South through Thailand - Chiang Mai / Phitsanoluk / Sukothai

On Thursday 3rd we 'woke up' from having an aweful sleep on our uncomfortable bus to Chiang Mai. It arrived just before 9am after 16 hours on 3 buses - was comforting to see our bags still in the bus. We payed the standard 3 baht to use a toilet and then got a Tuk Tuk to MD Guest house. This place was like a hotel with wifi, a/c and a swimming pool all for less the $7.50 a night each, well inside our $10 budget. We used an ATM and got used to converting Baht to Pounds again, at least we would be using this currency for a month or so! Adam still keeps saying rupees which was 4 currencys ago! We then got some maps and leaflets and visited Wat Chang Mun, this was free entry and they let you take photos inside unlike most temples. We walked past the 3 Kings monument and then to Wat Phra Sing, which is a teak wooden temple, again free entry. We popped into a few tour places to see what Chiang Mai had to offer and how much it would cost. Seems that elephant riding, mountain biking and trekking are the main activities, we have done all of these recently so opted to shoot guns and go to 'Flight of the Gibbon'. We then went to Wat Chedi Luang to complete seeing all the major temples within the old city walls. We ate in a western looking place called 'The Wall', which had photos of people eating there all over the wall, every other one with a Thai Bride it seemed. It was here we met David, he was a drunk (its midday) and had a thai bride, and he had lots of funny stories, advice and tales to tell. He reccomended some places to eat/drink and said we should go visit Doi Sutep that is about 12km out of town, and the cultural museum. We headed for the museum after food and it was really informative and had lots of videos and talking boxes, perhaps too much, we had the museum to ourselves except a few locals. We went to book Flight of the Gibbon (you'll find out soon what it is..) and apparently it was full, but the crazy tour lady seemed keen to book us on something else, we said no thanks and walked back to the hotel. Just as we were walking in the tour lady pulls up on her moped behind us and says we can infact go tommorrow. Adam hopped on the back of her bike and went back to her place to book it up. Tour lady also gave Adam a lift back in her car. It was then we saw a book shop called ' On the Road', which oddly was the name of a book we had been searching everywhere for. The English guy in the shop pointed straight to the book when we asked and also said he would buy Nick's finished book (Russel Brand).We then put online a blog (Laos one) and Nick fell asleep at 5pm never to wake up again. Adam popped to the 7/11 shop for some food and then went to sleep.

Next day we were up at 8am and it was Nicks Birthday! He opened his 1 card from his parents and then we got ready for Flight of the Gibbon. We popped into the book shop and the man wasn't happy it was a hardback, but we swapped it for a book about flying drug smugglers in the 70's (smoke screen). We had beans and toast in the 'un-irish pub' and then waited for our lift. We got picked up at 10am and had 2 couples wiith us for the day, one from France who now lived in Tanzania flying a plane for a living and another that were from Hong Kong (girl) and AustriA, but lived in Hong Kong. They both seemed nice and were on short holidays. We drove an hour up hill deep into the jungle. Here we met our 2 guides and instructors for the day, called Chai and Chaio, they strapped on our harnesses and various clips then gave us lots of safety instructions. We would be spending the day flying along zip wires through the jungle, at some points 120m above the jungle floor! We had 2 easy practice zips, these were still high above the jungle and landing was easy on the slow ones. Next was the big one, it was 120m high and took over 10 seconds to fly across, it was quite exciting, but felt very safe due to the instructors careful safety checks, and the very good looking equipment. Over the next few hours we flew across 14 zip wires, went over 2 rope bridges and absailed down 2 trees as we went through the jungle. We had some amazing views but didn't see much of the promised wildlife! The guides also gave us an extra climbing clip so we could film while 'flying'. After this we had a decent thai lunch together as a group then headed trekking through the jungle to some waterfalls, no guides for this part. It was a short walk and the waterfalls were pretty average, probably due to it being the dry season, the rest of the group seemed a bit more impressed - they clearly hadn't visited Luang Prabang! We then got driven back to the hotel where we took our usual hour rest in the afternoon. We then continued Nicks birthday treats by going to Chiang Mai Saloon, for the best food of our trip so far, Nick had Bangers and mash and Adam Chilli Burger, this place had free nuts and popcorn, and we played a few games of free pool too. After some beers here we headed to Decha Stadium to watch the Thai Boxing, it wasn't as big venue as Bangkok and lacked atmosphere, but the fights were just as entertaining and any rumours we had heard about it being a show for tourists were soon proved untrue by the 2 knock outs we saw. Of the 9 fights we saw 1 forigner who was german, and he lost! The Tuk Tuks outside wanted 100 baht for a lift home, we walked 2 minutes down the road and got one for 40, standard. Popped to the 7/11 for drunken snacks and water for the morning, then got some sleep. An action packed birthday!

