Hello my friends, you'll never guess who! How are we? Well? Good! For the first time this trip I can truly empathise with your plights back in England, it got so cold up here in the mountains that I had to put on a jumper. If that's not an extreme coping strategy, I don't know what is. I'm sat typing in a little tree-house hostel called "Darlings Mountainview Hostel" and this has to be the best hostel yet. But before I get to that, hows abouts a bit of a recap?
As I am a merciful and benevolent blogger, I am not going to overpower you with information like I did last time. Therefore, I can tell you within the last 4 or so days, we've had a couple of lazy days where we decided to proceed with reckless abandon, forget the budget and move to a hostel with a pool, private room, room service massages for the extortionately pricey sum of £6 a night. It appears the sun is tampering with my inherently British thrifty nature! However, the day that truly needs reporting, is the scooter day as it shall hence be known as. We'd decided that as much as Chiang Mai is a fabulous city, we needed to get out into the wilderness a bit and the only way to achieve this was 125cc's of sheer unharnessed power. It was an awesome day, we saw some glimpses of proper rural Thailand away from the infection of tourism and it was topped when we found a secluded hot spring with some stunning grounds and backdrops. We went a bit photo crazy, so you may see what I mean later!
The next day we decided to make the most of the scooters and scoot around the city and see some Wats (temples) and get another massage (they're addictive if nothing else!). In the mean time, I had the finest meal ever created in the shape of a Chicken Pennang which is far beyond anything I can describe, it was simply perfect. In fact, only a couple of Canadians, Brits and an American will be the only ones able to understand just how perfect it was... However, due to the sheer heat of that day, which was by far the hottest we've had, I don't think it's far off the mark to say I probably slept for 80% of that day, in preparation for one truly emotional farewell to our Canadian friends, Zach and Special K. They are being missed and we shall miss their unique brand of annunciation of "out" amongst many other things, not least of all the "beer spears song" (watch my Facebook space for updates on that beauty...)
The following day, with the fellowship reduced in number by two, we decided to hitch a minibus in search of Pai (sadly, not pronounced phonetically, instead it is "Bi"). The drive through the mountains was exactly what you need if you ever need to be reminded just how precious a gift life is. We said our goodbyes before three or four "hasty" overtaking moments and prayed, in total, two 6 deities for mercy. Luckily, one of them responded (I won't pick one, solely to avoid such controversy!) and we were treated with a new driver and some pretty awe-inspiring views of the Northern mountains of Thailand and the view down into our new home. Which brings me to this moment! As I said, we're staying with a lovely Thai lady called Anne who has named herself and everyone of her guests "darling". She has some pretty sobering stories about the flood of Pai 5 years ago which nearly took her life and washed away almost all of the bungalows and homes within the area, which makes her infectious optimism and excitability all the more remarkable. The view of the mountains is one that can never be got bored of, we arrived, bought a Singha each and watched the sunset over the mountains with some new comrades and it was only when I checked my watch that I realised in England I'd have been just starting work at that point, what better to drive that point home? I decided to stay outside on the balcony looking over the view with Simm, instead of the more rational idea of heading to bed and couldn't have contemplated regretting the decision. It was a brilliant night and the sunrise to the left of our treehouse was almost more stunning that the sunset. All in all, I think we may be staying in Pai for sometime to come yet!
Hope all my campers out there are happy, you're all being thought of! I've also heard Hull City's captain of 10 years has handed in a transfer request, this is sad news indeed! Oh, also something concerning a Liverpool striker, but who truly could care about that eh?
R
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Thursday, 27 January 2011
The familiar stench of regret....
Morning campers! Long time no speak (sort of) and much to report, most of it being the type of stories I shouldn't be telling anyone, but here we go anyway! So, the last time we spoke, it was 11pm and I was falling asleep to the sound of frog-song. This was the result of a morning where I awoke feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to start abusing my internals and externals once more. Before I blitz too far into the future, the eager regular readers out there will no doubt be tearing their heart out to hear about my retail therapy at the night market! I've decided to experience my inner cliche and become a hippy traveller type. I've popped my pictures up on Facebook, so you can see my new look for yourself, but for those with an aversion to detailed visual media, I'll spell it out in the black and white of the Queen's English for you. I've bought some wonderful wonderful trousers (yes, trousers for any Canadians/Americans who may happen to be reading!) called "Fisherman Trousers". They're basically trousers made from a very thin but comfy fabric which you wrap around yourself and don't remove for 4-5 days due to their overwhelming perfection. I've also bought a thin purple Asian type hoody, some bright purple MC Hammer type trousers and..... A NEW HAT. This hat, unlike the young pretender hat, is the ideal one that I shall attempt to keep for the whole year. It's a brown faux-leather cowboy style hat with roses and thorns etched onto the side, more or less, the dream hat. Two words: Mission Accomplished.
