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Published: January 18th 2014
bangkok
Royal palace Well, two actually, but who's counting? Smooth flight from the (relative) culture of Oz to arrive in the total chaos that appears to be Bangkok. Sensory overload is putting it mildly, though it was a thoroughly pleasant and fun experience. We hired a private guide for first day to show us round the Grand Palace and our first temple, and help us get orientated, learn to cross the street and find our way round the endless street markets. We then met the rest of the traveling companions with whom we would spend the next 4 weeks. They numbered 15 and seemed a happy, friendly enough crowd, ranging from 3 x 21 yr old girls (2 Ozzie's, 1 English), a 28 yr old Elgin lad, a Canadian couple in Mid 20s, a Canadian couple in mid 60s, an English couple early 30s, a cockney couple mid 60s, an english lady early 40s, and us. Including an actress, 2 classical musicians, 3 students, a motor mechanic, electrician, engineer, economist, company director ( cockney wideboy), and midwife. To name but a few. We were to become a happy, witty, cohesive and supportive group, with shared interests and sparkling conversation, swapping travel stories, as the
Bangkok
More opulence, though amazingly beautiful next few days were to prove..and best of all..I wasn't the oldest!
Next day in Bangkok took in 2 more temples, a thousand Bhuddas, a cruise along the river and canals in a traditional longboat, and Chinatown, with markets, dinner and drinks with our new found friends in the famous Kao San road (or something like that). By then we had seen a pure jade Bhudda, a massive gold leafed reclining Bhudda, and a 5.5 ton solid gold Bhudda worth $28m, among literally hundreds of lesser craven images....I have seen many extravagant and excessive western cathedrals and to a lesser extent, mosques, but the money and human labour lavished on these temples (and there are thousands) at the expense and detriment of the poor and hardworking populace, is quite beyond my comprehension. It is a recurring theme among most world religions to bleed money from the people to build opulent places of worship and images to bring the faithful to their knees.....in more ways than one. I do find Bhuddism a much gentler and more tolerant a faith than most, and I guess the people find it a distraction from their poverty and the stifling restrictions of living in
a kingdom where the king yields so much power (Thailand) and communism (Laos).
That said, they are stunningly beautiful, and magnificent and testimony to the ingenuity, creativeness and painstaking patience of their creators, so long as you can overlook the ridiculous contradictions and ideology of the reason for their existence.
The Thai people were wonderful, friendly and helpful, and we left with a very pleasant impression of a huge and bustling metropolis.
There were manifestations as the locals called them..demonstrations in our tongue, with an election due in 3 weeks. The all powerful kings men and the wealthy minority (yellow shirts) want to topple the current popular government (red shirts) and are trying to bring Bangkok to a standstill to make their point. Luckily we left 2 days before the main protest but witnessed the mounting tension, barricade construction and increasing police presence. The Thais are a very peaceful people and we hope it all goes well, but a possible military coup does seem to be a real possibility..we have 2 more visits to Bangkok to come.
We caught the overnight train to the northern mountain city of Chang Mai, and enjoyed the quaint but efficient
Spot the odd one out
Some of several thousand in Bangkok and comfortable hospitality of Thai Rail. Sleep was fitful thanks to a young German couple having a tiff half the night with Fraulein Deutchland screaming and weeping in equal measure before she got violent, thumped him, and banished him back to his upper bunk, from whence he came (though not in the biblical sense). We arrived 14 hours later at the beautiful ancient walled city, where we saw yet more temples, cuddled tigers, cycled round the town and environs, visiting a leprosy hospital and small farm run by and worked solely by an elderly widow. Shirley did the optional fishing trip and caught a 22k catfish! I imagine she may tell you more about this herself later. After dinner we went to the obligatory ladyboy show...we would never have done this ourselves but there was safety in numbers, and it was a fabulous and hilarious show. I emerged relatively unscathed apart from some distinctly masculine lipstick on my cheek. Chang Mai is a stunning, laid back city, a complete contrast to Bangkok, and well worth the visit.
Next day we traveled for 6 hours on the scariest bus ride ever. Winding mountain roads, pot holed roads, overtaking on blind
The Gold Bhudda
5.5 tons of solid gold..how much rice is that? bends and braking hard half way round every hairpin had Shirley cowering on the floor of the back seat, and eventually threatening to disembowel the driver with a pair of chopstix if he didn't slow down and learn to anticipate bends by reading the warning signs rather than wait until his front wheel was dangling over the precipices. We arrived, against all odds at the charming mountain border town of Chang Kong on the Mekong river, separating Thailand from Laos. Following a meal of mekong catfish in a rustic riverside restaurant, we set off Chinese lanterns on the beach and retired to our basic but adequate lodgings, complete with outside cludgies and cold showers. Early start next day to deal with border formalities, obtain visas and cross the Mekong into Laos.
On landing, we had to obtain Laotian kip at the border ATM, upon which I immediately gained the status a millionaire. 1.3m to be exact, this being my cache of kip obtained for approx 300gbp. They have no coins, and the smallest note..500kip is worth...about a third of 1p.
We sailed down the mekong in a traditional longboat for 2 days, with an overnight stop in a
Bangkok
Street market lovely traditional Laos village called Packbeng, where we dined in a local restaurant..we always dined as a group, gradually getting to know each other better..until Shirley suddenly asked to leave and I rushed her back to the digs, where she promptly barfed. Another girl in the group had been sick for a couple of days, and a further girl was to suffer the same 2 days later. Clearly we had a mischievous virus in our midst, and it was not the dreaded wine flu! Anyway, apart from missing out on several delicious meals, she recovered with no long term effects to my knowledge. The malaria tablets are being swallowed religiously, and we haven't required either cathedral or temple to do so!
The Mekong was fantastic, taking in a traditional village visit, and a cave full of a thousand more images of the wee fat man en route. Eventually we arrived in Luang Prabang, the jewel of the Mekong, where we stop for 3 nights. It is a lovely traditional town where we could catch up with sleep and laundry, looked at some rescued asian bears, swam in a waterful, rescued a drowning Chinese man, and dined with a family
in their house. Having perused the night market and bought a wooden elephant, we forwent the evening drinkypoos to come back early so I could catch up with the blog whilst I have half decent WiFi. Tomorrow we go on a pachydermal perambulation aka elephant trekking. Trump that.
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