Bangkok to Chiang Mai

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Sawadee Kap ! Or "hello" if you don't speak Thai.. (I don't actually speak Thai, but I know how to say "hello" !) Anyway.. I digress...

Well here I am finally.. I've come from below zero temperatures and landed in the most humid country in the world.. so a little acclimatising is required...

I flew China Southern Airways from Shanghai to Guangzhou in China, and then Air Kenya on to Bangkok. The flight landed about 11:30pm, I jumped straight into a taxi and had another white-nuckle cab ride to the hotel which was close to the airport... after about 20 mins driving up and down the same road and shouting at me in Thai he finally found the right road and I was in the hotel around 12:45pm.. the hostel was nice and I was shown straight to my room.. shower.. and bed..

The next day I woke and really started to realise the change in climate as the temperature nudged 30C at 8am in the morning. At breakfast I met a French girl, and two Canadian girls and we all shared a taxi into Bangkok central, right next to Khoa San Road, the Backpacker street. I had pre-booked a hostel and after fighting through the hoards of people trying to get me in their taxi, tuk-tuk or sell me a suit.. I made the hostel and was in the room.. it wasn't the cheapest.. but it had a nice bed, tv, own bathroom and air con.. so i was happy to pay the GBP12 for the room!! After a wonder around and arranging a trip to Chiang Mai including a 3 day trek I had something to eat and a beer and then crashed and had a good nights sleep.

Next day started off a bit strange as I woke to find a rash on my neck. First I thought it was insects but the guy in the pharmacy told me it wasn't, and is most probably a heat rash. Probably the steep change in climate from -10C to 30C.. so he gave me some cream.. (although it still hasn't totally cleared by the time I'm posting this). So after that set off for a mooch around the city. The bus to Chiang Mai is overnight, leaving at 6pm and arriving at 6am.. so I had nearly a full day to explore. I did so on foot and visited a few temples, but still being constantly interrupted by people trying to pick me up in taxi or tuk-tuk, sell me something, or just con me into going places I dont want to go.. I also had a nasty experience seeing someone have a fit in the middle of the street, so eventually I had had enough and I went back to the hotel in Khoa San Road and relaxed in the shade waiting for the evening bus and chatting with a couple of other travellers that had just arrived.

At 6pm we set off to the bus.. and after an hours wait in the road (and sitting next to a mosquito nest!) the bus finally arrived and we set off.. unfortunately most of us had been bitten already and we possibly carrying mosquitos as when the bus finally set off it was apparent that 10 or 15 mosquitos were with us in the bus and going to have a nice dinner that night !! Sure enough, after watching a couple of movies, and then getting a couple of hours sleep, we were woken up by the driver shouting 'wakey wakey' and throwing our bags out onto the road.. with no sight of a hotel. We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.. and covered in mosquito bites !! I had bites on both feet that caused them to swell.. two vans then arrived and we were shepherded in and we then reached the hotel after a 20 minute ride. The hard part is where nobody seems to know what is going on.. so we could end up anywhere ! But thankfully, we reached the hotel at around 6am and drank some coffees while we waited for our rooms to be ready.

The tour guide tried on with all of us to get us to start trekking that day instead of the following day but there was no way any of us were ready for a 3 day trek after that journey ! So we stuck with the original plan. First day then in Chiang Mai then was an orientation wander.. it a nice little town, very clean. There is a market every day not far from hotel that has fresh fruit, veg and anything you could want really. In the other direction is a small river with bridges connecting both sides and rows of bars and restaurants aimed at tourists but nice altogether. I went out and had some dinner.. and then crashed to be sure I had a good nights rest before the trek.

First day we set off at 9am.. a very very uncomfortable ride in the back of a van.. for 2 hours.. 1 hour on road.. 1 hour off-road (and a stop at a service station where the ladyboy attendant was flirting with the Pong the second guide.. who then started to put on makeup).. when we arrived one poor girl had reached her limit and puked ! She struggled for the rest of the day but recovered well after a nights sleep. So we trekked for about 2 hours .. it was surprisingly cool, and not tough terrain.. so we were all going well.. by this point we were talking and sharing stories of our travels and getting on really well. We were all in our early 20's .. 8 from UK, and 3 from Belgium.. after about an hour we reached the first waterfall.. this was shallow.. but refreshing nonetheless after a sweaty trek. We all had a dip for just a few mins and then we we getting ready for the final stint.. it was again not tough, and we made the camp by about 6pm. It was a nice camp, with a long bench and table under cover, and a long bench and table outdoors.. we had two chalets, one was able to take 10 and the 'honeymoon suite' as it was touted by the guides, was able to take 3 people... at first the 3 couples were fighting for the honeymoon suite, but I was one of the first to check it out.. and noticed it had no mosquito net, and a smelly en-suite with an ants nest ! whereas the larger chalet did have nets, no smelly toilet etc.. so we then watched as all the couples tried to withdraw their claims ! ha ha.. in the end the 3 Belgian lads slept in there together.. guess its a culture thing (!)

In the evening we had a great night, that involved many chang beers around the camp fire, some funny funny stories about buttered cats and stressed fish (many from Mr. Tiger... who looked like he was in a world of his own), frog-catching, waking up the tour guide at 10pm holding a machete to open the beer crate, and a guy called Pong who couldn't speak a word of English but said yes to everything (again.. I think he was in a world of his own).. an extraordinary night.. by all accounts..

