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Published: June 25th 2006
No no, I haven't left Kenya in a sudden fit of madness to return to Thailand with a craving for deep-fried ants. Instead, please allow me to rewind the clock three months to when I'd just returned to Bangkok from Laos' capital, Vientianne, in order to wait at the airport for a very special someone on her way to see me. Sorry to not have written sooner on my two weeks with Caroline, making this blog just slightly disjointed (and I'll be forgetful of a few names). My fault completely, but better late than never, as they say. As a result, this is just a brief, rushedly-written account of our wonderful two weeks together.
I waited at the arrivals lounge for an hour, jumping from foot to foot with excitement holding a flower and worrying constantly whether I was at the right terminal, when cheeky Caroline sneaked up behind me somehow bypassing my watchful eye. All I have to say is, why do arrival zones always have to be public places, in a country where showing affection in public is discouraged?!
Waiting for the train into town, Caroline was already burning from the 5pm sun, which didn't bode well
for things to come, and with a little waiting, we were on another train north to Chiang Mai. A 15-hour trip and the best train journey either of us have taken; wide and comfortable sleeping births overlooking the moonlit plains at night, and passing ritual life the following morning, such as a line of 30 orange monks holding their urns on a country lane waiting for our train to pass. It was a romantic trip and we arrived quite refreshed. However, while freshening up in the morning, I couldn't help but feel a slight guilt upon looking into the 3rd class carraige at the dazed and hot Thais. On buses, we share the same conditions, but on trains, it's mostly backpackers in the sleeper compartments - one of the limited ways in Thailand to see the financial contrast of even budget travellers to the local people.
After one day ignoring taxi heckles, visiting wats and dodging a kid with a water pistol, we were off again to Sankamphaeng Hot Springs, a small pretty park with a geothermally heated pool, two large 30m geysirs and utensils to boil eggs in the hot pools. It also has individual bungalows complete with
large hot tubs piping in water from the hot springs - enough temperature and fumes to make us nearly faint, and, we hoped, all the insects and gheckos (the same large Mr Spotty Lizard's cousins from the Philippines) too. Unfortunately, this tactic didn't work and so for Caroline's sake, who, like most sane people, is not a fan of small, creepy things, we slept with the light on that night.
Back to Chiang Mai, we found a cheap, but good hotel with a pool, where I ordered the thick, British Sunday Observer (which then took the remaining two weeks to read - being expensive I vowed to read every word!), and we relaxed for the afternoon enjoying each other's company, it being five months since we'd last seen each other and had a lot to catch up on. Chiang Mai is not as quiet as I expected it to be, and actually I wasn't as fond of the place as other towns in S.E.Asia, despite it being raved about by nearly everyone. It seemed like a dirty, sprawling place, with few sights of interest in the Old Town and a noticeable lack of street lighting at night. However, it
Chiang Mai
so many temples, I can't remember all their names, ho hum..had a laid-back atmosphere, and made a handy base for a few days of which to explore the surrounding area.
- As we did after the weekend, Caroline braving to sit on the back of a motorbike with me. "You've riden a bike with someone on the back before, right?" "Oh no, this is the first time." "Right." Unlike in Cambodia, Chiang Mai's surrounding had many fast vehicles, traffic lights and steep hills, all testing my biking skills somewhat, and Caroline's level of trust in her boyfriend! We spent the day exploring some nearby waterfalls (with some over-friendly dogs haunting our every step) and Doi Suthep, a picturesque Wat with golden umbrellas, monks and a big bell, perched on the top of a hill overlooking Chiang Mai. It was, as remarked by Caroline, the stereotypical Thailand image of the north, having no inclination to travel south to the beaches.
Our other day trip here was spent on an organised tour with a few fun-packed activites. First, we met with our single-minded elephant for the morning. Single-minded, in that he had a tendancy to walk anywhere but the path, even if this meant some steep drops! With two in
a seat, and one on his head, it was quite a balancing act, and although one hour was enough, it was highly amusing. We then briefly visited a Long-neck tribal village complete with coke machine (for those new to the tribe, the long-necks have a tradition of wearing gold rings around their necks, causing their necks to lengthen over the years, and a queer sight to look at; some 'necks' are known to weigh 23kg!), which we found interesting to see, but both agreed we've never felt so uneasy, for it basically was a human zoo.
After a swim in our undies in a nearby waterfall, we finished with some scary, adrenaline-pumping, white-water rafting on grade 3/4 rapids, preparing me for next week on the Nile. Our guide seemed to have a thing for soaking Caroline (hmm..), who, I must say, with no biasedness, did a much better job than the Frenchman Sebastian, who being male, was put up front. Our groovy day was made complete with a wander through Chiang Mai's famous sunday nightmarket. Geered towards tourists, it was still a wonderful spectacle of all things colourful, and we also happened to bump into (for me, the third
Us at the hot springs
Despite my appearance, I haven't been taking drugs, honestly Mum and Dad. time) Albert and Tracy, who I originally went motorcycling with in Cambodia, which made for a pleasant evening.
