MIKE'S THAILAND

Passing through on bicycles, in this land of wonderful people, is a fantastic experience. We are always welcomed and cheered with smiles from the heart. The Thais' bright, full face smiles flow easily.

It has been 15 years since I was here for a year as an exchange student. I have enjoyed seeing all the changes, and staying with my family (being a big family spread over the country, we certainly have had many places to stay).

Sights, sounds and smells have brought back memories. My Thai, although a long way from being fluent, has crept out of brain storage and even improved a little.

In Bangkok, we stayed with my lovely sister Mai. We were going to send home winter clothes and sleeping bags, so we thought we could add a little shopping. Dangerous idea in a place like Bangkok for two nomads that have not really shopped for over 2 years. The box grew every day!!

Travelling south from Bangkok, we made a large detour to the west coast and took a boat over to Myanmar (Burma). Our reason for going was just to obtain a new visa to extend our stay. 1/2 an hour boat ride some stamps in the passport, $5 and it was done. We didn't even set foot on soil in Myanmar.

We also stopped for a couple of days on the island of Phayam. The monsoon wind was strong here, but with the dark grey clouds it brought a different kind of beauty.

Entering the small town of Lamae, where I spent my exchange year, I could not recognize anything. So much change has come to this little town. When I was here, there was only two telephones for the community, a small number of cars and a large bull that scared me on my walk home from school.

Now, there is an internet cafe, ATM banking, 4WDs and mercedes benz in the streets. As for the bull, well, I was too scared to walk down that street!

While staying in Lamae, we visited my host father's (Khun Pa)farm. Here, we got to see the strength of the jungle, working like tractors. Elephants are still used here to move huge trees for lumber. In this small land of 60 million people, the forest is quickly disappearing and there is very little room left for the elephants. This beautiful animal is so much more interesting than any heavy machinery. We watched and photographed for a while.

With Khun Pa, we drove to my Uncle's, in Nakhon Si Thammarat, where we stayed for a few days. Being an adventurous and sporting family, they took us to explore a beautiful deep cave. Stalactities and stalagmites of pearly white rose and hung (you work out which one is which!) in a beautiful array of shapes. Through the cave ran a crystal clear stream. To progress, we had to wade through the many deep pools. Home to hundreds of bats, I got to enjoy a close up look at these fabulous creatures. Our turn back point was at a 6 metre waterfall. A beautiful sight of cascading water rushing from stalactites above, over limestone formations to a pool below.

Riding further south, we went to more beaches and islands on the west coast.

Hotels I find boring after a while. So to fix this (plus there are not hotels everywhere) we stayed in some of the Buddhist temples. The monks always welcomed us in and did their best to be hospitable. Our accommodation varied in the different temples, from a large room dominated by a Buddha statue, to a small wooden box room just big enough for two. One place we had to sleep with the light on. They said they couldn't turn it off because a ghost lived there. Lucky for them I couldn't find the switch. I would have liked to meet the ghost!!

The islands and beaches of Thailand are beautiful and an easy place to relax for a few days. This we did in Ao Nang and Ko Lanta. Being low season, things were nice and quiet.

Now, I have not really mentioned the food....I must. This countries heart is in their food. They eat all day long, there are restaurants or food vendors at every turn. I'm sure 95% of the population is involved in the food industry.
The smells,colours, textures, presentation and huge variety are overwhelming. It would be a mammoth task to taste everything. Jo and I are trying!!! We have, for now, been focusing on the deserts!

From Thailand, we travel through Malaysia. It feels so good to see on the map, just how close we are getting to Australia. I know there is still over 8000kms and 4 months before we get to Melbourne, but that's close compared to where we have been. The closer we get, the more I long to be with my family. I am still enjoying this wonderful journey, but my defences to not miss home are growing weaker. This is a great feeling. To have somewhere to go, to want to go and to be wanted, is very special

love and smiles
Mike



JODIE'S THAILAND

Food. Glorious food!!!
The small street stalls selling food outside Mai's house are fascinating. I cannot walk past them without finding one with something new.
"What's that?"
"Let's try that one....and that one...."
My most favourite one is the 'rot di' lady. She makes a yummy desert that is a pan fried pastry square, covered in condensed milk and sugar, then rolled up ready to be put in my tummy!!!
There are so many deserts (kanums) here to try. Another great one is green and pink wormy looking jelly bits in in a sweet coconut syrup with crushed ice. Very nice in this hot weather and all sorts of worm (my name for them!) varieties to try.

