OCH reunion and the end of Thailand

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This morning we walked over to the bus station and hopped into a minivan back to Chiang Mai. Once again over the windy road and even more motion sickness. It was not a fun ride! But luckily it wasn’t a long one. A tuk tuk took us back to our old hotel where we had left most of our stuff and we re-packed our bags and then jumped into the pool while we waited to head for our night train.

Our tuk tuk driver from the previous day came and picked us up and took us over to the train station. We found our train and our seats and settled in. A couple from New Caledonia were seated across from us and they had to be the most annoying people ever. Their suitcases were too big to store anywhere but the walkway, they were loud and just plain obnoxious. They weren’t happy with the train as they thought they’d have their own cabin, well not in Thailand haha.

We enjoyed the scenery for a while and had dinner brought to us before getting into bed as we were due to arrive in Ayuthaya at 4:50 am. I barely slept and just when I was feeling sleep it was time to get up. I woke Michelle up around 4:30 am so we were ready to jump off the train but the train didn’t stop and no one was around or awake to ask where we were. The train pulled into a station around 5:15am and we finally found someone to ask and he said we would be another hour. So we crawled back into bed and I slept a bit but not well. We finally pulled into Ayuthaya around 6:15am or so. A taxi took us over to a guesthouse Carolyn recommended to us and we found someone there and grabbed a room and slept for a bit. It was a holiday friday here in Thailand so Carolyn had the day off to hang with us.

Carolyn also worked at OCH in Christchurch before Michelle and I but we all knew each other from different meetings in New Zealand. She is now in Thailand teaching english for 6 months. So we met up with her and had breakfast and got all caught up on the gossip. We then decided to head to the floating market. It was really cool to walk around and see all the longtail boats with things in them that they were selling. You could buy food or drinks or crafts from the boats. We found a table and sat down to visit in the heat.

A food stall near us had deep fried ice cream for sale so we had to try it. It’s amazing but they actually managed to deep fry ice cream and not have it melt. See picture. After that we walked around the market a bit more before heading back into town. Carolyn joined us again later for some dinner and drinks.

The next day we were all pretty tired and drained with the heat so after eating we headed over to the big mall here. We did a bit of shopping where I bought some fake DKNY apple perfume for like $3 cdn that normally costs $60 cdn back home which was great! We also found a store and all 3 of us ended up buying external hard drives. I bought a 350 GB one for about $70 cdn that would cost me about $250 NZD.

We attempted to go and see a movie but found the movie theatre only played movies in Thai. So back to the hotel we went and then met up with some of Carolyn’s teaching friends for dinner and watched a thai band play at a pub.

The next day was not such a good day. Traveling with someone and being with them 24/7 is really hard. It can put a lot of stress on a relationship and Michelle and I were no exception. We had a bit of an argument and it got to the point where we did not continue traveling on together from that day forward. Michelle packed her stuff and stayed at Carolyn’s that night while I stayed in the hotel room.

I made a decision not to go to Cambodia on my own. I was tired of traveling and I did not feel comfortable traveling in that part of Asia on my own as I really wasn’t prepared for it at all to do it on my own. I was able to change my flight back to New Zealand to a few days later. Michelle did continue on and went to Cambodia without me.

I know a lot of people might think that it’s silly of me to not have gone to Cambodia on my own. But the heat in SE Asia at this time of year is intense and it was starting to get to me. Asia is a while different kind of place to travel and you have to be in the right mindset because you do get stared at a lot and you do get called after a lot. I was ready to move on and get back to NZ and start trying to find some work.

I spent the next couple of days just relaxing in the air conditioning of my room and hanging out with Carolyn in the evenings. I did take a walk the one day to one of the temple ruins in the city as it used to be the Ancient capital of Thailand. But it was so hot and your body can only take so much sweating before you just need to get back indoors.

Carolyn was a great host and was great to have around. I didn’t want to let anyone know right away about not going to Cambodia as I wanted to surprise Pete with my early arrival in NZ.

I had a great adventure in Thailand and it was a really amazing place to visit and despite it ending on not the best note it was still a great trip and I had a great time. It’s definitely not a place like any other that i’ve been to before and I will always look back fondly on my time in this country. Next time though I might research a bit more about that place and knowing ahead of time that it was the hot season I may have been able to pack better and prepare myself more! I hope you all enjoyed reading about my adventure and enjoyed all the pictures.

I’d love to hear from you guys and feel free to send me a message or leave a comment at any time!!!!

Look forward to my next adventure: AUSTRALIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos

Deep fried Ice cream
Amazingly it wasn't melted....amazing!

Carolin's friend Kevin
This cat loved him