Thailand, Nov 2004

Bangkok

I arrived at bangkok early in the morning of the 11th November and booked the hotel for that night (the expensive way to do it - if you can call paying AU$5 over price. lol). I had mixed expectations of Bangkok after receiving varied reports: some hate it and some love it. I wasn't going to risk it, so I booked just the one night, intending to leave the next day (can always stay again on the way back as our flight to London is from the capital). Sal came in at midnight, so that gave me the day to familiarise myself with the area, do a little shopping and catch up on some sleep before going out to greet her. Both of us were tired so went straight to bed.

The trip really started the next day with a tour around bangkok which was “included” in accommodation deal. This is just a way of them taking you to shops where they get commission for sales and we were happy with the mutual arrangement: we were not buying but were happy to see the town while they hoped for some purchases (I tried to book the accommodation without the tour, the agent "claimed" you couldn't, so it's their tough luck). Our guide, Menass, took us to the pier and we jumped in a boat down river into canals where we fed “holy” catfish. Whoopy. Big fat, overfed fish ... then on to a floating market that was forced to move to land some years ago. Lol. Looked at nothing seriously while sal reminded herself why she hates some toilets in poorer areas – squat!

We moved on to the snake farm and small zoo. That was cool. Black bears in small cages in this heat (one thing we've always found difficult to handle is the treatment of animals in zoos abroad, not that Taronga Zoo is perfect - sorry Jess). Freaks dancing with snakes and one idiot grabbed one in his mouth. Just plain silly. Entertaining though. Funny to see Sal jump behind me when the snakes got too close. Can’t say I was that keen, but I looked around and there wasn't really anyone I could jump behind! Lots of screaming girls and one interesting toddler who was very keen to run out to hug the poisonous snakes ... hmmf, kids have NFI and are fearless.

The canals of Bangkok are a fascinating combination of colours, movement, smells and different ways of life

Not much more to mention besides cruising around the city. Saw some more shops and had a laugh at storemen/women when I flat out told them I’m not interested in buying anything. So friendly one minute, don't want to know you then next. Menass must of had the shits, but I told him we're not buying before we even left.

My impressions of Bangkok in those first 2 days weren't great. Luckily, we returned on the way to London and stayed a little closer to the action. I am really happy we did that as the second stay was much nicer than the first. We found a lovely hotel and some great restaurants to complete a really terrific trip.

Chieng Mai

Enough of Bangkok. We grabbed our bags, checked out and off to the train station to find out the trains were sold out. D'oh! After turning down many offers from dodgy travel agents (apparently, a bloke with an "official" badge on his shirt sells exactly the same tickets as the booth upstairs. ha!), we grabbed another taxi out to bus station across town and went to Chieng Mai on the Overnighter ($18). Met a nice bloke on the bus who lives in Chieng Mai and commutes back-and-forth each week. Must be tough. I remember Dad doing a similar thing when we lived in Port Macquarie for a year or so.

Just like Hans, Chieng Mai was my favourite place in Thailand. Everything is absurdly cheap, the people are friendly and the food spectacular. Oh, don't get me started on the food. mmmm. I thought it was good in India. Well let me tell you, Thailand is up there as the most memorable culinary delights I have experienced. No wonder people travel here to get cooking lessons. While in Thailand, Sal & I ate 3 meals a day in restaurants (and the odd 4th!). We tried most things you'll see on a thai menu. I consumed more green curries and Sal more spring rolls than is medically safe (note from anus: please give this ring a rest and not return to spicy lands for a while). Yummy!

View from the hotel as the sun sets on Chieng Mai; Tricky suspension bridge on the trek; Happy trails.

Chieng Mai is famous for it's food and a couple of others things, one of which are the treks. We opted for a day trip, involving treks to villages, a dip near a water fall and finished with elephant and raft riding [although, not at the same time ;-)]. The villages were certainly interesting and as we've experienced in other places (Fiji, Central America, etc.), where tour companies exploit traditional villages with daily trips, you know to expect nothing "traditional" at all. Worth a look all the same.

"traditional" villages; woman sowing and eating this disgusting crap that blackens your teeth; the falls where some got a shock by the man with the pox!

