few weeks or until we get travelling gain, We'll let you know. Meanwhile I'm sure we will upload some pictures of Thailand so keep an eye out. Thailand Update - November/December 2005 - Colin A short update from Thailand. It's the 7th of December and we are still on Koh Tao and as I write the rain is steadily falling outside, as it has been for several days. It is the monsoon season at the moment, but it arrived late as our first two weeks here were mostly sunshine with the odd cloudy and rainy day. Now it's very much the other way round and we have been soaked on several occasions while travelling the island on our motorbike. We have long since given back the bike we originally hired and have been loaned one that frankly belongs in either a museum or a scrap yard. However it goes and it's free so no complaints. Apparently a drunk, more often than not, Thai guy used it before us and crashed it fairly often so the front footrests are loose, the wheels are a bit buckled, the basket is hanging on by one bolt (although it still holds our shopping), you don't need a key to start it, the seat is ripped, there is no fairing, the electric's don't work (except for the headlight) so you don't know what gear you're in, the pillion passenger only has one footrest and the petrol gauge is broken. Still I've pumped the tyres up and fixed the brakes and in any case we don't go over about 25kmh anyway. It's only about 10 minutes drive from one end of the island to the other along the one main road which often has huge ruts and puddles especially at this time of year as the rains tend to wash bits of it away. We went hiking a week ago or so over to Mango Bay, the road, if you can call it that, is very steep in places climbing to 277m above sea level according to our GPS, although the highest point on the island is 319m. The walk was about an 8km round trip through densely forested hills and valleys and in places the road had completely subsided, the views from the top were magnificent and we could see Koh Samui in the far distance. In one or two places some effort had been made to clear a bit of forest with the intent to build some houses, but they hadn't got any further than levelling the land. The water is lovely and warm although the visibility is not good at the moment and when the sun returns we will start swimming again. Having said that, despite the rain, it is still warm and shorts and T-shirts are all you need (apart from a mac, of course) Apparently there are pythons on the island although we have not seen one yet. They occasionally lie across the road basking in the sun and if there's no way round you should stop and pull them out of the way. Evidently they don't bite and we are a bit too big for them to try and eat, still I'm not sure if I'd want to drag one out of the way if the need ever arose! After a few wonderful weeks in Twilight villa (which has a link to it on our home page), Sam and I have rented our own little house near Sairee beach at the other end of the island. It has a large bedroom and bathroom, a decent sized kitchen area and lounge. There is a large balcony complete with a couple of hammocks. We paid 10,000Baht for a month (approx. £140), but there have been a few teething problems. The owner put in the gas bottle as promised, but not the cable TV and then on the first night the water ran out, the external doors are also very difficult to open and close as they are new and have swelled due to the rains. The owner has also disappeared to Bangkok, so our point of contact is a lady in a clothes shop. I think she's getting fed up with us going down to see her and wishes the owner would come back. Fortunately some progress has been made, a pick up truck arrived the next afternoon, it's suspension nearly dragging along the ground, with a huge water tank on the back and filled up our reservoir. The next day the cable TV man arrived, so far so good except that the front door will now not shut at all and so we are confined to the house or swinging gently in the hammocks on the balcony(a hard life eh!) Despite three visits to our contact and a telephone call to the owner it still hasn't been repaired so we are getting a bit fed up. Koh Tao is very beautiful in many ways with some lovely beaches, great scenery, coconut palms everywhere and a laid back way of life. Unfortunately there are quite often bits of rubbish lying around and unsightly sandbags which have split open where they have been used to repair the roads. The Thai's on the island are mostly very friendly, but there is without doubt a Mafia or perhaps cartel would be kinder. The taxi's all charge the same, which might sound normal, except they have no meters and are all independent pick up truck owners (no cars on Koh Tao). They also charge per person, so if two of you went from one end of the island to the other it would cost 160Baht, but for four it would be 320baht etc etc. The price in comparison to everything else is extortionate. Every internet shop on the island charges the same amount as do the laundry services (except one tiny one we found that is cheaper). So all in all a lot of price fixing goes on. There is a great selection of restaurants catering to all tastes and the Thai food is cheap and very good. At many places you can sit on the floor on cushions at a low table overlooking the sea and watch the sun go down as you tuck into your Tom Yam Gai or Penang curry washed down with a Singha beer or two. Since we were last here the infrastructure has improved a lot with mobile phone signals (not always working), several medical centres, a diving recompression unit and more choice on transportation for getting on and off the island. The electricity can still be dodgy at times, we had no power for a day as the generators ran out of diesel and this was because the boats weren't running due to the weather. When the night boat doesn't run, even for a day, you immediately notice it in the shops. The racks of vegetables disappear leaving only empty baskets on the counter and restaurants will tell you they can make what you've asked for, but do you mind if they skip an ingredient or two! We will be off to Bangkok soon to pick up my eldest daughter who is coming over for a month, sadly the youngest one has decided to stay in the UK. On the way we will need to do a 'visa run' which you can book from one of the many travel shops on Koh Tao. For about 1600Baht you get the ferry or catamaran to Chumphon on the mainland, from there an air conditioned coach takes you to Ranong on the Burmese (Myanmar) Thai border where you leave Thailand for a brief moment and then return with your new visa stamp. Most foreigners who live here have to do this once a month as the visa stamp is only valid for that long. We are ok until 31st December as we applied for a proper two month visa in Hong Kong, but this needs to be done through an embassy, takes time and is not an option at Ranong. As we will be here until mid-January we will need to get a new visa stamp on the way to Bangkok to enable us to stay on past the end of December. You can exceed your stay a bit, but the fine is 200Baht per day. which is ok for a very short time, but not for a couple of weeks. Our next stop will be Cambodia in mid-January, when we will start our proper journal again, in the meantime have a happy Christmas and new year!
15th December 2005 - Sam's account Deyna, Colin's eldest daughter, arrived in Bangkok's today. Both Colin and I were really excited and planned the day around collecting her from the airport and what we are going to do whilst she's here. Deyna had been travelling for 2 days non-stop from Ireland. She had firstly flown from, Belfast to Heathrow, then having been looked after by Ba (Colin's Aunt) and Dave (her husband), she safely boarded the Heathrow to Bangkok flight and arrived safe and sound through the arrivals gate at 5.15pm Thai time at Bangkok's Terminal 2. Not bad for a 14 year old travelling half way across the world on her own! We hopped aboard the bus to Sukhumvit, and although the Bangkok rush hour traffic kept us held up we didn't really notice as we chatted away and caught up - especially on the press / star gossip in the UK...! Once settled into the Federal Hotel we popped out for some dinner - jet lag, tiredness and culture shock all caught up with Deyna and we make an early night of it.
16th December 2005 - Sam's account A full and busy day... Re-packed our bags after breakfast as we were moving onto D&D Inn in Koh San road that night. Colin had he's second teeth whitening treatment whilst Deyna and I decided to get some treatments a couple of doors down. After some hard negotiating they eventually agreed to give us a treatment at the same time. Do they want our business?! Deyna had a facial and I had a foot massage. Both were excellent - very relaxing. Mind you my foot massage ended up being a lower leg, thigh, arm, shoulder, and head massage too..! Not bad for 250 Baht for 1 hour. Deyna needed her relaxation time after such a stressful journey and I think the facial did just the trick. Caught up with Colin chatting to a Norwegian guy outside the Dental clinic on his first beer of the day, he had almost no idea where he was or what to do while he was here, so Colin had the map out on the table pointing out places for him to visit. **** I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT MY TEXT HAS BEEN EDITED BY MY HUSBAND HERE!!! Off to Koh San via the Sky Train and the river boat. On arriving at Saphan Taksin we deliberated, cogitated and finally decided to charter our own longtail boat instead of hopping on the riverboat taxi. It was quite a bit more pricey but DEFINITELY worth it. Speeding up the river, overtaking the other boats with the sun, wind and spray in our faces was fantastic. The ride was quite bumpy and wet but great fun. We managed to barter the skipper down from 500 Baht to 350 Baht so that wasn't bad. We'll ignore the fact it would have cost 18 Baht per person by river taxi. The trip was over in a flash (another benefit of chartering your own boat!) and before we knew it we were hopping into a Tuk Tuk with all our luggage. Well I say hopping - more staggering from one mode of transport to another with the copious bags we were carrying. The Tuk Tuk driver evidently didn't have a licence because as we approached Koh San he came to a screeching halt having noticed the traffic police and started a very animated conversation with his fellow Tuk Tuk drivers. Before we knew it he had emptied us out of his Tuk Tuk and shovelled us onto another. "Hee nouw youur hotew!" he yelled at us and as he negotiated the second drivers cut of our agreed price he screamed and shouted and threw his foot out at the guy in a lame karate kick and stomped off with his 20 Baht. As we screamed back at him to ensure the new driver would respect the initially agreed price he was already in our dust. Did the other Tuk Tuk driver know our hotel? Like hell did he! Having eventually been dropped off at the opposite end of Koh San road we paid the initially agreed price of 50 Baht for the overall trip and he thankfully didn't expect anymore. We checked into the "family room" at our hotel and having dumped our bags we immediately left to show Deyna Koh San road. She loved it. Which was great as Sukhumvit had not gone down well at all. We went around all the stalls & quirky shops and having decided on all the things we wanted to buy we got our hair braided and a Henna tattoo done. Very hip! Dinner was in a great little Thai restaurant we had spied earlier that day and then resisting the temptation of a banana and chocolate pancake from one of the road stalls we bought some fresh fruit instead. Which to be honest is even better - absolute deliciously fresh and juicy pineapple, watermelon and guava. A take away hot choccy from Starbucks and then to bed to watch "Staggered" with Martin Clunes. I was out for the count before the film even started, looking very come hitherish in my illuminous orange ear plugs and eye mask.
