so, over the past week or so i have been mucking about in thailand. first up were a couple of days in BKK, which i didn't really enjoy, but getting into a full on asian metropolis like that wasn't a bad way to start, kind of like a shock treatment to prepare myself for the rest of the trip. stayed just a little way away from khao san road, which is the backpacker mecca and was full of the typical backpacker haunts, bars, restaurants, touristy stuff etc. my guesthouse was cheap and pretty good, but lacked any real vibe and didn't have much in the way of similar clientele. had a bunch of older people, lots of couples and no real common areas to hang out in. plus no free wifi. i doubt i'll stay there when i head back to bangkok, unless i just need to sleep and chill out.
after that, i've been hanging out in the north, in chiang mai, at a cool little hostel named julie's guesthouse. great vibe, lots of people (high turnover as everyone moves on after a couple of days) but it is always full. been meeting a stack of europeans as they flee winter i assume, and i'm actually travelling with a dutch guy for a little while from here. been doing the templye thing, but i need to give myself a time out because there are only so many temples i can investigate. i spent a day with a local silversmith and crafted my own sterling silver ring complete with DJM stamp inside for authenticity, which was a pretty cool new experience. also did a ziplining day through the treetops of the forest in the hills outside of chiang mai with a couple of aussie girls from melbourne and marcel, the dutch guy, which was pretty fun, although the final 'drop' was a dead straight drop, sort of like abseiling without the cliff, of 40m which was quite daunting to stare down at! one of the aussie girls did it bawling her eyes out, but the safety of the company we went through was top notch and the guides were really good.
another day or two in chiang mai, where i'm going to visit an elephant conservation park for a day to play and swim with the elephants which should be fantastic, then off to a further north village called pai for a day or three, maybe do a hill tribe trek there. then i'm not sure whether i'll go to chiang rai, as i'm kind of interested in heading out from there to go see the 'golden triangle' up near the borders, but apparently mae hong son (which is in the complete opposite direction to chiang rai from pai) is a very beautiful small town near the burmese border, and i don't know which to do before i want to be back in chiang mai for the 28th of November which signifies the start of the loi krathong (also called yi peng) festival which has mass paper lantern releases and should (hopefully) make for some decent photos. and on that note, i havent' been taking too many photos at all, so i have to pick up my game in that respect!
will try and keep this updated but i can't promise too much!
