Frequently asked questions

First, an update on where I am and what I'm up to.

"Corn cob" stupas in Old Sukhothai

I caught a train up to Phitsanulok for a few days, then took a bus over to Sukhothai.  Sukhothai is the site of another group of ruins, most of them dating back to the 13th and 14th century.  It's kind of the place where thailand first became free--where the thai people first kicked out the cambodians & began ruling themselves.  The ruins themselves are quite similar to those in ayutthaya, with a little more diversity.  I've got pictures, but you'll have to wait at least a few days to see them (I tried uploading them a while ago, and all I managed to do was crash a computer).  I thought I'd take this entry to explain a few things...

A giant Buddha statue

Guesthouses

So, the places I've been staying are called guesthouses (abbreviated GH).  This is kind of a catch all word... the guesthouse I stayed at in phitsanulok was basically just a small hotel.  The one I stayed at in Ayutthaya was pretty much a room in someone's house.  Some have all the amenities of a western hotel (private bathroom, hot shower, TV, etc.), while others are a lot more like a typical thai house (shared bathroom, no hot water-sometimes no shower either, etc.).  I do need to tell a story about the place in Ayutthaya though.

The morning I took off for Phitsanulok, I intended just to run through the shower & then go track down the train station.  When I got out of the shower, the GH owner greeted me with a hot coffee, and asked where I was off to next.  I told her, and she immediately began scribbling down the names and addresses of friends she knew in those towns, who ran places like hers.  Then she gave me a water for the train ride, ran in to the back of the house, and came back with a fresh mango for me as well.  I began to think she was the nicest owner in the world.  So I thanked her, grabbed my pack, & headed out the door.  She was already out in the street, flagging down a motorcycle taxi, telling him where to take me, and paying him.  She WAS the nicest owner in the world.  Anyway, here's my shameless plug:  if any of you are in the Ayutthaya area, that's the 'PS Guesthouse', just north of where all the other places are.

Buddha statue in front of a stupa

Traffic Laws

I've figured out the traffic laws.  They're quite simple, really.

1. Drive on the left, unless you need to be somewhere else.  Stay on the street, again unless you need to be on the sidewalk.

2. Use your horn often to make sure it still works.

3. Avoid getting hit by something bigger than you.

Pedestrian laws are pretty much the same, except that #1 and #2 don't apply.

1st class vs 3rd class

It's ironic that the first three days I was here, when I stayed at the nice, western-style resort, I was bored out of my mind and had a lousy time.  Since I've been staying in the cheap (I paid 150 Baht for my room tonight - about $4) GH rooms, I've had a blast and been much happier.

Stucco work on one of the chedis

When I caught the train the Phitsanulok, 1st class & 2nd class seats were full, so I got a 3rd class ticket (that's the cheapest class).  I sat with a bunch of middle aged thai women & had a wonderful conversation (well, it wasn't technically a coversation, because they spoke almost no english, and I spoke even less thai... I guess it was more of an hour long game of multilingual charades).  They were quite upset with me when they found out I was 31 years old and unmarried.  I'm pretty sure that one of them was trying to talk me in to coming home with her, so she could marry me off to her daughter.  It's far more fun than I would have had in the expensive, 1st class air conditioned cars... again, kind of ironic.

The "Elephant Chedi"

Westerners and Walking

I've also discovered that almost all western travellers hate to just walk around and explore.  It's funny, because when you think of 'backpacking' around a place, I just sort of assume that you'd walk a lot, but most people will either rent a bike/motorbike, or catch a taxi.  I find that when I just walk around town, once I get about 100 yards beyond the 'backpacker area', I'm pretty much the only westerner around.  Which is fine by me, because that happens to be where a lot of the good street food is too.  :-)

Street Food

First of all, I've decided that three meals a day is not nearly enough to squeeze all of the food I want to eat into.  Therefore, I've taken to eating four a day.  At least two or three of those meals are 'street food' - food that I buy from vendors that have carts, and just set up on the street in busy areas.  A lot of the best food I've had has come from them, instead of from 'restaurants'.

Transportation

Some basic forms of around-town transportation:

Bicycle rickshaw - a guy on a bike, with a cart in the back for you to sit

Moto taxi - a guy on a motorbike.  Jump on behind him and hold on.

Jumbo - a guy on a motorbike who has a cart welded up in front of the front tire.

Taxi - a pickup truck, with benches down the sides of the bed.

Songthaew - a flatbed, again with benches down the sides.

Shakes

Those pineapple and lemon/mint shakes I've been drinking aren't actually milkshakes, they're more like slurpees - fruit, a bit of sugar, and ice all blended together.  You can also get lassis, made with yogurt, which would be closer to a fruit smoothie.  They do have traditional milkshakes as well, but they don't look very good, and anyway, the fruit shakes are pretty much to die for.