So, the very next morning, donned with every new buy I could possibly wear, we woke up anticipating a busy day and we were not wrong in that assumption. We decided to hit Chiang Mai zoo, which for anyone who ever is passing by, is very possibly the finest zoo I have ever seen. The pictures will tell you far more than this (all be it eloquently written) blog can ever do. To summarise, we saw pandas, tigers (white and orange), leopards (black and orange), lions, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, rhinos and many other usual suspects you'd expect to be hanging out in such a place. Highlights? The monkeys were excellent, I'll try and put up some videos I took of them a bit later, but also the pandas were fantastic, and lastly, on a slightly seedy note, I saw a certain appendage connected to an elephant for the first time ever, and although I'm not the tallest man in the world, all I'll say is if it had sat in front of me in the cinema, I'd move seats....
The zoo itself is built ontop of a jungley mountain (I've subjectively upgraded it from a hill) so our calorie burnings for the day were huge. What more, I'm certain the map we were given was very accurately crafted, just not for the particular zoo we were visiting. So we missed out on a few animals as we had no idea at any point where we were, where we were headed, or where we wanted to head. This led to many wrong turns, extra detours and, all in all, a lot more exertion. Aside from this, it's very hard to criticise the zoo, and I got some pretty good photos and saw some pretty cool animals. As far as zoos go, what more could you want? We had another low key evening afterwards, we went to a small restaurant in the centre of Chiang Mai and, as is the way with Thailand, had another breathtakingly good meal with a machete'd coconut as a starter, milk flesh and all!
The next day, we were all very excited because it was the day we were reunited with our Canadian friends from Bangkok; Zack and Special K. It twas also the day we met Helen, a fellow Brit who's a wee bit more experienced than us, what better way to piggybag on somebody else's talents! Once we were all together, we decided to go visit Doi Suthep, which is a temple ontop of a mountain that we were told we had to visit from multiple sources. We then thought, as it's going to involve alot of climbing (and with us still sore from the zoo) we'd chill out after with a visit to a local waterfall for a bit of a swim and relax. The temple was phenominal and truly put all other religious buildings to shame! I can easily say it was the single most relaxed and placid I have been made to feel, the photos won't do it justice, it was perfection. We then trekked down towards a waterfall at the bottom of the hill. We decided to skip the swim, but the little bit of walking, climbing and foot soaking was quite enough! And then came the crickets....
On the way to the waterfall, we'd past a stall selling all manner of bugs/beetles/frogs/spiders etc etc that no human should within their right mind consider putting into their mouth.... So guess what I did! In answer to your questions in order
1) The worst is the eyes
2) The crunching of the head is an experience not to be repeated
3) Quite salty actually!
4) Only one
5) Nope, no regrets!
6) I couldn't stomach the frog....
After a brief crab and coconut milk broth to take away the taste of cricket (and flush out the legs from the teeth) we were on our way back for the night which inspired the title for this particular blog.....
So, a brief introduction to beer in Thailand. The king is Singha, undisputed, unchallenged and on par with the strength of a Fosters or Carling. The challenger for the title is Chang, rather well rounded, a little bit lighter BUT (an important but...) MUCH STRONGER! This is a fact I found out after the night in question. By the time I publish this, there is every chance my reputation is being undermined with a few videos on Facebook already, all I'll say is I achieved a life ambition that night, and don't believe in the word regret. Before my parents disown me through sheer panic of the next confession, I can alleviate the worry by saying it was only karaoke....
