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Published: October 25th 2009
Joining the Dharma project in my sexy outfit!
(For any one who doesn't watch Lost - Just me in a sexy outfit!)After our final day of sweeping up bamboo and feeding cake to the Pandas, Trang and I packed our bags and were taken from the Panda base, back to Ya'an city to catch the bus back to Chengdu. Everyone came to wave us off which was lovely and I will miss the constant chatter that the group provided. When we arrived back in Chengdu we checked in to the Traffic hotel again and treated ourselves to some much missed western food for lunch! The afternoon was just spent killing time and we returned to Dave's Oasis for more pizza in the evening!
18th October - Flight to Bangkok!!! Sophia, our real gap guide had arranged for her husband to take Trang and I to the airport the next day but after waiting for 15 minutes a couple turned up and asked if I was Katie! Real Gap seem to like confusing us but thankfully they took us to the airport and it saved us the cost of a taxi!
Once we arrived, we glanced up at the board and to my horror I could not see
One of the last nights
Thanks Greg for the Vodka and Gin! my flight on it! I managed to find another tour guide with his group and he kindly told me that his group were on the same flight and I did not need to worry! Trang and I waited together to check in and then browsed the duty free shops and had an expensive bite to eat!
My flight boarded on time but once we were all seated (in either pink, purple or yellow chairs!!) we were told the flight was going to be delayed due to the amount of air traffic. Luckily Air Asia was a good choice of company as they provide free drinks and nuts and also turned on the entertainment system so I was able to watch a program on Chiang Mai while waiting to depart.
An hour and a half later we finally taxied to the runway and I got to watch a film that I had been wanting to see in England! The staff were lovely and polite and the dinner was reasonable for plane food!
Once we arrived in Bangkok, I could not believe how hot it was! My glasses steamed up once I left the air conditioned bus and my
clothes stuck to me! After collecting my bag I headed for a taxi and was overjoyed to discover that the majority of them are bright pink!! I had a lovely taxi driver and as I got nearer and nearer to the city (and Dave!) the excitement kept building! Finally we arrived near Koh San Road and my driver left me to wander down the ally to find the hotel! All of a sudden a familiar figure started wandering over to me and with a big grin on my face I realised Dave was walking towards me!
The rest of the night was spent with me yabbering away to him and showing him all my photos! Its lovely to have another travel buddy to take over from Trang and even nicer to have a boyfriend back!
19th October - Finding my feet Dave woke me with a wonderful surprise - finally a bowl of cereal for breakfast!!! After this treat we went for a quick walk to look at the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew and then had to return to the sanctuary of our air conditioned room to cool down! The sister hotel to
where we are staying is called New Siam 2 and has a swimming pool, so for 90 baht each we spent the rest of the morning chilling out in the pool! It was lovely and cooling and we were the only people using it! It also made me feel like I was finally on a holiday!
After lunch we made a visit to Lumphini Park which had some very scary lizard/croc looking creatures in the giant lake! Dave enjoyed watching them for a while and I enjoyed reading the magazine Dave had bought me from home!
We went back to Koh San for dinner and I also bought a new dress and some flip flops for about 8 pounds. Afterwards, under Chloe's orders (a girl from the pandas) I had a Smirnoff bucket for 200 baht and the rest of the night disappeared!
20th October - Ocean World Bangkok This morning Dave and I decided to brave the public transport in Bangkok and were pleasantly surprised! We boarded a river ferry from Tha Phra Athit, a 2 minute walk from our hotel, to Saphan Taskin and then used the SkyTrain to take us to Siam.
Siam is home to lots of massive department stores, and Ocean World is in the basement of Siam Paragon.
When we entered the store we were amazed to find ourselves in a junk food lovers heaven! Every chain of fast-food store was available and I felt like I was in America rather than Thailand! Somehow we managed to avoid distraction (until lunch anyway!) and entered the basement for the aquarium. Our tickets cost 950 baht but included a behind the scenes tour, a ride in a glass bottom boat, a 4d film, popcorn and a pepsi and the well known (in Bangkok) happy feet experience!
The aquarium was very impressive and clean and nearly everything was written in English! It was a nice way to escape the hustle and bustle of Bangkok and after learning about how the fish are cared for it was my time to have Happy Feet! To those who are unaware of this procedure it is basically a big tub of fish which suck on your feet and ankles, apparently cleaning them!! Dave chickened out on this wonderful experience and left me to giggle and squirm as the fish did their business!
Once we
had finished at the aquarium, we gave in and had a delicious Burger King and caught the Sky Train and boat back to our hotel for a quiet night.
21st October - Night train to Chiang Mai Most of today was just spent killing time as we had to check out of our hotel and wait for the night train to Chiang Mai. The train station in Bangkok was very unlike the Chinese train stations and was much more spacious and easier to navigate for a backpacker! The bunks were nicely padded and even had a curtain round them for privacy and were certainly wider than the bunks in China!
22nd/23rd October - Arrival and Jungle Flight Our first day in Chiang Mai was just spent exploring, eating and sleeping, but we arranged to do the Jungle Flight for the next day. Early on Friday morning we were picked up along with 4 other holiday makers and taken high up into the jungle to swing like monkeys from zip wires!
There were 22 stations up in the trees and 3 abseils ranging from a gentle 7m to a rather scary 40! The
guides helping us were very professional however both found it funny to try and get me to scream by saying “no wait!' just after I had left the starting platform!
It was nice to have other people to talk to during the day and we had an older couple from New Zealand, a young guy also from the UK and another guy from Denmark. All of us were promptly given nicknames, with Dave and I being the honeymoon couple, while the others were Mama and Papa or the Lady boys!
We had a nice thai lunch and we returned to our hotels via a local hot spring. It was 80 degrees and they were using it to cook bamboo shoots!
24th October - Chiang Mai Zoo Today we got a tuk tuk up to the zoo for 100 baht and had a nice walk around, seeing lots of animals! It was nice as the animals were not behind glass so I have finally got a few good zoo pictures! They also had pandas at the zoo but imposed an extra charge so I just posed with a giant panda statue!
At lunch time
there was a massive downpour which halted our walking for about 40 minutes while we huddled under cover trying to keep dry! We then got a Sawngthaew (like a taxi for lots of people) back to our hotel and Dave did some more exploring while I read a new book I had bought from the 2nd hand book shop!
For dinner Dave found a new restaurant called the Old Bell! Yes it was an English Bar and although I normally hate these type of places when abroad it was lovely to have some proper English food and a cup of tea!! It also provided Dave with a massive grin on his face when he found the comfy sofas and good beer!
25th October - Blog It is now nearing the end of our time in Chiang Mai as we get the train onto our next destination tomorrow. Dave is spending the day on a quad bike so I imagine he will be very dirty when he returns but also very happy! Im going to visit the Sunday Walking Street later which is a big street for shopping!
Its lovely to hear how everyone is
getting on back home so keep the messages coming!
Lots of Love
Katie xxx
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Beth
non-member comment
Fishy Feet...!
Hey, haven't read your blog for a while as I was in stafford for half term! Isn't it wonderful seeing your boyfriend after a month apart, even if you have been distracted by seeing all those wonderful things! Having fish suck on your feet sounds so weird and tickly.... The 40 ft high wire looks absolutely terrifying but must have had some amazing views if you could bare to look... lol. I'm jealous of the heat you're experiencing, its just turned so cold here, i was freezing all day at work! Beth x