17th December 2005 - Sam's account Up early and snuck out leaving the others sound asleep whilst I planned to do some serious Christmas shopping. Rats! No such luck all the shops & stalls were still shut even at 9.30am. The Farang (westerners) were all eating their toast and drinking their tea & coffee in the road side restaurants and hostels. The Thai's however, were all perched on their little plastic stools in the back alley's and road side's shovelling in rice and spicy meat with vegetables. I know what I'd prefer for breaky. So, slightly dejected that my shopping plan was off of the books for a while I sloped back to the hotel to see if I could get a good spicy Thai breakfast myself whilst waiting for Koh San to wake up. No such luck so I contented myself with toast and coffee. As Colin & Deyna hurried in to catch the last remnants of breakfast we sat and decided what the plan of attack for the day was. After much deliberation and internet surfing we checked out of the hotel and left our luggage to then grab a meter cab over to Tesco Lotus to buy some Christmas goodies. What a disappointment. Nothing even slightly English or Christmassy about Tesco's stocked on their shelves at all. (Other than some Santa hats and decorations we bought) Right, so where were we going to buy our Christmas pudding, crackers and mince pies? Shock horror - Christmas without sprouts? No way! We found a second shopping centre which was LOADS better. Hooray! An M & S! We all steam into Body Shop, KFC and M&S to get our fix of western goodies and pay an absolute fortune for an excuse of a Christmas pudding in M&S then taxi cab it back to Koh San for a further full afternoon of shopping, shopping, shopping and more shopping. WONDERFUL! Totally laden down we then cab it over to the train station and our excellent driver avoided all the "bouchons" he was over the moon with our 20 Baht tip which was great to see. We bought our dinner from all the shops and stalls in the station. 3 x corn on the cob, 2 x sushi & 1 x ham & cheese pastry, 3 x waffles and half way through buying our fruit the national anthem kicked up again and we all stood still facing the Kings picture on the wall with our hands by our side. 2 minutes later the usual frenetic chaos continued and we had our fruit. We are now on board the over night train the Chumphon. (Pronounced Chaaampooongg!) in our second class carriage and father & daughter are giggling away. Father high on beer and daughter high on sugar. Additional Thailand Update - December 22nd 2005 - Colin The weather is quite bad at the moment, not a great deal of rain, but strong winds. This is causing a supply problem on the Island as none of the rust buckets they use for night boats can make the crossing and so the shops have run out of fresh fruit and vegetables. On top of this there is no meat and no fuel, which is a particular pain as the government generators have no diesel and so there is no electricity either. We have been on short supply for a few days already with power only available from 6pm until Midnight, but now there is none! We also ran out of gas yesterday and, of course there is none of that left on the island either. I went and bought a BBQ (the last one in the shop!), so at least we can cook. I even brewed some Tea on it yesterday morning! There are 3 Thai Navy Frigates moored 100 metres off the coast who are here to help and look after us. One of them steamed in yesterday and delivered some fresh produce and the pier had hundreds of Thai seamen milling around in their yellow T-Shirts and orange life jackets. Six years ago they evacuated all the westerners off the island as no boats could get through for 10 days and they are standing by this time it seems, just in case. There are private generators as well although the cost per unit is at least 10 times the price of the usual electricity. I thought we weren't connected up to the private system, but after playing around with the fuse box this morning I found that we are and so we have power again, at least while their fuel holds up. In fact we have been quite lucky, I managed to buy the last Chicken in a local shop (a whopping 2.8kg bird) so we have meat, I also found a few vegetables and one of Jam's friend's 'A' has lent us her spare Gas bottle so we are back in 'business'. Apart from the last two days it has been sunny and we have been for some great walks and swims, we have given back the dodgy bike we borrowed and have hired a rather more decent bike, but we are having to ride it 'three up' Thai style as we have Deyna with us now. I say Thai style, but I have seen them with whole family's on one bike including the dog, we are only three so not quite there yet! When the power is on, we have our little Christmas tree all lit up and with the tinsel, baubles and presents underneath it feels quite Christmassy, but I won't be able to make a real Christmas dinner as we have no oven. Even so we have Luke & Jam coming round for the day and will probably have a BBQ. We will be able to have Christmas pudding as we bought one in M&S in Bangkok. I won't tell you how much it was, but it had better be good. Additional Thailand Update - December 31st 2005 - Colin Deyna has just finished her PADI Open Water diving course and 'graduated' top of the class, well done Deyna! I think she is even beginning to like fish a little bit and (see Deyna's page for more details, when she gets round to writing it!!) seems to have bitten by the bug and is talking about doing her advanced diver course. Sam & I also finally got round to doing some diving, but first had to have a scuba review which is a short 'exam' with 30 questions, followed by a dive. Neither of us have been diving since 2002, but fortunately it's a bit like riding a bike and it all came back to us quickly along with the basic skills we had to practice. Visibility underwater is improving steadily now that the weather is back to blistering sunshine again and the island is filling up with holiday makers and backpackers, while the locals open up the few remaining shops and restaurants that were closed for the low season. The dark days of the monsoon and supply problems are long gone and the island is bursting with fresh produce. We have been snorkelling, tubing, sunbathing, swimming and cruising around the island on our Honda Dream which is beginning to complain a bit at the weight of 3 of us as the chain rattles alarmingly when I accelerate or perhaps try to accelerate would be closer to the truth. I had a tyre blow out on Christmas day would you believe, but as I said, we only drive very slowly so I just rolled to a halt and wheeled it to the nearest bike repair shop which was only 30 metres away and they repaired it with a new tyre in 5 minutes for only 100 baht. Well it was Christmas day after all! We have booked a table at a beautiful open air restaurant for tonight (New Year's Eve), with a table overlooking the sea and beach. There is a great set menu including wine and fireworks at 9pm & midnight so it should be good. I tried some Marlin on the BBQ last night which was really excellent and I shall add it to my list of favourite fish which includes Tuna (not tinned), Swordfish, Salmon & Shark. 6th January 2006 - Sam's Account Well Christmas and new year have just gone with a flash. We now only have 4 days left on Koh Tao before we take Deyna back to Bangkok for her to catch her flight home. Sniff, Sniff!! Our time here on Koh Tao has been really wonderful (other than the awful Monsoon weather, which was quite fun at times anyway). The island is really beautiful. I will miss our little bungalow and being woken by the tropical birds in the morning and the crickets and toads singing their "Frog Song Chorus" at night. The beaches are just gorgeous, perfect white sands with a high tide which washes the whole coast line every day to leave another perfect beach for the next day. The water is crystal clear and lovely and warm (28°C); perfect for snorkelling. The marine life is even more spectacular than the wildlife on land. Banner fish, butterfly fish, angel fish, bat fish, puffer fish, cleaners, trigger fish, turtles & sharks (although we haven't seen and turtles or sharks on this visit yet), shoals of fusiliers, barracudas, parrot fish, groupers, moray eels, goat fish, blue spotted sting rays to name just a few. My favourite are the amazingly colourful wrasse, they don't swim using their tails or dorsal fins, only their side fins, and they mince along in the water with such poise and grace - I can honestly say they remind me of vain, handsome, well groomed, gay men!! When you've been watching the fish long enough you do find they all have characters. The Butterfly fish are also my favourite's, they are such romantics, always found swimming around in two's as a couple, always stuck to each other like glue to face the rest of the awesome water world! We have been diving a few times whilst here in Tao (as the locals call it). Deyna has successfully completed her Open Water and managed to come top of the class in her final exam, beating all the rest of her adult class mates. Way to go Deyna! Then, both Colin and Deyna did their advanced course to catch up with me! Deyna has found a new passion in life and wants to come back to Koh Tao to do her "Dive master" and to become an instructor (whilst fitting in her law degree at Harvard and her RADA education to become a famous actress!) I suppose it's never too late to get started!!! My eight fun dives here have helped me rack up a total of 40 dives so far and I'm definitely back into the whole diving scene again and want to dive around the world as we travel. I'd forgotten how wonderful diving is. If you have never dived (diven?!!) then I should explain... It is as though you jump out of this world into another and weightlessly float through space discovering a totally new world. It's the closest I'll ever come to exploring space as an astronaut. Like every "sport" (in inverted comma's because sport for me is usually hard work!) you have the odd bad day when the conditions aren't too good but you just put it down to experience and don't let it put you off. There has got to be the utopia of dives out there somewhere when you see a whale shark and discover a wreck all in the same dive - and I'm just going to carry on looking... !!! Well today is a jobs day. Booking our travel back to