I arrived at Koh Phangan this morning. Left Ali on Koh Tao, her boat isn't until this afternoon, sad times. My taxi to the docks turned out to be a moped. With a rucksack which I'm fairly certain is close to weighing half my body weight and a fairly serious hangover (Ali and I and some girls I had met in Bangkok had a major leaving party last night, until the early hours of this morning) I found the journey particuarly harrowing. Nevertheless, I arrived in one piece and with plenty of time to get my boat. The weather is horrible today. It started raining as the boat left and the sea was very rough. I did not enjoy it to say the least.
It's a bit of a shock to be somewhere so big after the two streets of Sairee beach. The shops here look wonderful and I've checked in to a nice place where I have my own bungalow and a double bed, for less than what we were paying on Koh Tao. However, the beach doesn't look quite as nice and it doesn't seem quite as friendly. It's probably just because I'm tired and suffering from my abuse of Thai rice whiskey. This afternoon I plan to hide my hangover behind my new pair of fake raybans, get some food and watch one of the movies that the restaurants all seem to show here and then get a massage. This evening, I might, god forbid, have a quiet night! That will be a shock to my system after seven nights of pure partying!
xx
Monday 31 August 2009
Saturday 29 August 2009
It didn't rain, it poured
Apparently they had been waiting for a decent storm here for 2 months or something. Last night it started to rain and it absolutely threw it down! Some of the street was flooded and you had to wade through it! It was kind of cool actually.
Last night was a quiet one for us. There is a Thai election today and apparently there is a problem here with candidates buying votes with alcohol. It sounds like a good plan to me. Anyway, so because of this little problem, bars and clubs are not allowed to serve alcohol. Well, not supposed to be. There were still a couple of bars open here so we just hung out with our buckets of Sangsom (Thai whiskey) and lemonade.
Before the rain yesterday the weather was beautiful. I melted on the beach for most of the afternoon. Today it's cloudy again :( I think it's probably a good day for a massage :)
xx
Last night was a quiet one for us. There is a Thai election today and apparently there is a problem here with candidates buying votes with alcohol. It sounds like a good plan to me. Anyway, so because of this little problem, bars and clubs are not allowed to serve alcohol. Well, not supposed to be. There were still a couple of bars open here so we just hung out with our buckets of Sangsom (Thai whiskey) and lemonade.
Before the rain yesterday the weather was beautiful. I melted on the beach for most of the afternoon. Today it's cloudy again :( I think it's probably a good day for a massage :)
xx
Friday 28 August 2009
I spent several days just chilling out
I have literally spent the past few says in exactly the same motif. Ali and I relax on the beach most of the day. It's cloudy (still!) but we are still working on out tans. Then we go and have some food and a nap. The evenings we have spent between a little Thai bar on the street where there is a guy who can do awesome fire poi and getting to know the owner who has quite a ridiculous sense of humour. After that we generally head to the main bar/club on the beach and chat to as many people as possible. I've met so many people over the past few days! I can see how people can stay here for months on end. A couple of nights, once the beach bar closes we go on to other parties in clubs either along the beach or just inland. Last night we went to this really quite bizarre club which appeared to be the back yard to a large villa. It had great dj's though and there were loads of people there.
So tonight will probably have a similar theme. It's getting worse as we get to know more people as we get invited to more parties!
I had a wonderful massage the other day. It was on the beach and I could see blue sky through the palm trees above me and hear the waves lapping on the shore. Perfect.
xx
So tonight will probably have a similar theme. It's getting worse as we get to know more people as we get invited to more parties!
I had a wonderful massage the other day. It was on the beach and I could see blue sky through the palm trees above me and hear the waves lapping on the shore. Perfect.
xx
Wednesday 26 August 2009
I didn't like it because it was cloudy
Today is cloudy again and we are not impressed. We managed to drag ourselves out of bed around 10 and go and lie on the beach though. Last night was lots of fun. It involved a lot of buckets of Sangsom (Thai rice whiskey or something), some cocktails and some vodka red bull. There was dancing at a bar on the beach and then dancing at a party a bit further down the island. Loads of fun.
This afternoon I demonstrated how bad I am at pool as we played doubles with some people we met last night in the club. I'm going for a massage in a minute in the hope it will help to cure my hangover. If that doesn't work I might try some chocolate cake from the hotel. I am going to come home round as a pudding!
xx
This afternoon I demonstrated how bad I am at pool as we played doubles with some people we met last night in the club. I'm going for a massage in a minute in the hope it will help to cure my hangover. If that doesn't work I might try some chocolate cake from the hotel. I am going to come home round as a pudding!
xx
Monday 24 August 2009
I was a too busy/too drunk/too hungover to post
So I finished up my last post as we were leaving Khao Sok National Park. We travelled by sangthaw (the kind of covered pick up truck) and ferry boat to Koh Samui. Once there we checked into our hotel which was right on the beach and was very nice. Air conditioned rooms and everything. Although the beach was very pretty the sea was a little bit murky so not quite the picturesque beauty you imagine. We were only there for one night so in the evening we headed over to the main beach area. We ate dinner on raised platforms on the beach which had little tables that you had to sit cross legged at. It was great! I ate fresh bbq'd tuna steak and we watched fire works being set off from the beach and lanterns bgeing lit and floating off into the night sky. As we sat and ate dinner we could see lightning reflecting off the clouds out on the horizon, it was incredible to watch.
Despite the amazingly swanky looking hotels and nice looking restarants and bars, I didn't really like Koh Samui that much. It seemed to me to have become a lot like any European resort and didn't seem to have much originality. The next morning we managed to get up early enough to have a few hours on the beach before setting off to get a catamaran for Koh Tao. I am definitely not made to be a sailor. I felt a little queasy as the boat rocked around quite a bit and also could not find my balance and fell about alot when I walked around. I imagine it looked quite funny.
Koh Tao is so beautiful. It has the traditional blue sea that you think of when you think of islands and the palm trees lining the beaches. It is full of tourists but seems a lot more original than Koh Samui and is a bit quirky. I love it here quite a lot. The hotel that we staying in was again very nice. However, the restaurant seemed to have a lot of troule accomodating a group of 15 and took ages to bring food and drinks and paying the bill was an absolute nightmare! But the food was good and they had an awesome bbq in the evenings so it was fine. On our full day at the island we went for a days snorkelling. The marine life we saw was amazing! I saw sharks! And a dark purple octopus! There we also some huge parrot fish and huge schools of bright yellow fish. I also really liked these little bits of coral that looked like brightly coloured pipecleaner stick trees! I also had a great time jumping off the prow of the boat.
During the trip we also got to spend time on a privatly owned island which had a peninsular strip of beach which looked lovely and a precarious looking wooden walk way which wound itself up to the top of a large hill where, after you had climbed up some rocks to get to the top the view was quite stunning. However, like Koh Samui, this had a very commerical resort feeling and was really really busy. I felt like it could have been a resort in the south of France.
Back at our hotel we had dinner and then headed out to the bars on the beach for a last night out as a group together. I had my first experience with Thia red bull. I am a bit special when I drink it. Imagine me drinking 2 bottles of lucozade without doing any exercise and you might get the idea of how much energy I had. We spent the night dancing at one bar until it shut and then going to another bar down the beach and staying there until about 5am! I have never been anywhere like this. Where you can sit and drink at bars on the beach and the club is literally 5 foot from the sea. Awesome.
Yesterday was a bit of a sad day all round. Aly (a girl from the tour who his staying on Koh Tao with me for the week) and I had to say goodbye to everyone from the tour as they were leaving for Bangkok. It was very weird being left on our own. We were also both very hungover and a bit subdued (well I was once the red bull wore off). Our htoel/hostel thing that we have checked into is great. We have a little wooden hut with a little porch to sit on. It even comes with a mangey dog that we have named Tom that lives on the porch. The hotel also makes its own bread, cake and pasta!
After a nap in the sun on the beach and a nap in the room we felt human enough to venture out to have some food. The pasta at the hotel was great! We didn't manage to go dancing last night but we did spend a lot of time chilling out at a bar on the beach which had beanbags! We were quite tempted to see if they would let us sleep there. It was very comfortable.