We stayed in Bangkok with Michael's host Thai sister Mai (from when he was here as an exchange student 15 years ago). Mai has a beautiful smile and was very helpful and kind. Almost 2 weeks of eating and shopping. Gosh! paradise for a girl! I haven't shopped so much in absolutely ages. Mind you, Mike is a pretty good shopper himself!!

In the Chattuchuk Market, it was a particularly hot day. I was sweating like crazy, as no fresh air got inbetween the stalls. It is the hugest market. It would take a number of days to see it all. The best part was the frequent stops at every icypole lady I found. 'chhhhhhh', the lid would open and an array of coloured popsicles appeared. At 3 baht each (6 cents), they were pretty good.

We encountered a bag ripper along the way. Mike took off his backpack and I noticed some large holes in it. I knew it was getting wrecked but I didn't think it was that bad. Someone had slashed it! Luckily nothing was gone. We just needed to buy a new one. One of the very few "bad" encounters we have experienced - and it wasn't that bad. A great market though. Lots of shopping done there!

Our friend Robyn Fox (from OEG) is working at an International School near Bangkok. She rode with us from Bangkok. And, of course, we started in the pouring rain. Streams of water flowed over the roads. We were absolutely soaked inside and out. No point putting coats on, it is too hot. We even rode past a fish on the road. Not sure how it got there.

The best thing about monsoon rain is that it never lasts long and the temperature is still hot so you are dry pretty soon. We visited a floating market, where smiling ladies sold their food and wares from long boats. A very busy and interesting part of the river. Just don't put your fingers on the outside of the boat!!!! It was wonderful to see Foxy again.

Rain! when it does so, it pours. We have trends of getting soaked each day for a while. Yesterday, I wasn't feeling that well at all and we had decided to stop earlier. With 3 kms to go, into the grey sheet of rain we rode. Ouch!! it hurt. Puddles and rivers on the road sprayed up making me wetter. "How can this be????? I can't get any wetter!!!!" Vision was fairly low as we passed all the motorcyclists resting in the bus shelters until the rain stopped. Hmmmm. I see some sense in this idea! Finally, with my body totally aching everywhere and resisiting the nauseous feeling inside,we reached Chana. No Hotel.

Through their muffled delight at seeing "drowned rat" forungs (foreigners), the locals pointed us in the direction of the Wat (temple). We have stayed in quite a few Wats and the monks are always kind in taking us in. Our accomodation this time had a fan. Hooray. I slept the afternoon and awoke feeling much better. We attracted a bit of attention in this non-tourist town and the locals are always pleasantly surprised at Michael's Thai conversation.

Now, before we got here, Mike said " I don't remember much at all" .........Fooey!
He holds wonderful conversations with the Thai people. They treat us with more smiles because of his talent. A forung who speaks Thai! wowee! It doesn't matter that he doesn't always understand what they are saying. To me, he looks and sounds like a pro!!!!!
My Thai is progressing, slowly. The people really appreciate us trying to speak and learn their language. It's more fun too.

Mike has a pretty big host family. Which is good as we can visit them in different parts of the country. In the sleepy town of Lamae (not so sleepy as Mike remembers it!) we visited his Thai Father - Khun Pa. We had seen photos of his new house at Pia's in Sweden (an exchange student with Mikes family, the year after him), but nothing prepared us for it. In the place of the previous small abode, stood a grandiose white roman style building. Complete with columns and statues on the top! His family welcomed us warmly. I particularly enjoyed Lamae's flat beach. Gazing out at the horizon line, past long fishing boats, from the palm trees on the shore.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, we stayed with Mike's Thai Uncle and his lovely family. Tern, Da, Bow and Ball took us exploring in the beautiful mountains. We waded and crawled on our fronts through the stream of a cave system. Bats were flying at our heads - the fuzzy little things. They hang on upside down with only one toe attached! (I got pretty close!). The stalactites were wonderful, forming flower shapes and wafer thin folds that I could shine my torch through. We stood under the cascades of the water falling from the stalactites. What lay beyond this waterfall????? It was the end of our underground journey, but there was more to explore.
We also walked through amazing jungle forest with twisting tree trunks and huge leafed plants to a great waterfall. We swam out in the pool to be thundered upon by the powerful water. A very wet day, but very welcome in the hot humid temperature.

