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Published: February 8th 2012
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After a disappointing flight from Auckland to Bangkok with only two films to watch (as the media system had a technical error) with Thai Airways, we had a smooth transition from our guesthouse to travelling on bus to Koh Samet (including small ferry ride)– an easy 3-4 hour journey. We took a songthrew as a group from the top end of the island, where the town was and where the locals lived, the roads were nothing more than a dirt track for the vast majority of the small drive – this did lead us to wonder where our 200 baht contribution to the national park was going! We also noticed that bins were something of a luxury in Koh Samet as people had taken to dropping cans and crisp packets on the floor upon consumption.
For the first three nights we stayed at Tum Tim Resort in a relatively new room/bathroom with a veranda looking out to the sea, due to the resorts location at the end of one of the numerous bays it was a haven for gay couples wanting to get away from gawking fellow tourists. Tum Tim was also where we first caught sight of
a twig like lady with a rather unhealthy orange tan who paraded up and down the beach 5-10 times a day at a quick pace drawing sun worshippers and book readers a like’s attention on an otherwise lazy day.
We spent our remaining nights at Jeps Bungalow, although the room was much cheaper with shared bathrooms, the staff and restaurant/bar area was a lot more relaxed and interactive with the customers. With the weekends came an influx of people arriving by speed boat at regular intervals, the large majority been Thai people escaping the rat race that is Bangkok. We enjoyed the crisp white sand of the island but did notice the dramatic price increases compared to the main-land. It was an easy 9 days of beach lounging, reading, people watching and lots of eating – on reflection we would have preferred just staying for 5days but we had pre-booked our train to Chiang Mai and Bangkok for 4 days did not appeal to us at all.
We returned to Bangkok for one evening, before taking the day train to Chiang Mai, we had previously taken the night trains so were looking forward to seeing the journey in
daylight. As we stood on the platform with numerous other travellers of all ages waiting for the delayed train all looking at one another anticipating where people had come from, going and for how long. We finally settled down after some seat shuffling and began to enjoy the journey, only to have subsequent delays because of damaged track in areas surrounding Ayutthaya where they had been affected badly by the floods. As we waited in a station, having been told we would be there for 2 hours people went exploring the town (luckily we didn’t wander for too long) as they shouted for us to get back on after an hour. By now those travellers who were new to Thailand’s train service were apprehensive and were asking if this was a regular occurrence!
We finally arrived in Lampang where we then had to get off and take a coach to Chiang Mai, arriving just after midnight (we were scheduled to arrive at 8pm). After finding our room had of course been given away because we were so late, we traipsed around the familiar lanes looking for a guesthouse with 24 check-in. Eventually finding your bog
standard guest house that would charge us a higher price than the room merited for one night’s stay!
After the first night we found a smaller guesthouse with a large room and balcony, that we utilised to full affect, sitting back with a few Changs and watching the young, old, drunk and hippy like pass us by. We spent an easy few days visiting the markets, temples and galleries. We did a cooking course – Baan Thai, Thai Cookery School www.baanthaicookery.com
We visited the market and learnt how to make 5 dishes and also a paste for curry (green or red curry with chicken). Kev and I did different dishes to cover more, let’s just hope we can re-create some of the dishes for you. It was such a fun rewarding experience and we were so full by the end of the day that we opted out of dinner!
If you ever get chance to go to Chiang Mai and par-take in a cooking course then you will not go far wrong with this company as they were extremely friendly and the school had a sad story behind it that made the experience all that bit more
special.
On Thursday 26 January we said goodbye to Chiang Mai again and travelled by bus to Chiang Rai, a fabulous journey climbing hills not so great if you suffer from travel sickness. We checked into the popular Chat Guest House tucked along a quiet lane away from the hustle and bustle, with lots of outdoor seating in a pretty garden. We felt utterly spoilt with mugs of tea and large bowls of porridge with banana and honey for breakfast and of course traditional North Thai dishes
Chiang Rai was once a majestic northern city that was the original home to the Emerald Buddha (now located in Bangkok) as well as many other important Thai artefacts but the former King fell out of love with Chiang Rai and all of its riches and status faded. What’s left are small temples surrounded by unsightly junk shops and unappealing street eateries.
We did a 2 day trek that was incredible, although Lex had borrowed a small day rucksack that began smelling of the previous owners as the temperature raised into the high 20’s, Lex was the only one effected by the smell with her exceptional nasal skills,
that did make her remember Powell’s bag from Kili that smelt bad after her porter!
The Trek had a really personal feel to it because we only travelled with a French couple and our guide –Voon, we were able to capture the real essence of life of a hill tribe and were even lucky enough to be invited into their home for an evening. After walking through various terrain including Banana plantations, Bamboo woods and hill canals whilst learning about the vegetation we arrived at our small village (13 families) – the photos illustrate this. We had jungle/forest tea and sweet battered rice with brown sugar which Kev did his best to digest as both the French couple and Lex were not so keen on this local dish. We were shown our rooms – a bamboo hut with thin mattresses and lots of blankets beneath a mosquito net. We walked down to the village in the valley and bumped into 4 Norwegians who were comparing drunken notes with their guide on the finer qualities of Thai Whisky and Jagermeister so we felt compelled to join them for a few shots and Chang’s until the night drew in and we
headed back to the village on the hill for dinner supplied by our generous hosts followed by a few more Chang’s around what could be only be described as lacklustre fire.
We awoke to a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sweet white bread/toast and more forest tea, soon the local children showed a great interest in us and were pleased with the presents of crayons, and books that we had brought for them, unfortunately the French couple decided to scraper when one of the local tribes ladies started to set out he hand crafted trinkets. Of course out of courtesy we felt compelled to buy something. The kids seemed almost as happy tucking into our left over breakfasts as they were with our colouring books and crayons.
After a steep climb through dense forest we reached a bamboo platform where we were able to admire the tea plantations below (tea exported to China) while grabbing some much needed rest. We watched our second guide craft cups from bamboo for each of us to take home (we subsequently have removed from our bags).
We were treated to some vegetable and chicken noodles cooked in
bamboo and banana leafs over an open fire by our guides before we set off to see 2 more hill tribes on our way out of the national park and ultimately back to Chat Guest House
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