There was a bar we found that I may have mentioned with a damn fine rock n' roll cover band. On the first night we'd been no more than shouting the lyrics back at the singer and had chatted to them a bit afterwards, mostly in awe at the talent, but also because they are actually some very nice gents! So, we figured this was the night to return, but only after a bit of predrinking, this will not make sense to most people, but I can confirm I was made to ride the bus once again.... We were greeted with our usual table and a bit of an introduction and then proceeded to provide a bit of backup vocals. Eventually, as the night proceeded, they gave me a bit of a look, played the intro to Knockin' on Heavens door, and gave me a bit of a beckon... the rest my friends is history. I won't be expecting Mr Cowell on the phone anytime soon, and the Sweet Child O' Mine and Killing in The Name attempts won't do me any favours either. But all in all, we had a brilliant night, dancing and singing our way into the wee hours, and what's the point in having regrets eh?
Just to finish off, today we've been at a rather nice hotel doing absolutely sod all except lazing my and in the pool..... That is it. Oh, and I ate something called a Slaughter-head fish in a coconut, with a bale-fruit drink.... I'm not sure if either of those things are real either, but it was quite the unusual taste on both cases!
I'm going to sign off there, we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and this is already far and beyond my longest blog yet. Hope you all managed to get to the end, and if you didn't, I suppose the less people who hear of the karaoke exploits, the better! Take care my friends, thank you for all the kind words concerning my blog, I'm doing it all for you guys, makes it very worthwhile! For those asking, my email address is RichardHarrison13@live.com and my Skype is The_Rambling_Man13. Feel free to email me, but sorry for all the delays, I'm quite far behind but I'm sure you'll understand, I've got many more priorities ahead of laptops at the moment! Love Love
R
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD :-)
So, the very next morning, donned with every new buy I could possibly wear, we woke up anticipating a busy day and we were not wrong in that assumption. We decided to hit Chiang Mai zoo, which for anyone who ever is passing by, is very possibly the finest zoo I have ever seen. The pictures will tell you far more than this (all be it eloquently written) blog can ever do. To summarise, we saw pandas, tigers (white and orange), leopards (black and orange), lions, elephants, giraffes, monkeys, rhinos and many other usual suspects you'd expect to be hanging out in such a place. Highlights? The monkeys were excellent, I'll try and put up some videos I took of them a bit later, but also the pandas were fantastic, and lastly, on a slightly seedy note, I saw a certain appendage connected to an elephant for the first time ever, and although I'm not the tallest man in the world, all I'll say is if it had sat in front of me in the cinema, I'd move seats....
The zoo itself is built ontop of a jungley mountain (I've subjectively upgraded it from a hill) so our calorie burnings for the day were huge. What more, I'm certain the map we were given was very accurately crafted, just not for the particular zoo we were visiting. So we missed out on a few animals as we had no idea at any point where we were, where we were headed, or where we wanted to head. This led to many wrong turns, extra detours and, all in all, a lot more exertion. Aside from this, it's very hard to criticise the zoo, and I got some pretty good photos and saw some pretty cool animals. As far as zoos go, what more could you want? We had another low key evening afterwards, we went to a small restaurant in the centre of Chiang Mai and, as is the way with Thailand, had another breathtakingly good meal with a machete'd coconut as a starter, milk flesh and all!
The next day, we were all very excited because it was the day we were reunited with our Canadian friends from Bangkok; Zack and Special K. It twas also the day we met Helen, a fellow Brit who's a wee bit more experienced than us, what better way to piggybag on somebody else's talents! Once we were all together, we decided to go visit Doi Suthep, which is a temple ontop of a mountain that we were told we had to visit from multiple sources. We then thought, as it's going to involve alot of climbing (and with us still sore from the zoo) we'd chill out after with a visit to a local waterfall for a bit of a swim and relax. The temple was phenominal and truly put all other religious buildings to shame! I can easily say it was the single most relaxed and placid I have been made to feel, the photos won't do it justice, it was perfection. We then trekked down towards a waterfall at the bottom of the hill. We decided to skip the swim, but the little bit of walking, climbing and foot soaking was quite enough! And then came the crickets....
On the way to the waterfall, we'd past a stall selling all manner of bugs/beetles/frogs/spiders etc etc that no human should within their right mind consider putting into their mouth.... So guess what I did! In answer to your questions in order
1) The worst is the eyes
2) The crunching of the head is an experience not to be repeated
3) Quite salty actually!
4) Only one
5) Nope, no regrets!
6) I couldn't stomach the frog....
After a brief crab and coconut milk broth to take away the taste of cricket (and flush out the legs from the teeth) we were on our way back for the night which inspired the title for this particular blog.....
