Well I landed in Bangkok at about 12am Wed 4th Feb. I managed to find 2 other travellers at the airport who were heading to Khaosan Rd with whom I shared a taxi with. This was quit an experience. Firstly we had to bartter for the price which was of course way above the recommended taxi cost from airport to K rd. We agreed on a price that we thought was fair and then headed off; no seatbelts, crazy driver, not sure if the speedo worked but we were definitly going over the Australian speed limits. We finally got to Khaosan rd after about an hour of very bumpy travel and as expected the taxi driver wanted to just drop us at Khaosan Rd instead of taking us to our hotels so again we stuck to our original agreement and were successful in getting our original barter deal. I stayed in Sawasdee Khaosan Rd Inn. Very standard room but that was to be expected. It was very strange waking up at 8:00 and discovering that the room was still dark. There was a window but it openned into the centre of the building.
I then spent 2 days exploring Bkk. I went to the National Museum which had an indepth recount of Thai history of the wars and royal leadership along with the birth of Buddhism in Thailand. There were many artifacts dated back hundreds of years. The extent of the collection was quite amazing, royal chariots covered in gold, mucial instruments, delicately engraved elephnat tusks given as gifts to the royal family, swords, bowls, etc. The list goes on and on. The most outstanding though was the collection of Buddha and hindu statues that dated back to the early AD years. There were also skeletons dating back to 1600BC. It was very moving to be able to view such ancient pieces.
I also went to the Grand Palace/ Emerald Buddha. The detail and extravagance of the buildings was overwhelming. I've got lots of photos to show. Quite amazing to think that so much of the peoples wealth goes towards up keeping these magnificent building. However it was the tourists who paid, Thai people got in for free but many people donated heavily to the donation boxes as they prayed in the temples.
I met up with my Intrepid Group on Friday night. There is 6 of us in totalwhich is great. Pui our leader is a hoot! She is a 36 year old thai woman from the north and laughs and jokes a lot. Since meeting up with the group we have explore the Reclining Buddha Temple, gone on a canal cruise, sat on a bus to Kanacharaburi, rode in a rickshaw, visited many temples, swam in the 7th tier of the Erawan Waterfall and got our feet nibbled on by fish, walked over the Death Railway bridge in Kanacharaburi and had to very quickly move to the side as the track master blew his whistle to indicate a train was coming to cross the bridge that we were standing on. We have also visited the JEATH War Museum: tells of the Prisoners of War used by Japan to construct the death railway from Burma into Thailand during WW2. We have sat in the back of a truck for 3 hours as we travelled to Auyattaua (Sorry cant remember spelling). There we visited more temples and the ancient ruines of the capital city before it was burnt by Burmese about 300 years ago, we saw the Buddha face in the tree and swam to escape the heat.
We then travelled on the overnight train to Chiang Mai where I am now. Here we have visited Wat Suthe Doi (I think) and spoke to a Monk and recieved a blessing. We also went on an elephnat ride and then rafted down the river on Bamboo rafts.
Today is a free day which is nice because we have just been racing from one place to another. So I get to catch up on emails and have a Thai massage. Tomorrow we leave to go to Chiang Rai and do a 3 day Hill tribe trek and stay in homestays. I'm defeinitely looking forward to this.
Overall so far I love Thailand and could very easily buy a house for 50 000 baht (about$3000) and live on street meals (B30=$1.50) and be a happy woman!
