Around Thailand like a PingPong Ball

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Arriving in Thailand from Vientiane was a little bit like being Michael J Fox in Back to the Future, it was like we boarded the time machine on the tiny propelled plane and we were catapulted back into the 21st Century. I imagine that we will get a similar feeling when we finally arrive back in the UK in September. Bangkok airport is the land of the advanced and I was so happy to see Boots. As someone who has faked a tan for at least 10 years imagine my surprise when they sold fake tan in Boots in Bangkok. I know that my white skin is a delicacy here but there becomes a time when you just want to look a bit healthier and 10 years of faking a tan means that white skin does not react to the sun very well. So having resisted all of the whitening creams in the other pharmacies I had to succumb and buy whitening deodorant, I mean why you would want white armpits is seriously beyond me! We don't sell deodorant with tanning agents in the UK now do we?
Anyway I digress! We boarded the plane to Chiang Mai and having been up at 4am, by the time we had arrived we had already eaten 3 breakfasts, a usual experience for us on a traveling day! Joff has even admitted that I have been better at traveling! I think it was difficult to admit he was wrong! We took a taxi from the airport to the centre and immediately i was a little freaked out, seat belts that worked, air conditioning that worked, we really had been in the back of beyond for too long. On arrival at the hotel we were pleased with the choice, we don't often book in advance or spend that much on a hotel but we thought that as it was New Year we were going to pay over the odds anyway so we may as well treat ourselves. We also wanted to have a safe place to avoid the water throwing. Joff described it as when you are a kid and you play Tag 123 and you have "Home" where no one can get you. Well the hotel became "home" for 4 days. We spent the afternoon lounging round the pool and went out to have some dinner at a Thai restaurant, loving being back in Thailand, even if it is just for the food. They were setting up stalls etc for the New Year but we had no idea of what was to come. We spent the next day at the pool, invested in water pistols and checked out the market. Joff went for a haircut and came back totally drenched. New Year in Chiang Mai had officially started.
I take this abstract from Wikipedia to help me describe Songkran: The most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns (sometimes mixed with mentholated talc), or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby. This, however, was not always the main activity of this festival. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends, neighbors, and monks.
The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder. Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.
So the next day, the official first day of Thai New Year we headed out armed with water pistols, waterproof jacket for me and waterproof bag containing money etc. It is quite difficult to explain what it is like and you can't really take a picture unless you have a waterproof camera. Being in a bar or restaurant is a bit like being "Home" and walking on the streets you will get drenched. The best way is to get involved really. We ended up in a bar and 1 beer turned into a whiskey-coke-and-red-bull -bucket-a-thon. We started chatting to a German, a Swede and a french guy and that was it we were there for the next 8 hours. Not sure whether it was the RedBull but in a "You can take the girl out of Newcastle ...." moment I started the dancing on the chairs whilst the live band was on. Perhaps it was after the practice me and the girls had in Wayne's Bar in Nice!
Needless to say it was a thoroughly entertaining day and we headed home about 8pm to get Pad Thai from a street vendor and get an early night.
We avoided this scene for the next couple of days and visited some temples and stayed at the pool but I have to say that after 3 days it was starting to grate on me and I know it is the culture and the religion but I think pouring iced water down someone's back when all they are trying to do is visit the 7-11 is a little mean.

JOFF - A little mean but incredibly amusing if you are dressed in your swimming gear 24/7 which I was. Having spent a total of 5 wet days and I believe that the festival is only supposed to last 3 days, we set off for some peace and quiet in Pai a small village/town 3 hours north of Chaing Mai in the mountainous region which borders Burma. I must say that we had been warned about the windy road between the Chaing Mai and Pai and that motion sickness tablets had been strongly recommended but being typically British we ventured off! I mean we have windy roads in the lake district don't we.. Apparently no. The meandering road between the two towns snakes through spectacular scenery of mountains and deep valleys covered in dense jungle the road is so steep in places with precipitous drops that only those with a 4x4 and a death wish, make the journey. I don't think we were helped too much by our "goodbye Chaing Mai" drinks the night before but I have never experienced such a turbulent journey. No sooner had we left town and hits the first few bends did Caroline start to look a little pale and asking whether the vehicle was warming up. It was in fact nicely chilled and spacious. Having nursed a sick bag around Asia we now firmly believe that if Caro has a sick-bag she will never be sick but this was put firmly to the test during this journey.

Fortunately our sick bag theory held firm and we arrived in a sweltering Pai. We found a hotel/hostel relatively quickly and headed to the pool for a dip. Apparently Songkran was still in progress in Pai in spite of the old year having been well and truely washed away in the preceding days. We managed to avoid a soaking and headed out to book a trek. Pai is a lovely little town nestled in the heart of the mountains in Northern Thailand. A place to get closer to nature and contemplate, it is also full of hippies who came there several years ago and have been trying in vane to leave. The place is beautiful and you can see the surrounding mountains throughout the day. Anyway we had been told that this was the place to trekking as you wouldn't see another soul let alone a European. We duly booked our Trek had a quick bite to eat and then headed off for an early night.

We woke early and headed to the trek shop where we, a couple of Americans and a Dutch guy were loaded into the back of a pickup and headed off into the abyss. It struck me as rather strange that now travelling in the back of a pickup is no longer an exceptional nor scary thing, just the norm. Anyway we arrived at a local village, in the middle of nowhere, where we were introduced to our guide. The organiser gave us phad thai and rice for lunch and then produced a big bag of what looked like high grade ganga much to the mirth of our Dutch colleague who shouted "Ganga", to which the guide replied "no tea." Our guide was a tiny Burmese guy dressed in trousers and crocks who was to take us on our adventure. Feeling somewhat overdressed in our hiking attire, we set off straight up a steep hill through bushes etc. I guess that is what we came for but there seemed to be a perfectly good path heading in the other direction.