Unfortunately today its cloudy :( still warm, but no sunshine so we are not impressed. I think today might be a day for a foot massage and the happy hour that starts at 4 :) brilliant.
xx
Despite the amazingly swanky looking hotels and nice looking restarants and bars, I didn't really like Koh Samui that much. It seemed to me to have become a lot like any European resort and didn't seem to have much originality. The next morning we managed to get up early enough to have a few hours on the beach before setting off to get a catamaran for Koh Tao. I am definitely not made to be a sailor. I felt a little queasy as the boat rocked around quite a bit and also could not find my balance and fell about alot when I walked around. I imagine it looked quite funny.
Koh Tao is so beautiful. It has the traditional blue sea that you think of when you think of islands and the palm trees lining the beaches. It is full of tourists but seems a lot more original than Koh Samui and is a bit quirky. I love it here quite a lot. The hotel that we staying in was again very nice. However, the restaurant seemed to have a lot of troule accomodating a group of 15 and took ages to bring food and drinks and paying the bill was an absolute nightmare! But the food was good and they had an awesome bbq in the evenings so it was fine. On our full day at the island we went for a days snorkelling. The marine life we saw was amazing! I saw sharks! And a dark purple octopus! There we also some huge parrot fish and huge schools of bright yellow fish. I also really liked these little bits of coral that looked like brightly coloured pipecleaner stick trees! I also had a great time jumping off the prow of the boat.
During the trip we also got to spend time on a privatly owned island which had a peninsular strip of beach which looked lovely and a precarious looking wooden walk way which wound itself up to the top of a large hill where, after you had climbed up some rocks to get to the top the view was quite stunning. However, like Koh Samui, this had a very commerical resort feeling and was really really busy. I felt like it could have been a resort in the south of France.
Back at our hotel we had dinner and then headed out to the bars on the beach for a last night out as a group together. I had my first experience with Thia red bull. I am a bit special when I drink it. Imagine me drinking 2 bottles of lucozade without doing any exercise and you might get the idea of how much energy I had. We spent the night dancing at one bar until it shut and then going to another bar down the beach and staying there until about 5am! I have never been anywhere like this. Where you can sit and drink at bars on the beach and the club is literally 5 foot from the sea. Awesome.
Yesterday was a bit of a sad day all round. Aly (a girl from the tour who his staying on Koh Tao with me for the week) and I had to say goodbye to everyone from the tour as they were leaving for Bangkok. It was very weird being left on our own. We were also both very hungover and a bit subdued (well I was once the red bull wore off). Our htoel/hostel thing that we have checked into is great. We have a little wooden hut with a little porch to sit on. It even comes with a mangey dog that we have named Tom that lives on the porch. The hotel also makes its own bread, cake and pasta!
After a nap in the sun on the beach and a nap in the room we felt human enough to venture out to have some food. The pasta at the hotel was great! We didn't manage to go dancing last night but we did spend a lot of time chilling out at a bar on the beach which had beanbags! We were quite tempted to see if they would let us sleep there. It was very comfortable.
Unfortunately today its cloudy :( still warm, but no sunshine so we are not impressed. I think today might be a day for a foot massage and the happy hour that starts at 4 :) brilliant.
xx
Saturday 22 August 2009
I discovered I really hate leeches...
Ok, haven't updated in a few days because I've been crazy busy on my tour and haven't had time to stop to use the internet.
We got an overnight train down to Surat Thani and then a transfer to our hotel in Koh Sok. The train was only a little bit late, which was great! and I even managed a little bit of sleep. Our hotel was pretty much inside the national park. The scenery on the way was stunning. It's like the mountains have just popped out of the ground. They were huge, and covered with trees and jungle. The weather there was much nicer than Bangkok, it wasn't as humid and the heat was actually quite pleasant. In the evening I even wore trousers! The hostel was basically a large open reception and restaurant and bungalows on stills! They were basic, but quite nice. They had double beds and mosquito nets which made the beds look a little like princess beds :)
On the first day we were there we went 'tubing', which is essentially floating down the river in a rubber ring. It was really really prelaxing, even though it was throwing it down with rain. We stopped at one point to use a rope swing to throw ourselves into the river. Brilliant. After we had finished we went to see a waterfall, which wasn't particuarly big, but was quite pretty.
The evening consisted of a big meal together, (I discovered Massuman curry, which is a really nice coconut based curry which is quite spicy, I had it with chicken and various vegetables) lots of chatting and also our own dubbing of a Thai soap the staff were watching. Our storylines were quite odd and consisted of people asking where the tomatoes were and other people getting crushed by barrels of chardonnay. Quite funny.
On the second day in Koh Sok two German guys in the tour and I decided to do a half days trekking in the national park. Another guy, also German actually but not in our group, also came with us. I was expecting a bit of a hike throughout the national park, generally on paths, some of them over grown. Nothing particularly horrendous or tasking. How wrong I was.
After about 5 minutes on a normal, our guide (a little Thai man whose name was apparently sexyman) cut off the path and started to climb through the jungle. It was very steep! At some points it felt a little bit like we were climbing at a 90 degree angle! We saw a few gibbons (monkeys) jumping around the trees and a turtle/tortoise/whatever they are. We picked it up! And there was also leeches. I hate leeches. I had several very girl moments where I flapped my hands and 'ewwwd' a lot. They are disgusting. Just writing about them makes me feel a bit weird. Anyway. They were everyway. Actually everywhere. All over the floor, waving and jumping around and getting attached to your shoes. It was gross. And then they attach themselves to you. And drink your blood. I got a bit eating by them. I had one on my shoulder and then I had several on my ankles at various points and then a live one and two dead ones in my shoes. I was wearing my Dunlops which are white (dark brown by the time I had been in the jungle) but they were dyed red with my blood. Leech bites bleed loads because there is something in their saliva that makes you bleed more so they can drink more. Lovely. So I hated them. So anyway. We weren't walking on any path, we were just following this little Thai man who had quite a large machete to chop his way through the jungle. Going up and across was fine. Going down was a different story. The ground was very damp and you couldn't just walk down. You needed to use trees and vines to essentially absail down the hill. At one point I completely lost my footing and fell/slid down the mountain. I was covered in mud and my legs were cut to pieces! My legs are an absolute mess right now. Covered in scratches and huge lines of scratches from thorns! Oh and some pretty big bruises from the fall! Despite this, I had a great time. We swam in a pool by a waterfall before we walked, i limped, back to the hotel. I really enjoyed the day, but I couldn't do longer, just because of the leeches. I loved the walking and the climbing. But the leeches totally freak me out.
After a quick lunch me and the Germans went elephant trekking. It was nice a realxing. We sat on these huge elephants and they walked along a large muddy path and up and around a river and a bit of jungle, responding to voice commands from their handler. It was pretty amazing. There tusks are awesome. Once that was done we stopped off at a temple where you can feed monkey's on the way home. The monkey's were so cute, there were a couple of babies still clinging on to their mother's.
Everyone was in bed early that night, the rest of the group had been for a day trip to the big lake in the park it sounded amazing. So after a massage, although I wouldn't let the woman near my legs as they hurt too much, and a large grilled red snapper, head and all, in a curry sauce (it tasted fantastic) everyone was off to bed.
I'm running out of time so I'll have to document the rest of the last couple of days tomorrow. We arrived at Koh Tao today. I've been here about 3 hours and I think I want to move here!
We got an overnight train down to Surat Thani and then a transfer to our hotel in Koh Sok. The train was only a little bit late, which was great! and I even managed a little bit of sleep. Our hotel was pretty much inside the national park. The scenery on the way was stunning. It's like the mountains have just popped out of the ground. They were huge, and covered with trees and jungle. The weather there was much nicer than Bangkok, it wasn't as humid and the heat was actually quite pleasant. In the evening I even wore trousers! The hostel was basically a large open reception and restaurant and bungalows on stills! They were basic, but quite nice. They had double beds and mosquito nets which made the beds look a little like princess beds :)
On the first day we were there we went 'tubing', which is essentially floating down the river in a rubber ring. It was really really prelaxing, even though it was throwing it down with rain. We stopped at one point to use a rope swing to throw ourselves into the river. Brilliant. After we had finished we went to see a waterfall, which wasn't particuarly big, but was quite pretty.
