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Hello again - this time from the wonderful north of Thailand! Where we left of last time, we had just finished our openwater dive course and were planning our next destination within Thailand. Due to having spent longer in Southern Thailand than anticipated we realised that we needed to get up north to see what we wanted to see before our visa's run out on the 11th of May. Therefore we decided to skip Koh Phangan and the full moon party for now and maybe do this when we come back to Thailand through Bangkok after Vietnam.This will be in a few more weeks so hopefully the situation in Bangkok might be better too.
So, decision made, we booked our tickets to take us all the way from Koh Tao to Chiang Mai, via continuous travelling for a day and a half!
Unfortunately Adam fell really ill the night before we were to leave, so the next day we had to gamble and push back our travel by 2 days (to not specify another date wouldve lost us all of the $120 as opposed to a $5 reschedule fee). Luckily enough the gamble paid off and Adam was feeling
Spot the cartoon character!
At a temple in Chiang Mai just down the road from our guesthousebetter enough to travel after 2 days of rest in bed.
I think the fact that we were having continual powercuts, which meant no t.v. or aircon, might have beenm a factor too Between looking after Adam I actually had a nice couple of days having aq look at shops, getting a massage, chilling out on the beach and watching stunning sunsets and movies at beachfront restaurants.
Our journey to Chiang Mai began at 9am on the back of a pickup truck which took us to a very crowded jetty (most people heading to Koh Phangan for fullmoon party that night). A fastboat then speed us across the Gulf of Thailand for a couple of hours arriving at Chomphon on the mainland just in time for lunch. We then got on a doubledecker bus heading straight to Bangkok (unfortunately we were sitting downstairs right by the toilet - stinky!). The bus ride was meant to take 7 1/2 hours, getting us to Bangkok with an hour and a half to get to the train station for our overnight train to Chiang Mai. Even though this seemed like a safe amount of time, we shouldve known better, as travel rarely
Fresh market veges
Ready for us to cook...yum! goes to planned time in Thailand.
Sure enough on the way we got caught in a traffic jam through Hua Hin, halfway through our route, it was being caused by a parade through the town celebrating the King and Queens wedding anniversary. It was amazing to see as there were hundreds of people, festive music, flashing lights, decorated floats and even elephants,
however it did put us behind an hour. As 8.30pm rolled past and Bangkok still nowhere in sight, Adam and my hearts started racing... we felt like we were competing in the amazing race - anxiously clock watching on the edge of our seats, unable to control how fast we were going and no idea how far away we were! When we did finally arrive at 9.30pm, the panic had well and truly set in as we had been told that the train station was 1/2 and hour away from the dropoff point. We were the first ones to leap off the bus and while Adam grabbed our bags I jumped into the first tuktuk I saw, paying his first asking price while making it clear that we were in an extreme hurry! I had pulled out my
Fresh market fish
They kill and scale it right there for you! thai phrasebook on the bus and had 'late', 'train' and 'fast' all learnt but maybe it was just the stressed out expressions on our faces which got us there with 10 minutes to spare! Phewww!!! We jumped on the train just as the booths were being converted to beds and promptly zonked out!
We woke up early the next morning, rocking side to side, and watching the Thai countryside whizz past our window. We were told that the train had been delayed for a couple of hours while we were asleep (surprise, surprise), so we arrived in Chiang Mai about 2.30pm, followed by one last Songthaew ride to the Guesthouse, FINALLY ending our journey
30 hours after it began!!!
It sounds like a pain but it was definately well worth it - it was the cheapest and quickest way to get there, and once we arrived in Chiang Mai we forgot all about it as we quickly remembered why we liked the place so much. The guesthouse we found was great - Chiang Mai Thai House - which is only 5 years old, super clean with a TV in the room, friendly staff and fantastic facilities including a cafe,
Aspiring thai chefs...
with silly headscraves (not by choice) swimming pool and free use of internet and computers all for 400 Baht per night (AU$13). The first day we just chilled out by the pool before checking out the large fantastic nightmarket (I was super restrained again and only bought 1 bracelet!).
