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Tuk-Tuk
Our tricksy Tuk-Tuk driver Well, where to begin?! I'll begin at the start, with...
Bangkok
... and stressing how much you should not bother staying in it. Stepping out of the terminal we were instantly assaulted by taxi drivers and husslers, aggressively touting taxies at twice the fair price and pushing us toward their friends' cars. We felt threatened immediately and began to harbour a (fully justified) wariness of anyone that approached us.
Our bus ride brought us into the scrambling chaos of Bangkok. This is a city where every second person rides a 125cc scooter, seemingly to their own set of road rules. A city of filthy, smog-filled streets that smell somewhere between rotting cabbage and rat soup. And then there's the Tuk-Tuk drivers with their annoying mating call: "Hey you, where you go?". The only Tuk-Tuk we caught all day charged us easily double the going rate, and after an
extended detour through all of Bangkok, arrived at the Laos embassy 5 minutes after it shut, forcing us to take the same Tuk-Tuk back to town for even more than the original amount.
Oh, and I think I ate rat. That or some tough fish with a vertebra, but either
Grand Palace
Wandering the blingin' Grand Palace grounds in Bangkok way I recommend choosing your restaurants carefully. Perhaps Bangkok is a city who shines after the sun sets, when darkness and neon lights disguise the filthy streets. We didn't stick around to find out.
Chiang Mai take 1
By way of comparison Chaing Mai is a breath of fresh air. It is a leafy town built within a square of ancient ruined walls and surrounded by a moat. The Thais are still entrepeneurial here but far less aggressive than in the capital city. We quickly hired a scooter to get around town, and wanting to fit in with the locals, I ran the first red light I came to... and was booked by the (very smartly dressed) police officer hiding around the corner. Funny though, he didn't book the three locals who had run the same light!
The next day we booked in to Baan Thai for a cooking course - unbelievable. It started with a trip to the local market to gather ingredients, which we spent the day turning into some of the tastiest food I've ever cooked. With full bellies (we ate each of our 5 creations) we caught a very late minibus up into
Pai Hot Springs
So THATS why hot springs always smell like eggs! the mountains to check out pai. The air became thick with smoke as we ascended, for in the dry season land is burned to prepare the fields for the wet season. Rather than detract from the scenery, the smoke gave the countryside an ethereal feel (when you could see it!) and produced the most blazing red sunsets.
Pai
I love Pai! We arrived after dark by minibus, to a night market lit up by candles and lanterns! How beautiful! It wasnt until we had checked in at our cute little bamboo bungalow across the river that the power came on, and we realised the night market is not always in darkness. But even the neon glow of 7-Eleven, and a bank now visible down the street, could not detract from the quaint, hippy charm of Pai. After spending a day touristing around the area on a motorbike, we returned to town only to get
drenched by by buckets of water thrown by locals and tourists alike! You see, in mid april Thailand goes crazy for the Buddhist new year, and celebrate manically by hosting a country-wide water fight. You either accept your watery fate within 10 steps of
Pai River
Where we stayed in a bamboo bungalow your door or stay inside, because Songkran is a no-mercy, young-and-old, nobody-gets-away-dry free-for-all. Total madness and the most fortunate time to travel through Thailand.
After two days we were sad to leave Pai - and it is definately somewhere that deserves a revisit - but as the whole trip was majorly short on time (1 month is
way too short a time to see three countries properly!) we reluctantly moved on to find...
Blood.
Arriving at the bus stop outside of Chiang Mai, Trudi was first to notice a man sitting beside a bus, with blood on his face. A lot of blood. We brought it to the attention of our driver, who kind of chuckled and said "Sticky"... !?! ... In fact, there were a few people walking past, clearly having noticed him but doing nothing to help. So we got out some gauze and I took it over to him, trying to explain through the language barrier that he should hold it to his face, but he was in a bad way and did not understand. Finally I caught the attention of a passing woman, who thankfully rushed off to get help. And still people
Elephants!
the one on the right is called Noddy, cos he nods for food :) just walked on by, curious but unwilling to interrupt their day. Not their problem I guess.
Chiang Mai take 2
If we thought battling local kids and tourists in Pai was a waterfight, returning to Chiang Mai on the first official day of the festival took Songkran to a whole new level! Imagine this: an ancient walled city surrounded by a moat. Surrounding this moat are 100,000 Thais and tourists, most drunk, and all with waterpistols or buckets of water pulled from the moat . And now imagine this: Trudi and Alan (backpacks and all) getting out of a taxi 200m from their hotel where it had to stop due to road closures, walking the gauntlet of a throng of soaked revellers, all looking for a patch of dry clothing to wet. We had plenty... but not for long 😊
Unfortunately Songkran turned sour on the second night, when we both came down with illness. Perhaps it was the thick, green water splashed at us from the moat, or just a simple case of food poisening, but at that point we had had enough of Chiang Mai and our dingy hotel (the 'mattress' was little more than
Bamboo Forest
Trekking to Lahu hill tribe village an inch of foam on a wooden board) and decided to leave the next day.
Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai is quiet and very liveable. We didnt do much here, but enjoyed our time relaxing, drinking and getting massages. We organised a trek up into the hilltribes, and the night before we left I was forced to endure the worst massage of my life, from a 'masseuse' who was clearly trying to solicit some other kind of activity. Needless to say I don't recommend going for a massage after 10pm at night unless you are looking for a happy ending.
Hilltribe Trekking
Unfortunately the treks to hill tribe villages are very commercialised, and these days they exist mostly to service the passing tourist trade. But it would be hypocritical to complain, because by trekking there we assist in eroding the very thing we wish to observe. Nonetheless, the trek through jungle to the hill-top Lahu village was breathtaking, and even better the next day on the way back to Chiang Rai.
Chiang Saen
We passed through here very quickly, on our way to the Laos border, just long enough for a quick exploration of the
Lahu Hilltribe Village
where we trekked to and spent the night ancient ruins dotted around the towns.
FOR PLENTY MORE PHOTOS, CHECK OUT MY FACEBOOK
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OR TRUDI'S PICASAWEB
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