Phuket, Phi Phi and everything before!

I thought I would update my blog. I don't really feel like I've done much to warrant an update, but I thought I'd keep you up-to-date anyhow!

After our trip to the Death Railway, we made our way back down from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok, ready to leave the country for our 'Visa run'. We didn't do much in Bangkok (again), apart from eat, drink and wander around the local alleyways. This in itself was quite nice as we actually found a peaceful spot by the river, and it was virtually free of touts and tuk tuks!

I feel like we're really on holiday now though - I've had enough of temples and I think I've finally seen the last of them. Now we're just being lazy tourists - hence the lack of blog updates.

From Bangkok, we flew to Singapore for the night, spending the night sleeping on a row of seats in the airport. It was uncomfortable, but cheaper than getting any accommodation in Singapore itself. Especially as we landed at 11.30 at night and were leaving for Phuket at 8.30 the next morning.

So we arrive in Phuket, tired and sleep-deprived. We get hounded by an airport load of touts offering us accommodation and taxis at extortionate prices. Thankfully, we have wised up to the ways of Thailand. Whilst Chris was being hounded, I found the 'official' information desk and located the metered taxis (at least 100 baht cheaper than the touts). This equates to roughly £2 difference, which may not seem much, but every little counts. Bartering is generally the best way to get anywhere in Thailand, but there are some places you just shouldn't barter - taxis being one of them. The meter is so cheap here (we drove an hour from Bangkok airport to our first hotel and it cost us £8).

We got our taxi (eventually) to our accommodation which was in Phuket Town. It's away from any beaches and much of the overly-tourist areas, but I liked this. It was cheaper and I felt we were still in a bit more of the 'real' Thailand. Still tired and sleep-deprived, we headed off to find some food. The best we could find was a lady selling food with VERY little English. We managed to communicate and got ourselves some noodle soup, fish and water. It was quite nice, but I was ready for some sleep by the time I'd eaten. That wrote-off the rest of our first day. We just slept then woke for dinner & a pub quiz.

We happened across this bar with a pub quiz. It was quite fun - full of people from Alaska and the quiz was run by an Alaskan (the pub was run by a Turk... strange combination but everyone seems to get on with everyone over here). Unfortunately Chris and I were in the smallest team (just the two of us). We didn't come last though, which I felt was an achievement! Probably just as well we didn't win - the winning team got a bucket full of beer. I never realised how little I knew about Alaska though - there was a whole round dedicated to it. For example, did you know there are 7 types of Salmon somewhere... I forget where now. So that was a useful fact 'eh!?
We enjoyed the quiz so much that we went back the next day for a 'quiet' drink. The owner of the bar recognised us and bought us free drinks, and then more free drinks, and then the locals started getting in on the act. We had planned to leave around 9.30 - 10... we ended up leaving at 1.30am. So that put paid to our planned beach antics the next day. Day 2 wasted! We finally made it to the beach on Day 3, the day before yesterday.
Yesterday, we made it to Koh Phi Phi. A beautiful, expensive, island that was made famous by Leonardo Di Caprio in the film, The Beach. Can you believe I'd never seen that film until the ferry over yesterday!? Unfortunately I have developed a cold so yet again I've been a bit useless, other than beach-lazing. Last night was lovely, the beach bars put out mats and basically wait on you while you sit and admire the sea or the local fire-shows (Thai men juggling with fire, literally) all around. It's very loud, but that's what Phi Phi has become. If you've seen The Beach, it's underlying story is actually quite apt. Tourists have probably spoilt this paradise.
The island, like many others, was destroyed by the tsunami 6 years ago, but extensive efforts have enabled it to be built up to the tourist-trap it once was. This time, most buildings have escape routes to the roofs, and there are clear signs for a tsunami escape route, up many, many steps. Chris went up to the viewpoint this morning (thanks to my cold, and my severe dislike of steep hills and steps, especially in the heat, I chose not to go). Apparently they were cashing in on the Tsunami with Tsunami DVDs and a Tsunami Book at this viewpoint! I'd say that it's a good way to raise money for such a catastrophe, but the island is so expensive that I can't actually believe this is necessary.
So for the rest of today, we lounged on the beautiful beach, which is so close to where we are staying. It's a lovely area, but a bit noisy at night. We are hoping to go snorkeling soon, and maybe even to a Blues Festival back in Phuket. We'll see. I'm enjoying this lazy life for now though - making the most of it as we've now got less than 3 weeks before we fly home. I'll be sad to end the adventure, but look forward to home comforts, like Robinson's Apple and Blackcurrant!
Hope everyone is ok