It's warm and sticky in Thailand most of the time. You could say it varies between three temperatures "warm, hot and extremely hot". After enjoying the beautiful landscapes of the countryside, an opportunity to jump in a water fall sounded great. I forgot about my scars from the pox. Oh well. Sal said a few people pulled out the "what the ..." looks and one small child even screamed and ran away (just kidding).

Elephants! Great big, hairy, friendly beasts. What a fantastic experience. Much much better than horses (who hate me, by the way).

Elephant riding was memorable. We bobbled along very slowly, the beasts seemed more interested in eating than moving and one of them had a particularly bad gas problem. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I didn't want to get off!

Rafting was excellent, too. Actually, I don't know which was better - rafting or elephant riding. It wasn't white water rafting like we did with the lads out in Penrith. The rapids were smoother and the rafts themselves long and flat, like something from Tom Sawyer without the black runaway slave. It was hilarious when the young french bird fell in wearing skimpy white gear over lacey lingerie.

Temples. You can't wear shorts in, so look at the stupid pants I had to wear at one stage.

Temples. Temples. Temples. And more temples. Thailand has no shortage of temples. You can spend a great deal of time exploring lots of temples all over Thailand. Or, if you are not really interested (which a lot of people are scared to admit), you just visit one of the biggest and most well known which is located on a mountain overlooking Chieng Mai. Personally, I went because I also heard the view was fantastic. It was. Sadly, it was hazy, so my photos aren't worth the bits their saved on.

Samui

Bring on Ko Samui!

Sal & I decidied to go to Thailand for a few reasons. We haven't been overseas for nearly 18 months, so naturally we were getting edgy. Moving to London isn't really a holiday and you get free stopovers, so it was just a matter of selecting somewhere on the way (which is just about anywhere). We wanted to go somewhere tropical, relax, enjoy some heat before English winters and perhaps do some snorkelling (which we love, having done all over: Fiji, Red Sea, Carribbean, Great Barrier Reef, Hawaii, etc.. Shame Sal's not allowed to dive). Quite a few of our friends have been to Thailand in the last couple of years, so Samui became the plan.

This is the view from Corto Maltese (hotel in North Chewang); Same shot during sunset; busy central Chewang is where the nightlife is

Chewang beach is where is all happens in Samui, especially Central Chewang. We flew down, arrived late and booked into a mid-range hotel (mid-range according to Lonely Planet). It cost a fair bit more than the place we'd stayed in Chieng Mai (still peanuts), so I assumed it would be nice. Wrong. It was a dump. We walked 10 minutes up the beach the next day to North Chewang, paid slightly more and enjoyed what seemed to be 3 more stars in quality (hotel called Corto Maltese, yes, named after the famous sailor). Central Chewang has the nightclubs (aka brothels), the main business area and the rest of the usual. Perhaps more attractive to the single traveler.

We spent many days at the hotel which backs onto the beach; Sally has a lovely bunch of coconuts [right]

After a couple of nights North Chewang, we decided to move further south to Lamai. Lovely area. Little bit more quiet, but still enough restaurants to keep us busy when we weren't lazing on the beach. It has quite an amusing main attraction of rock formations that resemble male and female Genetalia.

Photos to our day trip to islands of the coast of Samui. Scenic. Surreal. Sensational!

The highlight of Samui for me (besides doing nothing while lying on our backs in the sun) was the day trip out to some smaller islands. The islands shot up out of the rich blue water in small groups. Simply gorgeous. Almost surreal.

It took an hour or so to get out there, starting early. We tested our latest snorkeling gear in the morning and nearly missed the boat when ready to move to the next spot (they couldn't get us out of the water!). We stopped to have lunch at another island, where we worked up an appetite with some sea kayaking. Initially one large group of pairs, we broke off with two other kayaks, one containing a guide. He suggested a harder route taking us around some other islands. BLOODY HELL! As if sea kayaking wasn't hard enough, we had to go around the rougher spots! Scary during. Sore straight after. Happy with the memories now.

... Actually, I'm happy with all my Thailand memories. The trip was even more brilliant than I expected.

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