As we had been to Chiang Mai 2 years ago we didn't do any tours or visit any of the plentiful Wats (temples), instead we decided to do something we didnt do last time - a Thai cooking course. It was good fun and great value as it was a full day for 900 Baht each, which included a market tour, exotic fruit tasting, all ingredients and our choice of 6 dishes each which we made fromk scratch ourselves (including the actual curry paste). Adam and I decided to do different things so that we could have more combined knowledge. So between us we can cook things such as Spring rolls, Stirfried curry prawns, Tom Kaa Gai (chicken in coconut milk soup), Panaeng curry with pork, Deep fried bananas and Mango sticky rice - to name a few!!! Yum!
We were so full afterwards that there was no need for dinner and even breakfast the next
Thai corn cakes with kaffir lime leaves
Served with sweet chilli and cucumber dipping suace day was a light one - which was lucky as we got the minivan to Pai the next day.
The trip to Pai was just a bit shorter than our last journey, only 2 1/2 hours this time! However, the route does make the Lewis Pass (NZ South Island) look easy or as the Lonely Planet puts it "a road savagely steep and snaking". Travel sickness pills and an emplty stomache were lifesavers!!!
Once we got to Pai it was evident straight away that it was well worth the trip - a laidback vibe instantly relaxes you - we knew staright away we were going to skip Chiang Rai and spend a couple of extra days here. Pai is a small town which was part of the 1970's hippy trail - longlost western hippies can be spotted hanging around town or lounging on the floor cushions or hammocks of one of the many bamboo cafe/bars, listening to Bob Marley while having a beer and a cigarette!
The minvan dropped us off outside a travel shop in the main street where we were loaned a scooter for an hour and given a map to go find accomodation - a
Green curry with chicken
Even the green curry paste was made by us great service! We ended up finding a wonderful place called 'The Countryside'. The staff were super nice and it was really peaceful and clean with its own swimming pool with sheltered hammocks beside. The roof of each of the octagonal huts also acts as a private balcony with swing chairs and a table, so that you can enjoy the view over the rice paddies and water buffalo to the Pai hills in beyond. All this for 300 Baht per night for a fan room! As it was down a long dirt path on the edge of the town we hired a scooter each for a couple of days. We used the scooters to explore around Pai, finding waterfalls, swimming holes, canyons and heaps of elephants! On our second night we discovered a great little restaurant/bar called 'Edible Jazz' down a sidestreet beside the main Wat (temple) in town. It plays great jazz/reggae/blues/soul fusion tunes, has a live band every night and the most AMAZING vegetarian food. The staff are friendly and a little 'Ting Tong' (crazy) and there are 5 of the coolest dogs that hang out there too. We ate there every night for the rest of our stay
- we loved it that much (I highly recommend it if you ever go to Pai).
I decided this was the place where I would like to get the butterfly design (that I have been hanging onto for years) tattoed onto my back. So after checking out a couple of places I settled on a great place called 'Z-ONE bamboo tattoo'. The artist - Nong - is extreamly talented and his sister/assistant - Tom - is really lovely. After finding out that Nong has been doing this for 17 years and that they use new needles every time, I felt completly confident that this was the right place to do it. For only 2000 Baht (AU$70) and 2 & 1/2 hours I could get it done the traditional bamboo way - which doesn't hurt as much as machine tattoos and heals way quicker. I am so glad I got it, so much so that I got another smaller one a couple of days later - the words 'love, laugh, live' in thai on my forearm. Adam found a design in a magazine there that he liked, so Nong did a version of it based on Adam's input, to create
an amazingly cool and original design. It is really large going across Adams shoulder and down his left arm, involving colour and a lot of shading work, so his took just under 10 hours (over 2 days).
We now each have very unique and permanent souvenirs that we will always look at and remember, not only this great little place and the friendly thai people, but our entire trip aswell :-)
Anyway, we are heading to Chiang Khong tonight (6 & 1/2 hour overnight minivan trip) which is the most Northern Thai border town to Laos, so that we can cross into Huay Xai in Laos and begin our journey through country #5. A little sad to leave Pai, but it is time to move on and we are excited about more adventures ahead.....
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gareth
non-member comment
Tats eh?
Show us a picture of yer tats!