Thailand

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Wednesday the 2nd of June

Three whole days in Thailand and we have not even seen a single Thai ladyboy, what a disappointment. On the plus side we have almost been run over, breathed in more exhaust fumes than is probably safe and been ripped off by various Tuk Tuk drivers. All in all I can safely say I love Thailand! This is what travelling is meant to be about, no offence Australia but you were incredibly boring in comparison.

We have managed to do quite alot in Bangkok so far, which is quite an achievement as the temperature and humidity here is stifling. On our first day we went on a three hour walk through the heart of the city to the Khao San area. We have opted to stay in the centre of Bangkok but all the really cheap backpacker hotels are in the Khao San area, this means that the whole area is packed with stalls selling everything from food to fake Nike trainers. While Lou went to have a look at all the merchandise I went for a beer and got talking to a couple of great American guys called Josh and Brad. Brad had just returned from China and Josh was about to return to America but before Josh flew back he wanted to try and sell his guitar. This meant that for two hours Brad and I were roped into drumming up business. Although we had a few interested parties nobody would part with the cash so in the end Brad and I chipped in and bought it ourselves and gave it to the first Thai kid who showed an interest. Whether she took it home to play or walked around the corner to sell it to some tourists we will never know.

Yesterday we decided to sample a few of Bangkoks shopping centres which was a mind boggling experience as one complex alone had nine floors. I think both Lou and I found it a bit overwhelming as we spent all day looking in shops but returned to our hotel empty handed. Spoilt for choice is the phrase that springs to mind. Today we ventured out and about with the plan to view the Grand Palace. As with the best laid plans this did not quite work as when we arrived it was closed to tourists. We then spent the next two hours being zoomed around the City in a Tuk Tuk (just in case you are wondering a Tuk Tuk is a bike taxi) with the driver taking us to where he wanted us to go rather than where we asked to go. In the end Lou and I just figured it was easier to sit back and go with the flow.

Tomorrow we plan to leave Bangkok and get an overnight bus to Krabi, as quite frankly is this kind of climate you need a beach. So far in Thailand we have had clear skies so lets keep our figures crossed that it stays like this.

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Saturday the 5th of June

I am pleased to report we have seen our first lady boy on the over night train from Bangkok to where we are now, Rai Lei near Krabi on the south coast of Thailand. The train ride was so fun, we met up with a couple and their 4 year old kid from Cambridge and we had a laugh on the train and a good sleep aswell. I was so glad to get out of Bangkok as the heat was too much, being 40 some days. The beach called loudly and now we are here it is raining which is unfortunate but at least we wont be getting too burnt. There are a million mozzies around which is a bit of a pain but on the whole it is beautiful. Rai Lai is a bit of a Jeckyl and Hyde with one side having fantastic beaches and the other wild mangrove swamps.Unfortunately we are staying on the swamp side! Tomorrow we plan to move onto Ko Lanta which is meant to be quiet and relaxing and we will hopefully be staying in a hut on the beach and chill out for a bit.
Until next time, Lou

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Thursday the 10th of June

What a busy week we have had, since leaving Bangkok we have been on 1 train, 5 ferries, 3 coaches, 2 long boats and 5 mini-vans. After the relaxed pace of travelling in Australia we are definitely now back in the fray.

We moved on from Rai Lei as planned and headed over to Ko Lanta. Ko Lanta is a nice quiet island with amazing beaches, or at least that is how the guide book describes it. The Ko Lanta we discovered was in the middle of a monsoon and we ended up only staying for 2 nights due to the terrible weather. The sea was so rough the waves were coming into the hotel and half flooding it. On the second day we awoke to find various bits of debris that had washed in from the sea. This included about 4 crabs and 20 buckets of sand that had been washed into the hotel swimming pool. Also to make things worse we hand no electricity at night time, which I can assure you is extra annoying if you have forked out for air-con and a TV. On our first night I went to complain that we were paying for a room with air-con but due to the fact the resort had no power it was off and we were roasting. I was slightly perplexed when 20 minutes later there was a knock at the door and a member off staff came in with an electric fan. I thought it was easier just to say thanks than go into the fact that it does not work without electricity. All in all it was a bit of an adventure on Ko Lanta and I quite enjoyed it but 2 days were definitely enough.

