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Published: October 15th 2006
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Sa wa dee Kaa, I made it to Bangkok!!no dramas, flight fine, even learnt some common phrases, words, numbers on the plane to help pass the hours away.
I arrived into Bangkok at 11.30pm hopped in a taxi and headed to my hotel near Chinatown, practised my first Sa wa dee (Hello) on the taxi driver who give me quite a quizzical look, hmmm the accent maybe??. oh well, im sure i will have time to practise my newly found - if not very basic - knowledge of the beautiful Thai language very soon.
The first thing i saw driving along the highway into Bangkok were a group of young Thais that had pulled off the side of the highway watching the huge planes coming into land over the airport.... Their eyes so bright, lips so wide - Welcome to the Land of Smiles!!!
The roads are very wide, clean and there seems to be alot of order. The traffic lights have a count down next to them so you know how long you will be waiting at the red, orange and green light.
I woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning ready to explore this
city of Bangkok which i was terrified about, not sure why as have survived many other countries in the past. I went on a tuk tuk with Joe "Hi, Im Joe, Go Joe!! Go Joe!!" were his exact words... Lovely Joe from a village outside of Bangkok with 4 children drove me through the traffic which was a breeze compared to what i experienced in Saigon. We went to a Travel agent as i wanted to go to Auyatha which is the old city about 70ks away but since the rain it has flooded in some areas right up to the gutters on the houses (i am later to find out that there is a monsoon on its way!!!) so i am doing my trip backwards compared to what i had first planned, I am going to Chiang Mai (close to 800ks - i think- north of Bangkok)
Am dropped back at my hotel and I thought a walk would do me fine so i wandered around for about an hour but had to go back to my hotel as i felt like my lungs were going to collapse from the pollution, i could hardly breathe and my throat
was burning. Then it started to rain, and rain and rain and rain. I was told (after i had been walking for half an hour getting wet) that when it rains the rain is poisonous and many people get a fever because it passes through all the smog / pollution in the air before it touches the ground.. So i went back to my hotel in air conditioning and watch REALLY bad Thai soaps for an hour before leaving for Chiang Mai.
I caught on an overnight bus, luxury - oh my gosh - better than a plane, they have a waitress who brings 2 meals throughout the night to your seat and it onlyhas 3 huge seats across (instead of 4 like in Oz) and they give you a neck pillow and blankey... it was a real pleasure.
Arrived in Chiang Mia at 6.30am and booked into a beautiful Guest House in a quiet area about 5 mins walk from the centre which is surrounded by a moat. At first i thought Chiang Mai was quite small and it was like i was having a very 'English experience' in an Asian country. I was yet to even scratch the surface....
After an overnight plane trip and overnight bus trip to get here i was exhausted so had a morning nap at Guest house then by 12 noon I was ready to start exploring again....
I walked and walked and walked, so many food stalls, the smells are devine everywhere i look there is something different, and Thai Massage..... Hmmm hard decision, but first stop is...... 1 hour Thai massage (150 Baht less than $A6) they give you a loose top and pants to change into and you lie on a thin mattress on the ground and my massuer just said "you lie down, you go sleep".... Ok, whatever you say lovely lady with magic hands. It was wonderful, she used her hands, fingers, elbows, legs, arms, feet... in some areas i could suddenly feel my pulse again.... I am alive again! I think i could handle one of these every day!!!! - jealous anyone?
Tomorrow i am going on a 3 day 2 night trek into the jungle with no electricity, no running water etc to see hill tribe people, go white water rafting and ride an elephant.. stay tuned!!
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Lil SIS
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OFFICIALLY i am the MOST jealous person in the world. You better come back knowing how to massage like that for $6... glad your having fun gorgeous sister. LOVE!