Advertisement
Published: April 19th 2006
Thailand...
Great view near KanchanaburiThailand was an amazing country ! Headed straight for KhaoSan Road in Bangkok after I got in. It seems a mecca for backpackers and tourists. They outnumber the Thai locals by 10 to 1 !! Too much of a temptation though to just sit around in bars, to avoid the 35 degree heat, drinking and watching movies. Surprisingly little to do in Bangkok besides meet people at hostels and go out drinking around town. Went to Patpong with another Brit from my hostel. Patpong has numerous bars, clubs, ping-pong shows and massage parlours, and I was expecting a real eye-opener. In reality, I found it seedy and unpleasant, so retreated back to the friendlier feel of KhaoSan !!
Started to suffer a bit of burnout from being permanently on the go, so decided to travel to Kanchanaburi, 2 hours by bus from Bangkok. It was a welcome retreat ! Found a hotel of wooden buildings on stilts right on the river Kwai. Beautiful view of the sun setting over the Kwai from my hammock outside. Good cooking, a free pool table to practice on and very low prices meant a really enjoyable place to recoup. Went on an activity tour
after I had rested up, and it was another great day out !! Firstly elephant riding. Plodding about through jungle and river with more beautiful scenery, but blisteringly hot as usual. Also, Erwan falls, incredible waterfall in seven steps up a hill, but the near 100% humidity made it hard to manage all those steps !! Next was rafting down a river, followed by tiger temple, a place run by monks, where you can go right up to these massive tigers and stroke them. Slightly disconcerting signs disclaiming any responsibility if you are mauled or killed by tiger attack, but I felt it would have been a wasted journey not to touch the tigers !!
Following day rented a motorbike and drove to the monkey school. Absolute genius !!! Monkeys slam dunking basketballs, riding tricycles, diving monkeys, dancing monkeys, and cuddling gee-gee the gibbon, who got rather attched to me and didn't want to let go again !! Returned home via the war cemetery and the bridge over the River Kwai. Absolutely loved Kanchanaburi, and returning to Bangkok afterwards felt like coming home again after an amazing holiday !! Very sad to leave Thailand, I must return some time
to see more...
Now I'm in Hong Kong. It was another awkward transition to yet another alien destination. At first appearance Hong Kong seems like a place purpose built for business and consumerism. It's a real shock to be somewhere with prices easily on a par with the UK again. Found a seriously dingy room for 12 quid a night, but went to Pizza Hut for lunch and the cheapest pizza was 10 quid !!!! I could have got a nights accomodation in a clean, private room, three meals and a couple of beers for 10 quid in Bangkok !! I will have to see if there is more to Hong Kong than it first seems, but at the moment, I'm just looking forwards to heading off to Japan next week !!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0935s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