So, a brief introduction to beer in Thailand. The king is Singha, undisputed, unchallenged and on par with the strength of a Fosters or Carling. The challenger for the title is Chang, rather well rounded, a little bit lighter BUT (an important but...) MUCH STRONGER! This is a fact I found out after the night in question. By the time I publish this, there is every chance my reputation is being undermined with a few videos on Facebook already, all I'll say is I achieved a life ambition that night, and don't believe in the word regret. Before my parents disown me through sheer panic of the next confession, I can alleviate the worry by saying it was only karaoke....
There was a bar we found that I may have mentioned with a damn fine rock n' roll cover band. On the first night we'd been no more than shouting the lyrics back at the singer and had chatted to them a bit afterwards, mostly in awe at the talent, but also because they are actually some very nice gents! So, we figured this was the night to return, but only after a bit of predrinking, this will not make sense to most people, but I can confirm I was made to ride the bus once again.... We were greeted with our usual table and a bit of an introduction and then proceeded to provide a bit of backup vocals. Eventually, as the night proceeded, they gave me a bit of a look, played the intro to Knockin' on Heavens door, and gave me a bit of a beckon... the rest my friends is history. I won't be expecting Mr Cowell on the phone anytime soon, and the Sweet Child O' Mine and Killing in The Name attempts won't do me any favours either. But all in all, we had a brilliant night, dancing and singing our way into the wee hours, and what's the point in having regrets eh?
Just to finish off, today we've been at a rather nice hotel doing absolutely sod all except lazing my and in the pool..... That is it. Oh, and I ate something called a Slaughter-head fish in a coconut, with a bale-fruit drink.... I'm not sure if either of those things are real either, but it was quite the unusual taste on both cases!
I'm going to sign off there, we've got a busy day ahead of us tomorrow and this is already far and beyond my longest blog yet. Hope you all managed to get to the end, and if you didn't, I suppose the less people who hear of the karaoke exploits, the better! Take care my friends, thank you for all the kind words concerning my blog, I'm doing it all for you guys, makes it very worthwhile! For those asking, my email address is RichardHarrison13@live.com and my Skype is The_Rambling_Man13. Feel free to email me, but sorry for all the delays, I'm quite far behind but I'm sure you'll understand, I've got many more priorities ahead of laptops at the moment! Love Love
R
P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD :-)
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Frog-song
A quick blog whilst the pictures are uploading I think, although the previous week of excess has caught up with the group of weary travellers, and we're treating ourselves to our first early night of the trip. It'll be well received as well, however, I can't possibly keep the pictures of my trip away from you lovely people any longer, how else would I transmit international jealousy bait?!
Whilst Facebook works it's magic, I'll let you off the biggest cliff hanger since Michael Caine had "an idea" on a bus once upon a time. I have bought a hat. But, not content with finishing the storyline there, I am far from contented with it. An impulse buy at the very reasonable price of 90p, I have grown disenchanted with my pretender to the throne of hatdom, and am yearning for a superior one. As I say readers, keep tuned in and this rivetting storyline guarantees to just keep on going (.... just so you know, I'm intending to fix it soon, just in case this particular "meandering storyline" is a little bit mundane...)
Yesterday we decided to explore our new temporary home and wandered into the heart of Chiang Mai. As cities go, it is one of the more beautiful, alive and friendly cities you shall ever be fortunate enough to come across. We started off with a nice "Doctor Fish Foot Massage", which for my friends shall be nothing new, but for those who don't know, allow me to paint a word picture. You put your feet into a fishtank, and the fish eat your feet..... That is all. The premise is the same as that with maggots, the fish eat the deadskin, the new skin comes through fresh and smooth and the maggots/fish go away feeling slightly mistreated about the whole affair. Sadly Ben's stomach couldn't take the idea of swarms of fish eating your feet, so he compiled a rather thorough documentation of the event that will go up on Facebook at some point later.
To finish off our exploration, we decided to get a celebratory bite to eat and went into a small local shack for a bit of light relief. I myself decided to go for poached egg (although to this day, I do not know which type of animal laid the egg... I can assure you, it wasn't a chicken) and a small selection of fried hummingbirds, all I'll say is put some pressure on Sainsburys to start stocking them, it is a taste sensation! We washed it all down with a cup of iced milky Thai tea (again, sheer perfection in a glass) and a shot of wheatgrass for our good health.
