Exploring Thailand

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Wakeup was 5am as planned, a quick shower and hurriedly dressed to catch two trains to Tokyo station before 7:30am and then on the bullet train (shinkansen) for an hour ride to Narita airport to check into my flight to Bangkok, Thailand.

Check in was the best ever, I didn’t even wait for more than a few minutes. I did have about an hour wait at the boarding deck so I called home to use up the rest of my credit on my Japanese phone then listened to some music on my mp3 player.
The flight over to Thailand was great; Singapore airlines were very nice and professional. One hostess was so nice that before we left the terminal she found me a better seat without me asking, during the flight she offered me extras and always checked up to see if I was happy. I commented on the ice cream being nice so she said she had some more flavors for me to try and brought out extra tubs…

I was quite spoilt since I don’t know many other airlines during my travels that openly offer extras to the common economy class travelers. After landing in Bangkok the first impression was wham! I was not used to 31 degrees and almost all of my fellow jet setters were dressed for the winter conditions of Japan.

After claiming my luggage I made my way down to the exit which was packed with people holding signs and just waiting behind barriers like some famous person was expected. I waded my way through the chaos and found a mobile phone provider so I grabbed a SIM card and booked a cab to Bangkok centre (Khaosan Road)

The cab driver spoke no English at all so I just listened to my MP3 player. Once we arrived I started to get a bad feeling, after all this traveling I felt like I was not looking forward to the chaos of Bangkok. I think the settling down in Niseko Japan had made me feel relaxed, then taking it up again and heading around lower Japan I felt like I needed to summon up energy to do things where as before a thirst for knowledge and a curiosity for the new had driven me to explore.

Now with all the noise and mess combined with the heat that I was not used to or dressed for had me doubting things and considering heading home. Once I found a place to stay I changed cloths and walked around the markets of Khaosan road. After a lap of the place and buying nothing it had started to become late and I was becoming very tired, the clock now had made its way around to 10pm but I felt like it was past midnight. So I took another shower and made my way to bed.

Feb 13th
I awoke at around 1am, wide awake and boiling hot I lay there wondering why I was so wide awake. I tried to get back to sleep but I was far to alert to do so, so I got out of bed and put some cloths on then went down the hall and looked out a wonder onto the street. Khaosan road had changed a lot, less people walked the streets but from nowhere beautiful Thai girls wondered often alone.

If it had not been for the time and the fact that their dresses/skirts were amongst the shortest I had ever seen then I would not have given it a second thought. It seemed to me like the professionals were out looking to drum up some work. I went back to my room and tried to get back to sleep but was still too wide awake and by this time I begun to wonder if I was sick.

I drunk some water incase I was badly dehydrated and just lay in bed for an hour or so listening to music till I got to sleep. During the night I was to wake up another couple of times which was very irritating. Towards the end I thought maybe I should go home as I was not enjoying myself one bit…

9am I took another shower and feeling a little more refreshed I made a plan to walk around the area again, there was a few things I wanted to get and taking some advice from my brother thought maybe I should give Thailand a better chance and as Dane said leave Bangkok ASAP.

I walked around and found some great deals, equipped with some strong haggling skills I had acquired from Egypt I walked away with some great deals. Having Egypt as my learning ground and also having a history in retail made buying in Thailand not only fun but extremely easy, at least compared to Egypt.

Mixed in with the shopping I did some research and pricing for a one way escape from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and by the end of the day I had booked an over night coach to Chiang Mai and a tour the following morning, the trip was to take approximately 12 hours.

One other thing that I think gave me a negative first impression of Bangkok was that some of the locals were not too friendly (in the hotels and guest houses) But after speaking to the receptionists at the hotel I stayed in many times they changed face a lot, so by the time I was packed up to leave the girls were totally different, smiling and being sweet. This was quite odd but a warm and welcome change from my first impression.

I congregated at the meeting point at 6:30pm as requested and along with another 50 or so people and made our way to the coaches, they looked just like the pictures, quite modern and comfortable. As a large group we waited and waited as coaches filled and drove off till finally our ride arrived. First impression was I hope this is not ours as it was much older and not in a good state. “Chiang Mai this way” As the manager would say in her squeaky Thai accent.

At this point we were affirmed of our suspicions that this old coach in fact was luckily enough… to be ours for the next 12 hours! I made my way to the back of the coach as I normally sit at the back, the coach filled and as we drove off my seat rocked backwards and forwards (yup the mounting bolts on the seat were either missing a few or broken somewhere. “God I hope we don’t hit something or I’m going to be folded up like origami and squished into the seat in front like a toasted fuchsia” were my first and not last thoughts.

After a couple of hours and studying my surroundings I had developed the notion that perhaps this coach had been in an accident before, there were large cracks in the seams on the roof and around the windows and in some places gaffer tape was used to keep panels together.

Also by this time I had added a few other annoyances to the list, along with the rocking seat was the inability to recline the seats even half as much as the people in front or beside me, and unfortunately along with many other people a steady dripping every few minutes from the air-conditioning vents above the seats.