The evening consisted of a big meal together, (I discovered Massuman curry, which is a really nice coconut based curry which is quite spicy, I had it with chicken and various vegetables) lots of chatting and also our own dubbing of a Thai soap the staff were watching. Our storylines were quite odd and consisted of people asking where the tomatoes were and other people getting crushed by barrels of chardonnay. Quite funny.
On the second day in Koh Sok two German guys in the tour and I decided to do a half days trekking in the national park. Another guy, also German actually but not in our group, also came with us. I was expecting a bit of a hike throughout the national park, generally on paths, some of them over grown. Nothing particularly horrendous or tasking. How wrong I was.
After about 5 minutes on a normal, our guide (a little Thai man whose name was apparently sexyman) cut off the path and started to climb through the jungle. It was very steep! At some points it felt a little bit like we were climbing at a 90 degree angle! We saw a few gibbons (monkeys) jumping around the trees and a turtle/tortoise/whatever they are. We picked it up! And there was also leeches. I hate leeches. I had several very girl moments where I flapped my hands and 'ewwwd' a lot. They are disgusting. Just writing about them makes me feel a bit weird. Anyway. They were everyway. Actually everywhere. All over the floor, waving and jumping around and getting attached to your shoes. It was gross. And then they attach themselves to you. And drink your blood. I got a bit eating by them. I had one on my shoulder and then I had several on my ankles at various points and then a live one and two dead ones in my shoes. I was wearing my Dunlops which are white (dark brown by the time I had been in the jungle) but they were dyed red with my blood. Leech bites bleed loads because there is something in their saliva that makes you bleed more so they can drink more. Lovely. So I hated them. So anyway. We weren't walking on any path, we were just following this little Thai man who had quite a large machete to chop his way through the jungle. Going up and across was fine. Going down was a different story. The ground was very damp and you couldn't just walk down. You needed to use trees and vines to essentially absail down the hill. At one point I completely lost my footing and fell/slid down the mountain. I was covered in mud and my legs were cut to pieces! My legs are an absolute mess right now. Covered in scratches and huge lines of scratches from thorns! Oh and some pretty big bruises from the fall! Despite this, I had a great time. We swam in a pool by a waterfall before we walked, i limped, back to the hotel. I really enjoyed the day, but I couldn't do longer, just because of the leeches. I loved the walking and the climbing. But the leeches totally freak me out.
After a quick lunch me and the Germans went elephant trekking. It was nice a realxing. We sat on these huge elephants and they walked along a large muddy path and up and around a river and a bit of jungle, responding to voice commands from their handler. It was pretty amazing. There tusks are awesome. Once that was done we stopped off at a temple where you can feed monkey's on the way home. The monkey's were so cute, there were a couple of babies still clinging on to their mother's.
Everyone was in bed early that night, the rest of the group had been for a day trip to the big lake in the park it sounded amazing. So after a massage, although I wouldn't let the woman near my legs as they hurt too much, and a large grilled red snapper, head and all, in a curry sauce (it tasted fantastic) everyone was off to bed.
I'm running out of time so I'll have to document the rest of the last couple of days tomorrow. We arrived at Koh Tao today. I've been here about 3 hours and I think I want to move here!
Tuesday 18 August 2009
I went on a GAP Adventure
I started my group tour yesterday. Met everyone in the evening. They seem like a really nice group of people, lots of fun. There are a loads of girls and 3 guys on the trip. Last night we all went out for a meal and then went to a few bars and then for a dance at a club. It's nice to be out with a group of people, but it is hard to co-ordinate about 10-12 people at once! Tonight we are going to get an over night train down to the south of Thailand and then spend a couple of days in a National park and then on to the islands. Yay beaches!
xx
xx
Sunday 16 August 2009
I somehow stumbled across heaven
Apparently, if there's one thing the Thai's like, it's cake, lots and lots of cake. I appear to have some how stumbled across my own personal version of heaven. I am in the food hall section of a ridiculously large shopping mall. The shopping mall has a whole floor of designer label shops, I'm fairly certain every major label you can think of has it's own shop. There is another floor dedicated to not so stupidly priced fashion, but I haven't got there yet. This food hall, is incredible. I have never seen anything like it in england. There are so many different little restaurants, lots of Japanese and Indian, but I reckon I could probably find any kind of food I wanted. And the cake stalls... it's taking me a consierable amount of restraint from buying a piece of cake from pretty much every stand. Also, to top it all off. There is a New Zealand Natural stand. Which is my all time favourite milkshake place that I discovered in Australia. Perfect. Just perfect.
Today has been pretty great, especially after my near disaster yesterday. I discovered the first reason why I shouldn't really be allowed to travel on my own... I have absent minded moments where I forget things.
I was up all early and packed and on time to get my bus back to Bangkok. I got to the station and on my bus and we even left early. However, about 30 minutes into the journey I realised that I had stored my passport somewhere so safe in the guesthouse I had been staying at, that I had left it there.
I. Am. An. Idiot.
So. I had to get off the bus at the next main stop, and get a bus (well it was really more of a pick up truck with two benches and a roof on the back that they use as buses) back to Sukhothai, to go to the guest house and get my passport. The bus drivers and staff were ace. They got me all the right buses and made sure I was to and from the bus station in Sukhothai super quick. I managed to get on another bus to Bangkok at 1pm.
So I got to Bangkok and my hostel at about 8.30pm yesterday. I am not impressed with my hostel. I got a little too used to getting more than what I thought I was paying for in the smaller cities, huge double beds and my own bathroom. For the same amount as what I was paying in Sukhothai and for more than what I was paying in Chiang Mai, I get a room which resembles a box, with a bedside table, and a fan. Therefore, this morning I left as soon as I got up and I think I will go back tonight when I'm tired enough to sleep. It's quite a walk back from where I am so I don't think that will be a problem. I don't mind too much, I'm only there for tonight and then I'm off on my trip tomorrow.
So today I decided to go to the huge weekend market they have on the outskirts of Bangkok. I decided to walk to the nearest skytrain (basically a trainline on a track raised over the top of the buildings, it's very efficient), which turned out to be pretty far away. I adopted a French guy on the way who was going to the station but had no sense of direction. We had a nice chat on the way. He was going somewhere different in the city, I hope he managed to find it, he had a dreadful sense of direction.
The market was the biggest market I have ever seen. I walked around it all day and only came across things I'd seen already when I specifically decided to try and find something I'd seen before, which was really really hard. You could quite easily get lost in there. I've realised that I could have arrived on a Saturday or Sunday in Bangkok with nothing but the clothes on my back and gone to this market and just brought everything I needed. There was everything. Some of the clothes were so so nice. I exercised considerable restraint in not buying any clothes because I simply don't have room. Even though there was some really nice stuff. However, I did practice my haggling skills with a faux designer label bag stall.
I've also discovered that I get terrible food envy. All the time. Whenever I order something, when it arrives 9/10 times it's really really good, the other time pretty good, but I instantly want whatever the person next to me has. I want to try everything!
So now I'm back off in to heaven for more shopping and probably another look at some cake. Mmmm cake. And yay shopping.
xx
Today has been pretty great, especially after my near disaster yesterday. I discovered the first reason why I shouldn't really be allowed to travel on my own... I have absent minded moments where I forget things.
I was up all early and packed and on time to get my bus back to Bangkok. I got to the station and on my bus and we even left early. However, about 30 minutes into the journey I realised that I had stored my passport somewhere so safe in the guesthouse I had been staying at, that I had left it there.
