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Published: March 1st 2007
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On arriving in Bangkok after the killer journey we checked into the Royal Crown Sukhumvit Hotel. We had decided to indulge in some luxury whilst Mike was suffering with his tooth. We were to be disappointed. The first thing I noticed about the room was that it stank of Sambuca and the second thing I noticed was the porno mirror placed near the bed. We had been had. The hotel was blatently a place for farang men to bring back their Thai prostitutes for the night. We crashed out exhausted and the following day found a hotel of double the quality for the same price. Our second trip to Bangkok was spent mostly on Thanon Sukhumivit and Siam Square and we encountered pretty much the same things as last time. The trip was accompanied, however, by a steady stream of older western tourists parading their trophy Thai girlfriends around. One of the highlights for me though was wandering around Little Arabia which is just of the Sukhumvit Road, it feels as if you have wandered into a different country.
After 2 nights in Bangkok we headed down to Phuket in order to meet my little sister, Holly, who was coming
Sunset
Kata Beach to visit for 2 weeks. We spent the first night in Phuket town, which was nice enough but nowhere near as atmospheric as the Lonely Planet describes it. The following day we headed for Kata Beach. As with most fo the beaches in Phuket, it was frequented by many many package tourists, however, when the sun started to wane they all disappeared and missed the best part of the day. The sunset was beautiful and was left for only a handful of us to enjoy it - perfect. After a couple of days at Kata Beach we headed for Koh Phangan which is on the East Coast of Thailand. A long bus journey and a grotty ferry took us across the thin strip of the country to the island. A very helpful lady on our ferry invited us to her hostel and as it was late we accepted. We had a room right by the sea on the island's west coast and we spent a few happy days snorkelling, drinking, playing cards and relaxing. After 3 days we headed for Bottle Beach in the north of the island. You can't reach it by road so we caught a taxi and
a boat to this isolated area. There is practically nothing there. A few guesthouses and restaurants litter the beach but thats it. I was enchanted with the place and I'm sure we will return. The people who worked on the beach were for the most part lovely but Holly did encounter some unwanted attention from the bar staff - "hello, I like you" seemed to be the most popular line which, when combined with the extra long fingernails some of the men seem to cultivate, truly turned Hol's stomach. By this time Holly's holiday was half over and she was keen to experience something other than beaches. We caught cheap flights from Koh Samui to Chiang Mai in our search for Thai culture.
Chiang Mai has 300 temples which means there are many many different ones to see. Holly and I spent a day wandering around town, admiring architecture and small structures thought to house images of Buddha. Chiang Mai as a whole though is not a great example of the culture here. It is very touristy in a completely different way to the beaches. Here the industry seems to be geared towards the backpackers with tv bars and
western food everywhere. Every hostel offers a trekking tour which after some research we decided against. After the wonderful experiences we had in Peru and Patagonia these treks looked pretty lame and all of them seemed to involve an elephant ride or bamboo rafting which didn't appeal. Whilst she was here Holly had a list of things she wanted to do. One of which was bungy jumping. So she and I headed for the extreme sports area in Chiang Mai (which has go-karting and a rifle range) and she headed up a big tower and then dropped off. As seems to be the case with these adrenaline fueled activities, once was not enough and she went up again, this time she landed in the water! I briefly considered doing this after she came down from the first jump, however, the girl who went after her was not as brave as my sister and had some difficulty getting the bottle to jump. When she eventually did she shrieked "Never again!!!!" on the way down and then spent half an hour in shock on the verge of tears. The guide had apparently ended up pushing her over so I understand why she
was upset. I think it was enough to put me off for life though!
The second activity that Holly wanted to do was white water rafting so Mike headed off with her to take on the rapids (I had decided against it after our
Rafting - Banos style ). Because of dry season, it seems it was quite tame but very technical so they did have some fun. As you can see from the picture they were the crazies of the group.
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Chiang Mai is the night bazaar. This is a street of market stalls selling anything from beautiful silk bed spreads to fake watches. There are bars all along the street to cater to the hordes of thirsty and hungry shoppers. Mike took shelter in one of these areas whilst we shopped for souvenirs. After being ripped off a couple of times he had lost patience with the sport of haggling. To anyone heading to Chiang Mai though, I recommend saving your pennies for the sunday night market opposite the Gate on Moon Muang Road. Its cheaper and isn't just aimed at tourists so you are less likely to get ripped off. They
had a lot of beautiful things there that I didn't see at the bazaar.
We spent Chinese New Year in Chiang Mai and headed to Chinatown for the celebrations that evening. There were many many stalls selling all sorts of different food which we sampled. My favourite was a shrimp and potato combo which you ate with sweet chili. Yum.
My highlight of our time in Chiang Mai was the cooking course we did one day. We learnt how to cook Green Curry and Pad Thai as well as Tom Yum Soup (spicy seeafood), Thai chicken salad and "Crispy Rubies" - a literal translation of the name of the desert we made, I can't remember the actual name I'm afraid! The course involved a tour of the market place in order to pick out ingredients and it was really educational. We learnt a lot about Thai cooking and produce. As our instructor Thom told us "everything with sugar" is the Thai method.
Finally it was time to say goodbye to Holly which was very sad. It was so good having her with us for a short time. Our last day was spent having massages, manicures and pedicures (the
Fishcakes
A stall in China Town at Chinese New Year latter two were awful). After she left we started to plan the next stage of our trip. China was going to be the destination, however, thanks to Chinese New Year it would be a week until the consulate opened again so we decided to head to Cambodia instead. Becky and Tim will be there around the same time so we may not have seen the last of them yet!
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Williams's
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Want to talk when you're able!
Hi guys - just reading the blog, never get tiem to sit down and read it but have now. It's great, still sounds like you are having the most wonderful time - some fantastic experiences. Looking forward to a proper thai curry when you get back :-) We ALL miss you, Paige loves the postcards. xx