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Published: October 15th 2011
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For once on this trip, I can talk about a country that I had actually been to before. Unfortunately I have to admit that the first visit in question was a ten day package holiday to Thailand (Phuket to be exact) and included as much cultural appreciation as a visit to your local pub, although I'm sure I had better cocktails than the pub. So I can't really say that
all we did in Thailand wasn't new to me as we got the chance to visit most of the 'must see' places the country had to offer.
Where does one begin with Thailand? Do you start with its history - the country that was once Siam but changed its name to Thailand meaning 'Land of free people' thanks to its claim to being the only South-East Asian country not to have been under
foreign rule? It's modern day progress - hugely successful business empires all under the rule of the longest reigning monarch (behind old Queen Liz) who is seen as a demi-god who brought the country from ruin to rapture? It's dirty underbelly - with ping pong bars, strip clubs and more young girls on the arms of middle
age European men than you could shake a stick at?
Who knows where to begin when you're faced with a country with so many different personalities. Maybe Bangkok, our first destination in Thailand sums it up. Making the long trek from Cambodia to Bangkok we were faced with our first major city since Ho Chi Minh City but what greeted us was more of an attack of the senses and mind. As I briefly touched on before, Bangkok represents what you can expect - loud, old, dirty, relaxing, bright, dark, friendly, cheating...so many words to choose.
We spent three days roaming the streets (in a non-prostitution type way) taking in the wats, temples and palaces. For a city which houses what seems like a kagillion people there always seemed to be a quiet alley which was home to monks in places of relaxation. On our adventure we saw all sides to life here, for example we had cocktails at the Vertigo Bar at the Banyan Tree Hotel sipping delicious concoctions on the 59th level in our finest gear but then were brought down with a bang when you
see people living in stilted houses surrounded by rubbish and
sewage right in the centre of town. We saw the sublime in the gold covered palaces and the huge universities that are educating the next generation of South East Asia tiger to the ridiculous
of post-op transexuals walking around with bandages covering the newly constructed faces and visiting a ping pong show where, actually no, might not go down that road! We walked down the Khoh San Road, infamous for being the original backpackers jaunt, and were dissapointed to be faced with mainly teenage brits and Scandinavians getting hideously drunk and getting their hair dread-locked or getting tattooed as is such a good idea on your three week holiday from university. Maybe I'm just getting old?
From Bangkok we made our way up to the more chilled out destination of Chang Mai on an overnight train. This was our first train trip on the entire journey - and since we had covered over 25,000 kms it seemed strange that it took so long to get on one!
The train was smooth and as it always seems with Thailand, eventful. The train seemed to be entirely run by lady boys or those who loved high heels, the restaurant cart turned
into a gay nightclub and we were delayed by three hours. All in all, a normal 24 hours really.
Chang Mai is advertised as a place of rest and recuperation with a little yoga in between, and compared to the rest of Thailand it was very chilled out. A much smaller place it combined greenery and monks to beautiful effect. After the hectic vibe of
Bangkok this place was certainly different. However, it still had its similarities, yes there were the girly bars,
yes there were the older European men with their young girlfriends and yes, you still got hounded for a tuk tuk.
I don't want to sound negative about Thailand as there are so many beautiful people and places but our next stop in Kanchanaburi really represented Thailand to us. We had a lovely time there - mainly to see the famous Bridge over the River Kwai - and
it was lovely to go to a place where everyone smiled and asked how you were BUT then two of our group had their bags pinched by drive-by thieves on mopeds. Sad, but unfortunately the sign of the times huh? You bring tourism to a place, you
bring crime.
Nevermind as we got over our grumps with a weeks R and R on the holiday island of Koh Phangan, famed for its 'full moon parties' and drunken Australians. But we were pleasantly surprised as this place still held onto its chilled out island feel. We spent our week following this rigourous routine: wake up late, eat, swim in pool, swim in sea, eat, swim in pool, swim in sea, drink, eat, sleep. It was really tough, but we made sure we went into this routine everyday with as much fervour as we could. I like to think we came out with flying colours.
With our tans and bellies topped up we finished off our time in Thailand exploring a side not seen by many, the jungle. We spent a couple of nights at the Khao Sok National Park and within 48 hours we got to see more wildlife than we had on this entire journey - monkeys, birds, lizards, a more bugs than you could shake a stick at.
By this stage of our trip Thailand had officially been something like our 23rd country, and unfortunately we would probably rank it about 22 out
of the 23 in terms of our favourites. Thailand just has that feeling that it has been 'done', oh to be one of those original travellers who discovered places in this country, it would have been such a rush! Instead it is a country which is making its riches from so many other sources and it feels like tourist are just a pain in the backside. I may be unfair in this statement as we didn't get too much time to venture of the well trodden trails, add to the list for next time?
So Thailand, kop kun ka, thanks for having us. We enjoyed the food and the Changs and hope one day we will fall in love with you again, as hopefully you will fall in love with us.
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Annette Mitchell
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Off toThailand next year! Thanks again girls for your wonderful words!