Bangkok, paying our dues, buying some essentials (like soap!) and then we plan to go Kayaking around the island for a few hours. God it's a hard life! I am missing my family, friends and colleagues loads today. Perhaps that is why I decided to write this - to remind me of what a fabulous time we are having. I dreamt of everyone arriving in Thailand to stay for a few weeks and we partied like there was no tomorrow. Fantastic! Anyone??! Anyhow, I guess we are bound to feel some "people sickness" - I wouldn't call it home sickness yet as I am definitely not missing cold northern France yet...! This journal now moves to the Cambodia link Day 114 - Tuesday 31st January 2006 - Colin's Account I Have missed a couple of days as there was nothing interesting to report. Our days were filled with internet research for investment properties in France and we have decided regretfully to not go ahead with the house we were planning to build on Koh Tao. We need to keep all our spare money for our serious investments, the fun will have to come later! After several days of this it was time to actually go out and do something so we are off to visit Chinatown. The best way to get around Bangkok, where possible, is by river taxi. They are cheap, fast and not only do you get a good breeze, but also avoid the heavy traffic and pollution. It's only a short walk from the Khoa San road to pier 13 on the main river and from there you take the river taxi to Pier 5 for Chinatown. It takes about 10 minutes and costs only 18baht per person. A small plump uniformed Thai lady stood on the floating dock shouting out all the various destinations in a stentorian voice, obviously enjoying herself. Chinatown is very much as I remember it from our last visit here four and a half years ago. A maze of interconnecting alleyways with the best being Sampeng Lane which runs east to west. Hundreds of shops and food stalls line the alleyways and the crush of people is such that you are constantly threading your way through the crowds. Some areas contain only wholesale goods so when Sam eventually found a pair of flip flops she liked, we found that you had to buy at least 20 pairs. Oh well, scratch that one then. Chinese new year is upon us and at one intersection there was a profusion of bunting, Chinese lanterns, dragons and makeshift altars. Dozens of people milled around with lit incense sticks making our eyes water and gasp for breath. We found some fresh strawberries which were served sprinkled with salt, sugar and chilli, very good actually and a stall where we watched sugar cane being pressed into juice. I bought a pre-chilled bottle and found it to be slightly earthy and not nearly as sweet as I imagined. On our way back to the pier we passed an area that sold electronic goods including stun guns which were real and revolvers which 'I think' were not. One street vendor kept demonstrating his stun guns as people passed by pressing the button and sending a vicious stream of sparks from one contact point to the other. It would certainly beat a standard rape alarm for Sam's handbag, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are highly illegal and rather hard to explain away at customs. Day 115 - Wednesday 1st February 2006 - Colin's Account Today we are going to the Central shopping area encompassing the Siam discovery centre and the MBK centre. I have noticed that apart from the main river we went on yesterday there are numerous Klongs (canals) covering Bangkok and river taxi's also run along these. It is a very different prospect from the main big river taxi's as the bridges are very low, some only 5 or 6 feet high. We hopped on at the first stop and soon after were speeding along narrow canals lined with little wooden houses on stilts. The 'conductor' was a young man with a crash helmet on and he walked around the edges of the boat to enable him to reach everyone to collect their fares (8baht). The reason for the crash helmet soon became apparent as each time a bridge appears the whole roof bends down until it nearly touches the top of your head and the conductor has to crouch down. Evidently the crash helmet is for the odd occasion where he forgets to duck! Having finally had my French mobile phone unlocked, we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch which was expensive at expected, but made more so by the fact that they didn't tell you that government tax and service was on top. A very nice little 'earner', they even wanted to confiscate the remains of our water bottle before they would let us in, in case we dared drink it inside!! Back at Khoa San we went out to see a band that we have seen quite a few times in Bangkok over the months. They play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at a bar which appears to be called 'this is the chivas life' (after the whisky). They really are excellent, playing a mixture of blues, rock ballads and their lead singer, who has dreadlocks and glasses, does incredible renditions of some reggae songs. I recorded a bit of their set last night, click on the clips and have a listen. clip1 clip2 . All their songs are in English, but I'm not sure how good their grasp really is of English as one of them told me they are called Stool Steel. After the stools they sit on and the steel strings on their guitars! Oh well, they always wave and say hi when I come in and they are very good, so what's in a name. The time before last I saw them there was a very drunk and very talented harmonica player, a middle aged westerner who kept walking up to the stage and performing impromptu solo's. They accommodated him with smiles and as he was so good the atmosphere was even better than usual. We kept them at it for seven encores last night only slightly marred by one of the waiters who constantly short changes you. He has tried it on twice now, but I always catch him out, hopefully he'll remember me and stop it soon. Day 117 - 125 from 3rd - 11th February 2006 - Colin's Account Just a few highlights from a week on Koh Tao before we head for Chang Mai in northern Thailand and then Laos. After a fruitless morning looking for songbooks in the Banglamphu area of Bangkok we survived a hair raising 25 minute Tuk Tuk ride to Hua Lumpong train station. Large parts of the journey were on the wrong side of the road as we weaved in and out of the rush hour traffic. We booked our tickets for Chang Mai and a three day trek in the jungle including elephant rides and then headed for the night train to Chumphon in the south. Before we knew it we were back on the Lompreyah catamaran, crossing the Gulf of Thailand for the 67km journey to Koh Tao. For once the sea wasn't too choppy and the emergency sick bags stayed mostly in the stewards pockets. On the way we chatted to a refreshingly different French chap from Aix-en-Provence, who didn't think that France or the French (especially those from Provence) were gods gift to the world. Regretfully he absolutely stank of booze and was carrying a very ripe Camembert in his bag for a friend on the island. Back on the Koh Tao, much to Deyna's envy, we managed to load ourselves, rucksacks and bags on to the usual Honda Dream and headed off to Twilight villa. Luke is working hard, teaching at Buddha View dive centre as they are very busy at the moment. To cap the long hours he has to leave on a visa run tonight as well. We have decided to have a quiet week except for one morning's diving and one day's fishing. Having picked up my advanced diving card which now allows me to go down to 40 metres instead of 18, we proceeded to Chumphon Pinnacle for our first dive which comprises of two pinnacles some distance to the north west of Koh Tao. In between the pinnacles is the home of a Clown Fish (Finding Nemo) and there is often the chance to see Whale sharks, but no luck again! We descended straight to 30metres, but the visibility was rubbish so we came back up to 20metres where it was immediately 12m or better. Up early for our fishing trip which was 1200Baht per person for the day including all equipment and lunch. On the way to the boat Sam was expecting to be the only girl, but in fact there were only four clients, all girls except me! After steaming out to the west to a point where Koh Tao was beginning to drop below the horizon, we stopped and anchored up. I immediately caught a whopper (read small!) Red Snapper on my 20kg line which in no way put the line under any stress at all. Then the skipper called excitedly to us, we rushed to the back of the boat where with his 50kg line he had hooked a huge Marlin. Seeing it leap and twist high out of the waves 50 metres away was an amazing sight. The Skipper soon offered me his fishing rod and asked if I wanted to 'play', I did and spent the next 15 minutes fighting the Marlin slowly reeling it in. The skipper then took over again for the last few minutes and landed all 20kg of it. Sam didn't have a go as the rear of the boat was moving around from the swell more than the centre and she remained in the middle to avoid the threat of sea sickness. Sadly one of the other girls had to lay down for the whole day in the cabin, missing all the fun. Under the fierce Thai sun for hours on end, I had evidently put on sun block, but holding a fishing rod turned my hands to the sun at a different angle and I badly burnt the inside of one wrist (it's still sore 5 days later). Sam to her amazement caught a fish (a Grouper) and apart from the Marlin it was the biggest catch of the day. My total haul for the day was: 3 Red Snappers I didn't really expect the skipper to share the Marlin, but back in dock he carved off a chunk large enough to feed at least twelve people and gave it to us. BBQ fish for us tonight and better invite some friends. There is a two day Koh Tao festival on at the moment, with lots of bands, Thai dancing girls, silly competitions, beer tents and a world record breaking attempt for the most people (800) diving at one time. Diving figures prominently on Koh Tao and at the festival, so the Miss Dive shop competition followed by the Mr Dive shop competition were not to be missed. When the section calling for a girl to display her special talent arrived, one of the girls made an almost lethally strong cocktail and then sent it down to the judges as a bribe. Another tried to explode a plastic container and a third performed a dance from the stage musical Chicago.
