At the zoo

Day 38 (07/05/08): Chiang Mai, Thailand

A late start to the day after the festivities of the night before. I did manage to catch Helen and say goodbye to her, she is leaving to go to Laos. I will be making the same journey soon, but want to spend some more time in the North of Thailand first. I decided I would finally go to the Chiang Mai zoo. While I like animals, the main reason I wanted to go was to see the Giant Pandas they have there. So I grabbed a tuk-tuk and off I went.

The Chiang Mai zoo is nowhere near as large or impressive as the Singapore zoo, but I still enjoyed myself, just slowly walking around and having a look at things. The zoo itself is quite nice, and most of the animals were in large open enclosures. Once again, the tourist map was more than useless, and so I just walked around aimlessly until I was sure I had seen everything. To see the Pandas you had to pay an extra fee, which allowed you into their enclosure. I didn't mind paying, as I know that the money is going towards the conservation of the Pandas. There were only two of them, and the female didn't do much except sleep. Luckily the male put on a bit of a show, walking around and eating bamboo a few meters away from me.

The zoo is spread over quite a large area, up and down some rather large hills. And so like my previous few days trekking in the mountains, I was once again walking up hills in the Thailand heat. I only spent a few hours at the zoo, but by that stage I had seen most of what there was to see. The Pandas were by far the most interesting things, but I also managed to get some good closeup views of hippo, crocodiles, orang utang and gibbons. Although while the rest of the zoo was pretty good, I felt that the gibbon cages were very small and there wasn't much for them to play with. To head back to Chiang Mai, I jumped on a local Songthaew, and had a slow trip back through the rush hour traffic of the early evening.

While I have really been enjoying eating all the different foreign foods, I am also starting to get sick of rice and noodles, which are the staple foods here. A lot of restaurants and eating places serve western food, but it is never particularly good and always two to three times the price of local food. Looking in the Lonely Planet guidebook, I found a nearby cafe that supposedly did good Italian and Mexican food, so decided to treat myself. I ordered chilli con carne, and looked forward to a the spicy meaty Mexican goodness. Unfortunately what I got was something quite different. A small serving of very bland mince and bean mixture, with about 6 of the weirdest corn chips I have ever seen, and side serving of brown rice. Bizarre. I was quite disappointed, considering the price I had paid, the only good thing about the meal being the sour cream. Oh well.

In the evening I met up with the people from my trek again, as well our two tour guides. We proceeded to have another great evening out, even if it was a lot quieter night. We just sat around and had (quite) a few quiet drinks. We ended up sitting at a street side bar until after the sun had risen, before we all decided it was probably about time we went home to get some sleep.

Trekking and Rafting

Day 37 (06/05/08): Hills North West of Chiang Mai, Thailand

I was woken up by Good and the rest of my group, with Good holding a large monitor lizard above me. I woke up, rolled over and said 'Oh, a monitor lizard'. The others were all a bit dis-appointed that I didn't have more of a reaction! A good filling breakfast to start the day, and we were off again on a short trek. The main activity for the day would be rafting; white water rafting in a modern raft, and then bamboo rafting.

After a short walk down a very steep hill, we arrived at the rafting base camp, were we all got kitted out with life-jackets and helmets. There were only two sizes of helmet, small, and very small. I managed to squeeze into one and after a few brief instructions, we were in the river and going for it! The river wasn't particularly wild, about a grade 3. Although there were a few quite fun bits, with the raft splashing down the white water between the rocks, getting us occupants very wet. Other parts were very relaxed, with us just floating down the quite river, admiring the mountains and jungle surrounding us. Several water fights broke out between the two rafts, which I must say our raft clearly dominated. At one point we all jumped out and floated down the river. Back into the rafts for the last small stretch of rapids, and after an hour and a half or so we were finished. The rafting was great fun, and the Europeans and Korean really enjoyed it, having never done anything similar at all.

The bamboo rafts were quite long, made by lashing a number of large bamboo pieces together with a few cross braces. Good called them 'bamboo submarines', and after all of us were sitting on it, it was several inches underwater. Our rafting guide jumped on, and used a bamboo pole to guide us down the very quiet and smooth river for about half an hour or so. It was very relaxed, and a nice way to finish the day. We arrived at a small camp, where we all got changed and had some lunch. An ice-cream vendor appeared (small scooter with side cart, playing the Thai version of the ice-cream jingle), which everyone indulged in. There was also someone selling photos of us rafting, and so for a reasonably cheap price, I got a great action shot of our raft going down some of the rapids.