I have just been told by a bright flashing blue bar up on Facebook that the first set of pictures are up and ready for viewing. But sadly, I can feel my eyes starting to close on their own steam. We're down to just me and Sim outside at the moment with Ben and Bari off in bed and I fear I'm the next to submit. We're sitting outside surrounded by a combination of cricket, frog and, all I can guess as, miscellaneous animal song and it is far more hypnotising than I would ever imagine. Therefore, I shall tell you about my night market experience, new travelling trousers (x2!) and the trip to the zoo some other day. Hopefully that's exciting enough to compensate for the hat story?
R
Whilst Facebook works it's magic, I'll let you off the biggest cliff hanger since Michael Caine had "an idea" on a bus once upon a time. I have bought a hat. But, not content with finishing the storyline there, I am far from contented with it. An impulse buy at the very reasonable price of 90p, I have grown disenchanted with my pretender to the throne of hatdom, and am yearning for a superior one. As I say readers, keep tuned in and this rivetting storyline guarantees to just keep on going (.... just so you know, I'm intending to fix it soon, just in case this particular "meandering storyline" is a little bit mundane...)
Yesterday we decided to explore our new temporary home and wandered into the heart of Chiang Mai. As cities go, it is one of the more beautiful, alive and friendly cities you shall ever be fortunate enough to come across. We started off with a nice "Doctor Fish Foot Massage", which for my friends shall be nothing new, but for those who don't know, allow me to paint a word picture. You put your feet into a fishtank, and the fish eat your feet..... That is all. The premise is the same as that with maggots, the fish eat the deadskin, the new skin comes through fresh and smooth and the maggots/fish go away feeling slightly mistreated about the whole affair. Sadly Ben's stomach couldn't take the idea of swarms of fish eating your feet, so he compiled a rather thorough documentation of the event that will go up on Facebook at some point later.
To finish off our exploration, we decided to get a celebratory bite to eat and went into a small local shack for a bit of light relief. I myself decided to go for poached egg (although to this day, I do not know which type of animal laid the egg... I can assure you, it wasn't a chicken) and a small selection of fried hummingbirds, all I'll say is put some pressure on Sainsburys to start stocking them, it is a taste sensation! We washed it all down with a cup of iced milky Thai tea (again, sheer perfection in a glass) and a shot of wheatgrass for our good health.
I have just been told by a bright flashing blue bar up on Facebook that the first set of pictures are up and ready for viewing. But sadly, I can feel my eyes starting to close on their own steam. We're down to just me and Sim outside at the moment with Ben and Bari off in bed and I fear I'm the next to submit. We're sitting outside surrounded by a combination of cricket, frog and, all I can guess as, miscellaneous animal song and it is far more hypnotising than I would ever imagine. Therefore, I shall tell you about my night market experience, new travelling trousers (x2!) and the trip to the zoo some other day. Hopefully that's exciting enough to compensate for the hat story?
R
Monday, 24 January 2011
I'm on the Night-train
Bonjourno people of the world!
Much has changed since we last "spoke". I am now a good 400 mile further North in the city of Chaing Mai, what's more, I have fallen in love with it. Unlike the belching pit of Bangkok, where you can trust people as long as their lips aren't moving, here, the quiet unassuming Buddist faith shines through and the phrase "a friend is just a stranger you haven't met" is resonating within me for the first time in my life. But, first, a bit of a preample before I bring you to the current moment.
The last update told you of my unwanted extra-curricular attention in the massage parlour and our diplomatic envoy to the King of Thailand's palace. Additionally, you've all been waiting with bated breath as to whether I succeeded in my hat quest, I can put you all out of your misery and tell you I've sadly failed. But in very un-Westernised fashion, we are headed to another market tonight to indulge in more retail therapy, although I'm approximately one cup of ginseng tea away from becoming one of those irritating people spouting the evils of materialism and stating that in the West "it is not you who owns your possessions, but your possessions which own you", a truly annoying prospect!