The men in their
ridiculous outfits, were auctioned off to the highest bidder, the winner
being the one who raised the most cash. One unfortunate contestant who had
just come forward to be auctioned, had his shorts pulled down by another
contestant. Quickly the compere announced that now the ladies could see what
they would be getting for their money would they care to start the bidding.
Regretfully he raised only 60Baht, the winner of the evening later netted a
cool 12000Baht. We have now left Koh Tao and having arrived early in the morning we have a day to kill in Bangkok as our train to Chang Mai, does not leave until this evening. My lovely guitar that I have carried across half the world is slightly warped and the 'action' is no longer very good. So we have headed to a part of Bangkok, where there are at least 20 different music shops all in a row, to buy a new guitar. Having tried a few and not wanting to spend too much on something that will no doubt get some knocks and bumps, I settle for something mid-range for the princely sum of 2500Baht(£36). At Lumphini park in Bangkok, after dodging numerous sprinklers, I unwrap my new purchase and start strumming. An audience soon gathers to listen and professing tired fingers I scarper. The park itself is an oasis of calm from the chaos of Bangkok with plenty of shady areas, park benches and ponds. Dotted all around the park are temporary panels depicting the competing entries to build the Tsunami memorial. As Sam and I near the exit of the park, a succession of joggers pass us by at approximately one minute intervals. The first one is doing a passable impression of former president Jimmy Carter and we shrug our shoulders and continue walking. A second jogger approaches this time impersonating Sylvester Stallone from the Rocky movie, complete with coke cans in both hands raised high above his head. Then a third arrives, doing an even better impression of Jimmy Carter. The fourth turns up and he is going so slowly that at first I think he is running in the opposite direction. The fifth appears slightly more normal, but by this time we are convinced that it is an audition for the ministry of silly runs. Outside the park there is a small, peaceful demonstration against the purchase and sale of a large Thai telecoms company by a government minister to Singapore. This being Thailand they stop for a moment as we pass and ask if we would like a massage. We have now left Bangkok and pass a really fun evening on the train to Chang Mai in the restaurant car with its flashing disco lights, loud music and tipsy, dancing staff. We will arrive about 9am tomorrow and are both looking forwards to being on the road again and new adventures. Day 126 - 12th February 2006 - Sam's Account How dee doody y'all, yup I've finally decided to write in our diary. Every time we go to Koh Tao I really cannot be bothered to write any accounts. I try and convince myself that it is because we don't really do anything new and exciting, however, the reality is an infection of down right laziness which oozes from every contagious palm tree and grain of sand on the island. I also don't want to remind myself of the number of times I drank too many G&T's! So now we are in Chang Mai. I have been looking forward to visiting this area of Thailand for years. As I woke up in my little curtained sleeping berth to the gentle rocking of the train I squashed my swollen sleepy face to the window to see rolling hills and forests, wonderful. The sunlight is very different too, less harsh and reminds me of a sunny summers day in England, perfect. For the first time since the beginning of this trip we had actually pre-booked our hotel as well as a 3 day trek through a travel agent in Bangkok. So on arrival at 9.30am at Chang Mai train station, after an easy 14 hour journey, we were warmly greeted by Nook. It was a real luxury having someone waiting for us at the station. Nook was excellent and explained that we would have a guide come to the hotel in a couple of days to explain the 3 day trek; she then swiftly bundled us into a Tuk Tuk and sent us to the BMP Guesthouse. We later discovered that the BMP stands for the Backpackers Meeting Place - how naff! As promised, the guesthouse is off the beaten track and although the rooms are very simple, they are clean. Having dumped our bags in the room we went back down to the restaurant area for a cup of tea and some brekkie. We met Hannah who we had noticed at reception whilst checking in, as she was stressed and upset about the possibility of having lost her photo's on the hotel's computer. The receptionists evidently did not have a clue about computers or how to help her so Colin saved the day and spent a good half and hour downloading her photo's onto C.D.'s for her. They both could have been talking a different language as far as I was concerned, so I contentedly tucked into my scrambled eggs on toast with a lovely big mug of tea. Having extracted every possible morsel of information from Hannah about Chang Mai we were set and I scouted out the possible trips and places to visit whilst Colin had a play on his new guitar. In the end I had to prise him off of his new toy so that we could get going and discover the city! We walked for miles looking for bicycles to rent, mainly because we had initially walked totally the wrong way into town! At last we found the bikes and having paid a refundable deposit of 2000 Baht and 50 Baht each per day for the bikes we were off. Navigating the roads in Thailand is never an easy affair and especially worse when you have no idea where you are going. However, we eventually managed to get our bearings after having cycled around the one way system at least 3 times... Refreshments and lunch were welcome at around 3pm and we found a cute little white washed wooden hut restaurant along one of the quieter roads and sat in the shade gulping down ice cold water waiting for our lunch. Colin had a Northern Thai curry which was very tasty and unusual from the standard menu we had become accustomed to. It was sweet and had sultanas and peanuts in it. I had a spicy Thai salad with half a hundred weight of raw chillies in it. Cor lummy, my mouth was on fire! The afternoon was spent cycling around the city and discovering new areas. We went back to the BMP and had a lovely cool swim in their pool. The pool is a really good size and it has a diving board as well as a slide which are a bit of fun! Having cleaned up for the evening we found that entertainment had been provided at the hotel in the form of a guitarist / singer / harmonica player. Just as Colin was finishing his rendition of "Imagine" in the hotel room, we heard it start again over some amps and hurried down to listen to the one man band. He was quite good and his forte was definitely singing, he even pronounced most of the English lyrics correctly. His Tracy Chapman impersonation was spooky in it's resemblance to her. Dinner was in the hotel, vegetable fried rice for me and a club sandwich with chips for Colin. We then went out for a stroll to let our dinner go down before heading to bed. Day 127 - 13th February 2006 - Sam's Account A lazy start to the day. Reading, computer up-dating, and guitar playing in the room. We then clambered onto our bikes and spent the afternoon cycling around Chang Mai once again. We had pre-arranged to meet our guide at 5.30pm at our hotel so that he could explain what would be happening over the next few days of our pre-booked 3 day trek into the Hills around Chang Mai. Nook, as that is his name, (and not Nok as Colin will insist on calling him!) met us at 5.30pm to explain the organisation for the trek over the next 3 days.