xXx

PS, Apologies if there are any awful spelling errors - computer just had a funny 5 minutes and added in words without me doing anything!

Death Railway

After Ayutthaya, we decided to get away from the temples and ruins and went off to a place called Kanchanaburi. You may never have heard of this, or Death Railway, but hopefully you've heard of the film "Bridge over the River Kwai".

I'd never seen the film, and those who know me probably realise I'm not really a keen follower of history. You'll probably also know how much my Dad & my Nephew love railways, so this particular story was a bit more appealing for me to learn about. It was very sad though.
I'm sure you all have a much better grasp of WWII history than I do, but as a summary this is what the basic story is: Thailand were on the 'wrong' side during the war, and Japan needed to try and establish a link between Thailand and Burma in order to carry supplies across land rather than by sea (for fear of having their ships sunk).  Some years before, a railway link between Myanmar and Thailand had been investigated and it was decided that the time requirements and poor conditions meant it wasn't really viable. But the Japanese decided they would work round that issue by using POWs instead. The conditions were terrible and we went round the museum which showed some of the actual pictures of POWs they considered to be 'healthy' enough to work on the railway. Dude, they were skinnier than most of the 3rd world country children they show you on various charity fund raising shows (not that I'm against that fund raising, just trying to illustrate the point).
It was really quite sad to read about as I'd not really heard about any of this before I got to Thailand. Next to the museum was the cemetery for many who had lost their lives on this railway. It is estimated that over 100,000 people lost their lives to make the railway. It was interesting, that was probably the only place where I have seen biblical scriptures referenced or displayed (as the buried were generally European, Australian, American). Most of Thailand is Buddhist and I'd never really realised how much influence religion has on a country.
When the original surveys had been done, they reckoned it would take some years to complete the railway. The Japanese worked their 'workforce' so hard that they completed it in 18 months. After the war, most of the railway link was destroyed.
The day after we went to the museum and cemetery, we took a trip on the line (well, the small part that now remains). This was hot enough for us just riding the train, it was hard to imagine what it must've been like for the prisoners who had to build it.
It was a good history lesson for me, albeit a little sad. What concerned me most is that from all the places we've been in Thailand, this probably had one of the biggest party atmospheres that I've seen! There are riverboats that go up the River Kwai with Karaoke blaring out at all hours (and other party boats). Very odd combination, but nice that they're keeping the memory of the people who died, at the same time as moving on with a more positive attitude I guess.
My most favourite trivia that I learnt in Kanchanaburi is this: Apparently River "Kwai" is actually pronounced "Quare" (as in square, without the S). If you say Kwai, that's actually a buffalo to Thai's! So there you go, an interesting fact to end the most recent edition of my blog with. 
I'll write again soon hopefully. We're in Bangkok now where we're preparing for leaving Thailand on Tuesday and coming up with the next stage of our plan (we have a flight back into Phuket on Wednesday and hopefully finally seeing some of those beaches we've been hoping to see).
Until then, hope everyone is well and look forward to seeing you all in about a month or so.
Happy Valentine's!
Han
xXx

One more night, one more beer!

Having had our plans of beach fun squashed by a lack of transport (we could've got a bus, but we didn't fancy the long journey), we came up with a new plan. We would head to Ayutthaya - this used to be the capital of Thailand too and, like Sukothai, homes many ruins.

