Thailand is the big one, the great adventure, we have two and a half months and we can do basically whatever we like. The last two weeks have been a blur of so many things that I can only do my best to chronicle as much as possible.
I'll start at the beginning. We arrived an hour and a half late into Bangkok. The airport was nicely air conditioned, so even though we had been told it was 30 degrees out at 2am, actually stepping out into that heat was crazy. Suddenly we both felt very over dressed. Using the print out from the hostel we were going to stay in I falteringly read out some Thai that was supposed to ensure the taxi drivers wouldn't rip us off. The grabbed our backpacks, put them in the boot and next thing I knew we were weaving through busy bangkok traffic. Lo and behold, we didn't get ripped off, and arrived at our hostel alive, despite our driver having fallen asleep at the wheel twice.
The way the hostel had been advertised was not the way the hostel actually was, it was a complete dump. We were given a room with a fan, and a window that had a hole in it covered up with a sheet of A4 paper. We went out for a walk, bought 6 litres of water from a 7/11 (they are everywhere except Europe) then went back, shover a fan right by our faces and slept.
Most people who have been to Bangkok say you only need 1 or two days there. We were there for a week and loved it, but we started out in Sukhumvit which is very untouristy. No one bugs you to use their Tuk Tuk, or take you to a ping-pong show, no one rips you off and an average meal is 50p. We met an American guy, who we got drunk with, enjoyed a river ferry, and used the sky train which is very fast an efficient. We visited the massive mega-malls, and when we were tired of not being able to buy anything (it's all Versace, Guci, etc.) headed back to our hostel.
After three nights there we headed to Khao San Road. This road is some kind of animal, it almost has its own breath and pulse and is just completely mental. Everyone in every stall shouts at you, Thai women/prostitutes/ladyboys stare and giggle, especially at beardy Alex; "handsome men, you come with me?"
After 6 nights there we had seen the palace, a Wat, the Emerald Buddha, had our first Thai-belly experiences and so booked ourselves on to the Night Train to Chiang Mai. It left at half 7pm, and arrived at 10 the next morning. The ride was fine for me, but anyone Alex's length is basically doubled over, so he didn't sleep very well.
Chiang Mai is different again. It's quieter, a little cooler, a little less smoggy. Our second night here we encountered the American from our first hostel again. He had hired out a scooter and was going to do a big circuit the next day. I'm not sure how it happened, but the next thing I knew, Alex and I, the American, two Germans and a Canadian all decided to get scooters and drive 130k to a town called Pai (pronounced Bye). This is easily the supidest thing I've ever agreed to do, and as to prove it, the Canadian's practice drive resulted in her running over someone's bycicle.
At 9.30 the next morning, Alex and I went and hired scooters. Insured, they costed two pounds fifty a day to rent. The drive had an auspicious start when the American guy Patrick crashed 30 seconds in. He was fine, and we continued. I can't describe the conviction I felt about my own imminent collision with a wall, or a car or some other undisclosed hard surface that would break various bones in my body. But, after 10 minutes I was fine, we were on the highway in a convoy of 5 and everyone was feeling good. Alex was a little more aprehensive, and his driving style is best described as pootling.
The drive through the mountains was intense. By this stage I was fully comfortable with the bike, loving the steep climbs, long straights and windy roads all in the most incredible setting you can imagine of tropical forests, valleys, rice paddys and bright sunshine. Patrick crashed again by careening into a ditch, but after 5 hours we all made it to Pai safe and relatively sound.
Pai is beautiful, a very touristy and un-Thai area in some respects, but our guesthouse was by the lazy river, in beautiful gardens. Each day we went on an excursion to the waterfalls and the canyon. Swimming in the waterfall pools was surreal and dreamlike, and watching the mental Thai children jumping 20 feet into 4 foot deep waters was alarming, to say the least!
As for the Canyon, well health and safety really hasen't arrived in Thailand yet. The walk is a two foot wide path with sheer drops either side, but the views are stunning in 360 degrees and the climbing is fun. If you have vertigo however, I don't advise it...
The setting really was idyllic, almost too perfect and leaving Pai was a shame, we met some brilliant people and at one point had a convoy of 16 bikers driving around who we had dinner with.
The drive back was scary again to begin with because two more of our party had crashed. In fact out of the 6 people we started with, 3 people crashed, and two people crashed twice. Somehow though Alex and I both made it back to Chiang Mai completely unscathed. The look of shock on the Mechanics face was palpable!
Now I need some food!
Love
xxxxxx