Treated ourselves to a lay in till 11am today - we have been working hard! We then went down to reception at midday and said we wanted to go shooting, he said how about 1pm and suggested we used our hour to go get some food - which we did. We had some sandwiches at The Wall and played some pool, about 12.50 reception man found us and said that our lift had arrived. It turned out to be the hottest car ever, its about 97 degrees here and he must have left his car in the sun. We weren't sure where we were heading exactly but after about 10 minutes we turned into Chiang Mai's Army base, the 3rd Development Batalion to be precise! This place was really professional and 2 girls took our details and then showed us all the guns we could choose from, a subject we both lacked knowledge on. Adam went for the .45 Colt and Nick went for the .45 Glock, both on the basis that they looked cool, and were the biggest round we could fire. We got 30 rounds each, some safety googles, ear covers (very needed!) and an instructor each. Nicks spoke english and Adam's didn't, but it doesn't matter so much when you have the ear covers on, mostly sign language. We then got a lesson on gun safety and then they told us how to hold and aim the gun, and finally how to load it. After this they put up a few target sheets for us and let us fire our first shot. It takes a lot to make Adam nervous these days, and this did the trick. It was an exciting feeling the first shot, and we both hit the targets thank god. After this they let us fire about 10 bullets at the targets, it was then we learnt that the longer you don't pull the trigger the more your hand starts to shake!... and sweat! Adam had a comedy incident when loading his gun - after 3 bullets the 4th of 5 wouldn't go in, turns out he was putting them in backwards!!! Oops! We then got to shoot at some metal shapped men that went down if you hit them, Nick did better than Adam here. We swapped guns and fired at the targets some more, Nicks head shot attempts went low into the middle of the body target - making his sheet look very impressive! After this they took some photos for us, and had clearly done it before, they made us pose in lots of funny positions and we got some good 'lads' photos. We got back to the hotel and asked reception about visiting Doi Suthep, he said 1000 baht with him, or we could try and get a cab cheaper outside if we haggle, we got one for 500 baht. After a 40 minute uphill drive, and then a 365 step climb we got there. It was a really nice temple grounds, with almost as many Thai tourists and forigners. The views of the city were amazing from up here and the photos don't do it justice! We went back to our waiting driver then spent an hour in the hotel chilling and planning transport to our next few locations. We went back to the Saloon for more good food and watched Liverpool vs Arsenal with a few beers, 3pm saturday football is shown live here and the time difference (+6) works our perfect for some drinking and food with it! We then went to watch some cultural dancing on a big stage by the town hall and then went to the Night Bizaar/market. This place was really cool, we brought some bargain t-shirts for 150 baht (£2). We also went passed a magic stall and had a chat with them, Adam showed off his flying card he brought in Bangkok, this didn't impress the magician, but did show we had an interest - and we got a free 10 minute show of some really good card tricks. After hanging out here we got a Tuk Tuk home to bed, via 7/11 again.

Next day we were leaving Chain mai heading to Phitsanoluk, we would be using here as a base to visit Sukothai from, apparently its only an hour drive and the city in Phitsanoluk is more exciting. We got a Tuk Tuk to Arcade bus station, planning to use the local buses and do it all ourselves. We arrived dead on 8am and within minutes we were on the 8am bus heading for Phitsanoluk, it was quite nice on board and the trip was 5 hours. The bus wasn't full but it did get very hot on it, and there was a lot of mosquitos. After 4 hours the bus stopped at a bus stop, and every sign outside was in thai, we had no idea if we should be getting off or not, maybe this wouldn't be so easy. Eventually we saw a sign saying we were in Tak, Adam found this on the map and we still had a few hours to go. The bus went past the accient city of Sukothai that we would visit tomorrow, then we arrived in Phitsanoluk at 3pm. We got a Tuk Tuk to the train station and booked our train to Ayuthaya for a few days time. It kinda sums up how quickly we zooming around when the first thing we have to do on arrival is book our way out. We then got a Tuk Tuk to Lithai Guest house. The rooms here were pretty standard to what we have been using and at 420 baht including breakfast seemed a good price. We got a map and then headed out to find some food, everywhere seemed to be shut, so we ate at 'It is Cake' just outside our guest house. We then walked along the River side (River Nan) upto Wat Yai, this is the main wat in Phitsanoluk and the only one we visited. Photos were aloud in here and we got a good one of a famous gold budda inside. We walked back and got a bit lost on the way. We brought a massive bunch of bananas for about 15 pence. Chilled at room for a bit then went to the riverside night market. We found the best place ever to eat. It was a small local set up by the river, right in amongst the market, with Man U vs Mid on TV, a nice fountain and the cheapest Chang Beer we have found (70 pence a pint). We ate here and then walked around the market, we got ice creams at 11pm, thats how hot this place is! the market was actually really nice had had lots of good clothes, it seems a very fashionable place here, lots of hair salons and beauty places. We then headed off for some sleep.

