Week 4 Update - Chiang Mai & Bangkok
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2007
1
15
26
Trip End
Jan 13, 2008
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Sunday, November 25, 2007
i am in the south west coast of UK now attending an annual commercial
meeting for my new job at Bookham. Flew out of Bangkok on Sunday and
will be in the UK for 2 weeks.
so, highlights of the week are trekking in the jungle, elephant riding,
bamboo rafting, waterfall swimming, eating bbq jungle rat!
the first night in Chiang mai we sought out the muslim neighborhood as i
was determined to see what a Thai muslim looks like. it was one street
next to the mosque and two of the eateries had the whole menu in Thai
with several signs in arabic! so we managed to order goat biryani and
WOW!~ it was amazing and just what i was craving. finally got my indian
food fix after 4 weeks. that night we went shopping in the night market
and bought some beautiful artwork of an old Thai villager smoking a
traditional cigarette.
on Tuesday morning we too off for a 3 day 2 night trek to the northern
hills of Thailand. we had two guides and a total of 10 people signed up,
all from the UK except for one dutch and one irish fellow. we all got
along well and enjoyed the laughs and conversations.
on the first day we drove to the hills and stopped for food and supplies
on the way. first we went to an elephant camp and rode elephants for an
hour. i got to sit on the neck of our elephant, with alykhan and jim
sitting on the saddle. the thing to do is to buy a stalk of bananas to
feed the elephant. they put their trunks up asking for 3-4 at a time and
use suction to hold on to them and insert them into their mouth. our
elephant was a greedy one and kept asking for one! went through 2 1/2
stalks!
we then stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe. once we got to the hills
we trekked for about 2 hrs through rice fields, along the river and up a
not so steep hill. the hill tribes are composed of migrant Burmese that
have lived there for over 7 centuries and their way of life is protected
by the government. on the way we stopped at a waterfall for a quick dip
and swim and acrobatic jumps off the top of the falls. we passed through
Karen village and i was surprised to see that they had electricity
provided by solar panels. took a break at a football field and played
for 1/2 hr with some locals - i scored one goal and assisted on another.
then we walked 1/2 hr further into the village to where we were going to
sleep. basically a large wooden shack built for trekkers. our guides
cooked an excellent Thai meal for us and we spent the night eating and
playing drinking games. water, beer and pop was readily available for
sale at all the villages and hillside shacks. had a great night in the
candle light (we were not privy to the solar electricity) and slept well
that night. alcohol did the trick. woke up in the middle of the night
and walked into a pole. it poured that night so we could not make a camp
fire.
next morning, we had pancakes and the group split into two as some only
signed up for 1 night. so 5 of us and one guide took off at 10 and
pretty much trekked for 3 hours through all kinds of terrain. it was
quite tiring as we were climbing and descending hills. stopped at the
top of one hill for lunch where two local village men met us and had
lunch ready - noodle soup. our guide trapped a jungle rat and stuck a
bamboo chopstick through it and bbq'd it. i had to try it - a bit more
chewy than chicken - hmm, yummy jungle rat legs! wish i had some
ketchup. we trekked for another 3 hours and it rained so for 1/2 we were
huddled around a shady tree. a new meaning to 'tree huggers'. we made it
to waterfall camp which was a bamboo house built by the river side which
had a 2 meter waterfall. it was ideal for showering as the rocks at the
bottom of the falls were flat. that night we had another great meal and
sat around all evening talking and drinking. it was an early night
though as we were tired from trekking. we did not sleep well this night
- not enough alcohol i suppose.
next morning we set out and trekked for another 2 hrs to another spot on
the river with some nice rapids. there was a riverside shop there run by
two older village women. took a break there for 1/2 hr and shared a pipe
smoke with one of the women. then we walked 15 minutes to a rendezvous
spot where a truck picked us up and took us upriver for lunch at the
same roadside restaurant as 2 days before. after lunch we went bamboo
rafting. basically 7-10 long bamboo rods strung together to create a
flat raft capable of carrying 4 people. that was fun and a few spots
with rapids were thrilling. i even steered for a few minutes.
after that we drove back to our guest house. got a shave and met up with
our new friends for dinner in Chiang mai. the city has a pulse but is
more relaxed than bangkok. the next day we finally got Thai massages. i
got a full body oil for an hour for $7! very relaxing after the three
day trek. we got a 3PM train to bangkok and got in at 6AM. this time we
had a meal on the train it was not that good and we got charged an extra
$3 service charge. in hindsight, we should have just bought food at the
several stations we stopped at.
spent the day in bangkok roaming around and got another thai massage!
the next morning i flew out of bangkok on a 12 hour flight to London.
stayed the night at my uncle's and then took a train to Devon to spend
two weeks at my new job. for those that don't know, i accepted a job
with Bookham as an Applications Engineer in Ottawa and start attending
the office on Jan 14. they flew me out of SE Asia for these two weeks to
attend an annual commercial meeting and 1 week of training. i'll fly
back to SE Asia on December 7 to continue my travels.
well, that's it for this week. will send an update in 2 weeks now as i
don't expect anything exciting to happen over the next 2 weeks. although
i am enjoying meeting my new work colleagues, the nice lunches, dinners
and unlimited alcohol! i am really excited to start with this company.
for pictures go to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=70361&l=beec6& id=690225651
later,
sameer
