Because there were sooo many highlights on this tour I thought I'd finish off with them. Right the only problem with this is where to start. Well flying into an electrical storm had to be special and I know it happens all the time but it was pretty cool flying in as fork lightening is lighting up the sky. (It makes it go a pretty shade of purple) and when I got outside you could smell the burnt ozone very cool.
Bridge over the river Kwae was great too though very emotional going through the Jeath (death) war museum and seeing how the Japanese treated their POW's who were building this railway for them. (and I'm not saying the english war camps weren't bad either). The longboat ride too the museum and the bridge was very neat travelling around in a boat that is really just a long dinghy was kinda cool. But being on the railway when the train went across was very cool and I'm a little surprised that they allow people to be on there when it crosses. Though this is Thailand so what do I expect. Staying in the river raft lodge here was neat, kinda reminded me of Dads river bach. And the very large water lizard I saw here (which I think lived under my room) was great my first really wildlife in Thailand that I saw. (the monkeys in the monkey school we passed on teh river don't count. Nor do all the stray dogs.) This was in Kanchanaburi where the Freedom bar we had a few drinks at rocked. Go there (oposite the road from Apples if you are ever in the neighbourhood)
One of the days we were here we travelled out to Erawan falls for a day of swimming with fish in the sun. These falls are gorgeous. There are seven levels and the climb to get to some of them was not cool.(being the short arse that I am, some of the steps were knee height) all the levels were lovely and teh water was crystal clear so that you could see all the fish and some of them were huge. The only problem with swimming with these fish were that if you stood still they would come and nibble on the dead skin on your feet. Very freaky pedicure that they pay alot for in China. Although in china they ensure that the pools have only small fish. As the big ones hurt. And believe me they do. But I somehow managed to get the whole of level 4 to myself for a good 30mins and it was blissful and so relaxing. This was ruined by a large german tourist in speedos several sizes too small. Ewwww.
From Kanchanaburi we moved on to Ayutthaya where we had a whirlwind tour of the former capital of Thailand. Our tour guide for the day was this lovely man named Mr Puk he was great though he kept telling us not to do stuff after we'd already done it. Can anyone say headless buddha (photos will explain all once I get them sorted)Let us just say that what we did was apparently bad but since we were tourists the locals would forgive us for our ignorance. Great day though the overnight train we had to go on was not a highlight nor was the bloody bus. But this is the highlights package and I disgress.
Next was Chiang Mai which was probably my favourite Thai city. there was lots to do and the markets just down the raod were great for having a cheap breakfast (waffles and fresh sqeezed juice for less then 40baht or less then $2NZD. Yummy. The 3 day hilltribe trek was great and the local were just so friendly letting us into there village for a day. The washing in the river in a tent oops i mean sarong, was funny if not very practical, and because of all the sweating we were doing you never really felt clean. Being welcomed into the kitchen where they prepared our meals was great and a wonderful way to learn how they cook. Singing with the kids after our dinner was great fun especially the Hokey Tokey which we did at the end which was not a version I knew and was rather dangerous with lots of kicking and flinging children round in a very confined space. Luckily a managed to get the smallest of the children so they were easy to fling round. The prayer that our guide and his wife (our hosts the previous evening) gave us before our departure was very moving I still have the string on both my wrists which was part of the ceremony they were for tying the goodluck, good health and safe travels to us, so to remove them is supposed to bring bad luck, they must fall off naturally. What was best about this trek is that I made it yay.
The elephant riding prior to the trek was great. our elephant was pregnant so hovered the bananas as did the baby elephant Jenny that followed behind its mother and our elephant. Basically went between the 2 to get its fill of bananas. This was fine till we ran out and our elephant resorted to going into every bamboo batch to get a feed. Also near the end of our ride we picked up this child off the side of the road (its father wanted him to have a ride) so away we went with this child in our mahuts lap till we were almost within sight of the stopping point and handed the child back. So cool that they do that for the local children who overwise would not be able to afford the ride.
The river rafting after the trek was great as we were all hot and sweaty and our guide decided to get us very wet by constantly trying to tip us in, this wouldn't have been a problem but there was alot of rcoks in the water and it wasn't very deep. But we went under logs and down side channels that the other rafters didn't get a chance to go down. Very fun.
Crossing over into Burma and Laos so a highlight. Burma cos we got to get more stamps on the passport, and we were chased by this moaning legless man who was faster then us, we had to duck up some stairs and go out by a different access to get him to stop following us. Classic. Andrew wanted to hold our hands. Laos was neat only cos it was another country and I got some pics under the laos signs to prove I went there. No stamps that time. Though riding down a river in full flood is scary in a longboat.
The Koh Sok national park was lovely though it rained almost the entire time we were there. Though if you ever get to take a tour of the Rajjaburi (I think) dam do it was amazing. They dammed this river way and whole towns had to be moved but the area is just gorgeous with sheer limestone cliffs which showed the high water mark and where the water running down the sides creates these amazing patterns. And because the cliffs are limestone the heights of them are all different with peaks and ranges with caves dotted along the way. The whole place makes you feel incredibly small and insignificant. Along the way are strings of river rafthouses that are lashed together from one "island" (originally hills) to the next. The water of this lake is an eerie deep green that has visibility to only a couple of feet (if that). This makes for a nerve racking experience when kayaking or swimming in the unbelievably warm water because you don't know whats down there or where the old tree branches are (this is important for kayaking around the edge of the lake not so much for swimming cos the guides had a designated area for that) Watching this boy pull his catch of the day out of this nondescript black rubbish bag was impressive I don't even know how he managed to catch it I mean this fish was huge. This also didn't help with the swimming as we saw this fish before we jumped in the water.
The beaches were lovely but we were there at the wrong time for them to be much fun, didn't get to snorkel cos no visibility. The full moon party on Koh Phagnan was nice though we all said we would have left earlier if we could have. But longing on a beach and swimming was the perfect end to the holiday.
Though back in Bangkok I couldn't check in for 6hours so ended up in a tuk tuk driving around the city. saw the giant gold reclining buddha and had a great time driving round.
All in all I would definitely go back to Thailand though maybe not for a while as I am all marketed out. Though my enjoyment of Thailand probably had a lot to do with the people on my tour they were wonderful and loads of fun.
