 Lopburi - Phitsanulok - Chiang Mai! |
Lopburi - Phitsanulok - Chiang Mai!
Asia » Thailand » North » Chiang Mai
May 10th 2005 by Steve and Suz
Hi all,
this morning we arrived in Chiang Mai, our third destination in three days and we're knackered!
After Kanchanaburi (see last blog) we took a five hour bus ride to Lopburi, changing at Suphanburi bus station (a place that obviously didn't see many tourists as we got some very strange looks). At Lopburi we once again picked a recommended hotel (Asia Lopburi Hotel) from our Lonely Planet guide and headed straight there by Tuk-Tuk. We got there early evening and grabbed some food at White House restaurant and chatted to the friendly owner for a while about the area and our travels. He offered us an interesting trip to see the local Aids Hospice and Drug rehabilitation monastry however due to our budget we were unable to do this. After our meal we headed towards some temple ruins to hang out with the local street monkeys! Apart from being famous for its ancient temple ruins, Lopburi is also famous for having the most notable monkey population of any town in Thailand. We couldnt see them at the temple however on our walk back noticed them 'roosting' like pidgeons on the building ledges above our heads!
There were very few westerners about whilst we were there and the locals were very interested in us, especially the children! At one stage we had 3 small children following us in amazement and later on a little girl marched up to us to shake hands and said 'good morning', when we replied she giggled and ran-away to return a few seconds later to show us to her mum who was also giggling! We planned to leave that evening for Phitsanulok however the train was full so we booked for the next morning.
We arrived in Phitsanulok at 2:30pm the following day checked in to a nice friendly guesthouse (Lithai Guesthouse) and headed straight to the tourist office. We spent the day doing a walking tour around the towns temples and attractions. We particurarly enjoyed the night bazaar especially the vegetable tossing at the Flying Vegetable restaurant. After seeing the local area we decided to move on that same night on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. This time we were lucky enough to get seats/bed for the train leaving at 1:59pm!
Now in Chiang Mai we are going to stop writing this blog and head out see what there is to do!
Over and out,
Steve and Suz
Houseboats
Phitsanulok is the only place in Thailand where houseboats are still allowed. They are now banned and no more are to be authorised.
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May 10th 2005 - : ooooo monkeys
Wow you guys aren't relaxing are you?! It must be amazing to see all these places but we think we would have been lazy and stayed somewhat long enough to sit down and breathe! Those monkeys are cute, perhaps you could steal one, selling those on ebay might help to finance your trip, you could even sell them to Hollywood. This of course would not be cruel as you would only be helping them fulfil their dreams of becoming the worlds most famous Monkey, after all its about time some one knocked King Kong off the top spot!!!!
Love to you both
xxxxxxxx - Colin & Ash
May 10th 2005 - :
it's so intresting reading your adventures and looking at the pictures! after i finish i realise your having the time of your life together out there and im in shoeburyness!! makes me want to aim for my dream and travel to Alaska. anyway bring me back a monkey. garry
May 11th 2005 - : Dad
Suzanne, i refer to the photograph of yourself entitled 'Lopburi Ruins. Ruined' and i'm afraid to inform you that you appear to be standing like...DAD! at last you know what it feels like to pose like him! has the travelling unleashed your inner dad?! i do hope so! - Gerald
May 12th 2005 - Elderberry: ....strange......
O.o i don't think they liked our last message perhaps its was the bit about selling monkies on e-bay...i mean how can anyone be offended by that? Anyhow, the jist of our previous message was.....ummmm....we can't remember, infact we don't think there was a jist and it probably didn't make any sense....a bit like this new message i suppose! ok ok we'll get to the point, keep ahold of your pants...monkies like pants O.o
May 14th 2005 - :
hi steve/suz
great to see more pictures of you haveing a great time.
steve you stand just like your dad?the monkeys look great
over&out uncle - tony b
May 18th 2005 - : Hello?
Come on guys get off your bums and write another entry, who do you think you are? Travellers of the world or something? Too busy playing with monkeys and sucking on starfish meat to keep all the paupers back in England informed of the great Journey? Oh and queen you had better be keeping that t-shirt updated, we want photographic evidence of that in the very near future! - Colin & Ash
May 20th 2005 - : stop playing arround
Thanks for the pictures they are great we are missing all the updates on your outings so stop monkeying about get writeing
love tony b - tony b
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