One Night in Bangkok (Yes, again...)

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Kay and I had brainstormed and come up with a fresh new location. Or actually, it was a tip from her friend Holly. The magic word was Pai. I had never heard of the place, and neither had Kay, but it was supposed to be a nice place, and a bit off the beaten track. Mindful of the traveller hordes trampling Thailand beneath them (Ok, that was unfair, I simply want a bit of peace and quiet...) this sounded promising. In fact, the more we looked into it, the more perfect it seemed, until I came across a website that claimed Pai was hippie-country. A friend of mine asked if we planned to do some... smoking... there. While I started getting cold feet Kay didn't mind, but I fired up Google Earth to look for similar mountain villages in the same area. That is how we agreed on combining it with Mae Hong Son. To get to either city, we'd agreed to take the night train to Chiang Mai and continue from there by bus. The night train to Chiang Mai clocks in somewhere around twelve hours, and the sleepers in first and second (no 3rd class available on this train) cost from 600 THB for a bunk in 2nd class without air-con up to 1350 THB for a bed in A/C 1st class. Travelling with luggage you might want to opt for 1st class since you can get a cabin to stow away your possessions behind lock and key.

Mae Hong Son is actually not a village, but the provincial capital of the northwestern province with the same name. It is located just some 10-20 kilometers from the border to Myanmar, and even has its own airport. To good to be true. Not only did it mean a greater leap into the rural backwater, but it would also be possible to forfeit a six hour bus journey from Chiang Mai on mountain roads in favour of a quick dash by plane. Don't get me wrong, buses are a great way to see the countryside, but stacking another six hours on top of a twelve hour train ride on a road that although scenic also has a questionable safety record, and you might begin to see the benefit of a half-hour 600 THB plane ride. I didn't tell Kay, but I also made secret plans of us jumping the plane to Pai instead. It was much more expensive (1500), but there's rarely a chance to board a lightweight Cessna commuter and land on an improvised airfield...

Just one day before my departure from Sweden I received an SMS from Kay. The word was, there is heavy rain in the mountains and some schools in the Mae Hong Son area had been closed due to the unagreeable weather. There was also a prominent risk of mudslides in the region. We realized we would have to postpone the Pai/MHS-trip to some other time. On the other hand, that also meant that I would not have to sweep through Bangkok like crazy buying supplies before rushing to the train station to get on the 6pm train to Chiang Mai. And coming off a flight were I hadn't slept much that did have quite an appealing ring to it.

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Anyhow, finally I was here, back in Bangkok, hadn't visited since October 2006 and it felt good to be back. Arriving in the morning there were few planes in and we swept through immigration like a breeze. I headed straight for the good ol' Pradiphat hotel where a room was waiting for me in my name. This room wasn't up to the usual standard but I was only staying for a night anyway so I didn't bother about it. After an incredibly refreshing shower I applied discipline to avoid the classic mistake of lying down to rest and sleep away the whole afternoon and generally screwing up any chance to quickly adjust to the local time in the process. Still, I was getting really sleepy around noon and instead made plans to meet up with Kay as quickly as possible and head out in the steaming hot midday sun.

Once Kay arrived we headed for a typical noodle place where Kay ordered her mainstay bodypart noodle soup for both of us. No use trying to decipher exactly which parts are which, just roll them in the noodles, close your eyes and hope for the best. Apart from pieces of lung and liver it generally tastes quite ok, but unlike Kay I am not a meat type of person and prefer to go heavy on the vegetables instead. After lunch we went down to Siam and the MBK shopping mall which is always the first place I go when I arrive here, to stock up on camera supplies. It used to be colour film I bought here, but this time I needed spare batteries and memory cards for my very first digital camera. I did the conversion in August and figure this trip would be a good opportunity to break into the world of digital photography (and as a result, I now have 2700 photos of dubious quality to wade through and try to make something good of). I also found two second hand Tamron lenses to complete my kit, since I had left some of my old lenses back home on the recommendation of the camera expertise. Way to go; a few hours in the country and I had already managed to purchase two heavy objects to lug around for three weeks, as well as eating a nice hole in my budget...