The songthaew ride back to Chiang Mai was pretty quiet, as everyone was pretty tired after three days of activity. We all chipped in and organised a fairly decent tip for our guides, who we thought had done a fantastic job. We also made plans to meet at a guest house later that night for a few drinks. I checked back into my guest house, and even got the same room as before. I quick shower, and I found Helen again. We met up with her Irish friend, and went out for dinner. After dinner I left the two of them, and proceeded to walk around what seemed the greater part of Chiang Mai looking for the guest house we were meeting at. There are a number of small alleyways and small roads, which are often unmarked on maps, and the guest house I was looking for was down one of them. I asked some local tuk-tuk drivers for directions, and got quite different answers from two of them! Eventually I found my way there, and had a well deserved beer. Good and Pooza were there, along with the other Irish girls from the first day of our trek. Pooza thoroughly beat me in several games of pool, and we all enjoyed several good beers.

When the guest house shut, Good, Pooza and another guide friend of theirs took us to several local Thai pubs and clubs. It was a great evening, drinking and eating and dancing to Thai pop music. At the end of the night the Irish girls tried to teach us all how to do an Irish jig, although none of us managed to do it properly. Although it must have been quite a sight, the middle of a Thai dance club floor, a bunch of Irish girls doing a jig, with three Thai guys, a Korean girl and myself trying to follow along! It was one of those great crazy nights you only get when you are traveling on the other side of the world! I don't remember what time I got home, but I collapsed into bed and didn't stir until the next morning.

(Once again I apologise for the lack of photos with the recent posts. I will try to find another internet cafe from which I can upload a whole lot).

Trekking and Waterfalls

Day 36 (05/05/08): Hills North West of Chiang Mai, Thailand

An early start for some of our group members. Three of the Irish girls were only doing the two day trek, and so left early to go join another group. That left 6 in our group, and since we were doing the longer trip, we had a more relaxed itinerary. We had an option for the first part of days trek, an easy walk along the road, or a more difficult walk up the hill. I of course opted for the harder option, and so left with the Korean girl and the Canadian guy, and Pooza to go up the hill. It was actually fairly easy going, the climb not taking very long at all. At the top we were rewarded with a stunning view over the hills, jungle and farmland. The most interesting part to me was watching all the vegetation change. Up on the top of the hill, the jungle plants gave away to pine trees. It could have been a NZ forest, with the tall pine trees, and pine needles all over the ground. The weather was a lot cooler up here as well, and the humidity a lot lower. A huge difference to the heat and dampness of the jungle in the lower parts. At one point Pooza stopped, and made us all hats out of large leaves. We posed for a silly photo, and then promptly lost the hats.

The way down was actually a lot harder than the way up. It was a lot steeper and the ground was quite slippery. I fell over once and got mud all up my arm and hands. Going down slowly you could actually notice the heat and humidity building up again, as the pine trees thinned out and the jungle plants became thick again. We met the others at another small village, they had done a very relaxed walk along the 'road' (or what passes for a dirt road up in the hills of Thailand). Our route for the day would take us past three waterfalls, and so off we went.

The first waterfall was quite small, but with a deep pool, and a few of the others jumped in for a swim. The second waterfall was a lot larger, coming down off a steep rocky cliff. A few small huts were nearby, where we had a brilliant lunch of fried noodles. Then we all went off for a swim under the waterfall. I walked right underneath it and managed to stay for a few seconds before the pressure and weight of all the water drove me out. Much better than all the soft pressure showers in the guest houses! Off on another short walk to the third, and most impressive waterfall. This one was fairly large, about 10 or 15 meters high with the water splashing down over the rocks. At one point there was a natural spout, causing a deluge of water to fly out almost horizontal before falling down in an almost perfect natural shower. Soap and shampoo was pulled out, and everyone had a good wash under the water. Although the pressure was so strong that you had to make sure to hold onto your togs, else they be washed right off!

The whole area was really beautiful, and what I really liked about the days trek was the variety of different environments we were walking through. Everything from the thick jungle, to the pine forests to bamboo forests, to lightly wooded areas. It was fantastic, and incredibly beautiful as well. For the last part of the trek we followed a small stream downriver, walking through a stunning valley surrounded by all sorts of plants, bushes and trees. We came to a small 'jungle camp', a collection of a few bamboo huts next to the stream. Once again a large hut had a few beds lain out, and all of us lay down and drifted off for a short nap before dinner. Dinner was cooked by our guides, and was once again fantastic. Thai Yellow curry, bamboo shoot salad, and boiled 'jungle vegetable', which had been freshly collected. These were the young shoots of the ferns which grew along the river. Boiled up, it looked and tasted like spinach. We munched it all down, everyone going back for seconds until it was all finished.

