Thailand - Safety First

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I thought this little motto was somewhat ironic considering that I thought Thailand was one of the most unsafe places i'd ever visited. Obviously not in the ganglands, shoot-out on the corner, missles thrown into crowded streets unsafe. No, this was a more subtle unsafeness, the type of which you are blissfully unaware of until you actually turn your mind to the horrific possibilities of carnage that could await. Which leads me to believe that most Thai people must spend their days in some type of numbness to allow themselves to sanely survive within the country. The most obvious safety hazards are as follows:
- The extreme lack of road rules, which even when you're travelling in a car which greatly outweighs the tuk-tuks and mopeds that go screaming by, you still feel that you wish there was a seatbelt and that the driver would stay in his lane.
- About 1000 different power/phone cables on each pole along the street side, some so low that you could touch them.
- The flat bottom boats that are used as public bus/boats along the river in Bangkok, one slip and you're in the water, they wouldn't even notice given the ferocity and speed at which they drive those things up to and from the piers.
- The rabid look in the eye of every dog that wanders the streets (ok, I made that one up, but there are a lot of wandering dogs, all of which were good natured, none of which displayed signs of rabies, but i'm sure there is one mad frothing dog out there).
- The persuasivness of the tailors peddling their wares on the streets and beachs. If you're not careful their slimy, creepiness could wash all over you like a cheap suit (get it?).
- Nobody pays any attention to pedestrian crossings, so you just have to close your eyes and step out. They all stop, eventually.
- Tuk Tuks, need I say more. Fun though.
- This crazy little ant/scorpion looking thing that bit me on the back one day and left me with a terrible tingly scratchy sensation for the rest of the day. Not a coma inducing bite though, so that was something to be thankful for.
- And the thing that drove me to near insanity was the horrendous amount of terrible Thai pop music that they insisted of playing. Everywhere, even on the public bus. I tell you what, that wouldn't be stood for in good ole NZ. And whats worse was if they weren't playing that wailing, cheaply produced crap it was James Blunt. Oh, the horror!

Nah, seriously, Thailand was wonderful. From the large, crammed, steamy, crazy rambunctiousness of Bangkok to the beautiful beach and bays of the islands, I had a great time. We started out in Bangkok, arriving in the middle of a seriously large thunderstorm. Which did wonders for my panic levels. And then by the time we got to the hotel there was a total monsoon downpour happening, we got dreanched leaping from the taxi into the hotel. But luckily that was really all the rain we got except for a smattering or two at other times. Julias dad visits Thailand often and so was actually in Bangkok when we were which was wonderful as he showed us around. The first two days were unbearably hot and we'd time our journeys down the streets so we could duck into as many 7-11s as possible to make the most of the air conditioning. We experienced the flat bottom river boats that I listed above, and they, aside from their scariness, are a very good was to travel along the river. At a ticket price of about 80c NZ you get to travel from one end of the river to the other. People hop on and off (literally hop, I wouldn't want to do that leap of faith in heels) and the driver gets his navigation instructions from a guy at the back with a whistle. Its loud and shrill, but gets the job done. We did the touristy rounds and visited the only two Wats we really saw in Thailand. I think if you wanted to visit every Wat they got there you would be there for a few years. So we chose the easy to get to, tourist friendly ones. The first Wat we visited, Wat Po, is the home of the reclining Bhudda. This huge lazy guy that is lying back taking it easy within a large temple building. It is something to be seen to be believed, and the paintings on the walls were also amazing to see. After Wat Po we walked around the corner to the Grand Palace, which houses in one of the buildings an emerald Bhudda. Not quite as awe inspiring, as it was tiny, and after seeing the giant that lives at Wat Po I was a little underwhelmed. Plus there were a billion tourists and it must have been about 40 degrees with the humidity, so we didn't stay long. After our tourist role was fulfilled for the day we went shopping, and oh my, what shops Bangkok has! From little road side stalls to large malls, Bangkok is a shoppers paradise, although it is loud and tiring at the same time.

The next day we went to the Chatuchak markets which are only held on the weekends. These markets spread over about 5 hectares and so, given that we only stayed there for about 2 hours, we saw a very little amount of what was on offer. I separated from the others and somehow found myself in the animal section. I could choose from fish in plastic bags, to a bowl of baby turtles, or perhaps a kitten or 17, and for the really daring pet owner I could have bought myself an egg tray within a plastic bag of cockroaches, or crickets. Although I spose those are really for eating. There were squirrills on leashes, baby parrots and parakeets, and bowls of maggoty looking worms. Oh, it was great, especially the smell that is associated with these pet areas. Still though, I don't think i'll ever see a bag of crickets all sitting in their own egg carton section, chirping away at 10am in the morning again.