I. Am. An. Idiot.
So. I had to get off the bus at the next main stop, and get a bus (well it was really more of a pick up truck with two benches and a roof on the back that they use as buses) back to Sukhothai, to go to the guest house and get my passport. The bus drivers and staff were ace. They got me all the right buses and made sure I was to and from the bus station in Sukhothai super quick. I managed to get on another bus to Bangkok at 1pm.
So I got to Bangkok and my hostel at about 8.30pm yesterday. I am not impressed with my hostel. I got a little too used to getting more than what I thought I was paying for in the smaller cities, huge double beds and my own bathroom. For the same amount as what I was paying in Sukhothai and for more than what I was paying in Chiang Mai, I get a room which resembles a box, with a bedside table, and a fan. Therefore, this morning I left as soon as I got up and I think I will go back tonight when I'm tired enough to sleep. It's quite a walk back from where I am so I don't think that will be a problem. I don't mind too much, I'm only there for tonight and then I'm off on my trip tomorrow.
So today I decided to go to the huge weekend market they have on the outskirts of Bangkok. I decided to walk to the nearest skytrain (basically a trainline on a track raised over the top of the buildings, it's very efficient), which turned out to be pretty far away. I adopted a French guy on the way who was going to the station but had no sense of direction. We had a nice chat on the way. He was going somewhere different in the city, I hope he managed to find it, he had a dreadful sense of direction.
The market was the biggest market I have ever seen. I walked around it all day and only came across things I'd seen already when I specifically decided to try and find something I'd seen before, which was really really hard. You could quite easily get lost in there. I've realised that I could have arrived on a Saturday or Sunday in Bangkok with nothing but the clothes on my back and gone to this market and just brought everything I needed. There was everything. Some of the clothes were so so nice. I exercised considerable restraint in not buying any clothes because I simply don't have room. Even though there was some really nice stuff. However, I did practice my haggling skills with a faux designer label bag stall.
I've also discovered that I get terrible food envy. All the time. Whenever I order something, when it arrives 9/10 times it's really really good, the other time pretty good, but I instantly want whatever the person next to me has. I want to try everything!
So now I'm back off in to heaven for more shopping and probably another look at some cake. Mmmm cake. And yay shopping.
xx
Friday 14 August 2009
I rode on rickety rickety bikes
So the past 2 days I have spent looking around temple ruins. Lots and lots of temple ruins. The first lot were in the old city of where I'm staying now. I rented a bike and cycled round them as that seems to be the in thing to do, although it is small enough to walk round the main ruins area. This was a collection of various temples. Lots of raised platforms, coloums and buddha statues. There was one temple that was in what is called an Ankor stlye, which means it has Khmer influence, from Cambodia (like Ankor Wat). Sukhothai old city is very well maintained. They even rebuild bits of it reguarly. It's in what can only be described as a park. The grass is cut short and everything is very well maintained. I think it takes a lot of the atmosphere away. Although all the buddha statues still manage to maintain an air of peacefulness and serenity. I nearly skipped the last temple because I was tired, hot and sweaty, but I'm really glad that I didn't. It was definitely the most impressive. It was a huge statue of a buddha, basically enclosed in a huge stone box, about 15 meters high, with a gap in the the front so you could go in. Very impressive. It was here that a Thai couple wanted to take my photo with their son, he looked about 7ish. Kind of weird. I wonder how they would explain it (... here are the wonderful, temples... and here is this pale, sweaty Western girl we saw...). Hmm.
Yesterday there was the hugest thunder and rain storm in the evening. The sky got really dark really quickly and it was very windy. The rain absolutely pounded down. I managed to get out in a lull in the rain to get to a restaurant for dinner. It was a kind of odd, almost an english bar style, and they were playing Neil Young and America. Really good, really spicy red curry though.
This morning I got up early and got a bus to a historical park with more ruins. I rented another bike, which looked a lot like it would fall apart and the breaks were not very reliable. To get to the ruins and park from where the bus dropped us off you had to cross a very large river. The means for crossing this river was a huge boarded, metal wire suspended bridge. That moved quite a lot when you walked on it. It was kind of ace.
I much prefered these ruins. They were a lot more wild and more in the jungle, although there were still workers all over the place trimming things and mowing lawns. It didn't look like the ruins got quite as much maintainance as the ones in Sukhothai, which I thought made them feel older. Although I think they were from about the same period, about 12th/13th Century I think. My favourite temples were on the top of a hill. A very steep hill that I was not impressed about cycling up (and was a little scary cycling down). It was also further up the hill, up lots and lots of steps. It was my favourite because it seemed to be the least touched or well kept. There were rocks scattered everywhere and enclosed by the jungle on all sides. This park was also great because there was hardly anyone there. I was often the only one on a particular temple ruin, and when I was cycling round sometimes I was the only person in sight, just me and the jungle and king of open plains with long grass. It was lovely. The wildlife in the area was also wonderful. There were white cranes everywhere, it appeared to be a kind of nesting site for them. I had to walk, rather apprehensively, underneath lots of their nests to get to one of the temples. There was a lot of bird poo everywhere and the smell was terrible. There was also some amazingly coloured butterflies and some huge dragon flies. There was what can only be described as a swarm of dragonflies around one of the temples. It was amazing to see so many.
One thing I did wonder about these ruins, it would have been nice to have a guide to ask, was why they were all temples! They are city ruins but there are only temple ruins, at both places. I have to wonder how many temples are really necessary in such a small place and whether they needed other things, like houses or something? I guess maybe the other buildings were made out of perishable materials.
I'm travelling back to Bangkok tomorrow. Going to try and get the 9am bus because it will take about 7 hours or something. But I think it will be a more efficient way to travel than the train.
xx
Yesterday there was the hugest thunder and rain storm in the evening. The sky got really dark really quickly and it was very windy. The rain absolutely pounded down. I managed to get out in a lull in the rain to get to a restaurant for dinner. It was a kind of odd, almost an english bar style, and they were playing Neil Young and America. Really good, really spicy red curry though.
This morning I got up early and got a bus to a historical park with more ruins. I rented another bike, which looked a lot like it would fall apart and the breaks were not very reliable. To get to the ruins and park from where the bus dropped us off you had to cross a very large river. The means for crossing this river was a huge boarded, metal wire suspended bridge. That moved quite a lot when you walked on it. It was kind of ace.
I much prefered these ruins. They were a lot more wild and more in the jungle, although there were still workers all over the place trimming things and mowing lawns. It didn't look like the ruins got quite as much maintainance as the ones in Sukhothai, which I thought made them feel older. Although I think they were from about the same period, about 12th/13th Century I think. My favourite temples were on the top of a hill. A very steep hill that I was not impressed about cycling up (and was a little scary cycling down). It was also further up the hill, up lots and lots of steps. It was my favourite because it seemed to be the least touched or well kept. There were rocks scattered everywhere and enclosed by the jungle on all sides. This park was also great because there was hardly anyone there. I was often the only one on a particular temple ruin, and when I was cycling round sometimes I was the only person in sight, just me and the jungle and king of open plains with long grass. It was lovely. The wildlife in the area was also wonderful. There were white cranes everywhere, it appeared to be a kind of nesting site for them. I had to walk, rather apprehensively, underneath lots of their nests to get to one of the temples. There was a lot of bird poo everywhere and the smell was terrible. There was also some amazingly coloured butterflies and some huge dragon flies. There was what can only be described as a swarm of dragonflies around one of the temples. It was amazing to see so many.
One thing I did wonder about these ruins, it would have been nice to have a guide to ask, was why they were all temples! They are city ruins but there are only temple ruins, at both places. I have to wonder how many temples are really necessary in such a small place and whether they needed other things, like houses or something? I guess maybe the other buildings were made out of perishable materials.
I'm travelling back to Bangkok tomorrow. Going to try and get the 9am bus because it will take about 7 hours or something. But I think it will be a more efficient way to travel than the train.
xx
Wednesday 12 August 2009
I went to Sukhothai
Apparently traveling by bus is just as easy as the train and slightly more efficient! It was on time and everything. I arrived in Sukhothai at about 4pm this afternoon. I've ended up in this little guest house which turns out is in the lonely planet guide and also rated one of the best guest houses in the town by a few websites. Pretty neat.