Monday 7th we were up at 8am. We packed our bags up and headed down for free breakfast, Nick had toast and Adam had rice and Chicken at 9am! We left our bags with the reception and headed to the bus stop. We got a local bus to Sukothai at 10am, and were the only tourists on it, oddly this bus was doing the same route we did yesterday but in reverse. We saved money on a Tuk Tuk in Sukothai by getting dropped off at the park gates, this local transport is easy! We were then met by a man hiring bicycles for the day (which we had read we would need), they were a bargain at 30 pence each including a lock - even if they did look like they were from the 70's. We headed for Sukothai Historical Park to see the accient city ruins - apparently the best of its kind in Thailand. This place was big and its hard to see it all in a day. We got an all areas pass and visited 3 of the main ruins straight away, there was some bus groups of monks visiting at the time which made a few of our photos look really good! After these we headed to the museum to do a bit of learning, then went for some food and cold drinks, it was a hot day for biking. After this we visited the other parts of the ruins within the old city walls. A group of local girls kept shouting 'Hello!' at us until we eventually went over to them. They wanted photos taken with us- this puzzled us slightly and is the second time on the trip its happened. We happily got in the photos and no one requested any autographs from us. We still had a few hours so we visited some of the ruins outside of the city walls which got some good use out of the bikes. The ruins were really interesting and made a nice change from the endless temples we seemed to have seen over the past month. We then went back to the food place for some cold drinks and they gave us a free 'ice towel' each to cool down with. We told them we wanted to go back to Phitsanoluk and asked if we needed to go to the bus stop (about 4km away). They just told us to relax and have our drinks - they would sort it for us. The passing bus eventually drove by and the waitress in her yellow uniform practically did star jumps in the road till the bus stopped. We thanked her and got on the bus back. We saved getting a Tuk Tuk at the other end by getting dropped off along the river before the bus station - this local transport is easy (and cheap!). The walk along the riverside was amazing. First we saw a painting area, where little children and young couples on dates were buying black and white pictures to paint, they were supplied with paints and tiny stools and tables to paint by the river. Next we saw lots of joggers going up and down the river side, then badminton players, then people keeping that odd ball up. Last thing we saw was possibly the biggest aerobics class ever. The whole street was covered with people all moving in time to an instructor and music on the riverside (see video!). We got back to our bags and stuggled to find an internet cafe, we were soaking in sweat and had to ctach a night train. Thankfully the hotel we had stayed at let us use the shared bathrooms for free and also sold us an internet wireless card we could use from the lobby. Really helpful place. We went back to the place we watched the football by the river at yesteday, we had 4 hours until our midnight train. No football on tonight, but an open stage apparently. The young thai boy plugged in his guitar and begain to perform thai music and a few western songs, including some Robbie Williams. We had some food and hit the beers. The performer left and not long after 2 young thai guys started plugging in. They performed for the next few hours and songs included Hotel California and a thai verson of Nothing Else Matters. While we watched them a small fat drunk local lady came along shouting (once at us), the big owner (who had a man U shirt on yesertday) quickly dealt with her and got back to his food and beers that he always seemed to have. The lady came back a few times that night and we exchanged a few funny looks with the owner who seemed to find it as funny as we did everytime. Also a drunk local lad came to try and chat to us, he was very drunk and struggled with English, but he tried hard. He was reqesting songs to the boys and at one point was on the stage singing into the mic with them (he had a drink in each hand!). He then used sign language to surgest that us 3 should all down our drinks. Adam necked his in seconds and the Thai guy then did the same - except was then sick all over the floor. He signed to us not to tell his 2 friends and then he went off into the night! We then stumbled to the train station and quietly got on and into our beds, the ticket man would wake us when we arrived in Ayuthaya.

We were heading to Ayuthaya to get another train onto Pak Chong, from here we plan to get a bus to Khao Yai National Park - that is where we will spend the next few days before heading back to Bangkok for Thai New Year celebrations (all 4 days of them!).

Some amazing experiences over the last few weeks and the trip seems to get better and better.

Hope all is well with everyone back home - more bad weather on the way we hear?

Comments on the report welcome as ever!

Adam and Nick

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