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Published: January 27th 2008
So, I'm now in Chaing Mai, safe and sound. The train we took to get here was like stepping back in time - but in a good way.
The seats are in sets of two with a table inbetween. When it gets to night time, a man comes round to make the beds. The table gets removed and the seats pushed flat and lain together. Bed one. Bed two then appears as if by magic, pulled down from an over-head compartment. Each bed is then covered with a thin (but pretty damn comfy); matress, sheet, pillow, blanket and finally, is surrounded by a big blue curtain. Walla! Bed time.
Max got the top bunk and I stayed put on the bottom. Probably the best nights sleep I've had so far, if anything it just wasn't long enough! At 8.30 I was woken up by the breakfast I'd ordered the night before. Oh, I forgot to mention the food didn't I? Well, used to London trains, which tend to offer nothing more than a limited yet extortionate food cart, I had stocked us up on giant bags of crisps, bottles of pepsi and sprite, and a packet of memtos. Therefore I was pretty suprised when we were handed ordering sheets at the begining of our journey - although not as suprised as Max when we got billed for it this morning!
The food was delicious; I had spicy Thai soup for starters (boiled water with a stock of pretty much everything you could imagin, including a piece of water mellon!), with spiced pork and basil rice, fried vegetables and prawns for my main. Thats right, you heard me, prawns!
After trying them in Gambia I have decided I kinda like the ugly lil fellas - despite my religiously strict vow of a no fish/seafood diet. I only had two prawns on my plate, but they were damn good. Tasted like chicken!
This mornings food didn't match up to dinners high esteem. Bleary eyed and still longingly clutching my pillow, I accepted the breakfast tray that was mercilessly being thrusted at me from beyond the other side of my blue curtained fortress. The 'sausage, eggs and ham' were sadly what I expected, having had it the morning we returned to Bangkok. The eggs were mushy and tasteless, the sausage smaller than my thumb and obviously out of a can (think those vegetarian type sausages but made out of actual meat). The toast was bread, the tea was made with powdered milk, but the orange juice (which was in a carton and had tasted disgustingly sweet the night before) was suddenly just what the doctor had ordered!
Anyway, I cant complain much about the food, it was edible and I sure as hell didnt leave anything spare!
The train at this point was slowly plodding its way across a dry and barren countryside. Dusty, rocky ground loomed up in over-bearing hills. The grass looked like an ideal fire hazzard. Pretty grim. And then suddenly out of nowhere appeared this tree. It was too far away for me to tell if it was covered in fruit or blossom, but whatever it was, this tree was a-blaze with with reds and pinks amidst a sea of browns. It's dreary backdrop only proved to make it all the more vivid and beautiful. If I had any colours with me, I would have drawn it, but alas, alack, I only equipped myself with a stick of charcoal!
Soon after breakfast and a hasty get up - where I was once more greatly amused by the onboard toilet (a hole cut into the bottom of the train, so you could watch the ground wizz by as you...erm....wizzed), the train pulled up into Chaing Mai station. Alongside five others, me and Max were met on the platform and huddled into a small truck by a very helpful man from our next hotel.
Our room at the holiday garden inn is by far the best to date - but I suppose it would be for the amount we paid after having it thrust upon us by the T.A.T. Still, just one more lesson learned!
Thankfully no screw ups with the beds this time (at the bounty we were at first given a room with a double bed, a DEFINITE no no), in fact, they're gorgeous little things, and for the first time ever we're in a room with a cubboard, fridge and TV! Not exactly a true back-packing experience, but a bit of deserved luxury before our six day treck I guess!
I'm a bit worried about the treck. I mean, don't get me wrong, I can't wait, but I'm finding it a bit hard to walk at the moment. See, when me and Max rented that moped, I burnt the back of my leg pretty badly on the engine. Max had told me to get off while he tried to turn the thing around, and I was in the process of doing so when he accidentally lost balance causing the red hot pipes to smack into me and do some pretty nasty damage. At first it didn't seem that bad, but then during my night of swimming in the sea with Nathen, the whole bit of burnt skin must have got ripped off. I also cut my other foot pretty deeply below the toe on the rocks in the sea at the same time, and mum's flip flops rubbed a red raw sore inbetween one of my toes on that same foot.
I'm alright now though if I'm honest (can sense parentals having heart attacks), thanks to the disinfectant wipes, cream, dressings/dressing tape, plasters and medical book Dad made me pack, I don't think there's any fear of my leg falling off any time soon. Plus pre-med student Maximus is pretty handy in these type of situations - or at least he makes it sound like he knows what he's talking about.
The other annoying thing is that my cough (equipped with extra snotty nose) is back with a vengence, making me think that the doctors suggestion (despite lack of examination/confirmation) that I might have a 'nasal drip' could be not far off the mark. Coincidentally, Max used to have one and thus decided that a thorough inspection of my nasal passages was in order. The outcome apparently, is that yes, one of my nasal passages is a lot smaller/bigger than the other. However, the solution to this is apparently some form of nose job to straighten it out, which concerns me a little bit as firstly; I quite like my nose, and secondly; his definitely isn't the straightest I've ever seen, which makes me wonder what it could have looked like to begin with. I may just have to be snotty for life!
