Thailand

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Heh!

We started off in Bangkok. Stayed in the Royal Asia Lodge, Sukhumvit-decided to stay away from the madness of Khao San Road. Pretty nice place and reasonably priced. Knew there would be a lot of Westerners in Bangkok but was still surprised by the amount-seemed to be outnumbering the Thais. Went to see the Grand palace, the Lying Buddha (v impressive and huge), the Emerald Buddha and some pretty nice temples. The transport system is really efficient so we avoid the dreaded "dodgy" tuk tuks and opted for the skytrain, metro and river taxi. Came across a couple of dodgy guys trying to convince us that we would be better off getting our Vietnam visas through a certain "tourist information place" than going through the Embassy. The chancers!-they are such good actors and almost have you in a taxi before you know it. Paddy's Day was a bit of a non-runner in Sukhumvit-we found Irish bars but no Irish people. We took the overnight Government bus to Chiang Mai.

Loved Chiang Mai and ended up staying 11 days in all here. Its very touristy also but much more laid back than Bangkok-and so much cheaper-at least half the price for food and drink. Really thought that the food was so much nicer too. Stayed in a lovely guesthouse "Nuanpranee house" -only 370baht (under Eur8 per night). The owners were very friendly and helpful. We ate great food in "Corner House", "Sidewalk Cafe" and lots of other places. Dinner was usually around 30 baht (well under eur1). the 2 of us went on a 1 day cookery course -it was great fun. We started off in the market learning about the vege, spices etc and then headed to the school where we cooked. We also did some Muay Thai boxing with Kru Pong-me for one day and Pearse for 4 days. Its fairly intense-my whole body was aching for days-great experience though!
We headed on a meditation retreat for 2 days -it was really good-a different sort of experience but I felt like I was walking on air after all the meditation. We were up at 5am-doing sitting, lying, standing and walking meditation. We were silent for long periods, during eating etc. The Buddhist monks who run it are wonderful -so content, calm and peaceful-they only eat 2 meals a day-breakfast and lunch, have 2 only pieces of clothing and get up early every day to go out and collect food from locals(its all donated).
The Elephant Conservation Centre was well worth the visit too. Its only about an hour outside of Chiang Mai. They put on a show-watched them painting and playing music, would you believe. (I bought a painting of flowers done by an 8 yr old elephant-it's super!)We went for an elephant ride, visited the hospital and watched them bathing. Really nice to see the elephants where they are being cared for properly-so many are mistreated; we saw them being brought around the streets of Bangkok-which is just so bad for them. I was a little disappointed as I really thought we would get to help bathe them etc but I found out you have to do a mahout's course for that as you have to build trust with them etc. Anyway, maybe next time!They're so fascinating!
We flagged down a bus from the main road to take us back to Chiang Mai and before we knew it, we were in where the luggage goes with 2 or 3 others-mad stuff!Couldn't imagine Bus Eireann throwing you in with the bags. Nothing surprises me anymore-Pearse was delighted-he could stretch out fully and sleep.
Chiang Mai night bazaar was impressive too-it's very well known. However, I was much more impressed with the artisan's Sunday market.
Indulged in a thai massage too. Indulged is not the word really-its very physical-but I felt great after it.

After our longer than planned stay in Chiang Mai-we took the overnight train to Bangkok last night( to fly to Vietnam). It was a sleeper train and the beds were very comfortable-had a decent enough night's sleep and got nice views of the countryside.

Vietnam is next, then Cambodia and finally back to Thailand for the beaches before we head home..........

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