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Published: August 9th 2010
As hinted at the end of my last blog, my latest group trip endeavour.. a four week Thailand Explorer trip with Real Gap's Gap Year for Grown-Ups gets off to a pretty shakey start. Our group of ten, largely from the UK have been attracted by different aspects of a varied programme on offer .. there-in lies the problem, as the minority who are attracted by shopping and minimal exersion (..!) are quickly in conflict with the majority of us who want as full and active a programme as possible. A strong tour leader is required to keep everyone on track, and that is just what we don't have - just a good local guide to take us through the first week and two days of trekking in a national park.. the jury is out on how the rest of this particular trip will pan out... by blog posting time though I can report that the jury has made a unanimous and damning verdict of Real Gap.. and especially for anyone struggling beyond the first paragraph of my blogs.. in short - Real Gap.. Real Gap in Delivery, Real Gap in Credibility.. STEER WELL CLEAR....!!
To return to the start
of this sorry affair anyway.. After some vexxed debating on the opening Monday morning we set off from our Bangkok base for the short journey by minibus to the site of Thailand's former capital - Ayutthaya. As the former capital it is no surprise to find this relatively small and unmodernised town chock full of ancient and somewhat crumbling, leaning temples. In our two days here we visit the major ancient sites including Wat Mahathat which was constructed in 1374. and Wat Phra Si Sanphet which has become the symbol of Ayutthaya, a favorite of royalty and used as a palace by several kings of Ayutthaya. The temple was built during the 14th century and houses an enormous 16-metre high Buddha image, once coated with 250kg of gold, which was removed and melted down by the invading Burmese. In the temple grounds, three classic Ayutthaya-style bell-shaped chedis contain the ashes of former kings of Thailand and are a beautiful site by day and in the evening when they are illuminated.
There are only so many temples which can be visited in a day though so we visit Wihan Phra Mongkol Bophit to see the principal Buddha image here which
is one of Thailand's largest bronze images the following morning, then on to a local water market and then after lunch a further temple stop to visit Wat Phanan Choeng, built in 1324, where we see one of the largest, oldest and most beautiful Buddha images of all, known as “ Luang Po To”. Our final temple visit is to Wat Chai Wattanaram. Built in 1630, it consists of a main Prang and four lesser Prangs, all built on the same base and surrounded by eight lesser prangs and a gallery, similar in style to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.. to feature in my next blog..!
Having now visited the prime temple sites in both Bangkok and Ayutthaya it becomes clear just how important the image of the Buddha is to the Thai people - adopting different poses from standing to reclining, and every imaginable size, from the immaculately tiny to the almost impossibly enormous, the serenity of each image never fails to move. The sheer volume, scale and accessibility of the Thai people's principal religious imagery creates an open window into this most intriguing, magical and beautiful of cultures to mere passers by such as us and totally enriches
the experience (for me at least) of being here.
Official tour duties complete a small group of us hire bikes for the afternoon (for a modest fee of 50 Baht per bike .. that is one english pound!) and make a tour of the island on which Ayutthaya sits - no cycle lanes here though so a lot of weaving through the inner city's collection of tuk tuk's, scooters, cars and ultra colourful buses. Our guide Nee joins us a little later for a twilight cycle tour of some of the major temple sights and a final visit to Wat Phra Si Sanphet to capture the three beautiful Chedis illuminated against the night sky.
We check out of Tony's Place the following morning (actually a very authentic Thai guest house in the centre of Ayutthaya) and head towards Thailand's oldest national park, Khao Yai, further to the east of the country. We stop en route at Muak Lek - a peaceful series of seven waterfalls along a stretch of shaded river for some leisurely swimming time and check in to our latest hotel - a pretty bland to be honest, modern pad close to the national park which
will be our base for trekking trips into the park over the next two days. We visit the night market of the local town Pak Chong in the early evening and feast on the mouth watering array of local food stalls serving every imaginable Thai based food from curry to dumplings to fried pork and fish, and a surprisingly wide range of sweet dishes too.. each served with a gracious smile and costing next to nothing - a tray of mouth watering steamed dumplings is mine for 20 Baht (40 pence!).