Anyway, back to the trip. Max, despite saying for possibly the first since we landed that he was knackered (seriously, the boy drinks diet coke like its water but it may as well be lucozade!) has planned a day full of activities. I do admire his thoroughness, however touristy it may be. If it were left up to me we'd spend a day on every individual activity and therefore not get a hell of a lot done, which wouldn't leave a lot to talk about afterwards either.
Doesn't look too promising on the who might be joining us on the treck front, although you never can tell. We've met some amazing people on our journey so far. Leo, a true once in a life time character (possibly the weirdest yet nicest guy you'll ever meet) was obviously there pretty much from day one (well, day two if you want to get pedantic about it), and it was really sad to say goodbye to him in Bangkok yesterday. But, as someone recently reminded me back home, goodbyes are only as real as you make them. Then there was Leanne, totally got chatting to her by chance at the dock (hadn't exchanged two words with each other the whole time all of us had been at the bounty), then ended up spending the whole next two days with her. The three of us went to the weekend markets to kill time in Bangkok yesterday before me and Max's train, and she was fab, getting three times more excited over the bargins as anyone else. She also let us use her room as a day bag storage facility and allowed me the use of her shower for which I am enternally grateful. The rest of the afternoon was then spent watching crappy TV and eating oreos (also supplied by her) before a hurried goodbye of hugs, kisses and detail swappage. She also promised us a place to crash if our tour of Oz should take us to melbourne, which we're hoping it will. Nathen's friend Sam reckons he can hook us up with a cheap car, so I'm sensing a road trip!
Meeting new people has started to become like a bit of a drug for me, all I want to do is go out and make new friends. Thats what this trip is all about for me if im honest, not so mcuh seeing the sights as entering this dynamic social world of travellers and making my mark on it. It's the freedom I guess, the lack of commitment. There's no inhibitions, no shyness, because the chance of you ever seeing any of these people again is slim to none....unless you choose to of course. There's also the pressure of time, you're more open with everyone because you only have so long to have those worthwhile conversations with them, and who wants six months of just small talk? That would be boring. I'm still battling with my fear of making the first move, but the instant anyone else says a word to me I'm the biggest socialite you ever did see. And I love it. The only problem now is the odd few hours of cabin fever. For the first time this trip me and Max are sticking to the confines of our room, because there's hardly anyone else here. After a while I left max napping and went down by the pool to catch some sun. The hotel is walled off from what looks like a farm. I could hear a rooster boistorously crowing to the distant answer of a dogs bark. The sun was hot, its warmth enveloping me in a soft breeze. A single white flower floated in the pool. It was all very poetic.
After a bit I headed back upstairs and woke max up and we headed onwards and outwards, organising a tuk-tuk driver with the hotel. We were soon joined by Mark, a guy we'd met on the truck ride from the train station to the hotel. He's nice if not a little twitchy and quiet, but we invited him along on our expedition and he turned out to be nice enough company. Plus it turns out hes coming with us on the three day track around Chiang Mai.
We visited a couple of temples first. Temple number one was beautifully decorated on the inside. The walls were covered in paintings telling the story of Buddah, the ceiling covered in string - which we were later told symbolised good luck.
The second temple held in it the largest Buddah in Chiang Mai. Seriously, this thing was huge, it could easily have fit two people sitting on one of its shoulders quite comfortably. There was a monk inside the temple, who sprayed us with water with a small wooden brush in a blessing as we knelt infront of him, before tying a peice of white string around each of our wrists. Apparently, if we wear the string for seven days and then sleep with it under our pillow, we will have a long and prosperous life. This temple was beautiful as well, everything was drenched in gold leaf much like the ones we visited in Bangkok.
After the temples, we went to visit an old ruin that has been rebuilt gradually over the past few centuries. The 'Phra Dhatu Chedi Laung' is an old pasoda and is over 600 years old, first constructed in 1391. The arcitecture was magnificant, huge stone elephants protruded out of the walls, dragons with gemstone eyes slivered out towards you from the edge of the stairs. Monks walked around the grounds in their hundreds, all dressed in the traditional orange coloured robes. We learnt that the youngest age someone can become a monk is eight, and that many people choose this way of life because it provides them with food, shelter and clothing through gifts and offerings given to them by the tourists and general public. They also recieve a fund from the government. Not as religiously orientated as I imagined, but its pretty uderstandable! After that was a quick lunch and a brief walk through another market, before heading back. I'm shattered, as I'm sure you all are after reading my long drawn out descriptions! Tomorrow I get up nice and early and head out to the jungle for three days, before returning here for a night. Then its off to Laos and another three day treck!
Hope you're all well and enjoying the rain :-p love you all loads
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vonschnitzel
Harvey Angel
A Town Likes Emma?
Your blog is beginning to sound like a re-vamping of Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice...starting in the Far East and eventually moving to Australia!