Blogs from Northern Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 3

Thursday 11 February Today started badly. We go down to breakfast to find our noisy rude Chinese have been replaced by an equally obnoxious bunch so we breakfast quickly and return to our room to plan the day. As we are going South from here on Saturday we are unlikely to do any more trekking or require warm clothing, so we parcel up the lot and ship it back Air parcel post, a full 6 kilos. This means we can now visit the Markets and replenish our summer clothing and look for mementoes. Well, It had to be done - in all the time we have been in the Far East we have generally been able to avoid visiting the Wats, but as Chiang Mai is renowned for them we give into our cultural conscience and ... read more

Monday 8 February Knowing we face a 170 odd Km journey back to Chiangmai we breakfast and leave early, sharing the driving between the four of us. We called in at the Bueng Farm in Pai on the way back to retrieve Paula's mobile phone (left there by mistake), then a break for lunch at a delightful restaurant set in a hillside where we all ate Thai. Finally reaching Changmai at 3 pm. Our hotel is just outside the old city walls by the Changmai gate, it is small but very well managed and all mod cons. Room and breakfast £40per night. Even has swimming pool! We arranged to meet up with Alf, Marilyn, Tony and Janet for dinner on the other side of the Old City at a restaurant on the river. Very traditional decor. ... read more

Ce matin nous sommes partis du super bled de Lopburi après être retournés faire une dernière caresse aux funny funky monkeys. Nous avions l'idée de prendre un train vers Phitsanulok pour ensuite aller à Chiang Maï. Nos plans ont légèrement changés quand nous avons rencontré un français, une belge et un couple d'italiens. Il a été décidé que nous les rejoindrons demain à Sukhothai, une ville apparemment très belle (on vous donnera notre opinion bientôt). Le train en Thaïlande c'est aussi quelque chose. Il ne faut pas être pressés ! Il roule en moyenne à 60km/h et est à peu près, toujours en retard. Une fois arrivés on a trouvé une petite ghesthouse sympathique et sommes allés nous balader avec Colette, l'enseignante en arts belge rencontrée précédemment. On a visité un jardin ornithologique (avec quelques oiseaux ... read more

Sunday 7 February Woke a little sluggishly due to last night's beer and wine consumption, and slowly packed luggage for another travel day, new destination, Mae Hong Son. (Yes, we HAVE been through this town before on our way around this loop).However, we had arranged to use our time here in Pang Mapha as effectively as possible, hence, after breakast, we were on our way to visit the Tham Lod caves. We hiked the 9km along a good Tarmac road, through beautiful forests, cultivated terraced fields and arrived at the cave entrance two hours later. Setting off with a guide in long bamboo boats, we passed a very pleasant hour or so viewing the ancient stalactites and stalagmites and the interesting formations which resembled various things such as elephants, parrots, waterfalls and UFOs (or not). The ... read more

Thursday 4 February Up at the crack of dawn Leo takes rod and gear and moves the 15 metres to his personal Lakeside fishing deck to take the fish to task. The Thais use Float/Ground bait, dispenser method of fishing, and bread flake bait. (Many of us readers may be clueless, but hey!) With the back drop of the Misty Mountains, which had a huge white painted statue of Buddha featured Leo, with Paula as (reluctant, it must be said) assistant, spent several (blissful and engrossed) hours, soaking up the atmosphere and catching five (large and splendid) fish which would all be specimens (?) in Cyprus or the UK.Reluctantly leaving the Lake early afternoon, we lazed in the warm sunshine on our rustic veranda with Paula dozing in a hammock, reading, whilst Leo sampled a few ... read more