I'm looking forward to the next two days of jungle trekking in the national park as I've really enjoyed jungle trekking in the Amazon at the start of my trip, together with trekking trips in Patagonia and in Australia. Also as I'm hoping it will bring together the more active members of the group.. this isn't really the experience though. It's the first experience of jungle trekking for most and once again we are let down by any clear leadership. We are in the wet season here in Thailand and there are leeches everywhere - this means wearing protective outer socks to prevent the little suckers getting into
our shoes. The first day's trek however just gets taken over by the shreeks and screams of my fellow group whenever a leech comes into contact with anyone - much to the consternation of our local Thai guide. Any hope of seeing any wildlife on this three hour trek (other than more leeches) quickly evaporates as the screeching and continual noise level continues throughout the trek. We do spot a croc after lunch and many gibbons by the roadside on the journey out of the park which is a treat, as well as the general experience of being in this lovely national park of jungle clad hills.
The following day and it's back to Khao Yai for a longer, four hour trek .. and this time it's been raining, so the leeches are really out in force.. ! We are two down in number and despite the increased leech count our smaller group are more focussed on the trek and I certainly enjoy the day a lot more.. We spot gibbons early on high up in the tree canopy above and a wonderfully vocal giant hornbill bird looking like some kind of mythical creature, again high in the tree
canopy above. Our trek ends at a stunning waterfall which featured in the film, The Beach.
A pizza, beer and football evening follows, (Brazil being beaten by the Dutch in the World Cup) and a rather frustrating attempt to follow the latest from Wimbledon online - no Wimbledon TV coverage here in Thailand and no live streaming or even radio commentary available on-line, so I have to make do with a written ball by ball commentary of the Rafa / Murray semi final - glad to see Rafa through in straight sets anyway...!! This does lead to a minor strain of home sickness.. good weather in London throughout the Wimbledon fortnight and I can't even follow the tennis...!
Our last full day in the area around Pak Chong is a pampering one - a complimentary Thai massage for all kicks off the day - most go for the full body option, though not being the most open to this obsessional part of Thai culture, I opt for a foot massage - by the end of the hour though I have had my whole legs, arms, hands, shoulders and neck thoroughly pummelled by the tiniest Thai woman masseur and
feel much the better for it. We then get taken to a rather bizarre new shopping complex - all brand new and built in the style of an Italian village - screaming fake, it is quite a sight nonetheless to see an army of affluent Thai and Japanese tourists lapping up every fake flagstone, turret and terracota tile, all toting the latest in digital cameras to record every moment.. It does at least also create an extended breather (after the pizza of the night before) from the usual Thai chicken and fried rice which is our regular lunch option.. English meat pies, coffee and cake are all on offer at this 'Italian' experience - a welcome taste reminder of home I have to admit..!
We are then taken to a local winery (one of only three established wineries in Thailand), for a tour and wine tasting - the Spanish Shiraz and Tempranillo grapes faring the best in this equatorial climate it seems. together with a passable Chenin Blanc. The real treat comes last though as we stay at the vineyard for an evening meal in the wonderfully appointed house restaurant and dine on the most sublime green curry as
well as coconut soup, fish, and pork with noodles, all washed down of course with the locally produced wine, which is a rare treat as local wine is hard to find in most restaurants here and the imported European and New World wines are crazily expensive. A fitting last night then with our superb local guide Nee, as she leaves us when we arrive in Surin the following day.
We travel to Surin by train the following morning - our arrival here is very much the make or break of this particular group trip for me - we are to spend almost two weeks (of four in total) in this small town way off the Thai tourist trail, in the remoter Eastern part of the country. I'm not any more at ease with the group dynamic than I was at the outset - in essence it is just not the adventure seeking group of travellers I have become used to being with.
First indications are not great as our hotel here is a drab modern block on the edge of town and not the quirky heritage style guest house I would have chosen for myself. Our initial tour
of the town doesn't bode much better to be honest - a tour of the local department store, bowling alley, KFC and local hotel with 'naughty massage' in the humid Sunday afternoon heat are the chosen highlights for some mysterious reason rather than any local cultural or temple highlights. However we are then taken to the project office in town, and I'm relieved to report that it is here that things finally begin to improve.