I'll be honest, I'm loving Thailand but I am so over this whole culture thing! Temples and ruins are nice, but I'm bored of them now. I'm sorry Thailand, your people are what makes me love your country, not your temples!

So yeah, we got to Ayutthaya by train. This time we took a standard 3rd class train for 15 baht each... that's 60p for both Chris and I to venture 2 hours up the train line to a historic site... can't imagine that kind of value in many places back home.

When we arrived, we phoned our guesthouse and arranged to be collected by the lovely Gina and Samsdee, the hosts. They made the stay so enjoyable. We had booked 3 nights like Sukothai - 1 to get there, 1 to go see ruins, and 1 to get out again. That didn't happen. Let me just explain a little about Samsdee. She is one crazy older Thai lady who is both lovely and scary at the same time! When she's had a few to drink she's very loud and shouts "One more beer, one more night!" most of the time, as well as singing random songs at boys with appropriate names that fit into her lyrics. Initially I thought this was quite amusing but didn't really get the relevance.

In the evening we were about to go for dinner when Samsdee grabbed us and demanded we not leave - they were going to have a BBQ. So we figured we'd give it a go. There were lots of other backpackers there too. As the night went on, everyone was getting a bit merrier, including Samsdee (not me - I don't like beer and aside from really strong whisky and a lack of diet coke, that's the main tipple out here). We ended up heading to a local bar where a Thai band were playing some live music (tacky covers of typical western hits). It was a good night, but we didn't get back til the wee hours of the morning. As a result, the saying "one more beer, one more night" was beginning to ring true.

We ended up booking an extra night as we had to write-off the next day thanks to the late night! This was probably just as well. Despite not drinking, I was the one who ended up horribly ill again, being sick into a 7-11 bag in the middle of the street this time. Doh! I had had two rather sweet apple drinks plus a big Thai lunch, so I think that plus the heat did not agree with me.

Anyhow, Chris and I have been travelling together for about 4 months solid now. In that time we've lived in others pockets quite exclusively. Not always out of choice, it's just not been the easiest environment for social gatherings. Samsdee changed all that for us. When we arrived we were shown to our room and then we headed out for some food (initial impressions weren't great - the first place we found spoke NO English, we couldn't even get them to understand we wanted a drink, so ended up with chicken and rice). But other than our initial bad choice, the people we met and the atmosphere at our guesthouse in Ayutthaya made our stay there really worthwhile. We also visited the ruins, but they'd all started to look the same to me again, plus the bikes we rented this time weren't so good (only 1 brake and that didn't work)!

I could take or leave Ayutthaya itself, but if you ever go to Thailand and need some new friends, go stay at Moradok Guesthouse. They look after you well and force everyone to socialise! Our new friend Will had only planned to be there for a few days, he ended up being there nearly a whole week. Poor guy got an eye infection, and the ladies at the guesthouse took him to the hospital to get treated. 

All in all, great place.

Phitsanulok & the start of our next adventure

After Sukhothai, we weren't sure what to do, so we thought we would head back down south on the train with a view to going even further south to the islands and beaches. We had booked a sleeper train from Phitsanulok to Bangkok which didn't leave until 10pm. We decided to make use of the day we had by going into New Sukhothai. This turned out to be quite a disappointment, there was very little here and the food wasn't so good. I'm glad we stayed in the old city.

So we ventured to Phitsanulok, the train station. We knew we'd be able to leave our luggage there and thought it might be nice to see another city in Thailand. We dropped our bags but the station was mainly operated by local-speaking staff which made communicating a little harder. So we ventured into the town, to find more non-English speaking locals. In a way this was really nice as it's one of the few places we'd been where we weren't hassled by the usual Thai conversation ("where you from?"/"Where you going?"). It did have its problems though - finding and ordering some food for a start. We'd read about one place in our guide book which was basically a pub and served Thai and Western food.