The following morning, to get over the intoxicating despair of my hatless existence, we decided to flee Bangkok and find a train to Chaing Mai. To prepare for such a mission, we decided to play a few more drinking games until some god awful time in the morning. Against all expectations, the drinking games were not a product of our British binge drinking genes! Instead they were due to an unfortunate encounter with some Scottish "gentlemen" who were so unavoidably irritating the only way to avoid the knowledge of their existence was to indulge in some liquor.... or that's what I'll tell my AA group anyway. So, once again, due to our inability to resist the temptation of excess, we forced ourselves out of bed at the very unreasonable hour of 8.40 (PLUS or minus 2 hours....), armed ourselves with a map and our friendly American navigator and headed in the direction of the local train station. Our journey was an intriguing one, we noticed that as the hotels, bars and tourist agencies receded, the people began to transform into the trusting, kind and helpful people we had been told to expect from such a wonderful country. However, counterintuitively, as the people began to become friendlier and happier, the living conditions for such fine adverts for the human race became more rancid, basic and, to use the first word that came to mind, unfair. It was the first moment that we managed to see past the superficial sheen of tourism, and it was a rather enlightening, if not sobering, moment.
To fast forward briefly, I'll jump past the trials and tribulations of buying a ticket for an unknown train, at an unknown train station, to an unknown destination in an unknown language, to the moment of reward when we managed to get to our train and settle down for a dreaded 12 hour trip up through Thailand to Chaing Mai. To say that our dread was misplaced was one of the more understated understatements I've ever stated underneath! I can assure you, the photos I captured that afternoon/evening/night and morning will be posted first thing to the National Rail informing them they have much head-hanging to be getting on with and show them what direction our train system should be headed in. We started off with a three course meal and a few large beers, delivered to our seats by a wonderfully friendly train conductor (yes, it has been confirmed it is possible) and then vacated to the bar carriage (yup!) for a few hours whilst they transformed our unassuming seating area in two a set of some of comfiest bunkbeds the world has ever seen. We stayed up into the night drinking beers in a train carriage lit solely by fairy lights, whilst our hosts danced along to some rather obscure mid 90s pop hits and the token Lady Gaga track that always finds it way into situations which, quite frankly, are better off without it! To finish off my favourite experience so far, we woke up to some breakfast and fruit juice whilst enjoying the sunrising over the mountains of Chiang Mai as we were cruising through the last leg of our journey. All for the very reasonable price of £20 odd pounds, I think we can be very happy with our "dreaded journey"!
To sign off, I WILL be putting photos up soon, but am sensing it's time to kick around a football for a bit and then have a bit of siesta, so will have to do it later. Am currently sat in the garden of our hostel planning our next few days of excitement and am loving every minute. Hope alls well in England! I hear Hull drew away at Reading, that's something at least!
R
Much has changed since we last "spoke". I am now a good 400 mile further North in the city of Chaing Mai, what's more, I have fallen in love with it. Unlike the belching pit of Bangkok, where you can trust people as long as their lips aren't moving, here, the quiet unassuming Buddist faith shines through and the phrase "a friend is just a stranger you haven't met" is resonating within me for the first time in my life. But, first, a bit of a preample before I bring you to the current moment.
The last update told you of my unwanted extra-curricular attention in the massage parlour and our diplomatic envoy to the King of Thailand's palace. Additionally, you've all been waiting with bated breath as to whether I succeeded in my hat quest, I can put you all out of your misery and tell you I've sadly failed. But in very un-Westernised fashion, we are headed to another market tonight to indulge in more retail therapy, although I'm approximately one cup of ginseng tea away from becoming one of those irritating people spouting the evils of materialism and stating that in the West "it is not you who owns your possessions, but your possessions which own you", a truly annoying prospect!
The following morning, to get over the intoxicating despair of my hatless existence, we decided to flee Bangkok and find a train to Chaing Mai. To prepare for such a mission, we decided to play a few more drinking games until some god awful time in the morning. Against all expectations, the drinking games were not a product of our British binge drinking genes! Instead they were due to an unfortunate encounter with some Scottish "gentlemen" who were so unavoidably irritating the only way to avoid the knowledge of their existence was to indulge in some liquor.... or that's what I'll tell my AA group anyway. So, once again, due to our inability to resist the temptation of excess, we forced ourselves out of bed at the very unreasonable hour of 8.40 (PLUS or minus 2 hours....), armed ourselves with a map and our friendly American navigator and headed in the direction of the local train station. Our journey was an intriguing one, we noticed that as the hotels, bars and tourist agencies receded, the people began to transform into the trusting, kind and helpful people we had been told to expect from such a wonderful country. However, counterintuitively, as the people began to become friendlier and happier, the living conditions for such fine adverts for the human race became more rancid, basic and, to use the first word that came to mind, unfair. It was the first moment that we managed to see past the superficial sheen of tourism, and it was a rather enlightening, if not sobering, moment.