Our long base here in Surin is explained as this being the base of a volunteer project run jointly by the outfit I booked through, RealGap, and two other voluntary organisations - StarFish and Eye to Eye. The project manager briefly outlines the volunteer options, none of which I initially selected, opting instead for local trips to markets and temples etc - the description of the volunteer options though is now much more appealing - it delivering the opportunity to contribute something back to the community here, a new challenge and focus to my year of travelling.
I easily seperate myself from the rest of the group at the end of this first day in Surin to visit to the local gym in
the town centre which is a free community resource, and to then saunter through the local night market, picking out some delicious dumplings for my post work out supper. I sit on a step on the edge of the market people watching - and see only local faces and not a single other Western face which is quite something. A local woman, very neatly dressed, with a dog on a lead which has her handbag around its neck, walks past, then sits down on the tarmac road (still wet from a recent heavy downpour), and with dignity totally intact arranges herself and her dog to accept any offerings from the market visitors. Each interaction is made with a polite bow as all Thai people so graciously greet each other - no embarrased glances or pretending she is not there.. I offer my left over dumplings and a 20 Baht note which buys a meal here, before wending my way back to the hotel.
While mentioning the bowing custom I can't resist mentioning a trip to the main supermarket in town - none other than Tesco's (everywhere in Thailand) to stock up on some comfort breakast luxuries lke cereal and
milk.. on paying at the checkout the assistant performs the most gracious bow while asking if I have a Clubcard ...can't quite see that happenning at Tesco's on the Old Kent Road somehow..!
To keep any group of travellers fully engaged in such a small town as Surin for two full weeks would be a tall order for the most enterprising of tour operators, and Real Gap is far from that .. Our hosts are in fact the team who run the volunteer programme in town so it would be unfair to be critical of their efforts to keep such a disparate group as we are all fully engaged and motivated for the entire time. I would not be so charitable with Real Gap however and will NOT be recommending them as a tour operator unsurprisingly..!
The plan is to spend the first week as a group on local activities and outings to local temples and the like and to divide into our respective groups in the second week for volunteer options or a further week of day trips. By Monday afternoon however it is clear that the necessary preperation has just not been done - any attempt
at group cohesion then rapdily disintegrates .. one leaves to head for the beach for a week while others bring forward their volunteer work into the first week to at least be doing something constructive. I sign up for voluntary work too, though go with the activity programme such as it is in the first week while taking advantage of some free time to get back into a regular exercise routine with daily visits to the local fitness centre.
So in this first full week in Surin I make it to the gym every day, get familiar with the night market, and the day market, sampling an ever growing range of delicious freshly cooked dishes for very little cost (a typical street vendor meal being around 30-40 Baht .. 60 - 80 pence!) and generally becoming familiar with this small bustling provincial town, which is a real treat to have the time to do in fact.
As a group in this week we also get to learn a little bit of Thai language, get to cook some Thai food - both very token though and not properly organised. We also learn the basics of Thai massage, visit a
local silver jeweller craft village and a silk weaving village, as well as the usual round of temple visits - two of which are pretty spectacular in fact, situated some distance from Surin, one rather huge and splendid Buddhist temple atop an ancient volcano and the other the ruins of an even more ancient (11th century) Hindhu temple. We also get up at 5am one morning to offer alms to a group of local monks. Every Budhist male in Thailand is expected to take on a stint of at least one week of being a monk, and that makes for a lot of orange robbed men on the streets at dawn with their bowls to collect offerings from local people - monks not being allowed to buy food and only eating one meal a day, at 7am. Our chosen monks are in a temple some way out of town - we buy the raw ingredients for our offerings to them the evening before at the market and arrive at the temple early to prepare it.. Between us though we have enough food for a whole monastary of monks - this particular temple has only five monks though and four of
them are walking back from their local village with full bowls as we arrive before 6am.. including such delicacies as ant soup..! The monks duly bless us anyway and dig into their morning feast - I just hope the small mountain of leftovers went to a deserving local home.