Thailand is famous for its beautiful beaches and islands. So we thought we should check out some of them. My first island was Ko Phayam. We stayed in a little bungalow, watching the waves roll in from our verandah. We almost had the beach to ourselves. The advantage of low season. We boogie boarded for exercise and walked along looking for shells and ate juicy mangoes!! The weather was still monsoony but created some dramatic clouds and a great lightning show.

Krabi is well known for the awesome limestone formations that rise straight out of the water. The cliff faces are multi-coloured in orange, black, red and golden brown, with huge stalactities and shapes in them. We spent a day on a long boat, visiting some islands, snorkelling with the fish, having lunch (with two aussies from Perth!) on a golden sandy beach. Our last stop was at Penang Beach, where climbers ascended the fantastic wall and a cave lay beneath. We swam in the warm waters of this beautiful paradise and savoured our day.

So that we could stay in Thailand for more than 1 month, we needed to visit Myanmar to renew our visa. Along the way, we met a dutch couple who are also cycling around the world ( we are NOT the only crazy ones!) We will be travelling much the same route as Pien and Harm and hope we meet up with them again. Our visit to Myanmar was relatively short. A whole 5 minutes in a little shack on the water (not quite in Myanmar, just immigration). It was a lovely boat trip out there and Mike was "the skipper" and steered us on our way back. 30 more days for 10 bucks. The cheapest, most pleasurable way.

Michael's two aunties Pi Moi and Pi Mam, live in Trang. They have a dressmaking business and a shop full of exquisite clothing. "Gin khao! Jodie". I heard those words all too often. Time to eat.......again. These wonderful ladies loved to feed us (as all Thais have) and wanted us to try new foods. We often sat down to rice and a multitude of dishes to put with it. When we dined out... " we're not leaving until you are full!!!!". Food just kept arriving on the table. This family was so generous.

Pi Moi and the team of sewing girls took us on a great trip to a cave and the beach. We paddled boats through the caves to see beautiful stalactities. Thai girls are all smiles and laughter. I admire how happy they are all the time. At the beach we sat down near the shore to yet another filling lunch. This time with whole crabs to eat and a great Tom Yum seafood soup. Across the water, a towering limestone formation loomed out of the water. We travelled to a National Park beach and swam around the rock cliffs there. Following fish and green crabs and playing games on the beach, filled in our afternoon.

I am writing from Yala, a town in southern Thailand. It's air conditioned in the internet cafe and only 15 baht an hour (65 cents). We are about 2 days ride from Malaysia. I really hope the food is as good there - especially the kanums. It's not that big a country - as we're only travelling Peninsula Malaysia. Then only Indonesia stands between us and the big brown land of Oz. Is it really brown??????

We will find out as we ride through the red centre. Well, that says 'not brown' just in the name doesn't it!! According to my wonderful Mum, it is 3774 km via the shortest route from Darwin to Adelaide to Melbourne. With "no shortcuts Mike!!!!". Already we want to visit Yulara and that adds 500 km just to get there......so maybe a few more kilometres.

I am looking forward to coming home and now it seems so much closer. In less than 4 months I will be able to see my loving family and the smiling faces of all my friends. I can start on the never ending (and exciting) task of putting photos in order and slide shows, and keeping contact with all my wonderful friends from my travels. And planning the next adventure.............. oops!sorry mum and dad!!!!!! Guess I'll stay home for a bit!!!!

Time to go and sweat again. "Gin Khao, Michael!"
"I saw some yummy kanums on the way here. Which one(s) shall we eat this time?????"

love and smiles
Jodie