We are currently in Ko Samui, where we arrived yesterday. I was not overly keen on coming to Ko Samui as in the guide books it sounds very busy and full of tourists but as the weather is meant to be better here than on the Andaman Coast we thought we would give it a go. All in all so far it seems quite good. As it is still officially low season it is quite empty and the hotels are all very cheap. Lou and I are staying in a two storey bungalow 1 minute from the beach for less than 10 pounds a night, nice! Also today is the first bit of sun we have seen in 5 days so things are looking up and I feel Ko Samui might become our home for the next week.

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Wednesday the 16th of June

Well Koh Samui was our home for a week and we had a good time. The weather picked up a bit and we had a nice beach 1 minute walk away from our cabin. Our neighbours were of the old man variety who were shacked up with young Thai ladies. This, it was pointed out to us could be identified by the neat washing hanging up outside oh and by the fact the guys were balding and old and had pretty slim woman on the end of their arms.

Koh Samui was a pretty weird place and felt more Western than Thai with shops like Tescos, and Boots and of course Mc D's and the like. It was however easy and relaxing for us to travel. While we were there we attemped to learn to dive but after the pool session we both thought again. It was difficult being under water and a bit scary so we knocked it on the head. Some people find their first breath under water amazing and find the experience of diving to be so relaxing that its compared to a kind of meditation. On the other hand other people find it to be stressful and would rather sip a cocktail on the beach and swim on top of the water. I fall in to the latter category.

So far Thailand has been a great place to travel, as they are so geared up for tourism.
My watch broke and so far I have not felt too compelled to get a new one. So you could also say it is relaxing. To top it off the food is so tastey and I think beats any place we have been so far including Australia. Of course it is cheap and so this makes an excellent place to travel.

On the other hand I am getting mighty pissed off with the mozzies. I am sure the mozzies here are smarter than European ones, they can hide even on white walls and are silent so you cannot hear that high pitched buzz as they fly past your ear, thus you just remain ignorant of them until to need to scratch. And boy I am just one big itch at the moment. Life can't be bad though if this is all I am moaning about.

We plan to make our way back to Bangkok soon and will be crossing into Cambodia. Here I dont suspect it to be as easy. For one there are no ATM's let alone Burger Kings. Not that I am complaining - hopefully it will mean we spend less money.

Well thats about enough for now must get back to erm well nothing! Seeya Lou

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Thursday the 24th of June

Well this is the last entry from Thailand for a while, if I am honest this entry should not even be on the Thailand page seeing as I am in Siem Riep, Cambodia but I thought I should end the Thailand page properly. Why I am justifying myself I am not sure as quite frankly it is my website and I will write any old load of rubbish anywhere I see fit, also it’s my birthday so I will write rubbish if I want to (you would write rubbish too if it happened to you….)

I did intend to write this entry from Thailand but I just did not have the time yesterday and no it was not because I over slept dreaming about pies and cakes! It was because Lou and I had to get up at 4.30am (thus interrupting my dream about pies and cakes) to catch the train to the border town of Aranya Prathet. This took six and a half hours although it was only a distance of about 120 miles. I felt like I was back in the UK on a Connex train but then I realised Connex would have been slower. The time flew past thankfully, this was due to the lush scenery and the cooling breeze from the opened windows, so all in all I can’t grumble. OK the seats were a bit hard. Come on give me a break, I tried not to grumble but I just can’t! Anyway compared to the Cambodian leg of the journey this felt like complete luxury. However you will have to check the Cambodian page for the rest of the story. Although not today as it my birthday so I am going to leave the Cambodian page until tomorrow and head out to celebrate being 27 instead.

P.S. This is not the end of the Thailand page, as after Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao we will be heading back into the north of Thailand.