Our middle weekend in Surin is free and we all decide to visit the local elephant village as Surin is most famous for its annual parade of elephants in the town itself. The elephant village covers a large tract of land some way out of town and is home to some 250 elephants and is a sanctuary for many elephants who have been worked or mistreated in zoos. The elephants here certainly seem very well cared for, making the first 'highlight' of our day tour all the more shocking .. an hour long circus show complete with ring master and booming sound track with elephants being paraded around and made to do things which no elephant, or any animal come to that, should ever be humiliated into doing .. standing on stools, painting pictures with their trunks, bursting balloons with darts thrown by their trunks, and then hey - the
world cup is still on, so lets get one elephant to be in goal and then get other elephants to kick a giant ball at it .. at this point I walk out in disgust..
The charade is explained as a necessary fundraiser for the sanctuary, without any acknowledgement of the clear hypocracy of an animal sanctuary engaging in such cruel humiliation of the very creatures it is there to protect. A tour of the village itself afterwards does at least provide some reassurance that the elephants are well treated on a day to day basis and in the afternoon we all undertake an elephant ride ..one apiece.. for a good hour to the local river. The weight of a human on a fully grown elephant is (I think/hope) fairly insignificant and the reward of each elephant striding into the river (with most of their human cargo still attached, myself included) is quite something and made for a lasting impression of the day. We wrap up the day with a brief kayak on the river (very gentle compared with my previous kayaking experiences) and head back to town having really enjoyed the personal contact with these huge gentle creatures,
if rather saddle sore as a result.
Week two in Surin is then my first week of being a volunteer since beginning my travels last October. The usual childcare and english teaching options are available, as is farming.. at a school in the countryside close to Surin run by monks, with the farm providing a sustainable source of food for the young school children. Throughout our trips around Surin I've noticed just how lush and green the countryside is, and this at the very dry start of the rainy season. The vast majority of the green is made up of fields of rice - many of the fields being flooded by an impressive irrigation system to provide the necessary paddy fields for the rice to grow. We have often seen small groups of workers in these fields both planting and clearing the rice crop and the opportunity to learn more about just how rice is farmed in this most traditional and labour intensive way is intriguing, so the farming option is what I sign up for.
Monday morning dawns and Debbie and I are met at the hotel by Tan, the manager of the voluntary projects here in
Surin and driven out into the countryside in the usual people carrier (that being a flat bed truck with an arrangement of seats over the open back and a canopy overhead to protect from the elements), reaching our selected temple school in around 30 minutes from the city. This is a well maintained temple, with a large perimeter wall, impressive temple, monks living and further praying areas and a small school consisting of two adjoining class rooms and a separate, very basic, kitchen/dining room for the children's lunch. A small group of volunteers are already at the school - three uni-aged girls who are here on a month long volunteer programme, focussed more on childcare.
The children here are of the tiny variety - two to five - with many parents away working the village children are often looked after by grandparents. There already seem more than enough large white faces for the kids to be fully absorbed by so I get stuck into the farming role straight away. Just outside the walls of the temple are the now familiar sight of green rice plants - these though need to be picked out of the ground with the root
intact and dirt removed, then bundled trimmed and replanted at this, the beginning of the rainy season, to produce the best quality rice in three to four months time. The chosen field is flooded to allow the earth to loosen its grip on the individual rice plants and turn the whole field into an immediate sea of mud glorious mud.. !
The painstaking process involves constant bending to be able to pick the rice plants out of the mud. Once a handful has been collected there is a certain knack to bashing the roots over the foot to release all the clinging mud and then laying the clean stems to one side ready to be bundled and tied. The locals of course have this down to a fine art and are picking and whacking off the mud at some impressive speed. We beginners are inevitably embarrasingly slow although at least Debbie and I make a concerted effort .. unlike the much younger group of volunteer girls who just scream and whine about the mud and complain when their fingers get dirty.. Within minutes I am caked in mud much to the amusement of the overseeing head monk, who also
gets stuck in, his orange robes soon also liberally caked in mud. He soon earns the nickname of Naughty Monk in fact .. especially when he starts deliberately flicking us with mud.. he is always smoking and chatting on his mobile too, which isn't quite the serene image one has of a Buddhist monk..?!