Day 2.. I woke first.. went down to the camp fire.. Mr Tiger made me a welcome coffee.. and I cleared the masses of beer cans from the night before. Gradually more people woke and we were soon having breakfast.. a few hangovers were being had.. after brekkie we set off for a short trek up and around the camp.. it was about 1&1/2 hours.. it was nice and cool and was an enjoyable trek.. not really any wildlife, but some amazing views. We were back to camp eventually and suddenly a panic. It became apparent that Pong (or "ladyboy" as he was known by now) had followed us into the woods, and gone missing. What's more, he had the car keys (!!).. He wasn't to resurface until my last day in Chiang Mai.. he had taken a wrong turn and ended up in another village. Anyway, we needed the car keys to go to the scheduled elephant ride... luckily one of our group knew how to hot-wire... and so we got the van running.. and the rest of the Thai people from the village continued to search for him.

So we set off to the elephant camp.. this was supposedly a 2 hour car ride but it felt like atleast 3.. at high speed.. over some nasty terrain and even I was feeling a bit ill.. even though I never suffer from car sickness.. in any case.. we arrived and were grateful to get out & stretch our legs.. we arrived and were immediately greeted by elephants. I bought a bunch of about 20 bananas and started to feed the elephants.. you'd think they were penny sweets how quick the elephant ate them.. as soon as one was in the mouth the snout was back asking for another.. we had to go 2-to-an-elephant so I was sharing one with Vicki. Soon after we set off the guide told me to sit on the elephants neck.. so I carefully slid down and was sitting on an elephants head !! It wasn't the most comfortable experience (especially as he dipped his head once or twice and I thought I would fall off !) but it was pretty cool.. Vicki went after me.. and was massaging the elephants head for some reason.. not sure if he noticed !! His snout did keep coming up looking for a banana.. but I had ran out.. felt kinda guilty about that.. we took a ride for about 30 mins.. and then we relieved the elephants of our weight.. they looked hungry (one of them was even trying to eat the bamboo of the stand that we were on ! After that we took a walk down to the river and crossed it by flying cage.. we then had an uncomfortable ride in the back of a pickup when I nearly fell off the back and were dropped off at the beginning of a 2 hour trek to the next camp. The trek was nice, warmer then the one earlier, but still ok. We trekked on to a waterfall which was right by the camp. .and it was so nice.. cool.. but refreshing.. and it was a great waterfall.. we all had a swim and a good wash and then back to camp for food, more changs, funny stories and strange occurrances.. The Belgians (who had raved it up the night before while we all went to bed around 1am) crashed about 12pm.. to our surprise.. although they had some of the local greenery in their pipe and I think it may have surprised them a little.. the rest of us stayed chatting till around 2am.. good times..

The next morning again I was first to wake.. and I went and sat by the fire.. watching our host family getting the day together.. we had some breakfast.. and went off on trek back to the riverside.. where we would start the white water rafting.. this was excellent.. we were 6 in a boat with a mad instructor.. who told us forward means forward, backwards means backward, left means all to left, right means all to right.. and most importantly.. stop means stop! Simple as it sounds, we still made a hash of it ! We set off and, because its autumn time here, the river level is low and we tended to catch on rocks.. there were some good rapids though. The most memorable part is whenever there is a passing boat.. we turn and soak as much as we can.. this was fine between our 2 boats, but there were also some boats of possibly Japanese tourists, all donning matching cycling lycra, gold Oakley sunglasses, and aerodynamic helmets.. they all paddled at same time with a coordinated 'huh'.. well we enjoyed soaking them !! We reached the end of the rafting and crossed onto bamboo rafts.. its an unsettling start as we tried to get the balance right on the boat.. people of different heights and sizes have to be strategically placed so one end does not sink !! I had one stick to push us along gondola style, and Lee had the other up front steering us away from boats.. from this raft we saw some of the best scenery.. lush greenery and vegetation, and authentic riverside huts.. it was amazing.. once we went on land we were offered lunch and time to dry off.. which was nice.. and then we began our truck ride back to Chiang Mai.. the three day trek had been amazing.. we all agreed..

When we got back to Chiang Mai we all took a little time to unwind and agreed to meet for one last meal.. so we met in a Saloon bar.. and had a nice meal.. it was another one of those strange nights, as an elephant appeared at the front of the restaurant at one point, we went for a drink after in a reggae bar as suggested by waitress and saw some of the strangest people on planet earth.. and the night concluded very late.. but it was a great night.. Amy talked the ears off anyone in the vicinity, a thai lesbian joined our table trying to chat up the girls and I left carrying a bucket of ice that I was pinging at peoples feet trying to make them slip up on the way home.. good times..

This is getting kind of long now so i will try to wrap it up.. I had 2 more days in Chiang Mai.. and after the trekking and other events was pretty tired.. so took some time and enjoyed the sun and wandering around the city. Took a full body oil massage for the first time (no happy endings!) and we went for dinner again the next night, those of us that were left.. we were surprised to bump into a couple form the trek that we thought had disappeared and they asked us for a drink in a street they had heard of down the road. Well we didn't realise till we got there that it was 'the street' and it was basically a strip of go-go bars.. we took a walk down.. and a look around.. its quite a sight ! We found an empty bar and went for one drink.. the waitress greeted us and then walked infront and bent over the 5ft bar to get the menus.. well.. she was wearing a belt and no knickers.. I don't need to draw you a picture !! So that was a surprise.. ha ha.. we had a beer and then left for the night.. well some of the others carried on.. we heard stories the next day of a man acting like an ape on top of bar tables, smashing glasses and putting the broken pieces in his bag, apologising profusely, and carrying a picture frame that he got stuck on his head.. maybe a good thing I left early that night..

Well.. this is the end of Chiang Mai.. and pretty much the end of the blog.. the final one will not be much as I travel back to Bangkok for 2 nights before flying back to Hong Kong for 2 nights.. then I'm home..

Speak to you soon..

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Photos

Khoa San Road
The strangest road in the entire world

Bangkok
Its constantly this busy

Chiang Mai
I felt like this after my massage

Chiang Mai
Orchids growing in hotel doorway