I have to be quick because they let you use the internet for free but only for 15 minutes. Sukhothai seems a bit of a change of pace from Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It's like it stepped down a gear. I'm going to go out and have a look around in a minute. Apparently there's a fairly large market and some nice restaurants.
Tomorrow I'm going to head over to the old city and have a look around and take some nice scenic photography.
xx
I have to be quick because they let you use the internet for free but only for 15 minutes. Sukhothai seems a bit of a change of pace from Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It's like it stepped down a gear. I'm going to go out and have a look around in a minute. Apparently there's a fairly large market and some nice restaurants.
Tomorrow I'm going to head over to the old city and have a look around and take some nice scenic photography.
xx
Tuesday 11 August 2009
I thought I might melt
Yesterday, and today, have been warm to say the least. I think it hit 37 degrees yesterday. I chilled out by the pool yesterday morning and worked on my tan for a few hours. In the afternoon I walked into town, which turned out to be a bad idea as it was slightly farther than I thought and still very very hot. I was a little bit sweaty by the time I got to town and had to go and get an iced smoothie to cool down. I met up with Stuart (my cousin who has been living in Chiand Mai for a few months) and we went for lunch at a little Thai place that cooked a mean fried rice. After that we decided it was too hot to do anything so went back to where he was staying to chill out for a bit. Once it had cooled down and I had met his friend Jenna (it's her apartment that he is staying at, she is a student at the University here doing a teaching masters and also does Muay Thai, which is pretty hardcore in this weather!) we went out to wander round town. It was nice to see some bits of the town which were mainly Thai. Then we went and had tea and chocolate in a rather extravagant cake and chocolate shop. The chocolates were so so good, and I had a strawberry iced tea, which I have to say, as a non tea drinker was pretty good. After that we went to a bar in the backpacker area and met up with another of Stuart's friends for a few drinks. It was in a nice square with lots of other little bars and a band playing (who weren't actually that good) and pretty lights hanging from the trees. On the way to the main square to get a lift home I came across a band playing in a bar doing a cover of Linkin Park! of all bands. It was a bit odd, but I hung around to watch for a little bit. I got a tuk tuk back to the hostel. They are a more expensive form of travel, but I quite like them. And when I say more expensive, I mean a ride costs a pound, rather than 50p, which is how much it costs on the kind of taxi crossed with a bus but look kind of like large red pick up trucks with a roof over the back.
Anyway. Today I decided that as I'm going to be doign stuff everyday for about the next 2 weeks, and it was really hot again, I would just stay at the hostel by the pool and read for the afternoon. I had lunch at the hostel, which was ok. But not nearly as nice as any of the food I've had from stalls or little Thai restuarants. So I don't think I will be eating at hostel resturants again! This evening I've come in to town to meet up with Stuart again to get some food and then we are going to a jazz bar.
xx
Anyway. Today I decided that as I'm going to be doign stuff everyday for about the next 2 weeks, and it was really hot again, I would just stay at the hostel by the pool and read for the afternoon. I had lunch at the hostel, which was ok. But not nearly as nice as any of the food I've had from stalls or little Thai restuarants. So I don't think I will be eating at hostel resturants again! This evening I've come in to town to meet up with Stuart again to get some food and then we are going to a jazz bar.
xx
Sunday 9 August 2009
I found really good cake
I've just found an internet cafe that lets me use the internet for a hour for about 10p if I buy a cake, which costs about a pound. And the cake, I have to say, is awesome. Chocolate cheesecake. This is not good, I was not supposed to be eating cake in Thailand! My excuse is that I'm rounding off a two day eating binge the best way. Yeah, thats it.
Cooking today was fun again. We started off with a trip to a local food market. Which was very interesting. But slightly disturbing to see a tiny little, fairly old, Thai woman wrestle a huge fish (probably almost her own height) that looks a bit like an eel (but is in fact called a snake fish, or something) out of a basket and beat it repeatedly with a club until it was dead and then very aggressively chop off it's fins. Not really what you expect to see at 10am. One of the women in the group looked absolutely horrified.
First on the menu for cooking today was Tom Ka Gai, which is a chicken soup, but made with coconut milk and cream. It was really very nice. Next up was thick noodles with pork in a thick oyster sauce. This was lovely but the noodles are fried in whats called sweet soy sauce, but I actually find the taste a little bitter so it wasn't my favourite meal. Lunch was a thai red curry with fish. This had quite a kick but was really nice. We also made a vegetable stir fry, very simple with a fish and oyster based sauce. In fact pretty much everything that isn't a curry has this base. The final two dishes were a papaya salad with sticky rice, of which I liked the sticky rice, but not so much the actual salad, and a steamed banana cake. This was really nice. It was very simple, just mashed banana with coconut cream, sugar, two different kinds of flour that I can't remember the name of and fresh grated coconut. Then it was steamed in a kind of banana leaf boat. Very sweet and very lovely.
Once school was out I stayed in town today. Me and one of the girls from the course spent ages looking around the huge Sunday walking market. And I do mean huge. And also ages. About 5 hours. We did have a break mid shop in a beautiful little courtyard off the main street in a very nice bar. There is just so much to see and so much I could buy. I'm just trying to decided whether to buy things here or to wait until later in the holiday. I will have to carry it, which will be annoying.
So now I'm done with my organised course for the moment. I have another week until my trip starts in Bangkok. So now I just have to find things to do for the week. I don't think it will be hard. I seem to be able to manage to walk around gawking at things without any problem.
xx
Cooking today was fun again. We started off with a trip to a local food market. Which was very interesting. But slightly disturbing to see a tiny little, fairly old, Thai woman wrestle a huge fish (probably almost her own height) that looks a bit like an eel (but is in fact called a snake fish, or something) out of a basket and beat it repeatedly with a club until it was dead and then very aggressively chop off it's fins. Not really what you expect to see at 10am. One of the women in the group looked absolutely horrified.
First on the menu for cooking today was Tom Ka Gai, which is a chicken soup, but made with coconut milk and cream. It was really very nice. Next up was thick noodles with pork in a thick oyster sauce. This was lovely but the noodles are fried in whats called sweet soy sauce, but I actually find the taste a little bitter so it wasn't my favourite meal. Lunch was a thai red curry with fish. This had quite a kick but was really nice. We also made a vegetable stir fry, very simple with a fish and oyster based sauce. In fact pretty much everything that isn't a curry has this base. The final two dishes were a papaya salad with sticky rice, of which I liked the sticky rice, but not so much the actual salad, and a steamed banana cake. This was really nice. It was very simple, just mashed banana with coconut cream, sugar, two different kinds of flour that I can't remember the name of and fresh grated coconut. Then it was steamed in a kind of banana leaf boat. Very sweet and very lovely.
Once school was out I stayed in town today. Me and one of the girls from the course spent ages looking around the huge Sunday walking market. And I do mean huge. And also ages. About 5 hours. We did have a break mid shop in a beautiful little courtyard off the main street in a very nice bar. There is just so much to see and so much I could buy. I'm just trying to decided whether to buy things here or to wait until later in the holiday. I will have to carry it, which will be annoying.
So now I'm done with my organised course for the moment. I have another week until my trip starts in Bangkok. So now I just have to find things to do for the week. I don't think it will be hard. I seem to be able to manage to walk around gawking at things without any problem.
xx
Saturday 8 August 2009
I cooked Thai food!
I just saw a huge centipede wiggling across the path. And there are frogs and crickets and funny squeaky noises coming from everywhere. It feels kind of like I'm in the jungle because you can't see the main road or and buildings other than that of the hostel.
Today I started my cooking course. It turns out it's at one of the best cooking places in Chiang Mai, it's even in my lonely planet guide! There is about 30 of us doing it and its a huge mixture of people. There are loads of couples, including two guys who are actors and are bickering all the time, a couple of girls on their own and two families. It will change tomorrow though. You can do between 1 and 5 days and they just have 5 different menus to do, so it's kind of hit and miss which one you get if you book in advance. The school is actually a short bus ride away so they bundle us all into mini buses and take us just out of the city. It seems to be on a developing estate where there are lots of individual walled Thai houses, some of which are completely stunning. I've noticed that although Chiang Mai is an old city the buildings seem fairly modern and they are much cleaner than in Bangkok. Although I think I'm basing my opinion on only seeing a little bit of Bangkok.