To fast forward briefly, I'll jump past the trials and tribulations of buying a ticket for an unknown train, at an unknown train station, to an unknown destination in an unknown language, to the moment of reward when we managed to get to our train and settle down for a dreaded 12 hour trip up through Thailand to Chaing Mai. To say that our dread was misplaced was one of the more understated understatements I've ever stated underneath! I can assure you, the photos I captured that afternoon/evening/night and morning will be posted first thing to the National Rail informing them they have much head-hanging to be getting on with and show them what direction our train system should be headed in. We started off with a three course meal and a few large beers, delivered to our seats by a wonderfully friendly train conductor (yes, it has been confirmed it is possible) and then vacated to the bar carriage (yup!) for a few hours whilst they transformed our unassuming seating area in two a set of some of comfiest bunkbeds the world has ever seen. We stayed up into the night drinking beers in a train carriage lit solely by fairy lights, whilst our hosts danced along to some rather obscure mid 90s pop hits and the token Lady Gaga track that always finds it way into situations which, quite frankly, are better off without it! To finish off my favourite experience so far, we woke up to some breakfast and fruit juice whilst enjoying the sunrising over the mountains of Chiang Mai as we were cruising through the last leg of our journey. All for the very reasonable price of £20 odd pounds, I think we can be very happy with our "dreaded journey"!
To sign off, I WILL be putting photos up soon, but am sensing it's time to kick around a football for a bit and then have a bit of siesta, so will have to do it later. Am currently sat in the garden of our hostel planning our next few days of excitement and am loving every minute. Hope alls well in England! I hear Hull drew away at Reading, that's something at least!
R
Saturday, 22 January 2011
I'm an alien in Bangkok
Hey-lo ladies and gents! First update from foreign soil, big moment, lots of pressure... don't screw it up! We officially arrived yesterday, 16:00 Thai time, which is about 11:00 Queen's time. The flight was actually.... quite good! Made friends with an obscenely friendly Australian flight attendant who insisted on giving us free beer to wash down the rather good Steak and Ale pie whilst watching How I Met Your Mother, Toy Story 3 (yea.... it really isn't as sad as I'd be lead to believe....) and reading a bit of Oscar Wilde. There are worse ways to spend an evening!
Once we got off the flight, we got reunited with our bags (or as from now on, tortoise shells) and braved our way through the Bangkokian underground system and sky rail. Problem is, 35 degree heat does little for stamina levels, so the 10 minute walk from the skyrail station to our hostel wiped us out, which is no way a commentary on my general fitness. Within minutes of moving in, we met a fantastically friendly Canadian couple (it seems God is determined for me to not escape couples!) and a very friendly Yank girl and promptly stayed up til 4.30 drinking rum out of a bucket and drinking 50p Singha beers. An awesome night, but very very difficult early start the next day, but more on that in a bit!
The one distraction we had in between drinking was in search of a Thai massage to ease Sim's aeroplan induced aches. This turned out to be an error.... The massage did what it does best and I reached a state of Zen-like relaxation.... before promptly being offered, neigh! ordered into sexual exploits. It seems the word no is a difficult translation down here in Bangkok, and it took all of my charade skills to get her to bugger off and get on with what I paid for! Turns out I wasn't the only one violated as Sim came out white as a sheet and gave me the look that only us victims can read, needless to say we shall be waiting a while before plucking up the courage for the next episode in Thai massage. Oddly, Ben didn't get come onto at all..... very strange, inexplainable even! However, this turned out to be in his favour when I caught sight of the dragon that was working on him, he was the luckiest man in Thailand that night.
Lastly, I'll give a brief recap of our day today. We woke up at 8.45 or so (01.45 Queen-time) and stumbled off to the Kings Palace. I'll wack some photos up at some point, but it is a breathtaking sight. Once again, I think the experience was made all the more challenging by the heat, but we and our North American comrades had an awesome time! Later, we're strolling off to a night market and I am in search for the perfect travelling hat! Will I succeed? Tune in next time and find out!