Nook is quite a character. Evidently not at all into the
whole sales pitch speech and we ended up having to prise as much information
out of him as possible which was not very forthcoming at all. Odd really, as
"information briefing" was the reason he came to meet us! He is totally
chilled out and wears very hippyish clothes and has extremely long black
hair which he has to move out the way to sit down! After Nook's departure Colin said "Right, well do you want to get something nice on for this evening?" "Errrm, OK." I replied thinking it would be nice to put something half-decent on for a change but also calculating where this was leading to. Having preened myself and actually put some make-up on for the first time in yonks, we walked downstairs and Colin immediately hailed Woody the BMP Tuk Tuk driver. Without me being able to hear where we were going, we clambered into the back and before we could sink back into the seats we jerked into the usual whip-lashing acceleration you come to expect from Tuk Tuk drivers and we were off. Whizzing in and out of lanes, speeding down short-cut narrow alley's, cutting everyone up, we eventually came to a skidding halt by the Riverside Restaurant. Lovely. We were ushered to a table right on the river front, the whole restaurant was lit with candlelight. Very romantic. "Well, we won't be able to do anything nice when we are in the jungle tomorrow night" Colin said. That's me boy! We went to order a couple of G&T's to kick off with and the waitress said that they weren't serving alcohol that day as it was a religious day for Buddha. Well you can imagine how well that went down can't you! I was left perusing the menu whilst Colin shot of to check out the other restaurants along the river. He returned triumphant having made a reservation elsewhere which served alcohol and we make a quick exit...! The restaurant concerned was a really nice burger joint. Now, I know you're going to laugh, but honestly it was like having the best juiciest burger with chips and all the side orders at the Ritz. The service was impeccable, the restaurant was small and intimate with candle light as well. We contentedly drank our poky G&T's and quaffed back our red wine whilst munching our way through the best burgers ever. Wonderful. Feeling rather soporific (well pissed really!) and our tummies very full we wandered back into town to walk off our dinner a little bit. The night market was in full flow and having made a few purchases we hopped into a Tuk Tuk back to our hotel. And that's as far as I'll write! Day 128 - 14th February 2006 - Colin's Account Our new friend Nok, who is also the trek leader, dropped off our backpacks at 8.30am and we transferred our stuff from the plastic bags we had been given as our main rucksacks are too big for trekking and we hadn't expected to get the backpacks until later that morning. The pick up arrived at 9.45 and we hopped in to find an Irish couple, Stephen and Audrey and their friend Gary already in the pickup. Mad as hatters (in a nice way) they had us laughing and joking in no time. We made several pickups along the way taking in a varied assortment of Danish, Canadians, Dutch and a Slovenian couple.
The itinerary that Nok gave us is completely different
so far, but it doesn't matter. We stopped at a market where I picked up a
wide brimmed straw hat for 35Baht and a couple of water bottle holders. Nok
bought all our food including about 6 loaves of bread. Next stop was an
Elephant ride for about 45minutes. Our elephant was 29 years old and quite
naughty as he kept stopping and refusing to budge unless we fed him a banana
or sugar cane. Half way through the trip the Mahout (Elephant driver) hopped
off and indicated that I should climb up on the neck and 'drive' for a
while. I soon regretted it as I had shorts on and the hairs sticking out of
his hide were very stiff and soon became very uncomfortable. That said it
was great fun, a long procession of elephants weaving their way through the
undergrowth. Our Irish friends were knocking back the beer whilst riding
along 10 feet above the ground, so we joined in. Now the trek starts with a vengeance as we leave the waterfall and climb up a steep ascent for at least half an hour. Later we stop at a rest point in the middle of nowhere where an old man is sitting by a huge chest full of drinks and ice. When we enquired how he got the chest up there he told us he'd carried it up and invited us to shoot his catapult at some plastic bottles strung up 20 metres away. After a couple of goes I managed to hit one. We carried on walking through some beautiful scenery with tree covered mountains surrounding us. At one point we stopped and Nok pointed out a peak a couple of miles away that is the highest point in Thailand. At 5.45pm we arrived at a Karen - a hill tribe village - where we will stop for the first night. The houses are all wooden and on stilts. Pigs, dogs and chickens are dotted around, all on the hunt for food. Nok tells us we could buy a pig and have a BBQ, but the food he cooks is already good so we decline. Our sleeping quarters are in a large wooden hut with mats on the floor and sleeping bags. I nip in a bag a good spot for us and a lady comes over and unpadlocks another huge chest full of cold beer and water. Now we are sitting outside, watching the sun go down drinking beer and chatting. Nok produces a guitar and we sing along. After dinner the village children arrive and standing around a bonfire sing us some local songs. They soon split into boys and girls and proceed to have a singing competition. The boys are losing so Stephen and then I go over to give them support. Regretfully we haven't got a clue what they're singing, but we give it a go anyway. One by one every one turns in leaving Nok and I playing the guitar with Stephen and Gary while trying to stop one of the drunk Thai guides playing along with an empty vodka bottle and a comb. Having eventually succeeded in hiding the comb, he then finds a 20W-50 oil can and starts trying to play that. Aaargh! Day 129 - 15th February 2006 - Sam's Account Colin was the last to bed and the first awake. When I stirred at 7.30am he had already showered in the cold tap in the loo hut and was ready for a walk around the village. Blimey, he was never like that when it meant going into the office! I hurried to join him for the walk, and the shower is not just cold it is FREEZING! It sure wakes you up alright. As we moseyed around all the villagers were starting their daily activities from their wooden huts on stilts. Washing, cooking, cleaning, getting kids ready to be taken to school in the next village miles away. There are animals everywhere; including, pigs and their thirsty litters, dogs and their playful pups and chickens with their little chicks dutifully following them everywhere. Quite cute really and surprisingly not smelly at all. In fact no-where we have been (other than Beijing) smells as much or is as dirty as Lille in summer. Sorry, my fellow Lillois but it's true. Get Martine Aubry off the traffic circulation issues and onto the pooper-scooper and drainage system issues! As we made our way back to our wooden-hut camp along the mud-track roads tea and coffee were waiting for us in vast vats. Praise the lord! Breakfast was a very big affair; hard boiled eggs, mountains of fruit and toast with butter and strawberry jam or marmalade. Lashings of ginger beer - only kidding just getting a bit carried away! We were soon ready for the off, although quite a few people were not feeling great as they had not slept well at all as the floor was so hard and hey had been freezing cold all night. Wimps! We trekked over to a waterfall which took about a couple of hours. The time went quickly as we were all chatting and talking to each other as we went. The waterfall was lovely, not as good as the first one we had seen yesterday and it was too shallow to swim. We didn't go in but some did and the hippy Canadian sisters took the opportunity to have a wash. After everyone was dried off we set to walking up a steep hill. What was odd was that one of the guides, a young boy of 15, who spoke absolutely no English whatsoever ended up going the wrong way and the group split up. Unfortunately, we were with the young lad who decided to take us over the mountain instead of around it. One of the girls had a nasty fall and he just laughed so I ended up getting quite cross with him and taking charge! Not like me at all (ehem!). We made it safely down the other side of the mountain and thankfully met up with the other group. None of us were going to trust the young lad again and refused to follow him when he decided to take a different track to the more experienced guide. We arrived at our jungle camp at about 1.30pm and everyone just hung around for ages. Some read, others sunbathed, some went to bed for a snooze and a few of us went for a walk up to another village. Colin and I weren't tired and couldn't face staying in the camp until tomorrow morning so we decided to go on the extra trek. Again up-hill, which was to be expected really as our camp sits all on it's own in a little valley between all the mountains. The village was interesting, a little wooden shack school was open and a few children were painting, writing and reading. Colourful posters adorned the walls in varying states of condition including a big map of the world. It was difficult to work out who was in charge and a couple of the children just ran in and out of the school (shack) whenever they pleased. Hardly the boarding school discipline I knew at Ashford Girls! Back at the camp, Nook was preparing dinner, I had another freezing cold shower from a natural water source channelled into a bamboo pipe which just fell onto a rock in full view of the whole camp. So I washed in my swimsuit. Dinner was an extravaganza. The huge camp fire had been lit, the range of dishes to eat was extensive and the beer flowed far, far too quickly. The guitar came out, the singing started. Then the national songs competition began. I think the Irish one that one hands down although we put up a good fight. The rugby songs were in full flow