So when we got there we got an apron and assigned our own cooking station, then we went into a 'classroom' for the first lesson, which this morning was making a Panang curry paste. The head chef Sompon, is supposed to be a kind Thai celebrity chef and he taught us the first dish. So we learnt how to make this curry paste from scratch using all the fresh ingredients and spicies and chillies (well the chillies are dried and then soaked because it gives it a better colour to the paste but doesn't lose any spiciness in the time, apparently) in a huge pestle and mortor. It's actually pretty hard work. After that was ready we were back into the kitchen for lesson number two, making the Panang curry. All of the dishes were very simple to make and definitely something I will try to do at home. Well the dishes that don't have tens of spices in the reciepe anyway. Although at home I wouldn't have anyone to clean up all my mess and make my rice for me! The Panang curry was a mixture of very spicy and also creamy due to the addition of coconut. The flavour was lovely but it was a little too spicy for me. I ate it anyway, we got to eat each dish as soon as we'd made it so I was basically eating all day! The second dish was fried fish with chilli and basil. It sounded very simple, it was a piece of fish (that they fried in a huge wok of oil whilst you made the sauce) with an almost salsa-ish sauce made of onions, garlic and various chillies (but wasn't too spicy this time) with a light sauce of water, soy sauce and fish sauce. In reality it was lovely and so easy to make. I think it would go really well with noodles and some kind of meat. After that we made our actual lunch dish. This was a Chiang Mai curry with sweet and sour vegetables. Again, really nice, not as spicy and was more similar to an Indian curry I thought. After lunch there was more cooking! Although even I was feeling pretty full after this. I wasn't really a fan of the last two dishes, although thats just because of me rather than the actual food. The first was a 'salad' made with glass noodles, which are kind of thin, almost see through, gelly like noodles, corriader, raw onions and tomatoes with pork mince cooked in coconut milk and a bit of fish sauce. Oh, and more chillies! As I don't like onions, tomatoes and corriader I didn't really have a hope here. I was so full I didn't mind though! The last dish was a sticky black rice pudding, which the chef made in a huge vat rather than each of us making our own. I did try it, but rice pudding is not one of my favourites, and although it looks a bit strange as it is black it does taste exactly like rice pudding. But other than eating those dishes the cooking was great! I'm looking forward to making and eating lots more food tomorrow.
All the food made me very very sleepy, when I got back to the hostel I couldn't help but fall asleep. Also, I think the huge amount of chilli I have eaten today has done something weird to my stomach. Therefore, I have decided to chill out here for the evening and get an early night. There is a huge market in the town tomorrow night. I think as I haven't spent very much money yet it might be time for me to!
xx
Today I started my cooking course. It turns out it's at one of the best cooking places in Chiang Mai, it's even in my lonely planet guide! There is about 30 of us doing it and its a huge mixture of people. There are loads of couples, including two guys who are actors and are bickering all the time, a couple of girls on their own and two families. It will change tomorrow though. You can do between 1 and 5 days and they just have 5 different menus to do, so it's kind of hit and miss which one you get if you book in advance. The school is actually a short bus ride away so they bundle us all into mini buses and take us just out of the city. It seems to be on a developing estate where there are lots of individual walled Thai houses, some of which are completely stunning. I've noticed that although Chiang Mai is an old city the buildings seem fairly modern and they are much cleaner than in Bangkok. Although I think I'm basing my opinion on only seeing a little bit of Bangkok.
So when we got there we got an apron and assigned our own cooking station, then we went into a 'classroom' for the first lesson, which this morning was making a Panang curry paste. The head chef Sompon, is supposed to be a kind Thai celebrity chef and he taught us the first dish. So we learnt how to make this curry paste from scratch using all the fresh ingredients and spicies and chillies (well the chillies are dried and then soaked because it gives it a better colour to the paste but doesn't lose any spiciness in the time, apparently) in a huge pestle and mortor. It's actually pretty hard work. After that was ready we were back into the kitchen for lesson number two, making the Panang curry. All of the dishes were very simple to make and definitely something I will try to do at home. Well the dishes that don't have tens of spices in the reciepe anyway. Although at home I wouldn't have anyone to clean up all my mess and make my rice for me! The Panang curry was a mixture of very spicy and also creamy due to the addition of coconut. The flavour was lovely but it was a little too spicy for me. I ate it anyway, we got to eat each dish as soon as we'd made it so I was basically eating all day! The second dish was fried fish with chilli and basil. It sounded very simple, it was a piece of fish (that they fried in a huge wok of oil whilst you made the sauce) with an almost salsa-ish sauce made of onions, garlic and various chillies (but wasn't too spicy this time) with a light sauce of water, soy sauce and fish sauce. In reality it was lovely and so easy to make. I think it would go really well with noodles and some kind of meat. After that we made our actual lunch dish. This was a Chiang Mai curry with sweet and sour vegetables. Again, really nice, not as spicy and was more similar to an Indian curry I thought. After lunch there was more cooking! Although even I was feeling pretty full after this. I wasn't really a fan of the last two dishes, although thats just because of me rather than the actual food. The first was a 'salad' made with glass noodles, which are kind of thin, almost see through, gelly like noodles, corriader, raw onions and tomatoes with pork mince cooked in coconut milk and a bit of fish sauce. Oh, and more chillies! As I don't like onions, tomatoes and corriader I didn't really have a hope here. I was so full I didn't mind though! The last dish was a sticky black rice pudding, which the chef made in a huge vat rather than each of us making our own. I did try it, but rice pudding is not one of my favourites, and although it looks a bit strange as it is black it does taste exactly like rice pudding. But other than eating those dishes the cooking was great! I'm looking forward to making and eating lots more food tomorrow.
All the food made me very very sleepy, when I got back to the hostel I couldn't help but fall asleep. Also, I think the huge amount of chilli I have eaten today has done something weird to my stomach. Therefore, I have decided to chill out here for the evening and get an early night. There is a huge market in the town tomorrow night. I think as I haven't spent very much money yet it might be time for me to!
xx
Friday 7 August 2009
I spent 18 hours on a train...
Ok I've just realised why they tell you to not touch anything when waiting for DEET based insect repellent to soak in, which takes ages by the way. It sticks to things and makes the colour come off on you. A strip of my arm is now a dark brown wood colour from the chair I'm sitting on. Great. And despite the spray and also mosquito nets everywhere I still think I'm being eaten. I might have to look in to what goes for local insect repellant here to see if that works.
So I made it to the train station. It was exciting getting a train on my own in a place where I had no idea what anyone was saying or if I was actually gettting on the right train! The train itself seemed a bit dated and looked like a large silver can. But it was air conditioned, to the point of being too cold actually, and actually quite roomy. The set up was two large seats facing each other, with a table that the stewards put up when you had food in the middle. Then when it was time for bed, the two seats folded out into and one bed and then there was a bed that basically folded out from the ceiling. Even pillows and blankets and curtains were provided! I had the lower bunk, and I was quite glad in the end because, although you had people walking around most of the night, the train rocked around and shuddered about quite a lot. It was a little bit like being rocked to sleep a little too forcefully. Therefore, I didn't get that much sleep, even in my sleep deprived, hungover state.
In the morning I was very much looking forward to getting to the hostel early, having a shower and a nice sleep by the pool, prefereably in the sun. This was not to be. Firstly, the train was about 4 hours late. I did notice during the journey that we stopped randomly for large periods of time and also that when next to the roads, the train was often overtaken by passing scooters... But I got here eventually and saw lots of jungle on the way, which was nice. As to the sleeping by the pool in the sun. It's raining. Not cold, but raining. It stopped a few times, but it's raining again now. It's much cooler up here than in Bangkok and not as humid. But I'm not sure if that's because it's raining. I guess the heat and humidity could come back once the rain stops.