Much the same format continues for the rest of this week - Debbie and I getting stuck in to whatever is asked of us, with the young month long young volunteers content to focus on the least demanding childcare option of basically playing with the kids, who are very well managed already by an able team of professional teachers. Relief from the backbreaking and sweltering work in the rice fields comes in the form of a large wall - the front wall of the school in fact, which could do with some paint.. the world of volunteering it seems, certainly managed here by Starfish, seems to fall back on painting walls when volunteers get tired of other chores. I remain to be convinced how beneficial this is to the children themselves, but after three full days of picking and then replanting rice plants, a full
day of playing street artist by painting giant trees and bumble bees onto a large white wall has a certain appeal. Our design in fact features a huge WELCOME with the equivalent in Thai painted beneath .. which I undertake in fear of the monks taking offence that our wall is too anglo-centric. Ian from our group joins us and the three of us put in a full days work, and keep the other volunteer group waiting for an extra two hours as we insist on finishing the main outline - and pretty good it looks to by the end of the day.
Volunteering duties complete we have one final free day left in Surin before heading down to the island of Ko Samet for the final week of this trip. I have to renew my Thai tourist visa which is only valid for one month from arrival. I'm assured that the easiest way to do this is to go to the nearest border point - from Surin it is Cambodia, cross and then re-cross back into Thailand to receive a measely 14 days extension. Escorted by O, one of the volunteer co-orindators, this involves a 90 minute cramped
minibus ride to the border, exit stamp from Thailand.. then full page of passport for entry visa into Cambodia + fee paid, then exit from Cambodia, so new visa voided - costly in terms of wasted space of now limited available free pages of passport..(!) then re-entry into Thailand and more passport stamps...
On return to Surin the final hours here are taken up with last visits to the town gym and markets which have become my most familiar haunts over the two weeks spent here. The day market is in fact at its most enticing in the dead of night when the entire market area is full of traders setting up their stalls for the day of trading ahead - an army of workers quietly unloading carts, preparing fresh produce for their food stalls and generally being very busy.
We finally leave Surin on the night bus (a fairly comfortable coach with reclining seats, blankets and snacks), heading down to the coastal down of Rayong and the early morning ferry across to Ko Samet. Daybreak is stormy with thick black clouds and heavy rain, making the transfer from bus to ferry quite a challenge, especially with the
ferry being an old fishing boat which can only be boarded by clambering ourselves and luggage over the deck of another old fishing boat and walking a very slippery plank between the two swaying vessels. We all make it anyway and by the time our little boat has chugged its way within clear sight of the island the weather clears.
After all the issues with Real Gap and assurances given that our last week here on the island will be a relaxing one, we are all looking forward to some serious R&R time .. this being Real Gap however, there is no chance of that..! Ko Samet is a small island, the interior of which is a national park. All of the island's quality beaches and resort hotels are located on the eastern shore of the island.. all apart from the chosen 'resort' Real Gap have decided is appropriate for our little group that is .. a tiny, dingy motel on the north west side of the island with small grubby rooms which don't even face towards the sea.
This is very much the last straw for me, and within two hours of arriving I've decided to make
my own arrangements, so have my short list of decent accomodation options and a scooter arranged for the afternoon. Once away from the northern shore the island is a delight - although the only access road is a very muddy, pot-holed strewn dirt track. With the determination to find a suitable resting place though I negotiate my little hired scooter around the worst of the pot holes and through the puddles and find myself on a beautiful wide white sanded curving beach half way down the island, Vong Duern, which has a number of secluded resorts directly on the beach. This being low season, there are deals to be had and before long I have my own little pad confirmed - a rather nice and spacious private villa, part of the Vong Duern resort, mine for half price, at 1,000 BH per night (GBP 20). I continue my tour of the island by scooter, making the craggy far southern point with stunning views and then over to the remote west coast for a sunset look out point before returning to the northern shore.
Most of the group have also in fact already moved on by the time I return
- seven out of ten rather paying for their own place to stay rather than putting up with what Real Gap have chosen to spend no doubt a tiny proportion of the money we have all paid up front in good faith. The following morning I move down to the resort with Debbie and Ciara joining me. From there on the R&R takes hold - lazy days on the lovely beach here, local lunches, juices and dinners on the beach, complete with fire twirling acrobats. The group all meet up for Gerry's birthday one evening, otherwise it's a precious few days of nothing more strenuous than an early morning run on the beach and deciding which lounger to spread my beach towel on..