Feb 14th
None the less we arrived in one piece and got driven from the coach drop off point (a service station, what seemed in the middle of nowhere) many people were a little distressed feeling like they were being led astray. I spoke to one of the troop carrier drivers and showed him my receipt for the tour and he put me at ease stating he was the tour leader and we would be going to the hotel where the tour was to leave from. I could stay there or leave that same morning.

I arrived at the hotel and sat through a quick talk on our options from the hotel/tour management (along with an expected sales pitch) and then some people went on their way, I decided that I would rather soldier on instead of chilling a day in Chiang Mai and kick start the tour immediately. (I was not as tired as I should have been given my last week or so, so why not)

The time was now around 8am and the 3 day trek through north eastern Chiang Mai was going to head off at 9:30 so I ordered some breakfast. The meal was called the American, consisting of eggs, bacon, toast, jam, orange juice and coffee/tea for approximately AU$2.60. (This I can really get to like - cheapest country so far and the standards are still very good!)

The first part of the tour involved an elephant ride which was hilarious. After this we had lunch provided and then set off on foot for the first camp, on the way we went to a water fall and took a swim to cool off. Then headed off to the first camp, this place was set on the side of a hill over looking farm land (mainly rice paddies) I chatted with my new Chiang Mai traveling friends Jacko and Jason and the girls.

Then figured why not socialize with the guides. I spent the next few hours helping cook and tasting odd bits and pieces of local food mixed down with locally made rice wine. The tour guides were fantastic, couldn’t have asked for better guides. Sun was older and more quiet, an ex Thai Boxer warmed to my first, and we talked about lots of things -including girls during our walks and cooking. The other Tuy (like toohey) was younger at 20yrs and a real cheeky bugger, always trying to tease people, especially one of the boys (Jason) and all of the girls. (For some funny reason he didn’t try and tease me though, how ever because he kept joking about lady boys or has he would say “lady-man” I couldn’t help but tease him and call him lady-man)

Anyhow dinner was amazing; they cook so fast and will still finish up tasting so delicious. Later that night I quit drinking and sat around as they all began to start playing drinking games. Everything finished up late but the guides were the first to go to bed.

Feb 15th
Today we got off to a slow start, one of the girls; a Korean only did half the trek and left us. The remainder of us now numbering 8 continued our journey, after a few stops for rest and food we hiked up and up till we got to a little village high up in the hills, based around a water fall and consisting of only 3 huts we took a swim, built a fire and all headed into one of the huts with the local family and watched them cook our dinner.

After it was finished we started to eat and they brought out a baby pig for themselves, we watched them kill the pig by suffocation then shave most of the hair off. They then put the piglet in the fire to singe the rest of the hair off, gutted it and them proceeded to prepare it for their dinner. None of it went to waste, feet, nose, guts and all were consumed.

Later that night we sat around the camp fire, we sat and talked until one by one we headed to bed. That night was freezing. I woke up every few hours from my body trying to tell me I was too cold, we only had a thin cheap sleeping bag and one small sheet and slept in a hut made from thin bamboo.

Feb 16th
As usual I was the first to wake and went outside to make a fire to warm myself by. Low and behold Tuy was wrapped up in his blanket and sleeping bag outside laying next to the fire. He looked at me as he woke and without exchanging any words both laughed, nothing needed saying. There were enough embers in the fire to ignite some leaves and within a few minutes I had a roaring fire.

After breakfast we headed off to the pickup convoy to take us to the river for some bamboo rafting, the walk only went for about 6 hours with a lunch break then we arrived at the convoy and were swiftly taken off to the rafts. The bamboo rafting was the best part of the trek by far, the guides were lots of fun splashing everyone and we had constant wars jumping from raft to raft trying to capsize each other.

When we reached the end we had a big pool and some ledges to jump rock for a while till we boarded the troop carriers again and returned to the hotel. After quickly booking a room and getting changed a group of us headed off to get some food and then go see the finals for Mai Thai (Thai Kick boxing) A few knock outs and a forfeit due to bleeding and an elbow injury was the climax for the Mai Thai and the completion of today/tonight.


Feb 17th
Today was a very relaxed day, walking the streets looking at the shops, lazing around in the sun and going to eat out. All energy was saved for the evening where a group of us went to a bar called the roof top bar.

The roof top bar was very Jamaican influenced, the floor was made from bamboo and bounced when you walked on it, also littered the floor was coffee tables surrounded with pillows, we remained there till around 2am then the girls we were with left to go home (thank god because they were drunk and obnoxious) and the boys headed off to a bar called Spicy bar. That didn’t seem to be too great so taking advice from some of the local girls we went to a place called V bar, this place was going off with a stadium style feel, stage set DJ and laser lights and everyone dancing, but unfortunately we got there a bit late and the music stopped about 40mins after arrival. So we all jumped into a tuk tuk and went back to Spicy bar.

The guys I was with ended up leaving around 4am and I stayed and danced on till 5:30 when the music stopped then chatted till about 6 and went home to bed.

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Photos

Village camp-out
We stayed a night here in this village, ate a great meal and stayed up drinking.

The tour guides mucking around for the camera
They like a laugh