when most people decided to hit the sack. Colin, Nook, Stephen and myself were the last standing at about 2am and Stephen and I decided to raid the kitchen (another wooden shack) and stuffed ourselves with left overs. They tasted even better than previously hot at dinner time. I went out like a light even though it was very cold and we were sleeping directly on the bamboo woven floor. Day 130 - 16th February 2006 - Colin's Account Didn't sleep too well in our jungle camp as we were at 1300M altitude and it was freezing. We slept with all our clothes on plus 3 blankets. We are obviously far too used to the heat after all these months and I don't know how we will cope with the northern European climate when we eventually come home. The Slovenian couple are suffering badly, the girl in particular seems more the type for manicures and lunching than trekking and she said she didn't sleep a wink despite going to bed before everyone else. The camp is beside a small waterfall and the shower is a very long hollow piece of bamboo that has one end in the waterfall and the other end, where you shower, is suspended 6 feet above a platform that you reach by crossing a rickety bridge over a stream. Sam and a couple of others braved it yesterday evening, but no one dared this morning. After breakfast, we packed up and resumed our trek. After so much uphill walking we were now mainly on the level or heading downhill, which as you trekkers will know is very hard on the knees. Thousands of leaves carpet the floor in purple, red, gold, brown and orange. Gary has been dreaming about burgers for a couple of days and insists that he will be taking a taxi to McDonalds the second he reaches civilisation. Talking about that, our guide assures us that a 7-11 is just around the corner. We scoff, but sure enough there in the middle of the forest is a 7-11, but 'not as we know it'. It's called the jungle 7-11 and has a fine assortment of banana's, drinks and crisps, which Gary eagerly buys as a burger substitute. The old man running this stall has improved on the other old man from the first day with his catapults and is offering goes with his air rifle. The Slovenian guy Andre eagerly accepts (perhaps it's in their blood?). I also have a go, but this time I miss the plastic bottles. Our last stop on the trek is an hour of bamboo rafting along a shallow river with numerous sets of rapids. Stephen and Audrey take the dubious advantage of a seat in the middle, Sam crouches behind them and I stand at the back with a pole as the rear oarsman and 'steerer'. Balancing is quite precarious as the raft often sinks six inches or so under the water and our fellow trekkers are on other rafts either trying to soak us or overtake us. Gary decides to give a rendition of 'just one cornetto' as we pole along and I join in with him as we negotiate yet another set of rapids. As we float down the river laughing an Elephant appears on the bank, he is stamping his foot and throwing up his trunk, almost dancing a jig. It appears he is laughing at our antics, but he has a chain around his foot and can only just reach the water from the tree where he is tethered, so maybe not. As we land at the bank at the end of our journey I congratulate myself for escaping without a single drop of water on me. Sam, Stephen and Audrey are soaked! We succumb to 'Burgeritus' ourselves, but go to a classy American restaurant with a great ambience, set on the river with moody lighting and good wine it's a wonderful tonic after our trek. Day 131 - 17th February 2006 - Sam's Account Not much to report. We were knackered from the partying (not so much the trekking!) and spent the whole day recovering. I won't bore you with the mundane details, suffice to say the day centred around cycling yet again around Chang Mai and then meeting Nook at 5pm to organise another trek. We wanted to hire him privately so that he could actually make some decent money. With his obligations to his employer we couldn't make it work out, however, he did suggest an excellent motor biking tour around Northern Thailand fir us to do. Colin met Nook later that night in a bar called Heaven Beach in town for Tequila slammers and a bottle of Sang Som; which is lethal Thai whiskey. I guess we won't be doing much tomorrow either! Day 132 - 18th February 2006 - Colin's Account Very little doing today, we took our bikes back and hired a brand new Honda Dream for our planned excursion. The police here like you to wear a helmet and occasionally fine you 100baht if you don't have one. Our bike came complete with two pudding bowl helmets, which wouldn't help much in an accident, but at least observe the form if not the letter of the law. Two other westerners had the word 'BEER' stencilled on the back of their helmets, I was impressed. In the UK you might as well put 'oh and please nick me' on the back as well, but here is, well rather more laid back shall we say. We bought a couple of smaller North Face backpacks for our tour and for trekking, Sam's is bright pink and the two together cost only 900Baht, probably fakes then? Dinner was at the Riverside restaurant, the same one that had refused to sell alcohol the other night as it was a Buddha day. There was a 20 minute wait , at least, for a table and the music although a good jazz & blues band was too loud (must be getting old) so we nipped up to a restaurant further up the river where I had some duck breast cooked very pink on their wood fired grill. It was really excellent once I had scraped off the sweet orange sauce. Crossing over to collect our motorbike a bored traffic policemen stopped all the traffic with his neon red baton and waved us across. They certainly look after the tourists here. Day 133 - 19th February 2006 - Sam's Account
My trusty, cheap, plastic, watch/alarm clock woke us up at 8am and having
had a couple of cups of tea and some toast I went for a quick swim whilst
Colin packed his things for the off. We eventually set off at 10.30am and easily found our way out of Chang Mai heading north along a wide dual carriage way. The traffic was fast, heavy and furious and the scenery was what you would expect from any suburb no matter which country you're in. As we drove with the hot sunshine on our backs and the cool motorcycling breeze in our faces the scenery gradually changed. A few rice fields dotted along the route were the first sign of leaving the frenetic city behind us, followed by some mountains in the distance and some more palm trees running along the road side. By midday we had arrived at Mae Malai and we stopped to have a look around the market and buy a few refreshments. After a nanoseconds' reflection we decided to buy some lunch too. Tough decision! So we threaded our way through the market with our heavy rucksacks trying to find the most appetising snack. Mulched crabs was not high on the list, neither was whiffy dried fish. We did, however, find some excellent morsels of chicken which had been battered and deep fried. Eat your heart out KFC this was magic! Whilst I gnawed on my fried chicken leg Colin devoured half a chicken claiming the breast is always the best bit. Rubbish, I'm a leg kinda girl myself! Realising that this was not a very balanced meal I proceeded to search for some fruit and veg and as luck would have it we found some freshly steamed corn on the cob. It was really excellent and could have perhaps been worthy of a competition with Canadian corn. With lunch done and dusted we set off again. This time Colin strapped his rucksack to his chest so that I could hang on to him a bit better. I must admit we looked a right pair; I had my bright pink napsack on which was overly packed and bulging at the seams with a bright red round plastic crash helmet on. Although Colin had gone for a sensible coloured knapsack his blue round plastic crash helmet adorned with poppers did nothing our overall "look" as we whizzed along on our red 125cc Honda dream! Fashion statements aside, we got on our way and our first stop was the ??? Waterfall. It wasn't quite as impressive as the waterfall we had seen trekking but it was still an almighty drop and being Sunday there were a fair few Thai tourists soaking up the atmosphere, even a few monks were enjoying the scene. Many of the young Thai girls and boys shrieked as they ran into and under the water splashing each other Colin decided it was about time to get in. I didn't. This was mainly due to the fact that I only had an old bikini which was loosing it's elastic and even if I'm not a prude I really didn't want to submit the good folk of the area to a nasty shock, least of all the monks! After the fun of the water fall we checked out the bat cave (which as far a we could see did not have any bats) however the smell made us think otherwise and without wanting to delve to deeply we were soon back on our little Honda dream racing through the countryside with our heavy nap sacks strapped onto us. The scenery really was quite beautiful, a great change from the city life of Chang Mai. We were whizzing past rice fields and dense forest which partly consisted of banana trees, palm trees and monkey trees. The warm air was smelling sweet with the plants, trees and flowers which surrounded us. The road became very twisty/turny and we weaved our way up the mountains and we eventually arrived at our second stop which was a geezer and hot springs. I have to say from a geological standpoint they were interesting; the water was arriving at the surface at 100°C having been forced up through the earths crust and cooled from over 200°C. However, the end results was a bit of a disappointment after such a long bike detour to get there (9KM). Anyhow, we made the most of it and walked the little wooden planked circuit and feeling the ever increasing discomfort in my back and shoulders from my rucksack we headed off for Pai with 80KM's to go. After half an hour we came to another stop to have a cup of coffee and a break, the air was starting to get quite cold and we kept hitting pockets of cold air as we continued up the mountain after our break. The scenery was really stunning as we reached the top, all the trees were mainly