The afternoon was getting late and as the sun started to head for the horizon we went over to Wat Po and Wat Arun to have a go at the camera. I hadn't visited here since my very first trip to Bangkok in December 2003, so it felt kind of special to revisit these places again. Crossing the river (3 B) we spent some time at the mighty Wat Arun trying to get to grips with the camera; which proved a bit more confusing than anticipated. This is also where I made an annyoing discovery; I had forgotten the little locking piece that connects the camera to the tripod, it was still mounted on my old camera that I had left back home. Brilliant work, lugging around an unusable tripod for twenty days... After trying to our best in various frozen-like-a-deer-in-your-headlights poses and still getting blurred shots we kinda gave up on the idea. The sun was down and it felt like we had managed to get ourselves locked inside the compound until a guy opened up a little side door for us. Starting to get hungry we took the boat back and jumped a bus and eventually a taxi to go the area near Phetchaburi road, hunting for Indian restaurants. After some mindless wandering around a tout came to the rescue and escorted us into a dark alleyway where we found one of the many more suddenly appearing restaurants that had been hiding in the night. We ordered in the usuals, a special mention must go to the giant masala papadams that were also very spicy. The place? Delhi Darbar Restaurant.

After our meal we headed back to Kay's house and tried to brainstorm for a new destination. Kay's dad provided a supersize map of Thailand and Bambi, Kay's hyperactive chihuahua, went completely bonkers when she saw me and it wasn't until she got to bite my fingers and feet (and other unspeakable parts...) that she calmed down a bit... We logged into the budget airline websites to see what was going on there, and that's when Kay came up with the idea that stuck; why don't we go back to Macau? We'd only spent one day there back in 2004 so the location was highly relevant, and the price for the tickets with Air Asia was agreeable. Please take notice of the surcharges when buying budget tickets; while the return tickets cost about 5000 THB the additions of fuel surcharge (600 B per flight), administrative fee (200 B per flight), insurance (50 B per flight), service fee (50 B per ticket) and airport tax (600 B per flight) means that the total landed at almost 8000 B per person. Since we couldn't make a booking through the webpage less than 24 hours before the flight we decided to bet on our luck and heat out to Suvarnabhumi on the following day to catch the afternoon plane to Macau. We skipped on the morning flight which meant that I had a nice and relaxing sleep in my hotel bed to look forward to.

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Photos

Back in town!
Wat Arun; the Ordination Hall after sundown

Feels good to be here...
...but getting a bit sleepy

Quick cooler
The fruit vendors are rarely far away. Grab a melon or pineapple to refresh yourself. Price typically 10 B.

Kay found a new snack
Some kind of crepes, Siam

Crossing the Chao Phraya river...
Take a quick ferry from Wat Po to Wat Arun, price 3 B.

Wat Arun - The Temple of Dawn
A miserable photo that doesn't do this magnificent temple any justice. Notice the central prang structure and the surrounding smaller prangs.

Wat Arun - The Ordination Hall
The entrance flanked by a pair of gigantic Yaksha, demonic guardians.

The sun goes beyond the horizon
...and an eerie cloud sets its dark stain upon the rosy evening sky.

Chao Phraya river
As the daylight fades, the lights start to come on

Wat Arun - The Ordination Hall
The illuminated buildings take on an unearthly appearance.

A gloomy night view
The top of the central prang can be seen in the background

Delhi Darbar Restaurant, Phetchaburi area
Look at those gigantic masala papadams!

My room at the Pradiphat Hotel
Room breakdown:
Electricity: Reliable. European style two pin plugs.
Toilet: It had a mind of its own, but was generally ok.
Hot water supply: Available but not very warm. Water pressure was unusally low.
Air Conditioning: Yes, it can get real chilly in here.
Food: Never tried the restaurant. Room has a small refrigerator.
Spoils: Nothing to write home about, plenty of space though.
Pets: Some tiny yellow ants in the bathroom.
Price: 800 THB

The bathroom at the Pradiphat Hotel
Ah yes, a fluffy brown carpet. How nice...