Blogs from Phitsanulok, Northern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 3

Geo: 16.82, 100.27We stop about half way through the journey near the town of Phitsanulok for a toilet break and for the Thais something to eat, even though it is 02:00 in the morning and we only have 20 minutes. Arrive at Khon Kaen at 07:30 and are dropped off quite near to our next bus which unfortunately does not leave for another hour. Jai disappears to find us some breakfast. We finally arrive in Phon Thong about 11:00 and tuk-tuk across town to where we left the motorbike for out final 20 minutes or so back to the village. We arrive feeling tired and dirty. As expected the house is filthy. Jai's mother has absolutely no concept of clean/dirty. Between us we soon clean enough to be able to stop and have something to eat. ... read more

it must be or it would be otherwise... i spent a couple of days in bangkok (which is actually a western basterdization of the name of a village that used to exist there called bang makok... the official name of the city is, are you ready for it, 'krungthep mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnopparat ratchathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasathan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit' , which translated roughly means, 'great city of angels, repository of divine gems, great land unconquerable, grande and prominent realm, royal and delightful capital city full of nine noble gems, highest royalty dwelling and grande palace, divine shelter and living place of reincarnated spirits'..) planing my vipassana meditaion schedule while here in se asia... first course scheduled to begin on the 13th of may so i went and bought a train tic... read more

Friday 20th We headed south to a workaday Thai town called Phitsanulok by express coach. I unfortunately left our detailed guidebook on the bus so we didn't even have a map of town. We found a reasonable guest house however (having rejected the first). I went out for a walk on my own and was immediately struck by the town. There is virtually no provision for western tourists here. I could find hardly a word written in non-Thai script. The streets are fascinating and the market is magnificent and I've not seen such a selection of food stalls since Bangkok. The heat in Phitsanulok is especially stifling - there is something about the humidity that means that you get sticky and uncomfortable after just a few minutes outside. The eveings brought little relief and the number ... read more

September 18, 2008 ....This has been by far one of the most difficult and rewarding experiences i have ever had in my life. Personally, not being able to speak, touch or have eye contact with anyone during 10 days really hit me. At the beggining is difficult to understand a lot of things, but as days go by, everything starts making sense. Being isolated & immersed in my own world allowed me to focus, to be aware of my breath for the first time in my life, to find peace of mind and go deep deep inside my thoughts & sensations like never before....from day 1, i got on a non-stop, day & night, rollercoaster of emotions.... ....I am really happy to have found the answer to several questions that troubled my mind during many years.....the ... read more

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 ... read more