After a several hours of trekking though forests of bamboo and various other types of foliage we came to a small gorge with a stream running through it where we were to have our lunch. Our guide had demonstrated an amazing knowledge of flora and fauna having had us eating various berries leaves etc disappeared into the forest and returned with palm leaves which he proceeded to fashion into bowls for our lunch. He then made a bamboo kettle and a fire and cooked up some tea. At this point having trekked for several hours and in temperatures in the late 30s we were all ready for a rest and a bite to eat and fell in sweaty heaps around the gorge. Having eaten we headed off again up a 70 degree slope and onward through the forest until we came to a dried river with just a trickle running down its deepest path. The guide stopped us here and proceeded to catch fish with his hand from the stream. Undoubtedly impressed us westerners produced our various knives and proceeded to peel apples and eat them. The guide must have thought that we were the biggest assembly of pansies to have ever been out this far, but was fascinated by the different gadgets which each knife had especially as he just used a machete for all of the various functions. We continued on until we came to a tiny village from which the guide came. It is a Burmese village and was literally from the dark ages. The Thai king has granted refuge to many Tibetan, Chinese and Burmese hill tribes who now inhabit the northern jungles of Thailand. We visited a couple of caves around the village and had a very brief and easy experience of potholing.

I must admit that in spite of having shed a few pounds I felt that I may become wedged in some of the narrow openings to which Caroline pointed out that if i did then I would just have to wait there and not eat until I could get out! Anyway, I didn't get stuck hence writing this passage! We had some water at the village and then Caro and I took a pickup back to Pai. Some 1.5 hours away.

It was at this time we noticed an unusual stillness in the air which generally precedes a violent storm. Not to be disappointed and as we admired the sun setting over the mountains from the open back of a pick up the heavens opened and the sky was illuminated by the most spectacular lightning! It was all incredibly beautiful but we were getting soaked and the lightning was perilously close. In my mind I was just thinking we we effectively in a metal can up a mountain in a particularly vociferous lightening storm. what ever could go wrong. Anyway we survived and exhausted and soaked we trudged through town much to the delight of everyone who had deposited themselves in various bars and restaurants and probably for the first time in days were dry after Songkran. We ate a hearty meal and headed to bed. The day after we would be making the return journey to Chaing Mai before we head south.

CARO: We spent a couple of days in Chiang Mai and decided that we would travel to Sukkothai to break up the journey to Bangkok, we went to the bus station and whilst Joff was at the ATM I went to try and find the bus to Sukkothai. This lady was screaming at me before I could see her that we had 5 minutes, anyway I located Joff and we were on the bus and away within 10 minutes. All looking too good to be true, it often is! True to form the bus broke down: in the middle of the day, in the heat and in the middle of nowhere!

We got to New Sukkothai at about 5pm (5 hour journey having left at 9:45?!). Anyway we had been recommended the Orchid Hibiscus Guest House by a German lady that we had met in Chiang Mai. Er ist ein Excentrisches Italianishes Mann. Well Paolo didn't disappoint! Paolo is married to Pinthong, (yes it is very Little Britain or little Italy) and looks like Sven Goran Erikson. The bungalows are set around a pool a bit like Tuscany meets Thailand I guess. We dropped our bags and headed straight out to get something to eat.In Old Sukkothai we couldn't see any restaurants, I think this was due to the fact that we were starving and we hadn't walked up the street far enough but we found a street vendor who looked like she had something which resembled noodles. In our best Thai we held 2 fingers up to say "TWO" and said Phad Thai. To be fair it was delicious and we decided to get an early night as we had agreed with Paolo to get up at 5:30 to go to see the sunrise at the Big Buddha. We were woken up several times by what we think was probably a lizard on the roof of the bungalow, not much sleep was had. I guess it is partly due to having been in the city and then all of a sudden being in the middle of nowhere at one with nature.

Anyway, we were picked up by a tuk tuk at 6am and we headed to the Buddah to watch the sunrise, again Paolo was correct the views were magnificent. We headed back for the Incredible breakfast: Coconut pudding, wild honey, fresh coffee complete with Italian guitar music in the background! We had picked up bikes on the way back from the Buddha so we spent the rest of the morning exploring Old Sukkothai which was built to celebrate the Thais kicking the Khmers out of Thailand. We headed back to the guest house at lunch time, took a quick shower, packed and went to get the bus. Unfortunately we couldn't get on the VIP bus to Bangkok so we had to take a bus to Sukkothai, on arrival there we were unable to get the 1st class bus at 1pm but we could get the 2nd class bus at 1:20pm. I was a little dubious I have to say, especially due to previous bus experiences on this trip. It was however fine and we were in Bangkok for 9pm. Although I have to mention that this 2nd class bus does make several stops and it is perfectly normal to be on a long distance bus with about 20 people queuing up in the aisle.

As it was Friday night and now 9pm, we jumped in a taxi to the Kho San Road, walked into the first hotel at Rantiburi Street and took a room. After a quick shower and change of clothes we headed out to sample some food and Buckets Bangkok Style. We hobbled home about 2am and slept until lunch time. Friday night in Bangkok - DONE!

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Photos

Very happy children in the village
We took them pens and sweets!