Some of you might have noticed that I'd hardly updated this blog the past two months, and the reason is because I've been mostly just based in Bangkok taking Thai classes, exploring the city, and not moving around to the provinces that much. I thought I'd do a consolidated update towards the end of my time here, which has now almost arrived, so here it is. Two months here in the Big Mango have flown by. Apart from my time during college in the US, this was actually the first time I'd stayed for a relatively extended period overseas in a single city outside of my home country Singapore, and I have to say Bangkok certainly didn't disappoint. As I leave with a somewhat heavy heart, (rather compelled to since my Thai visa is expiring!), I'm ... read more

Another long weekend here in Thailand, this time it was the Queen's Birthday, which apparently doubles up as Mother's Day here. I took the opportunity to make an even further trip up north this time, travelling some six hours plus to Phitsanulok, almost at the halfway mark to Chiangmai. The main point of the trip was to visit the nearby Sukhothai Historical Park. The two cities, along with Ayutthaya and to some extent, Lopburi, are of considerable historical significance to the Thai Kingdom. Sukhothai was an ancient capital, and Phitsanulok was the king's preferred city of residence then. Phitsanulok today, like Lopburi, is an unassuming, quite typical Central/ Northern Thai city, devoid of the madness that accompanies the kitschy tourist traps. Having said that, the odd farang and/ or Japanese/ Korean tourist was almost always in ... read more

After another quick overnight transit back in Bangkok, I finally made my much-awaited return to Northern Thailand. I had of course been here just two weeks before, in Chiang Rai, as part of the plan crossing the border at Mae Sai from Myanmar, but I zoomed straight down to Bangkok to catch my grandmother who was there in transit. So after a 15h overnight A/C train ride (much, much more comfortable than the extremely *memorable* ride from Mandalay to Katha in Myanmar I must add), I was finally back in the North, in the old Lanna Kingdom and ancient capital of Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai was certainly very much as I'd expected -- charming, quieter, and much more laid-back than crazy Bangkok. The Old City in the centre was built within a square fort, enclosed by ... read more

Finally left Bangkok and headed west to Kanchanaburi, the city (in)famous for its Death Railway, which was built by the Japanese using POW forced labour during WWII. Literally hundreds of thousands of European and Asian labourers perished under the utterly inhumane working conditions, all to realize ambitious Japanese plans to connect Thailand and Burma by rail through otherwise seemingly impenetrable mountainous terrain, as a new transportation link for their war supplies. The Death Railway of course bridges the equally (in)famous River Khwai, whose mention must certainly bring to many a mind images of the movie of the same name. It was especially poignant to read about the plights of the labourers, and to see for myself the exact location of their efforts, in what must have literally been a living hell. Kanchanaburi today of course is ... read more

So that's it for Myanmar! Just a short one hour flight from Heho near Kalaw to Tachileik, and I was at the Thai border of Mae Sai. Of course Myanmar presented some last minute memories, as I met two interesting Americans on the pick-up ride (lined completely with plastic egg crates!) from Kalaw to Heho airport. Scott was a white guy from New Jersey and fresh out of college, preparing for Grad school in Taiwan (!) studying wildlife conservation, in Mandarin I must add! Great to see a fresh grad not heading towards the *evil* banking/ consulting track! He'd already been to several places in Southeast Asia before, and seemed to speak with genuine passion about the conservation cause. Oh, and by the way, he also spoke French and Japanese! You know, just your usual quadrilingual ... read more