The problem with the guide books is that they only tell you the English names, and in the non-touristy areas of Thailand it is nearly impossible to find an English sign. None-the-less, we found the recommended pub, only to discover it had closed down. After a drink elsewhere, we ended up in a reasonably westernised guesthouse restaurant for dinner, and then later for a dessert. This was the highlight for me here. I don't like things to be too touristy, but with my lack of Thai language skills, I appreciate someone who can at least understand what I'm trying to ask for. Plus, the dessert was the best I've had since I've arrived in Thailand - a yummy chocolate cake!

So, despite the paragraphs I've just written, Phitsanulok wasn't really anything to write home about!

We headed to the train station and waited for our Sleeper train to Bangkok. we'd heard the trains are always late so I was a bit worried we'd be there all night with no clue what was going on because of the lack of English speakers, but as it turned out the train was reasonably on time and we had no real issues. Our biggest issue was the lack of sleep on the so-called Sleeper train. It was not a smooth journey at all, rocking from side to side and every other direction. The seats convert into an upper and lower bunk. There is less space on the upper bunk and therefore you pay less for it. I chose this one so Chris would have a bit leg room, thinking it would make him more comfortable.

Thanks to the rocky journey, the lights remaining on all night and the noisiness of the train, very little sleep was had. I was also particularly concerned when I attempted to go to the toilet. Most places in Thailand have phased out their squat loos in favour of more westernised-style loos. Everywhere except where you could do with the Westernised loo it seems! I don't like to get too technical, but the squat loo in this train was just a hole in the floor with a couple of foot pads either side of the hole (in order to squat more efficiently, one would presume). Firstly, you have to have a sense of balance and aim at the best of times. As I say, this train wasn't the smoothest journey, so I feared for my safety at several points, and as for the hygiene... I won't even go there!

None the less, it was all an experience. Unfortunately when we got to Bangkok, the trains for going south to the beaches were all booked up so we had to face another night in Bangkok and think of a new itinerary.

Same Same Sukothai

We spent nearly 2 weeks in Chiang Mai, so apologies for the ridiculously long post. Hopefully I'll keep this one a bit shorter!

Sukothai used to be the capital of Siam and is said to be the first capital of Thailand. According to my Lonely Planet book, this may not actually be the case but who am I to argue? I wasn't around.

What I can tell you first-hand is that the place, like many areas in Thailand, has an old and a new city. We stayed in the old city which we booked through our lovely guesthouse in Chiang Mai. I'm sure we paid someone extra commission and paid over the odds, but the place was really nice and we were told that everywhere else was booked up for Chinese new year. I'm not sure how accurate that was, but the old city was definitely the place to go. We had considered the new city, but once we left, we took a trip there and realised it wasn't so good.

So anyhow, Sukothai, it has a lot of ruins. I actually much preferred these to all the active temples I'd seen in Chiang Mai. So this time the Thai's were right, it was same same but different. We only spent 3 days in Sukothai, 1 full day going round the ruins, and the other 2 getting to and from the place.

The ruins span a large area and are therefore split into five sections, central, north, south, east and west. Thanks to the heat in Thailand, walking to all those areas just seems crazy, so we opted for the very popular method - a bicycle. It was great! Chris hadn't ridden for some time, but he was able to get used to it quite well. We only went round the main park to start with before we started getting the usual Tired-of-Temples Syndrome.

Everything looked great, but it was all quite similar after a while. We ventured off to another section and found a really interesting Wat (temple) that had been restored. This one housed a HUGE buddha image in this concrete area (called a Mon-Dop I think), so large that there is a hidden alleyway up and behind the buddha. Apparently, in its heyday, the army would go there and be encouraged as they actually heard the buddha talking to them. I read, and I'm no sceptic but tend to agree, suggestions that perhaps this wsan't a sacred happening as thought, but maybe someone had just taken a sneaky trip into the alleyway/tunnel and played a clever little trick on innocent worshippers!

Anyhow, our fun was short-lived as upon leaving this Wat, I obtained a puncture. So we walked all the way back to the guesthouse which didn't actually turn out to be too far at all. When we returned, Chris continued his cycling adventure whilst I went to freshen up - as nice as these ruins and new surroundings were, a flat-tyre sure does ruin a good day out. I'd still recommend anyone visiting Thailand to take a look if they get the opportunity.