R
Once we got off the flight, we got reunited with our bags (or as from now on, tortoise shells) and braved our way through the Bangkokian underground system and sky rail. Problem is, 35 degree heat does little for stamina levels, so the 10 minute walk from the skyrail station to our hostel wiped us out, which is no way a commentary on my general fitness. Within minutes of moving in, we met a fantastically friendly Canadian couple (it seems God is determined for me to not escape couples!) and a very friendly Yank girl and promptly stayed up til 4.30 drinking rum out of a bucket and drinking 50p Singha beers. An awesome night, but very very difficult early start the next day, but more on that in a bit!
The one distraction we had in between drinking was in search of a Thai massage to ease Sim's aeroplan induced aches. This turned out to be an error.... The massage did what it does best and I reached a state of Zen-like relaxation.... before promptly being offered, neigh! ordered into sexual exploits. It seems the word no is a difficult translation down here in Bangkok, and it took all of my charade skills to get her to bugger off and get on with what I paid for! Turns out I wasn't the only one violated as Sim came out white as a sheet and gave me the look that only us victims can read, needless to say we shall be waiting a while before plucking up the courage for the next episode in Thai massage. Oddly, Ben didn't get come onto at all..... very strange, inexplainable even! However, this turned out to be in his favour when I caught sight of the dragon that was working on him, he was the luckiest man in Thailand that night.
Lastly, I'll give a brief recap of our day today. We woke up at 8.45 or so (01.45 Queen-time) and stumbled off to the Kings Palace. I'll wack some photos up at some point, but it is a breathtaking sight. Once again, I think the experience was made all the more challenging by the heat, but we and our North American comrades had an awesome time! Later, we're strolling off to a night market and I am in search for the perfect travelling hat! Will I succeed? Tune in next time and find out!
R
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Such sweet sorrow....
I'm not a fan of goodbyes, so I've limited that word to the absolute minimum. I'm not going to say it now and if you haven't heard it up until this point, you're definitely not going to hear it before I leave! England and the people (well.... some of them!) are going to be missed, but at the moment, not to sound too callous, I'm a bit too excited to be preoccupied with such frivolities!
I'm currently going through the bag packing stage, also known as the "What the hell am I forgetting" stage, whilst trying to resist the temptation to put a travellers sized portion of Marmite into my essentials list. A year's a long time to go without yeast extract!
For those that are unaware, my phone number from this day onwards is dead, if you want to contact me it'll have to be via the interweb highway, telegram or smoke signals (I know which I'd prefer to receive....).
Now, I'm going to sign off and stop procrastinating over the packing now, all those years of putting off doing psychology essays seems to have given me an innate ability to postpone the inevitable boring bits in life! Take care of yourself England, don't do anything I wouldn't and have a cup of tea waiting for this time next year, I'll be in great need of it!
R
I'm currently going through the bag packing stage, also known as the "What the hell am I forgetting" stage, whilst trying to resist the temptation to put a travellers sized portion of Marmite into my essentials list. A year's a long time to go without yeast extract!
For those that are unaware, my phone number from this day onwards is dead, if you want to contact me it'll have to be via the interweb highway, telegram or smoke signals (I know which I'd prefer to receive....).
Now, I'm going to sign off and stop procrastinating over the packing now, all those years of putting off doing psychology essays seems to have given me an innate ability to postpone the inevitable boring bits in life! Take care of yourself England, don't do anything I wouldn't and have a cup of tea waiting for this time next year, I'll be in great need of it!
R
Thursday, 13 January 2011
7 Days....
As I've already said, like all good plans, this plan was conceived in a pub. An epic trip, a year in length, around Asia, Australasia, with a brief foray into Yank-land. One degree and a few months of office work later, we're off!
The basic plan is Thailand-> Laos-> Vietnam-> Cambodia-> Thailand (..'cus why not!)-> Malaysia-> Bali-> Misc. Indonesian Islands-> Australia-> New Zealand-> California.
Although the plan was sorted in the pub over a year ago, the idea has been around since we were knocking around in college (if not earlier) so not matter how much I fell in love with BCA, it was something I was always going to do!
I'll be updating when I can, sometimes briefly, sometimes in depth. Read if you fancy, it's all for anybody who cares and fancies a bit of amateurish travel writing. Tally ho guys! See you in 2012!
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