Having had my complete fill of the incompetence and sheer laziness of Real Gap (only a fraction of which I have documented here btw) I've decided not to rendezvous with the group at the end of the week but to head off a day early and so have an extra night back in the big city .. Bangkok .. BKK.
It is then, duly relaxed and with tan topped, with a tingling sense of relief
to be finally free of this issue-filled trip, together with the excitement of being back to being what I'm always most comfortable as - an independent traveller, that I set off one early mid-week late July morning aboard the resort's own ferry back to the mainland and then aboard a bus to return to Bangkok.
My intention had always been to leave this last two months of my year's trip as unplanned as possible and the recent experience of travelling in a group fills me with resolve to arrange the rest of my onward journey around SE Asia very much myself... not necessarily alone though...!
The first challenge is that sprawling, ugly, traffic filled, huge, unfathomable modern metropolis of Bangkok which I am now heading back to - I took a fairly instant dislike to the place on my first encounter a month ago. This is a city to know people in though, in order to begin to get to like the place, and it just so happens that I have struck up an interesting e dialogue with one of its inhabitants.. by the name of Pod. He recommends a good, clean, not too pricey centrally located hotel
for me, so it is to there I head on my first new day of group freedom..! I meet up with Pod there later that evening and we hit it off straight away, and very soon I have a very different feeling for this urban jungle and begin to appreciate all that being at the centre of one of the world's great metropolis' has to offer - having a well connected, smart dynamic local guide really helps for sure...!
I put my new sense of going on instinct and not on pre-arranged plans to the test by the end of this long weekend in Bangkok - instead of heading out of the city on the train and heading north to Chiang Mai for the final week that my extended visa will alllow me to stay in Thailand, I decide instead to spend a whole further week in the capital and in the company of Pod. Chiang Mai is still very much on my list but can be visited later in my new flexible itinerary.
So a week of cultural immersion in all things Bangkok has to offer follows, from al fresco dining on the roof of a city
skyscraper (exhorbitantly expensive, but great view) to visiting the sprawling weekend market, to sampling bars and clubs, and trendy tucked away restaurants. Then there are the shopping centres and more shopping centres - from the bargain basement to the ultra modern and luxurious .. how the Bangkokians love to shop, and love their Western fashion brands... to watching the latest Thai comedy at the cinema (an acquired taste), and to meeting some of Pod's contacts in town and getting a taster of how the arts and design sector work here (Pod working for the official Thailand Design Centre)... and generally how people live in this vast, unplanned city.
I have a tip to book an organised biking tour of the city as a great way to experience the hidden city - I book a trip for my last weekend in the city for Pod and I to do with Spice Roads Tours of 'Jungle Bangkok' - an area on the south side of the wide river cut off from the rest of the city because of lack of a bridge, which has been consequently left alone by developers.. Our group of six + leader take the bikes across the
river on a small boat and it's as if we are immediately in the countryside - quiet roads, almost no traffic and a network of tiny raised pathways which connect small villages and temples and a weekend floating market - what a treat to explore..!
My new commitment to flexible travelling then has really paid dividends, and, as well as really beginning to appreciate Bangkok as a culturally diverse and dynamic urban environment, I've also begun to get to know one of its very cool and interesting inhabitants to boot. There is though still an awful lot of SE Asia for me to explore, and now less than two months of my year remaining, so it is time to move on ..
My next blog will pick up the journey from here then, of my onward journey into Cambodia and beyond... stay tuned...!
Over and out for now..
Simon XX
ps London return date now finalised .... it being September 28th ...!
pps This is my least travelled route by a long way so far, so have just mapped the actual journey within Thailand this time - not helped though by Google Earth not
listing any place names in Thailand for some reason...?!
ppps - don't forget to click on the arrow for the extra page of photos..!
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Susan Dunkley
non-member comment
You and your new friend sound like two peas in a pod (har har). Glad you are having such a (continued) wonderful time - we long to see you and hear about it all in person - you will have about you the glamour of the East and the world weary allure of the truly seasoned traveller!!! sd