Charming Chiang Mai

My apologies for the delay in posting again - either the internet has been rubbish or I have! As a brief summary, we left the North of Thailand and made our way back down south, then back up to the middle and across to the west - all of those areas were great but with very little internet access. For more detail on the specifics of my Thailand adventures so far, read on!

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Having spent over a week here now, I can safely say that Chiang Mai is my favourite place in Thailand so far... ok, so actually I've only been here and Bangkok, which I didn't much like in comparison, but still.


Sadly, we're planning on leaving the day after tomorrow. I am sad about this because a: I like the place, and b: I've just discovered the joys of Thai massage. Joy may be a strong word actually, pain is more accurate. However, on balance, it's a nice experience for less than £3 an hour - the luxury outweighs the pain. Well, it does for a foot massage - I think Chris' back would disagree for the head, neck & back massage.


Night Markets


Last night we ventured to the Sunday Walking Street (Market, to you and I), where they close off the busiest road in Chiang Mai and open it up to various local vendors selling arts, crafts, food and anything else you could think of. This is advantageous for two reasons. 1, we got to see lots of the local culture & crafts all in one place, and 2, it enabled us to cross the road safely, something we had previously been unable to do without fear for our lives.


I really enjoyed it, although it soon got too busy to be as enjoyable, and then it rained so all the vendors were running around trying to protect their stock and the vibe kind of changed. Still, it was a good experience and Chris perfected his bargaining skills whilst I perfected my Thai language skills. I managed to ask someone how much something was in Thai, only to realise when the answer came back that I had no idea of any numbers in Thai. So that was a short-lived authentic conversation. Still, it seems the vendors are used to this language barrier as they all carry trusty calculators, not to calculate but to convey how much things cost.


We visited Doi Suthep the day before the market and were ambushed by a lady trying to sell us paintings. Going to the market last night proved that we'd been well and truly ripped off when we agreed to buy a couple at a 'discounted' rate. Something I was already suspicious of, but confirmed when we saw the same paintings for about a 5th of the price (and you can bet we'd have got a discount on that price if we'd bought any there). Never mind, it was a good lesson learnt.


Doi Suthep Park


Doi Suthep is a big hill in an otherwise very flat Chiang Mai, and there is a rather large temple up there, plus some excellent city views. As a foreigner we were charged a higher entry fee, which I thought was quite funny for a religious establishment. This is quite the norm in Thailand though, and I believe in other parts of Asia too.


The temple is further up the hill and involves climbing lots and lots of steps... or getting a cable car for 20 baht (40p), so guess which one we chose? The journey to the temple had already been adventurous as we had failed miserably to find the bus stop. This is because, rather than a bus, you catch a sawngthaew which is basically a red truck-style vehicle. They wait until they are full before they start their journey, and unfortunately Chris and I came at lunch time when everyone else was eating, so we had to wait a good hour before embarking on the journey. Thankfully there were a group of novice monks who were going to Doi Suthep, although for a moment I thought they weren't going to get in because of me being there. I squished into the corner so as not to brush against them in error, but this made me feel quite travel sick getting up the mountain!


The temple was very ornate with lots of gold. We met an American girl on our way home (in the red truck) who had just been to a buddhist meditation retreat, and she explained that they really aren't so fussed about all the gold etc, but because the country began with different religions (hindu in particular), much of the buddhist religion in Thailand has a lot of other religious undertones. I find this quite hard to understand but I guess it makes sense.


Muay Thai


Much of our trip has been plagued with either myself or Chris feeling ill, so now that we were both feeling ok we decided to go watch a game of Thailand's national sport, Thai Boxing (Muay Thai). I was a bit apprehensive as I'm not a big fan of violence and boxing, but I thought I should keep Chris company and it was another good cultural experience. An experience it was! I was quite surprised initially as I thought I was going to be watching a Thai boxer vs a Spanish boxer. Instead, two thai kids came out who must've been no older than about 9. It turns out that rather than just one fight, there were about 5-6, and the weightings go up as the night continues. This may well be normal protocol for these fights, but I've never been to one before so it was all new to me. I guess I'd rather kids were learning a discipline like this than drug abuse etc, but it took a bit of getting used to.


