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Published: November 4th 2012
We flew through the night from India, arriving at the New Delhi airport around 2am, spent some time in the lounge waiting for our gate to open at 4:50ish. We managed to get some sleep on the plane, but it's never good quality stuff is it?! We arrived in Thailand 26th October about 11:30am. Thai people smile so much! They have a gesture where the put their hands in a prayer position and place them at the bottom of their face with a slight head bow. We tried to sort out our train tickets (Bangkok - Chiang Mai return) at the airport train station but no joy. We left the airport and got a cab to Pattaya (our luggage almost didn't fit in the car!!). Pattaya is about a 2 hour drive from Bangkok, as soon as you head down the express way the land just seems to open up, no more highways, big buildings, etc. Trees and hills. Beautiful! We arrived at our first hotel in Thailand and WOW!! It was awesome. As we drove to the entry, big statues of elephants, water features, lots of staff bustling about, soooo many guests, leaving, coming and waiting. Our room was HUGE, the bed... big enough for us both to starfish and not get in one another's way! We had a nanny nap and then went in search of food. Pattaya is on the coast so there was a big fish influence (ok for me but not for K... 😞 ). We found a place called Anton's and had pizza. We asked how big the pizza was, we hadn't eaten since the early hours that morning, our waitress gestured a saucer size amount - we had a pizza each. They were big enough to share and be happy. Opppps!!
The next day we wandered around the local area and booked some excursions. We went to a shooting range! I shot a 9mm pistol. The recoil on the pistol was unbelievable! I managed to get 17 out of 25 bullets onto the target! K shot a 45 pistol and a rifle. Obviously his aim was a lot better and he got more shots on his target. He's a boy!! We bought the photos that were taken as we were shooting the targets. I have an arched eyebrow on mine!! Concentration!! Haha. After this we were whisked to another kiosk where they had baby tigers!! I wanted to take one home but settled for a cuddle while feeding one of them! WOW!! The fur was sooooooooo soft! We went out in the evening to Walking Street. Pattaya is a mental place! Sooooo busy! The next day we relaxed, had pizza for dinner (again!!) and went for massages 😊 Lovely. I only opted for an oil massage but there was a bit of forced bending and at one point a punch in the arm?! We paid for this! After my massage, I naturally wanted a facial, whilst I had my facial K went for a Thai massage. I fell asleep while having my facial and woke myself up with a pig oink snore! Whilst K was pulled, pushed and bent to many various poses and actually developed bruises the next day!!
After we checked out of our luxurious 5* hotel in Pattaya we took a taxi back into Bangkok, checked in at All Seasons in Huamark. We were a little off the beaten track but it was still SOOOOO busy!! The smell in Bangkok is awful 😞 as with any major city there were piles of rubbish here and there. We say a few rats big enough to eat small dogs! We had problems getting food in Bangkok, naturally when I'm hungry I get grumpy so I've gotta say I didn't enjoy Bangkok as much as other places in Thailand. We had pizza for the 4th day in a row in Bangkok, the next day we were determined to eat something else. We learned the word for veggie/vegan "kinjay" and said this word to anyone that would listen. We found a place towards the centre of Bangkok, food was brought out, I was ok with some of it but K couldn't manage with the smell. Maybe the oil, or fish somewhere. Anyway we left still hungry! On our way home we stopped off at supermarket and spent close to 1,000 baht on snacks! Works out about 50 baht to a pound at the moment. The next day we had a bit of organising to do, check out of All Seasons, take our BIG cases to the last hotel we'll stay in and get them to store the cases. Then we went to a mall for the day. Our train to Chiang Mai wasn't until 10pm so we wanted to stay as cool/non sweaty for as long as possible! It being 31st October... Halloween we watched Silent Hill: Revelation and Paranormal Activity 4. Both films were mediocre but jumpy at points. Actually took me a little qhile to get to sleep on the train later as I kept thinking back to scray points in the films!
We headed to Hualamphong Train Station in Bangkok for about 9pm, we wanted to be early and arrange our luggage. We had second class fan cooled sleeper tickets in carriage 11. The carriage was lined on either side with bunk beds basically. I was top and K was lower, apparently there was more room in the lower but they looked the same to me! We used a bike lock to secure our bags to the rack and kept valuables in smaller bags that we slept with! The toilet was a squat loo, not too bad! I've seen worse although it was kind of hard to keep my balance a few times with the speed/rhythm of the train! The train left Bangkok after 10pm (delayed straight away!!), there was a waitress who asked what we like to order for breakfast, she said we wouldn't arrive in Chiang Mai until 3pm. K and I thought she was scare mongering for business levels! Scheduled arrival time to Chiang Mai was 13:05 the next afternoon. We pulled into the station at about 15:30ish?! The journey took 18 HOURS!! We were told 15 at point of sale and written on the tickets 😞 We settled down about 11pm after chatting to few other people on the train, K made friends with an older German man who spoke at a mile a minute and I've no idea how K managed to understand/keep up! It was strange to sleep on the train, the top bunk had two straps that were fixed to the bed at middle-ish points, to stop someone from falling out! There was a curtain which I pulled across and tucked under my little mattress at either end for some privacy, the bedding was clean and freshly made as we boarded the train but everything else was dirty and dusty. I didn't have enough baby wipes to complete the task!!
I was secured in my bunk, played on solitaire for a little, it was soooo hot and the fan was doing little to cool anyone. Saying that I think I'd have cried if it hadn't been working! So we travelled and slept on and off through the night. There were lots of shunts, stops, whistles, etc in the night. A little bit lulling but at the same time not... if you know what I mean?! I did a few full turns in the bunk through the night trying to find positions that were comfortable, cool and I didn't feel that I would fall from the bunk! I woke about 7:30am and went to the loo (Yuckeees!). The scenery was beautiful, so green, lots of hills/mountains/trees. We had ordered fruit for breakfast, at about 9am it arrived, half a pineapple each! Haha... at least it was chopped into pieces! We spent the next 8 hours or so dozing now and again, taking pictures of the views and at points I was getting irritable. IT WAS SO HOT!! It was so nice to eventually steo off the train! We were in Chaing Mai!
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Deb and Paddy
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3 days till Oz woohoo xxx
Have a fantastic year in Oz you guys. Make the most of every minute, thinking of you , have fun, be safe xxxx