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Tuesday the 10th of August

Welcome back to Thailand. Welcome to McDonalds, ice cream parlors, seedy bars, lady boys, and old perves! Coming back to Thailand was a bit of a shock compared to the lazy life in Laos. The traffic, the hassel, and bussell, motos and temples. It reminded of me of when we arrived into Australia after New Zealand, minus the temples. You could say that Laos was quite similar to New Zealand. Beautiful landscapes, friendly folk, few people, many animals and adventure sports. I really liked Laos but, wait I am starting to lose track, after all this is the Thailand page so I will now talk about what we have been doing since we flew into Chang Mai, Northen Thailand. Nothing!! Ha ha. Well that is a lie.

I am currently studying reflexology, foot massage / therapy. It is a short introductory course and is going well. Before we begin each day we have to say a prayer to the God of Massage, which is a little odd as I have no idea what the prayer is about but I can hazzard a guess. Something along the lines of "you amazing god, we are following your footsteps and blah, blah, blah". The reason I am taking the course is that I have been interested in reflexology a while and thought where better place to study it? It is also quite cheap, and feels great! It can feel relaxing or sometimes energising. Today it was definitely relaxing as I almost fell asleep during practice, which was not the best idea as I was meant to be taking notes while my teacher demonstrates on me.

Apart from this we have not been up to much, we were considering going on a trek to the hill tribe villages, but felt it would be a bit weird looking at people as though they were strange animals at a zoo, if you know what I mean, so we decided to give it a miss.

I am afraid to say that apart from the many courses on offer here and the treks the only other main feature of Chang Mai seems to be the numerous market stalls which line the streets everywhere you go, selling all sorts of trashy tourist treasures such as clothes, lamps, fake watches, shoes, wooden calving etc etc. Unfortunately Ruairi and I only seem to go shopping when we have had a few drinks and end up buying junk which we regret the next day but hey its all fun!

Well thats about all for now, our plans are to get the train back to Bangkok after I finish my course. Hopefully Ruairi, my guinea pig will still be walking by the time I have experimented on him!
Tarrah. Lou x

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Tuesday the 17th of August

Welcome back to Bangkok everybody and also adios from Bangkok, as today is our last day in Thailand before we fly out tonight to Sri Lanka.

We have been in Bangkok for 4 days now after flying down from Chaing Mai. We were going to get an overnight train but we found out you could get a flight for about 15 pounds, so obviously at that price flying was in and the train was out. I do like Bangkok and now this is our third time here, it almost feels like a home from home. We must also look a lot more at ease and a lot less like a couple of gullible tourists. The reason I say this is on our first time in Bangkok we would get into a tuk tuk and tell the driver where we wanted to go. We would then be taken on Mr Tuk Tuk's magical mystery tour for about an hour before being deposited in completely the wrong place and having been charged three times over the proper fare. Now on our third time in Bangkok when I get in a tuk tuk they charge me the right price and take me where I want to go. I like to think that this is due to the fact that I now look like such a seasoned traveller that the driver knows not to try and rip me off. In reality it is more likely because I look like such a trampy, skint backpacker the driver thinks there is no point in trying to rip me off. We have ended up staying in the China Town area of Bangkok this time, which has been quite good as it has meant we have seen a bit more of the city.

Well next stop Sri Lanka, which is safe to say that both Lou and I are really looking forward to seeing. I hope that it is a bit cooler there, as I think the heat here is starting to effect me. Now earlier on in this trip I inadvertently ate a fried grasshopper. Although at the time it was not that bad, it really was not something that I fancied repeating and in fairness I have not repeated it. Oh no, eat grasshoppers again not me! This time I decided to eat a cockroach looking beast of an insect, a caterpillar and something the resembled a giant grub/maggot. Now what makes this all the more odd is that unlike the grasshopper, these fried insects were not forced upon me, in fact the complete opposite. I crossed the road and went out of my way to buy them, I can only put this strange behavior down to the heat effecting me. So hopefully Sri Lanka will be a bit cooler or next entry I will probably be informing you about the elephant crap cake or the snake skin wine I have just had!

Anyway time to go and pack as I have a plane to catch, Sri Lanka here we come.

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