So it started with the kids, then it went to the 16-18ish year olds, then the slightly heavier adults next. It wasn't as violent as I expected, which was good, although one of the teens did get knocked out for a couple of minutes. The most horrendous bit for me was the half-time "entertainment". This was obviously a show put on mainly for the tourists. 4 boxers and a referee came out. The 4 boxers were blindfolded and when the show started they were basically free to kick and punch each other as much as they could. Because they had blindfolds on they had no idea who or what they were kicking/punching, so at times this was relatively amusing if they hit a pillar of the ring or thin air. Not so amusing was when they would accidentally hit the ref. The ref, who was un-blindfolded and wearing shoes, would get really annoyed and either pelt them back REALLY hard, or send them directly into the path of another boxer who would do it for him. I think he enjoyed his job a bit too much. I thought this had a mild entertainment value - no-one seemed injured and the boxers seemed to enjoy themselves, but I would've rather had some cheerleaders or something!


When the big fight happened, Chris and I were figuring it was a big set up and that the Spaniard would surely lose to the Thai. As it turned out, it seemed quite genuine and the Spanish guy won fair and square.


For the evening we had been sat next to another Brit who had been roped into placing some bets with a local. He thought he was probably going to get scammed, but it was only small money to him so he went with it (about £2, probably quite a lot to a local). The local that he was betting with was gradually getting more and more drunk as the night went on, and in the end our British friend won all the bets. He even deliberately tried to lose the last one so that he could give the Thai back his money, but it didn't work out. Still, the Thai seemed ok with it all and the most concerning part was at the end of the evening when the Thai turned to us all and uttered the words we've heard so often... "Tuk-tuk?"


I am a little nervous of tuk-tuks at the best of times, but to be in the hands of a drunken Thai? We politely declined and suggested he use his tuk-tuk to get some sleep instead, I think he saw the logic in this eventually but it took some convincing!


Monk Chat


On our last night in Chiang Mai we went to a temple for a Buddhist meditation lesson and Monk Chat. I think I've mentioned Monk Chat before - basically you can go along and ask the monks anything you like and it gives them a chance to practice their English while you learn some stuff about Buddhism or Thai culture etc. This was actually really interesting, but such hard work. Our monk was Cambodian and his English was quite hard to understand. Fair play to him though - he can speak several languages as Buddhist scriptures are in Pali, he lives in Thailand, originally from Cambodia and spoke to us in English. We spent a couple of hours talking about the Buddha religion, and finally I plucked up the courage to ask them just why their temples were all so 'pretty' and jewel-encrusted, given their main aim to avoid worldly posessions. The answer I got back (from several monks who had joined us by now), was something along the lines of "ah, we didn't build it - you'd have to ask our predecessors!"


I relate to much of the Buddha philosophy, even as a Christian - wishing well against your enemies, not getting complacent with worldly possessions etc, but this is one area where I still just don't get it, surely it's a big contradiction when all the temples we saw were so prettily decorated?? Oh well, it was an interesting evening and the meditation lesson was short but useful. It was also bloomin' uncomfortable - I give these monks full credit for sitting still for so long on such a hard surface (stone, usually)!


Tomorrow we're heading to Sukhothai, a bunch of old ruined temples. I'm loving Thailand, but to be honest the temples are all getting a bit "same same" and not much different"! Thai's seem to have a common saying "Same same but different"... I've yet to see the differences.

New Zealand Pics

If the first lot were blurry, I'm sure these are going to be so much worse, but for anyone who's really that fussed I can provide originals on my return! Here is New Zealand in a nutshell:

If 'Anonymous' would like to complain about this backing track, it was the most high profile Kiwi band I could think of! x