Wow, I love it. What a pretty place, and gives you a neat feeling having boated through wilderness and then arrived here. There's a definite vibe - the natural and architectural beauty, plus an infectious feeling of calm and serenity. All along the river front are outdoor patios beneath the trees, though the real main drag is parallel a couple of blocks inland. There's a steep hill in the middle with a spire upon it, lit eerily at night. The charming buildings are two story with shutters, and there are shops and cafes all over. There's a definite French influence besides [View Full Entry]

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[Dah! - I accidently uploaded a bunch of the photos into the Chiang Khong entry, take a look there too] What an excellent trip. Awoke at the crack of dawn and packed up, the rickshaw driver arranged the day before showed up on time and we were down to the border station in minutes. Mornings are chilly, but the days stinking hot. There's a bizarre temperature difference just walking from the shade out into the sun. We hooked up with our tour and got stamped out of Thailand, then down to the muddy water's edge and into a motorized canoe-like boat [View Full Entry]

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Finally moving on from Chiang Mai! We spent an extra couple of weeks so that we could have a checkup with the same doctor for Farah's foot, and all looks to be improving well, though she'll keep the weight off it for a while yet, and I will be the baggage mule. If I put one pack in front they balance surprisingly well. McCormick seems to be a great hospital. Afterwards we discussed hospitals with a resident expat who told us that Ram hospital is the typical Farang hospital, where it is rumoured that the fee is based on your perceived [View Full Entry]

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The cooking course was really well done. We were picked up in a songthew truck with the others and taken to a local market where the instructor pointed out some things and picked up a few supplies not available on the farm. We had a few minutes to walk around and look; I found cassava pone!; one of my favourites from caribbean cuisine. We drove out to the small farm and had a tour of the garden - interesting to see how the various crops grow. Some familiar like tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, hot peppers; others less like lemongrass, ginseng, ginger, [View Full Entry]

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We'll be here several days while we see the sights and get our Chinese visa, but that should be no problem as it seems like a great little city with lots to do. The bus ride up was fine, the terrain became slightly hillier and the A/C was on "meat-locker" the whole way (is there no happy medium?). We stopped at one point for a break and a local knocked a bunch of tamarind pods off a tree for the bus driver. Right before we took off, he came back handing them out and gave us a big handful. Nice! Crispy [View Full Entry]

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Ayutthaya is a fairly quiet little place just north of Bangkok with ruins scattered throughout. Each wat (temple) site of which there are many was a cluster of monuments - chedis, stupas and towering prangs. The ruins had a quiet park-like setting and it was peaceful yet moving to wander among the ruins. They're constructed of brick with a plaster coating, most of which had crumbled away, unfortunately taking much of the fine detail and sculpture with it. The heat was oppressive and we staggerred from ruin to ruin, getting the highlights, but not really doing the town justice. We finally [View Full Entry]

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We woke up feeling a bit sluggish, and John wasn't up for travelling, so we stayed in Bangkok for yet another day (and we were just supposed to arrive, get our visas, and get out!). So we had a leisurely morning at our favourite spot for banana pancakes - the Merry V guesthouse. Some of the guidebooks and web sites I've read have used the unflattering term 'banana pancake trail' to describe a well-trodden tourist route of spots where foreigners congregate. Maybe so, but banana pancakes are delicious! I don't know where they came from - they're not something I've ever [View Full Entry]

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After a full week in Bangkok we're moving on to Ayutthaya tommorow to take in the historic capital, but not before doing our last bit of shopping! We spent the day downtown in an incredibly upscale mall that was spacious, spotless and expensive! The stores contained the best of everything - clothes, electronics, jewelry and even luxury cars were on offer. Not being able to afford a pair of Jimmy Choos, we just window shopped - I gawked at the designer clothes and the huge rocks in the jewelry store windows, and John's eye was caught by the amazing aquariums stocked [View Full Entry]

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We took a short, cheap and badly scheduled flight from Kochi to Chennai (6800 Rs for both of us), and sat in the Chennai airport for 10 hours. When we booked the noon flight, we assumed we would be let into the passengers' waiting section of the airport where we could try and find a Thailand guidebook and have a bite to eat. Of course it didn't work that way - the Chennai airport was surprisingly small, and entrance into the airport was restricted to passengers with tickets and visitors with a guest ticket (enforced by armed guards). So we sat [View Full Entry]

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(Now in Cochin, after much discussion we're going to spend a shortened amount of time in Thailand after all, we fly on the 15-16th.) Took the bus to Kollam from Kovallam (unfortunately similar names) and booked into a cheap place to stage for a boat tour through the backwaters. We booked some tickets for the 8 hour northward cruise through the backwaters and found a hotel for the night. The next day was one of the most memorable in the entire trip. We ordered breakfast and through miscommunication ended up only getting coffee; perhaps an omen that this day wouldn't be [View Full Entry]

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