The hostel I'm in is as lovely as the pictures. It's set a little way out of the city, about a 20 minute walk, so it has huge gardens. It's got a relaxing retreat thing going on. You have to take off your shoes whenever you go into a building and all the buildings have lovely dark wooden floors. I'm in a shared room, but only with one other person, I think it's a girl, judging by the dresses all over the place! I haven't met her yet, but I guess she will be there when I go back.
This afternoon I met an Australian couple, Wendy and Chris, in the common room and we went for a walk into town to go to the night market and get some food. I realised at one point that I hadn't eaten anything all day. We walked into town, in the rain. Chiang Mai is much nicer than Bangkok, it seems a lot calmer. And it doesn't smell. We didn't make it in to the actual centre but the night market was huge enough to entertain us. It was just enourmous. There were stalls all the way down both sides of a long road as well as little side roads that led to kind of large open halls also full of stalls. There were loads of food stalls as well. I had pad thai, which is a noodle dish served with egg, various vegetables and a light sauce, this one had pork in as well. It was cooked right in front of me and was wonderful. After that there was more market browsing. There was just so much to see. I could just buy so much stuff! I'm not sure how I would get it home.
I'm back at the hostel now, it's only 10pm but I'm pretty tired. I think I'm probably going to have an early night. Cooking course tomorrow!
Adellyn: Mitchelin Star restuarant?! Where? And what did you have?
Mum and Dad: It was necessary to explain how I found all the lady boys! I was still being sensible don't worry :)
xx
So I made it to the train station. It was exciting getting a train on my own in a place where I had no idea what anyone was saying or if I was actually gettting on the right train! The train itself seemed a bit dated and looked like a large silver can. But it was air conditioned, to the point of being too cold actually, and actually quite roomy. The set up was two large seats facing each other, with a table that the stewards put up when you had food in the middle. Then when it was time for bed, the two seats folded out into and one bed and then there was a bed that basically folded out from the ceiling. Even pillows and blankets and curtains were provided! I had the lower bunk, and I was quite glad in the end because, although you had people walking around most of the night, the train rocked around and shuddered about quite a lot. It was a little bit like being rocked to sleep a little too forcefully. Therefore, I didn't get that much sleep, even in my sleep deprived, hungover state.
In the morning I was very much looking forward to getting to the hostel early, having a shower and a nice sleep by the pool, prefereably in the sun. This was not to be. Firstly, the train was about 4 hours late. I did notice during the journey that we stopped randomly for large periods of time and also that when next to the roads, the train was often overtaken by passing scooters... But I got here eventually and saw lots of jungle on the way, which was nice. As to the sleeping by the pool in the sun. It's raining. Not cold, but raining. It stopped a few times, but it's raining again now. It's much cooler up here than in Bangkok and not as humid. But I'm not sure if that's because it's raining. I guess the heat and humidity could come back once the rain stops.
The hostel I'm in is as lovely as the pictures. It's set a little way out of the city, about a 20 minute walk, so it has huge gardens. It's got a relaxing retreat thing going on. You have to take off your shoes whenever you go into a building and all the buildings have lovely dark wooden floors. I'm in a shared room, but only with one other person, I think it's a girl, judging by the dresses all over the place! I haven't met her yet, but I guess she will be there when I go back.
This afternoon I met an Australian couple, Wendy and Chris, in the common room and we went for a walk into town to go to the night market and get some food. I realised at one point that I hadn't eaten anything all day. We walked into town, in the rain. Chiang Mai is much nicer than Bangkok, it seems a lot calmer. And it doesn't smell. We didn't make it in to the actual centre but the night market was huge enough to entertain us. It was just enourmous. There were stalls all the way down both sides of a long road as well as little side roads that led to kind of large open halls also full of stalls. There were loads of food stalls as well. I had pad thai, which is a noodle dish served with egg, various vegetables and a light sauce, this one had pork in as well. It was cooked right in front of me and was wonderful. After that there was more market browsing. There was just so much to see. I could just buy so much stuff! I'm not sure how I would get it home.
I'm back at the hostel now, it's only 10pm but I'm pretty tired. I think I'm probably going to have an early night. Cooking course tomorrow!
Adellyn: Mitchelin Star restuarant?! Where? And what did you have?
Mum and Dad: It was necessary to explain how I found all the lady boys! I was still being sensible don't worry :)
xx
Thursday 6 August 2009
Last night I met lots of lady boys
I am so hungover right now. It's just not funny. And this is the oldest, crapyist keyboard I've ever used and I'm not very happy about it. So, despite all my good intentions, I have become slightly nocturnal. This is not my fault. I blame the people I met in the hostel on the first night. I didn't manage to stay awake all day, I had to have a sleep so I was pretty awake. Once I'd had my nap I went out and had some food, green curry and sticky rice, really good, and watched a guy playing guitar. It was very pleasant. I even drank beer. Tiger is actually quite nice. The thing I didn't like was all the people trying to sell you stuff whilst you're sitting down. It's really irritating. Although it was quite amusng to watch to guys try to trade two paper aeroplanes they had made for a hat. The seller wasn't having any of it. I prefer Bangkok at night. It's quite nice in the dark with all the lights up. The main tourist/backpacker street in this area Khao San Road is still pretty horrible though. It's so crowded and there are so many people selling things and trying to get you to go to stuff. I much prefer the roads next to Khao San, they are much calmer and have a much nicer atmosphere.
Anyway. I got back to the hostel about 11 and was sitting reading in the kind of resturant thing they have when I got chatting to some people who had just arrived. They had all flown from London and met of the plane. There were two girls travelling together, Claire and Chess, a guy called Mel and another girl called Holly. Holly was staying in the same hostel as me, in the room opposite me bizarrely, and the others checked into the hostel next door. Then we all decided to go out a have a few drinks. After spending the day on my own it was really nice to sit around and chat with people. We went to a couple of bars and brought food from the stalls, the spring rolls are awesome, and ended up coming back at 3am.
Yesterday felt like it went on forever! Holly decided to stay in Bangkok for another day and come and see the Grand Palace with me. We walked to it, and although it wasn't far we manged to walk the long way around as we some how missed the entrance road and ended up walking the entire way round the walls. The Grand Palace also has a large temple in its grounds. It was incredible. The colours were so bright and vivid and they are decorated with thousands of brightly coloured tiles and mirrors. It's amazing that a lot of it is nearly 300 years old and looks like it was finished yesterday. They do a lot to maintain it I think though. They were re-tiling several of the smaller buidings and re painting some of the murals whist we were there. I think its for the Queens birthday celebrations next week. Apparently there is going to be a big party. They worship her! There are big pictures of her everywhere. The Palace itself was also incredible. Tourists aren't allowed in the main building but we could go in two throne rooms. The thrones were so ornate. In one room the throne was all gold and in the other it had mother of pearl patterns all over it. I think fabulous is the only way to decribe them.
After chilling out in a park to cool down and being shocked at all the people running, actually running! around the park (I could never run here, it's hard enough to just walk around) we headed back to Khao San for showers and food. Pork fried rice was so nice. It was basic but it so full of flavour that it was lovely. After that we decided we wanted massages. We went to one of the really nice spas so it was probably a bit more expensive (although it only cost 3 pounds) than other places, but the spa was so nice. The massage was half an hour and I had my back, legs, feet, shoulders, head and face, which was a bit weird massaged. It was lovely. Thai massages aren't quite like normal massages, they move you around and stretch you out and crack your back. She also kind of walked on me! I was very chilled out afterwards.