pine now interspersed with what seemed to be cherry blossom. As we turned each corner we saw another stunning view of the sun setting over the mountains and that is all you could see; mountains and mountains as far as the eye could see stretching into the distance. The air smelt crisp and fresh and no sooner had we reached the top, 2000+ metres above sea level, did we start the tricky, tiring, steep and swerving descent. Eventually, after a total of 8 hours travelling that day, we arrived at Pai and having hopped of our bike immediately on arrival to let the blood flow through to our legs and bums we saw the need to quickly find accommodation as the sun was setting quickly. After a couple of stops and a brief drive around we easily found a cute little hut made from wood and bamboo raffia with a balcony over looking a gushing stream and even with a TV (BBC World hooray here I come!) and ensuite bathroom. And the cost? 500 Baht per night which we really didn't need to spend but this little hut was too cute for words! Having settled in and cleaned up we went out for dinner and found a Thai restaurant. WHAT A SURPRISE! and tucked into some cheap red curries with rice. I say cheap as they were inexpensive but they were really excellent. Everything costs a lot less here and the value for money is amazing. Our whole vast meal including drinks came to just under 200 Baht. Colin warmed to the place immediately! We went for a stroll around the town after dinner and found the most fantastic bars and restaurants with a totally hippy contingency. I felt quite out of place wearing something that actually showed some sort of physical form as everyone was wearing baggy, slouchy, hippy clothes. We sauntered across a bamboo bridge a came to a guesthouse were most people had long hair or dreadlocks and they were "chillin'" around a camp fire. It is a great place and the atmosphere is so welcoming and friendly. Anything goes in Pai, as long as it goes slowly and with a smile ... Now back in our hut writing up the day. It is freezing at night here (well for us anyway) and we are thanking Buddha for our sheet, thick blanket and the eiderdown. Night night. Day 134 - 20th February 2006 - Colin's Account Woke up in our little hut, it was quite cold last night and although we were only at 513m altitude we were glad of the blankets. After a quick drive around Pai in the day light, I tried to sell or part exchange one of my books for a new one!. For the first time ever they refused saying that despite its good condition it was too old. So Pai is not only hippie, but also snobby - surely a contradiction in terms! We bumped into the two Canadian veggie types on the high street, making my good bye comment of have a good life, at our parting of the ways, following our trek sound a bit hollow. They had arrived by minibus, but were very impressed that we had driven up there all by ourselves. That was only after I had assured them that our motorbike only ran on reusable and recyclable fuel without an oil well in sight, yeh right. Back on the road we had soon climbed to 1534 metres above sea level where the cold pockets of air started assaulting us again. The scenery was breathtaking as usual although the road in places was badly deteriorated so I couldn't look around as much as yesterday. It is 107km to Mae Hong Son and we intend to stop just short of there for the night where there are numerous caves and waterfalls. We stop for breakfast at the tiny village of Soppong at the Soppong River Guesthouse. It has beautiful gardens out the back together with excellent food and service. The owner is a very clued up Thai lady who has travelled extensively, including living in Beijing. She speaks very good English and we are sorely tempted to stop here for the night. Fifteen Kilometres from Mae Hong Son we pull over to check our map. The town we were heading for, according to the map, is in fact a miniscule village snuggled up to the main road which runs through it. As we contemplate whether to go on to the main town or not, a grizzled westerner, complete with combat shorts, appears from a side road and pulling over asks where we are headed. It transpires he is an American, ex military type, who has lived here for twenty years and he proceeds to give us a quick intro to all the infighting between Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Japan & China. He has a museum and a resort called backpackers heaven on the river in a village 2km away and advises us against the main town as they are all 'commies' there. We agree to go and have a look and do our best to follow him 2 up on our bike plus rucksacks as he whizzes off. I think Backpackers Heaven depends on your definition of the word heaven. Very secluded - yes, by a river - yes, in the jungle - pretty much so, your own bedroom - yes and luxurious - a big no. We have a wooden shack with dubious electrics and no private bathroom or loo as it is in a separate building 30m away. However we have the place completely to ourselves and a spot for a campfire with loads of wood. The price is 300Baht for the night and despite the fact that he is an extremely eccentric character who calls the village we are in the shire (after the hobbit) and himself Rambo, we decide to take it, but I remove my hunting knife from my rucksack and strap it to my belt. While we wait for our bungalow to be made up by a Thai couple who live nearby, we are still not sure whether we really want to stay at Rambo's resort and drive down to a fish cave nearby for a bit of sightseeing. It's a bit naff to be honest, just a couple of cave like holes in the ground where a gang of huge carp churn the water to a foam whenever you chuck in a bit of lettuce or melon, that we purchased for 20 baht at the entrance. Far more enjoyable was the golf and country club (ok they have delusions of grandeur, but it wasn't bad at all. They have a mineral swimming pool and Jacuzzi amongst other things. The water at the hot springs, close by, was 70°C, but by the time they get it to the pool it has dropped to warm bath temperature. None the less it was lovely with a superb backdrop of tree covered mountains as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. I never found the fish BBQ spot that Rambo insisted we try (Who are we to argue), but instead had some Thai food in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Having said that it has a phone box and a bright red pillar-box. Having decided to stay at Backpackers heaven we spent the evening by our campfire listening to the stream gurgling away close by. I boiled some Lipton Red label tea in a diet coke can on our fire, which I had fashioned into a pot with my hunting knife. At least it's come in useful for something as Rambo has not re-appeared. Well apart from a brief stop when he called over to us from the other side of the river at about 10pm to check if everything was ok. Yes Rambo we replied, glad he was on the opposite side to us, all is fine! Day 135 - Tuesday 21st February 2006 - Sam's Account Rats! It's 3.47am and I can't sleep. I've just picked my way through the forest in the dark for a pee with my trusty little LED lamp and there's no hope I'm totally wide away now. 4.26am. Sat outside our little hut with the light on I'm getting dive-bombed by moths. 4.36am. Cockerels have started. One of them sounds as though he needs a Vicks vapour rub on his chest! Oh and a duck is joining in the chorus now, no, not a duck, maybe it's a frog. Oh I can't tell, there are some funny sounding species out here. 4.57am. God I'm bored. Well I eventually got to sleep at around 5.30am and my faithful plastic alarm watch woke me up at 8am. I couldn't get up though and we both surfaced around 9.30am and showered in the loo with no light and packed up our knapsacks and clambered onto our trustee shiny red Honda dream. We were going to visit the waterfall in the area but as we drove and drove there were no signs of it at all so we turned around and headed back towards to main road and to Mae Hong Song the nearest town. After only 30 Km's we were in town and Mae Hong Song is a sizeable town so we stopped to have brunch at around 11.30am and also up-date the site at an internet café. The rest of the day was spent driving, driving, driving. A hard old day but we saw some fantastic scenery. We were travelling over the mountains all day which meant constantly weaving up and down the side of the hills which was quite tiring and a strain on our little Honda too which was regularly shoved into 1st gear to get us up steep inclines. The scenery changed throughout the day from a rugged Scottish Highlands look, to English summer country lanes, to desolate Mongolian hillsides and then finally very lush green paddy fields with cows everywhere. Interestingly is was obvious to tell the wealth of the community by it's surroundings. The poshest village we went through had the lush farming land and the cattle. The desolate areas mimicked the villages and the people were evidently very poor indeed. Finally at 5.30pm, having travelled 7 hours, we arrived in Mae Chaem and proceeded to try and find some accommodation. As luck would have it there is one hotel in Mae Chaem which had a little bungalow for rent. The Thai's call them bungalows but they are really little wooden huts varying in size. Ours is pure luxury compared to last night! We actually have proper beds, an ensuite bathroom with a toasty hot water shower, a TV (which only shows Thai channels), a mini fridge and a dressing table. Oooh errr missus!! And the bonus is that the hotel has a great swimming pool and the views are all of the mountains we travelled behind us. On arrival we went straight for a swim having dumped our bags and then after a freshen up we went out to have a look around the town. Most shops had shut and there was very little night activity at all. Eventually we managed to find a little road-side cafe which cooked tasty Pad-Thai and after that we went back to our hut. What dirty old stop outs it was already 8pm!! We are going to watch Wedding Crashers tonight on the computer and then hopefully we'll sleep like babes. Day 136 - Wednesday 22nd February 