Before leaving Chiang Mai, it's worth mentioning the other memorable day here learning to cook all things Thai at the Baan Thai Cooking School for the day (see photos for URL to more photos). I was taken on a tour of the local market, while Caroline learnt to make leaf shapes out of carrots, before the cooking began. We each had our own wok, and after chopping all the ingredients each time, we learnt to cook, among other things, sweet and sour chicken, a seafood soup that everyone agreed tasted 'interesting', and the best curry we've ever had (I should hope so after spending an hour between the eight of us grinding the paste together). The 'secret' ingredient for many of these dishes turned out to be cane sugar, which tasted just like thick maple sugar, and as a result, I had no choice by to keep sneaking the odd spoonful my way. Mmmm..
Saying goodbye to Chiang Mai, we made our way back south via Sukhothai. Notice the word 'hot' in the middle of its name, being over 40oC,
and consequently we only seemed to have the energy to do anything in the morning or evening, the rest of the two days spent wasting away at our guesthouse. Sukhothai is famous for its historical park, but my memory being as it is and without my guidebook anymore, I can't remember any history of the place, but you know where google.com is if you want to find out more. It's a large site, and once home to the capital of Thailand, with many temples (including one called Mahathat - or Margaret Thatcher by us), and incredibly huge Buddhist statues with outstretched arms reminiscent of Lord of the Rings. Getting an early start to beat the heat, Caroline and I hired another motorbike to make our life easier exploring, and in the evening, came across a local fair full of plentiful (and greesy) food stalls and a scarily young beauty pageant contest.
One more overnight train and we arrived back where we started in Bangkok, allowing ourselves three to four days here, so as not to feel rushed. This being my third time in Bangkok, I took Caroline on a tour of the city, taking in the alien word of
Baan Thai Cooking School
VISIT http://www.cookinthai.com/photo/browse.php?folder=20060402 for photos of us the chinese markets of Chinatown, taking a boat trip down the river, eating popcorn while watching turtles, aerobics dancers and a beautiful sunset in Lumpini Park, braving the redlight district of Patpong (where Caroline treated me to my first Guinness in 6 months!), and, of course, the usual wanderings down Khao San Road.
It was still incredibly hot, and in between sight-seeing, we made excuses to buy some sweets or a drink, just so we could spend time in the wonderfully air-conditioned 7/11 stores, our new best friend. Such sight-seeing also included visiting Wat Pho and the Grand Palace, which appears in a book I have called 'Top 40 place in the world to see' - whether this be one man's opinion or many, it certain was an impressive and colourful sight. Up close, the temples are tackily and crudely covered in millions of pieces of coloured glass, fake jewels and gold paint, but when seen as a whole, it's a breathtaking sight and recommended for anyone visiting Bangkok.
Apparantly, Bangkok is a place to bump into people, and makes one question how large the world really is - we, by chance, met up with Tracy and Albert
for the 4th time (and living in London, will doubtless be the last such 'bump'), along with Stig from the Philippines and a girl also from the Philippines whose name I've forgotten (damn my New Year's resolution) on the way to the cinema in Silom Square. Caroline treated us to the most luxurious in cinema seating comfort with fully-reclining leather chairs (see photo), that although expensive for Thailand, is no different to the cost of a ticket in the UK. It was great! And then we braced ourselves for the taxi ride back to our hotel. I'd love to know how well taxi drivers would cope in the UK, because out here they're crazy! I'd also heart and witnessed many accounts of drivers refusing to use their meters at night, yet we never seemed to have a problem - confusing me at the time. "You use meter?!" "Yes." "Meter?" You put meter on?" "Yes." "You sure? Meter meterrr.." "Yes." (get into taxi) "Meterrrrrr?" "Yes." "oh, ok."
And this left us with just one final day, which we used to full effect shopping in one of the world's largest markets, Chatuchak Weekend Market. It was HUGE, with 100s of sois
Doi Suthep
The view over to Chiang Mai far below was great. But crap photos, so you'll just have to trust me and use your imagination. :) and 1000s of stalls selling everything from socks to snakes, incense sticks to chopsticks. We did quite a bit of shopping (or rather, Caroline did, I just happily followed admiring everything), until it started raining and creating miniature flash floods down the covered streets.
Then the next morning, that was it, our wonderful two weeks were over as we said goodbye and went through our separate gates to Heathrow and Kathmandu. It seemed to go by so quickly, too quickly, and the waiting begins once more. But now, as I write this, there's only another five weeks! Thanks for reading, as always. Sorry it's a bit of a ''we did this, then we did that'' account, but rushing and working from memory from three months ago, it's a little trickier than usual. Speak to you in a week. Muchos luvos, x
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