|
  | |  |
We've seen the Village People live!
Entry 5 of 36 | show all | print this entry |
Sabadi Ca! We think this is a very polite way of saying 'Hello'
We're spending a day by the pool after trekking for two days through the hills of northern Thailand. Chiang Mai is a great place, much more chilled out than noisy, smelly Bangkok.
Getting here was interesting. We picked up our visas for Vietnam (if you pay enough someone stands in a queue at the embassy from 4am to get them for you. We paid.) at 6pm and Tony, the travel agent, was panicking that we wouldn't make the train station on time. We couldn't see the problem, the train went at 7.35 so we had ages for the short taxi ride. Little did we know.
The Bangkok traffic is the worst in the world. Nothing moves at any time of the day. After we had gone 3 miles in an hour and a half we began to panic. The taxi driver even offered to grab two passing mopeds to get them to take us, and our rucksacks, to the station. I didn't fancy the idea of me and my bags on the back of a 125 in the wet ridden by a maniac Thai so we got as close to the station as we could and ran. Not easy carrying two rucksacks each. We arrived 5 minutes late but fortunately the train was running to Thai time so didn't leave until 8.10.
The overnight train was good fun. When you wish to retire for the evening the guard makes your seat into a bed and pulls down another bed up from the ceiling. They were very comfy and big enough for me, which was a surprise.
14 hours later (it was meant to be 12 but who's counting?) we arrived in Chiang Mai. Our hostel has a pool so it's a nice change from our river Kwai barge.
We spent the last two days trekking in the hills. That was a fantastic experience, walking through the jungle with local guides. They explained about how the hill tribes live and how the Thai government help them to retain their independence.
Our accommodation for the night was a hut in a hill village. 9 European travellers, all strangers before the trip started, sharing one bedroom. The village had no power so after a cold shower (actually a tap under a tree with a curtain round it) we were fed loads of delicious Thai food and drank Chang beer by candle light.
The Thais are a friendly lot but our favorite Thai so far was a crazy man called Mr Harry. He lives in the village but used to be a trekking guide so his English is very good. In return for keeping him full of beer he kept us entertained with jokes and games. At the other end of the table I could hear a Canadian complaining to a Dane about the income tax he pays. But nothing so high brow for us. Being British, and with our new friend Jenny from Manchester in tow, we sang "Old McDonald had a farm' with Mr Harry on guitar. He was a scream,telling us stories until Mrs Harry came to take him to bed. We saw him the next morning, when he told us that he had got so drunk he'd slept on the floor with the dog.
Our trip back down was marred slightly when Elaine slipped on a wet rock. She's cut her leg and it's very sore. The guides were good as gold, they sent a moped as far up the hill as they could to take her down. She's ok but I don't think we'll be doing much walking for a bit.
We finished the day having another elephant ride and a ride on a bamboo raft. The raft was funny, we got the chance to have a go at steering it with a bamboo pole. It looks easy enough but after half a dozen people had fallen in we left it to the Thais to steer.
We're off to watch the football tonight (it's on about 10pm here) and tomorrow we get a slow boat to China. Well, not quite, it's a slow boat to Laos. Which is next to China. Two days cruising down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang.
See you soon
Richard and Elaine
Latest Comments (1)
|
Life is wonderful... (reply)
Oct 18, 2006 18:20 EST by hells
Ha ha. So much for Scallysville! It sounds like you are taking to this bathing elephants & stroking tigers. When you are bored, check out www.myspace.com/venturafc or www.myspace.com/morrisseyme for updates. I'm sure its crucial to your trip. As for old miserable mogsy, I've booked tickets to go & see him at the G-mex in Manchester on 23rd Dec. Jo kindly gave me the night off. In return I have to ... show all
|
 Post a new comment |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Thailand or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
3 votes 