That was when the drinking started. Holly and I found a really nice bar. It's part of a hostel\hotel that I'm booked in to next week. We had really nice crushed ice, tequila based jugs of cocktail. Holly is lovely, we got on really well and it was great to have someone to go out with. At about midnight we decided that we wanted to go dancing, so we went to find a club. We weren't expecting it, but the club was ace. The building was amazing, it had a huge high ceiling with large blacked out windows and a stone dance floor. The music wasn't bad either. It was a mix of dance/electro-y/drum and bass stuff. We spent a lot of time dancing on the stage and made friends with two Australian guys. We also drank quite a lot more. Once this club shut, we went to another club with the guys. It's ok, they were very nice and not creepy and me and Holly were very well behaved. I have no idea where the club the tuk tuk driver took us to was or what it was called. It was more of a Thai club but you could still pick out the tourists. There were a lot of lady boys there. A lot. I don't like that they have better legs than I do. The lady boys were not as friendly as the actual Thai girls there. They were great. There was a lot more dancing on the stage and drinking Smirnoff Ice Blacks. That was the Australians fault. Smirnoff Blacks here aren't as bad as the ones in England and have a 7% alcohol percentage so are a bit leathal when you drink lots of them.
Anyway, Holly and I made it back safely and all in one piece. which is always a bonus. Although I'm not really sure what time it was. Needless to say, I did not make my 12pm check out this morning. I think I've only just sobered up now. Its not good because I have to go and get a train soon. I'm not looking forward to carrying my bag, or moving, anywhere.
Wow this is a long post. Sorry. I have time to kill. It's raining.
xx
Anyway. I got back to the hostel about 11 and was sitting reading in the kind of resturant thing they have when I got chatting to some people who had just arrived. They had all flown from London and met of the plane. There were two girls travelling together, Claire and Chess, a guy called Mel and another girl called Holly. Holly was staying in the same hostel as me, in the room opposite me bizarrely, and the others checked into the hostel next door. Then we all decided to go out a have a few drinks. After spending the day on my own it was really nice to sit around and chat with people. We went to a couple of bars and brought food from the stalls, the spring rolls are awesome, and ended up coming back at 3am.
Yesterday felt like it went on forever! Holly decided to stay in Bangkok for another day and come and see the Grand Palace with me. We walked to it, and although it wasn't far we manged to walk the long way around as we some how missed the entrance road and ended up walking the entire way round the walls. The Grand Palace also has a large temple in its grounds. It was incredible. The colours were so bright and vivid and they are decorated with thousands of brightly coloured tiles and mirrors. It's amazing that a lot of it is nearly 300 years old and looks like it was finished yesterday. They do a lot to maintain it I think though. They were re-tiling several of the smaller buidings and re painting some of the murals whist we were there. I think its for the Queens birthday celebrations next week. Apparently there is going to be a big party. They worship her! There are big pictures of her everywhere. The Palace itself was also incredible. Tourists aren't allowed in the main building but we could go in two throne rooms. The thrones were so ornate. In one room the throne was all gold and in the other it had mother of pearl patterns all over it. I think fabulous is the only way to decribe them.
After chilling out in a park to cool down and being shocked at all the people running, actually running! around the park (I could never run here, it's hard enough to just walk around) we headed back to Khao San for showers and food. Pork fried rice was so nice. It was basic but it so full of flavour that it was lovely. After that we decided we wanted massages. We went to one of the really nice spas so it was probably a bit more expensive (although it only cost 3 pounds) than other places, but the spa was so nice. The massage was half an hour and I had my back, legs, feet, shoulders, head and face, which was a bit weird massaged. It was lovely. Thai massages aren't quite like normal massages, they move you around and stretch you out and crack your back. She also kind of walked on me! I was very chilled out afterwards.
That was when the drinking started. Holly and I found a really nice bar. It's part of a hostel\hotel that I'm booked in to next week. We had really nice crushed ice, tequila based jugs of cocktail. Holly is lovely, we got on really well and it was great to have someone to go out with. At about midnight we decided that we wanted to go dancing, so we went to find a club. We weren't expecting it, but the club was ace. The building was amazing, it had a huge high ceiling with large blacked out windows and a stone dance floor. The music wasn't bad either. It was a mix of dance/electro-y/drum and bass stuff. We spent a lot of time dancing on the stage and made friends with two Australian guys. We also drank quite a lot more. Once this club shut, we went to another club with the guys. It's ok, they were very nice and not creepy and me and Holly were very well behaved. I have no idea where the club the tuk tuk driver took us to was or what it was called. It was more of a Thai club but you could still pick out the tourists. There were a lot of lady boys there. A lot. I don't like that they have better legs than I do. The lady boys were not as friendly as the actual Thai girls there. They were great. There was a lot more dancing on the stage and drinking Smirnoff Ice Blacks. That was the Australians fault. Smirnoff Blacks here aren't as bad as the ones in England and have a 7% alcohol percentage so are a bit leathal when you drink lots of them.
Anyway, Holly and I made it back safely and all in one piece. which is always a bonus. Although I'm not really sure what time it was. Needless to say, I did not make my 12pm check out this morning. I think I've only just sobered up now. Its not good because I have to go and get a train soon. I'm not looking forward to carrying my bag, or moving, anywhere.
Wow this is a long post. Sorry. I have time to kill. It's raining.
xx
Monday 3 August 2009
Arrival in Bangkok
I'm not actually sure whether I can remember being anywhere quite this hot! Definitely not this humid. And I'm almost certain that I saw a man running a few minutes ago. Crazy person. At 8am this morning when we landed it was already 28 degrees!
The journey went very smoothly. The flights were basically all on time and I watched 5 films over the two flights. Productive.
My hostel is, as expected, very basic and a little scummy. But its clean, has air conditioning and the staff seem to be friendly. And I get breakfast in the morning :) I did learn how to say thank you in Thai about 10 minutes ago, but I've forgotten now. I'll have to ask again.
Bangkok is kind of hard to explain as a city. It doesn't seem quite so manic as Cairo, but the roads are still a bit crazy. There is a mix of big wide streets with several lanes of traffic and small winding streets with cars parked everywhere and street stalls taking over most of the pavement. There are loads of people around asking if I want taxis, all the time. I walked down one street a minute ago that seemed dedicated to wedding dresses and silver. There seem to be a lot of spa type things down this road. I really want to have a massage, but I think I would probably fall asleep and not wake up for ages. I've just hit the being awake for 24 hours mark. And I need to try and stay awake for about another 10 if I don't want to almost completely nocturnal for the first week. There are tattoo parlours and piercing shops everywhere! They remind me of Faliraki. The streets also seem very clean, despite many of the building looking decidedly shabby. Like, really clean. But it does smell a little!
I'm definitely going to have to take up drinking beer, its about 1 pound (there is no pound sign on this keyboard) for a bottle of tiger. Although tonight I think I will probably just pass out. Probably about 8 or 9 o'clock. I think I'm going to go in search of some food now, I should probably try and learn what things are on these little food stalls!
xx
The journey went very smoothly. The flights were basically all on time and I watched 5 films over the two flights. Productive.
My hostel is, as expected, very basic and a little scummy. But its clean, has air conditioning and the staff seem to be friendly. And I get breakfast in the morning :) I did learn how to say thank you in Thai about 10 minutes ago, but I've forgotten now. I'll have to ask again.
Bangkok is kind of hard to explain as a city. It doesn't seem quite so manic as Cairo, but the roads are still a bit crazy. There is a mix of big wide streets with several lanes of traffic and small winding streets with cars parked everywhere and street stalls taking over most of the pavement. There are loads of people around asking if I want taxis, all the time. I walked down one street a minute ago that seemed dedicated to wedding dresses and silver. There seem to be a lot of spa type things down this road. I really want to have a massage, but I think I would probably fall asleep and not wake up for ages. I've just hit the being awake for 24 hours mark. And I need to try and stay awake for about another 10 if I don't want to almost completely nocturnal for the first week. There are tattoo parlours and piercing shops everywhere! They remind me of Faliraki. The streets also seem very clean, despite many of the building looking decidedly shabby. Like, really clean. But it does smell a little!
I'm definitely going to have to take up drinking beer, its about 1 pound (there is no pound sign on this keyboard) for a bottle of tiger. Although tonight I think I will probably just pass out. Probably about 8 or 9 o'clock. I think I'm going to go in search of some food now, I should probably try and learn what things are on these little food stalls!
xx
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