Northern Thailand and another New Year

Bangkok. Wow what a place ! What can I say that hasn’t already been written ? Well for a start I can say that the stories of being scammed and ripped off are true… that is if you are a stupid tourist with not an once of common sense or like a couple of people I have met, a stupid gap year student who lands in Bangkok on the way to Australia without the first clue about what to expect. If however you have a little bit of savvy you’ll find Bangkok a great place with lots to do and see and light-years away from the seedy, dodgy image that is sometimes projected by these fools.

Right enough of my rantings on stupid people and back to my own travels…
In Bangkok I did all of the main sites, the Grand Palace which was incredible, Wat Pho which is home of the huge reclining Buddha, the floating markets etc, but probably the best part is when I was travelling or eating with the locals as this is when I really feel I am learning about their culture and way of life,,,, and it’s the cheapest.

From Bangkok it was a local bus Kanchanaburi, site of the bridge over the river Kwai, the death railway, and the war cemeteries where all of the allied troops who died at the hands of the Japanese while building the notorious railway linking Thailand and Burma are buried. A very humbling experience indeed.

After Kanchanaburi it was a sawngthaew instead of local bus to Ayuthaya which is the original capital of Siam. Now I had been warned by Big Pete that this day of travelling would actually be the start of Songkran (the Thai New year celebrations) which basically comprises of a countrywide water fight. To be honest that morning I was a little disappointed as I along with my travelling companions who had also called into the morning market to purchase pump action water pistols saw absolutely nothing…. That was until just before midday as we were dozing in the back of the jeep, it stopped at some remote traffic lights when ….whoosh, we were woken up as several buckets of cold water were projected at high velocity through the side windows and rear of the jeep resulting everyone getting a soaking ! From this point it was another 2 hours of travelling and absolute drenched mayhem finally ending up in Ayuthaya completely soaked and covered in white clay paste but safe in the knowledge that every drenching I received and gave out was a blessing and cleansing for me and my ‘victims’. It is quite funny and an epitome of the Thai mindset to see me hanging out the back of the jeep spaying water over a fully clothed moped rider behind, when he smiles, waves and says thank you ! Try doing that on New Year’s Day back in the UK and see how far you get.

So once in Ayuthaya and under the cover of darkness it was a dash to the train station to catch the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai which luckily arrived in early enough to miss the soggy anarchy that was to ensue over the next 3 days (although I must admit this has got to be the best New year’s celebrations I have ever experienced). So from the chaos of Songkran in Chang Mai it was a local bus up to the beautiful scenery and tranquility of Tha Ton on the Myanmar (Burma) border to check out some of the hill tribes there. After that it was a long tailed boat down the Mae Nam Kok River to Chiang Rai which was excellent as the journey took over 5 hours and as this was the end of the dry season and the river was at its lowest level the boat kept getting stuck on the shallow areas of the river which resulted in me and my fellow passengers having to get out and push the boat down the river until we found deeper water where we would jump back in and set off again. This was an incredibly funny experience along with watching the driver of the boat regularly scooping water from the bottom of the boat as we whizzed along the river waving to the local kids who were fishing and playing in the river - Priceless.

From Chiang Rai it was a bus up to Sop Ruak in the Golden Triangle area where Laos, Myamar (Burma) and Thailand meet along the Mekong river. As this was too good an opportunity to add some more ‘countries traveled’ to my current list I did a daytrip to both countries which had the added advantage of Loas and Burma stamps in my passport, some cheap whiskey and DVDs, and a renewed 30 day Thailand visa (which could mean I may be staying longer).

From Chiang Rai it was then a local bus back to Chiang Mai where I also did a Thai cookery course which went pretty well (the more chilies the better) and I made up for any failings in my cooking ability by doing my best Gordon Ramsey impression by telling the other students to ‘F*** Off’.

OK, back to Bangkok…

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