Blogs from Northern Thailand, Thailand, Asia
May 17th 2012
Sawadee, Sawati khap & Yo! On the 27th of April we arrived in Bangkok, arriving from Delhi. You will see photos from our last few days in India here and the rest are from Thailand and Laos. Bangkok, though famous for its pollution, decadence and chaos seemed like some rich, clean Swiss town after Delhi: a lovely relief from the horrors of Indian grime. Despite that, we were attacked by swarms of cockroaches, have been ripped off to-the-brimm by the locals and have seen the dark side of the 'bangkok boys' and post-war culture of southeast Asia. Here are some photos, please enjoy!... read more
May 11th 2012
So we have made it safely to Chiang Mai after three crazy days in Bangkok. I knew it would be hot in Bangkok but I don't think I had ever actually anticipated HOW hot it would be! We were almost dripping wet after 10 minutes outside because of the really intense humidity. Not nice!... Anyway, we got out of Bangkok after a few very fun days and took a night train up to Chiang Mai. We are now here for five days and are hopefully going to do lots of excursions and see a more cultural side of Thailand in comparison to the Khao San Road! Yesterday we walked across the entire city and found a great shopping mall (we needed 10 minutes of air con before continuing the walk!) which sold full meals, kind of ... read more
Zak Jack Kerouac On The Border: Thai-Am-Laos Relations
Published: May 12th 2012Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand » Loei
May 9th 2012
"Troubles, you see, is the generalization word for what God exists in. The thing is not to get hung up." ......................Jack Kerouac This could just as easily have been titled The Travels of a Postmodern Monk: Zen by Zak and the Art of Motorbike Abuse. Much of my recent visa run to Laos involved riding over 1,400 miles (2,281km) on my (vintage 2004) 100cc Honda Wave Scooter. I found myself riding over mountain ranges, through cities, towns, villages and along the roughly paved borderlands of Thailand and Laos. Along the way, I incurred three flat tires and somehow cluelessly ran the engine without oil for a long stretch in the afternoon heat. This doesn't include another 700 mile journey in which I returned to the Thai-Laos border, by bus, to pick up the visa I had ... read more
May 5th 2012
I can not say enough that the 7 days i spend at the convent/mediation retreat were one of the most amazing times in mi life ... i think with my 6 day experience with elephants the end of my trip was definitly in my top three of my journey ... had woken up at 5am to catch the train at 5'50am however there was an immediate delay of 35 minutes so by the time i arrived at the trainstation where i was suppost to get off everyone at the retreat was in the middle of their 'chores' ... as i walked in i sneaked in a few pictures, however i soon was found out and later on i realize why it's forbidden to take pictures and'/or write about the place in detail ... i't just too ... read more
Chiang Saen and spirituality ...
Published: April 6th 2012Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand » Chiang SaenApril 2nd 2012
NOTE: SOMETHING HAPPENED WITH UPLOAD PICTURES ON THIS ONE ... SO I'LL DO THAT WHEN GOT ACCESS AGAIN (M OFF TO NORTH OF LAOS NOW ...) Every town, every village has its own center and i continuously look for places to stay just conveniently far enough to be out of the crowd, so Gin's Place it was ... owned by Gin, a thai lawyer who loves american westerns and is more of a poet and artist when you meet him than someone who you would expect to practice law ... and run by Lucy, his business oriented wife. But more about them later ... i ended up only 8km from the center of the Golden Triangle, which is a little island in the shape of an old ax in the middle of the Mekong where Birma ... read more
Golden Triangle and more of Chiang Saen
Published: April 6th 2012Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand » Chiang Saen
March 22nd 2012
NOTE: ALL PICTURES ARE MIXED UP SO MY 'EDITED' PICTURE STORY DOES NOT EXIST IN NEXT FEW BLOGS ... M LEAVING LUANG PRABANG TODAY AND WILL NOT BE ONLINE FOR A WHILE (HAD TROUBLE ALSO HERE IN LP, HOWEVER THAT DOESN'T MEAN YA CAN'T ENJOY THEM ... Not only is Chiang Saen is one of the oldest towns of Thailand with a rich royal and religious history it's also less than 10km away from SopRuak, which is a tourist trap for those who want to be at the center of the Golden Triangle ... and the rest of the text fell away ... oh well, just the mixed up pictures then ... enjoy... read more
March 22nd 2012
22.3.2012 We were driven about an hour away from Chiang Mai, up into the mountains. There was were the elephant training course was. We were greeted by about 4 elephants as soon as we jumped out the truck. We walked to the site were we were introduced to the elephants and told what the plan for the day was. There were 4 big elephants and 1 baby one, who was 6 months old. They had other elephants here but they were up in the mountains and only get brought down when needed. They are asian elephants, smaller than african ones but still big and quite intimidating at first. We put on the cloths that we were given, as we were going to get wet and dirty, and we looked like people out of the Bible. As ... read more
Day 25 Bangkok to Phitsanulok
Published: March 20th 2012Asia » Thailand » Northern Thailand » Phitsanulok
March 19th 2012
We left Bangkok behind and started our roadtrip up North. First we visited the summer palace for the royal family. We then continued on to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand. Ayutthaya had some impressive ruins including Bang Pa-In Palace which included a Buddha statue head intertwined in a Bodi tree (tree Buddha mediated under to reach enlightenment). Finally we finished up in Lopburi to visit some more Khmer ruins. The high point of this stop was the massive entrage of monkeys that live in the city. We ended the day by staying the night in Phitsanulok, a nice little town in the lower North region of the country... read more
March 9th 2012
Saturday 3rdMarch – Bangkok Today we spent the day cruising around Bangkok. We went to the end of the sky-train line to Mo- Chit and visited the Chatuchak Market which is the mother of all markets. It sprawls over a huge area with tens of thousands of stalls and hundreds of thousands of visitors a day. Everything is sold here, from live chickens and snakes to handicrafts and antiques as well as huge piles of clothes, beer and hawker stalls. That evening we got on the overnight bus once again (complete with you own hostess, snacks, surround sounds in your seat and massaging chairs) and travelled 10 hours up to Chiang Mai. Sunday 4th March – Chiang Mai We arrived in Chiang Mai which is a cultural darling: it is a cool place to kick back ... read more
February 29th 2012
The bus to Pai takes three hours up windy roads through stunning mountains, coffee plantations & banana trees. I step out into this pleasant little town of quaint gift shops, cute cocktail shacks, coffee shops, bakeries & guesthouses. I have no map and no plan but I bump into a Chinese girl who tells me she's staying on the riverside for 250 baht a night - sounds good to me so I head to the river, walk over a rickety bamboo bridge to the other side and come across Baan Thai Riverside - cute little bamboo huts literally on the riverside. It's beautiful, peaceful and exactly what I'm looking for! I negotiate 3 nights for 500baht (about £10), dump my stuff and set out to wander around this small town. I stop for an iced tea ... read more