2006 - Colin's Account After a fairly disgusting breakfast of greasy fried egg and something that purports to be a sausage we hop back on our trusty steed and head for Doi Inathon National Park, which hosts the highest point in Thailand. We kick off with a couple of waterfalls and unlike last time have the place to ourselves. At each there is an almost vertical path leading up the side of the waterfall which has been forged by hundreds of people just wanting to go and have a look. I scramble up the steep incline coming out half way up the waterfall. Sandwiched between the two stages of the fall, I can see Sam far below, camera poised. On the first one the footing is treacherous as the rocks are covered in algae. At the second I am 50m above the base with another 50m still above me. The noise is thunderous and the spray quickly cools me off. The view is tremendous and on the way back it seems easier to snowboard down the incline in my shoes rather than climb. I make the decent in double quick time, but then have to empty a kilo of powdered mud from my shoes at the bottom. Back on the bike we head for the summit at 2595 metres above sea level. Despite the sun it is freezing as we drive along, well crawl really as the incline is very steep and our Honda is struggling. Near the top is a restaurant which I first thought was called the Pork Cafe, but on closer inspection turns out to be the Park Cafe. We stop for a spicy Papaya Salad (Som Tum) and some BBQ chicken then tackle the last 500m to the summit. There is a sign proclaiming that it is the highest point in Siam and an observatory with signs saying 'No photographs'. Say no more see the Thailand photo link on the home page. Actually you can see very little as the other mountains are far below and it is quite hazy. We decide to head for Mae Wang, having had enough sightseeing, but the road soon peters out, becoming a road that would be worthy of Koh Tao, in other words crap. There do seem to be occasional cars and bikes on the 'road' so we persevere and 15km later rejoin the main road. Mae Wang seems to have disappeared or has shrunk and so we decide to carry on back to Chiang Mai. We roar along the main highway taking on all comers and having decided to move onto Chiang Rai near the Laos border, stop at the bus station and book two tickets for the bus at lunchtime tomorrow. We arrive back at the BMP and as our package has finished ask how much a room is. Not to my surprise the cost is now 400baht per night and not the 600 they told us before. Just to elaborate, we were very tired in Bangkok and unusually purchased 5 nights in a hotel and a 3 day trek for 7500 for both of us. I now know had we done it ourselves, as normal, it would have cost 4600Baht, a saving a 2900Baht or £42. NEVER use a travel agent when you are already at the location. As an aside we were quoted 3200baht each to get to Luang Prabang in Laos from Chang Mai, but we are doing it ourselves so I'll let you know if we win or lose. We ache from top to bottom after 4 days on the bike and a hot shower and comfortable bed sound great. Day 137 - Thursday 23rd February 2006 - Sam's Account I didn't sleep again last night so I am feeling very tired and still very achy from the motorbike travelling with a heavy knapsack on my back for 4 days. Anyhow, I had prepared and packed all my bags last night for today's off so I just needed to get myself ready, which was pretty hard work on it's own I can tell you. Having checked out, we asked Woody (the BMP tuk tuk driver) to take us to the bus station via the motorbike shop so that Colin could give the bike back and then just hop into the tuk tuk with me and all our luggage. It all worked out swimmingly (oh yah!) and we arrived at the bus station in plenty of time. The bus was sooo cool. Quite pricy for Thai standards (260 Baht per person for the 3 hours to Chang Rai) but it was worth it. The fake leather seats could totally recline and a bottom foot rest lifted up to support our tootsies. I had come armed and prepared for the air-conditioning and settled into the journey with my thick socks, woolly hat and a sheet! I didn't care, I was knackered and cold. A little bottle of chilled water was awaiting our arrival and sandwiches were soon distributed to all as well. I tell you, this felt like sheer, pure, unadulterated luxury after the last few days. The TV screens showed the French film "Taxi" dubbed in Thai which was impossible to follow and EXTREMELY noisy. As an aside, it is true that the Thai's seem to be totally addicted to TV. Every restaurant, bar or even shop you go into which is not geared for Farang (westerners) has a blaring TV with laughable soap opera's featuring extremely bad actors who think they are on stage at a children's pantomime! Question. Why is it, no matter how and where we travel we always get some disgusting, fat, ugly aging guy who snores his head off, with brief pauses for revolting flatulence and has absolutely no regard for his fellow passengers? Yes, we got another one right next to us again and after his sleep, which the whole bus knew about as no one else had a hope in hell of sleeping whilst he was snoring the house down, he proceeded to sniff and clear his throat of greenies for the rest of the journey - a full hour and a half of listening to his catarrh movements. I honestly could have head butted him if it hadn't been for the fact I would never want to make physical contact with anyone that disgusting. So on top of my total fatigue I am now in an extremely bad mood. The news in the Bangkok Post at the moment covers Chirac's visit to Chang Mai whilst we were there, the call for the resignation of the Thai prime minister, the outbreak of bird flu in India and Indonesia, the mud slide in the Philippines, North Korean defectors entering into Laos and Thailand and Thai insurgent problems on the Malay boarder near Kota Bharu. Hmm... cheering news on the whole especially as all of the countries I have mentioned are on our list of destinations. Mind you if you based all your travel plans on what you read in the papers no one would ever go anywhere at all. Oh, who's a happy lass today? Filled with the joys of spring! Hey ho, we arrived in Chang Rai to be assaulted as usual by Tuk Tuk drivers and hotel touts. We managed to avoid them as best we could and found out about our bus to the boarder for tomorrow. They leave every half an hour to Chiang Khong (in Thailand) and then we apparently hop on a boat to Huay Xai (in Laos) and then we can decide whether we stay there for one night or move directly on to Luang Prabang. At best the trip to Luang Prabang will take 6 hours on a speed boat or at worst a 2 day slow boat ride on hard wooden benches. Once we had the situation sussed for tomorrow we clambered into a Tuk Tuk to find a place to stay. The guesthouse we had chosen had apparently moved, but our driver knew just the place for us which would be much better anyway. I didn't believe him for one moment and so I phoned the guesthouse. Much to my disappointment I couldn't get any sense out of the person the other end of the phone so we decided to see the drivers suggested guesthouse. It was cheap (180 Baht) but absolutely awful. "No way, we want a NICE place" I said to the driver trying not to get too irritated. My patience is usually non existent anyway and he was about to get the thick end of it. The next place he took us to was fine. More expensive of course, 600 Baht for the night, but we actually found a decent room in the end. I say in the end because the hotel was totally Thai and the receptionist hardly spoke a word or English. He didn't know what "double bed" meant and showed me room after room of twin beds. We got there in the end, thank god and although the location of the hotel was a little out of the way we decided to stay here before I collapsed in a heap sobbing my tired and frustrated little heart out. We had a wander into town and after much deliberation ended up in a Dutch restaurant which turned out to be excellent. We had garlic bread and spring rolls to start with and then Colin had macaroni cheese and I had a chicken kebab plate with pitta bread, garlic sauce and chips. Wunderbaa! The world seemed a rosier place after our bottle of Australian shiraz and we walked back to the hotel to snuggle up and watch a film. We chose Leon with Jean Reno and Gary Oldman (a couple of our favourite actors) and although it is violent it is not gratuitous and the actors are of course outstanding. A very good film. Chang Rai is OK. Not great, just OK. The people are more real, more friendly and less tarnished by the tourist brush. However the town itself is fairly ugly and uninteresting during the day. At night it hots up and you can't see the ugly buildings so I definitely don't regret our stop over. This is our last day in Thailand for some time to come. What can I say about Thailand to sum it up? For me Thailand offers westerners a slap in the face in awakening their senses. Your taste spuds will salivate over the most delicious foods and / or curl up and die over the hottest chilies. Your eyes will see some of the most beautiful architecture and landscapes. You will be touched by the warmth of the people and of course pampered and preened to your hearts content. You will smell the most amazing aromas of food and flora and you will hear some of the noisiest conversations in your life! It is a great shame that Thailand has the stigma of its sex industry as it has so much more to offer than this. It is true that from a woman's' perspective Thailand is still very much a mans world. However, it is easy to forget that this is part of their culture and just because Thailand is modernising so quickly it doesn't mean that they have the same values as us. This can be easy to forget due to their cosmopolitan life styles. The best thing about Thailand is that they look after their own first and the foreigners often get shafted. This is the way it should be. Back home we look after the foreigners first and our own get shafted. The shame is we can't win as we get shafted every which way! The Thailand Journal is now finished and moves to the Laos journal
|