From Bangkok we travelled north to a a city called Chiang Mai. This is Thailands second largest city, and much smaller, with reportidly only about 1 million people compared to the 8 million that live in Bangkok. It was wonderful to get out of the big smoke and Chiang Mai is quite different. The old part of the city is surrounded by a moat and remnents of a wall that was used for protection. There is a wonderful night market on Sunday nights (which we went to for about 40 minutes before a large thunderstorm beckoned) luckily it was right outside our hotel, so I panicked and ran inside, Seth and Julia braved the weather for a little bit longer before it did rain and the whole thing was packed up and over, which was a shame as we didn't see all of it. We also got to do a day long cooking school at an organic farm which was really worth it. On the way out we stopped at a local market and Seth ate a fried cricket. Said it didn't taste like anything, but was in a desperate need of a drink afterwards. I gained a lot of satisfaction in eating a curry that I had made entirely from scratch, including the curry paste. It was a great day and something I would totally recommend.

From Chiang Mai was then headed south to the island of Phuket on the west coast. We didn't have fixed plans for this part of the trip and for the first two days we struck it lucky. We stayed away from the tourist mecca (or hellhole, i've heard its the same thing in regards to some places in Thailand) of the beach of Patong and went a little further south to a beach called Kata. We stumbled across a very cheap for the quality of it resort that had been recommended by Lonely Planet and spent a couple of days chilling by the beach and the pool. It was nice to go for a swim in the sea, and it was a much better temperature on the beach. We set ourselves up on some of the beach chairs with umbrellas and also made sure we partook in some very cheesy looking cocktails on the beach. It was a great couple of relaxing days, which was good, as then our travelling plans turned a little sour...

Unfortunately in Thailand there is very little information about public transport. All transport that tourists would be likely to use is operated by private companies. We wanted to try and do a little travelling on the public system, as we heard it was reliable, cheap and easy to use. And it is all of these things, if you can find it. In Kata, the one thing that let the hotel down was their biased travel information. We wanted to catch a ferry from Phuket to Krabi, a town further south on the east coast, then head overland on a bus and then over to Ko Samui. We were told this first ferry would take about 3 hours. To cut a long story short, the first ferry took 8 hours, with a stop at a very heavily touristy Ko Phi Phi islands, which, while being beautiful are drastically spoilt by the number of people there. This then caused us to miss the last bus of the day, turning what would have been one (albiet long) day of travelling into two. It was awesome, and our moods were really something to experience. However, the good things about it were that the food in Krabi at the night market was wonderful, real good Thai street food, for about $2 each!

And all of that travelling was worth it for the two days of bliss spent on Ko Phangan, an island to the north of Ko Samui which is not as populated or touristy, and we thought it was more specatular. We spent two nights in a place that only had 10 bungalows, with an infinity pool between our deck and the beach. Just so wonderful, i'm only sorry we didn't spend more time there.

And then it was back to Bangkok, for some last minute shopping, packing and purging of the stuff we were taking on the next leg of our journey with us and we were gone. Thailand is very good for any traveller I think. If you haven't travelled much, or you want to make sure you do it in style, then I would say book somewhere that is in the moderate range and book before you go. That means you don't have the hassle of dealing with shoddy tour desks and can walk or travel somewhere confident that you will be picked up and taken there, not haggling with a taxi driver on the street. Be aware that outside of Bangkok, pretty much an taxi that calls itself a 'taxi-meter' probably doesn't even have a meter and they will charge you a much higher amount than you should be paying. But when that 'high' amount is only about $12 then its not really worth the argument eh! My next trip to Thailand will consist of much more sitting at the same place and less travelling around, and i'll take my own personal soundsystem. Overall, Thailand was fascinating, exotic without being too foreign and the food is to die for. But make sure you always ask for a Western 'mild' of your curry, otherwise you'll be left speechless and in a considerable amount of pain!

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Photos

You can cook!
Ali and Seth all sorted out and ready to cook!

The mighty river
Seth and Julia next to the river in Bangkok on our first morning.

Wat Po
The crew in front of some of the buildings in Wat Po

Lazy Bugger!
The reclining Bhudda, taking it easy for many years.

Teachers Pet
Seth showing off his cooking skills

Market bargaining
The night market in Chiang Mai

Here is your typical Thailand photo
The sunset a Kata Beach

Cheesy!
Ali and her crazy cocktail

Kata beach
This is a scene repeated at all populat beaches in Thailand

No, this is the typical Thailand photo
The scene from the deck of the resort on Ko Phangan - bliss!