Same Same but different!
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2004
1
11
21
Trip End
Mar 30, 2005
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Monday, July 26, 2004
Since our last update we have been having a most enjoyable time here in Thailand.
We started in Phuket, relaxing for a few days and topping up our tans. While there we visited many of the near-by islands and bays, like Phi Phi island, where the film the beach was made. These were all fantastic, the scenery was amazing, blue/green waters, clear skies, white sandy beaches, beautiful brightly coloured fishes swimming in coral. But you have already seen some of the pictures, so I won't go on about it too much.
We also went snorkelling - which was excellent. I got bitten by a giant hammer head shark - well ok, it wasn't quite a hammer head shark, and it was more the size of a goldfish and wasn't really a shark, but it was a traumatic experience for me none the less
Cookery Class - A students
!Another local attraction was the island used in the James Bond flim, the man with the golden gun - this was a bit of a let down as it was a complete tourist trap with about 50 boats pulling up and everyone queueing to get the same pictures from the tiny little beach (which had lots of souvenior shops at the other end, surprise surprise). We also spent a day paddling about some lagoons, well, we sat on the inflatable canoe, and a man called 7 who was a big Roy Keane fan paddled us about for the day - very relaxing indeed.
So, we were having a great time, chilling on the beach by day, tasting all the wonderful local food and beers and trying to guess whether some of the local ladies were really ladies or not by night, when we realised our time was up and we had to go and meet my Dad. So we tearfully took a plane to Bangkok (we even considered calling Dad and making up some excuse for not being able to leave Phuket, but conscience got the better of me.
Bangkok turned out to be better than we anticipated. We were expecting another smelly smog filled city, full of hawkers and sleezy bars - which it was, but it didn't bother us as much as we though it would
Our Little Bamboo Shack
. We stayed in a nice enough area, Silom Road, which was near really good night markets, and some interesting bars!One evening we were sitting outside one of these bars having dinner, when we noticed the man at the table next to us. He was dressed quite conservatively, shirt and dark shorts and was in his mid sixties. He was sitting with a younger thai man. The weird thing was, he was wearing the maddest,brightest red runners. My cosin Andrea, struck up a conversation with him, and asked him about them, to which he replied, oh, these are my ruby shoes to get me back to Kansas (where he was from). He then pulled out his portable Dvd Player, and we all began watching the Wizard of OZ! This was fine, a little surreal, but fine, untill, Dorothy (as he liked to be called) jumped up, grabbed a waiter and began to skip up and down the street in the same way as Judy Garland and the scarecrow on the yellow brick road. Fearing we might get dragged into some kind of reenactment of the entire film, we asked for our check and left.
We did visit some sites outside bangkok, like the floating markets and the bridge over the river kwai. We also visited some more temples and Wats and ruins in the ancient capital of Auruytta. I think we already have some of these pictures up
Trekking Guide Cooking Dinner
. The best fun however was the cookery class. I have added a couple of picutres of us working hard, to this update for everyone to laugh at. It was a really good course, much better than our indian cookery course. So when we get back we will have you all arround for Pad Thai noodles and Banana with Coconut milk for dessert!
After a week in Bangkok, it was time for Dad and Andrea to leave :( and for us to move north to Chaing Mai. Which is where we have been ever since. This is a fairly relaxed, laid back place full of other travelers. Even though it's the second biggest city in Thailand, it feels like a small town, its easy to get arround and the people here are very friendly and helpful. Our guest house is excellent, with satellite tv and a fridge (pure luxury for us) all for 5 euros a night. The lady who runs the place is a bit phsycotic, she laughs to herself all day, but in nice not norman bates sort of way. Once you get over that, she's alright really.
At the moment we are getting over our 3 day trek to see some hill tribes. We are all aches, pains, lumps, bumps, bruises and bites. It was a great experience, but hard going. It hadn't occured to us untill half way throug the first day, when we were were already knackered from climbing - that hill tribes live in.... Hills! - and to see these we were going to have to climb the hills. In our enthusiasim to be at one with nature and the thai people, we had overlooked this. Nevertheless, after the first day we had the worst over with. The villages were great, except we met more Europeans than actually thai native hill tribe people. The ones we did see all had mobile phones and were wearing track suits.
I am sure the villagers where all in a hut somewhere watching Sky Sports, eating a pizza delivery or something. We were outside in a candle lit hut with no walls and bamboo sticks for matresses, in the pouring rain, eating rice and the mushrooms our guide had gathered on the way up the mountain. On the second day there was not some much climbing, but more walking through paddy feilds. Again, the scenery was fantastic, as long as you didn't look down at what was crawling all over your feet. At lunch we stopped in another village, which give us a chance to pull the leeches off our feet - lovely! On the second night we stopped at waterfall camp which was lovely. The following evening when we returned to Chiang Mai - neither of us have ever been so happy to see a warm shower. After a quick rest our trekking group met up in a local bar for debriefing, which ended up in us being thrown out of the bar at 1am as they wanted to close up for the night.
It has been two days now, and we are almost fully recovered (from the trek and the debriefing session). We are planning to leave Chiang Mai tommorow. The next stop is Laos. We are going north to Chiang Khong first and then taking a boat down the Mekong river for a couple of days.
No doubt we will be in touch soon
Take care
Roisin