It was a nice relaxed evening. We sat around the bamboo table, on the bamboo benches and played cards. One of the guides made a bonfire, and we sat around that for a short time before a brief rain shower sent us back to the covers and more cards. We developed a funny custom whereby the winner of each round of cards rubbed their finger on the bottom of the soot covered cooking pot, and then drew on the face of the loser. After a few laugh filled hours, everyone had black all over their face, including the two guides (who were very good at cards). The guides were drinking beer, and so of course I joined them. At midnight, feeling a bit peckish, they guides cooked us up a really delicious rice soup, complete with a large collection of vegetables. Everyone else went to bed, and I spent a little while drinking beer and talking to the guides. It was quite possibly their last trek together. Good had applied for a job with the American consulate as a translator. He really loved being a guide, but only got paid when they were groups, and in the low season it was particularly hard. The translator job would be a lot more serious and hard work, but at least he was guaranteed a regular income. Mostly he was worried for Pooza, his young assistant. They got on really well, and had a good time together, Good giving Pooza a lot of responsibility and freedom, and they weren't sure what kind of guide Pooza would end up with. He said that a lot of the older guides would just treat him as an assistant, and make him do all the bad jobs. Pooza told me that if he didn't get a good guide, he would go back to the city and try and find a job, most likely in one of the new opening fast food places (KFC, Pizza Hut or Burger King). It's quite sad really, Pooza was well educated, studying as a monk for 6 years, and having studied at university afterwards, but there just wasn't anything else available.

In the early hours of the morning I crept back into our bamboo hut, and collapsed asleep after a hard day of trekking.

Trekking into the Hills

Day 35 (04/05/08): Chiang Mai, Thailand

The day started early with me packing my bags ready for the trek. I could leave things at my guest house, so pared down my bag to just the few things I would need on the trek. After a quick breakfast, I was picked up in the class Thai Songthaew. A few more stops to pick up the other trekkers, and we were off. Through some statistical anomaly, the other people in my group were all Irish, well almost all. There were 5 Irish girls (2 pairs and a single), a French girl, South Korean girl and a Canadian guy. In another case of traveling being a small world, two of the Irish girls discovered that they actual knew of each other back home through several mutual friends, but had never met.

Our guides were two young guys, Good (his nickname) was the leader, with Pooza his assistant. They were a great laugh and proved to be excellent guides. We had a quick stop at a market to get water, while the guides grabbed some food for our trip. It was a typical Thai market, with all sorts of things being sold. There was even a table with a large number of fresh fish flapping on it, while the lady slowly took her time to finish them off and then gut and clean them.

Back in the songthaew for another hour or so, and we arrived at a very beautiful teak house in the jungle to have a lunch of fried rice. After lunch and the first activity for us was elephant trekking. Each elephant has a wooden platform with a bench seat strapped to its back. I shared with the Canadian guy (our platform even had an umbrella) and the mahout, sitting on the elephant's neck, led us off. While it was quite fun sitting on the back of an elephant, the 'trek' was quite pedestrian, just doing a small loop around the local area for just over an hour. Still it was fun, and the scenery was pretty good. Even though it was quite hard to take photos, as the ride wasn't very smooth, rolling forward and backward, and side to side with the movement of the elephant. There was a constant battle between the elephants who kept stopping to rip plants plants to eat, and the mahout to keep it walking. It is quite amazing just how strong an elephant is, reaching into a cluster of bamboo and just ripping it out.

Back in the songthaew for another half hour or so, and we were ready to begin our trek. We were staying with a hill tribe for the night, and so that means that we would be walking up hills! The trek was about two and a half hours, most of which was uphill, sometimes quite steep. It didn't look like anyone else in the group ever walked farther than from their front door to their car door, so the going was pretty slow. We stopped every twenty minutes or so, and most of the others would collapse and pant. I personally found the going pretty easy, with the slow pace and constant stops, even the steep hills were pretty good. The scenery and landscape were stunning though. At one stage we were following a stream up a canyon, and it really was very beautiful.

Shortly after 5 in the evening, we reached the hill tribe village. Not technically of Thai ethnicity, the hill tribe people have their own language and customs. There are actually quite a few different hill tribes, often originating from Burma, Laos or China, each with their own language and customs. We were staying in a large bamboo hut, were a number of simple mattresses and blankets had been lain out for us. A very good dinner of green curry and vegetables was cooked for us, and we sat around the common area of the hut eating dinner. The night was spent drinking a few beers, and sampling the local moonshine 'whiskey' that the locals brew. I ended up sitting next to the guides, who were drinking the moonshine, and they kept offering it, so I ended up drinking quite a bit of it! Although its actually quite a weak spirit, and I imagine you would have to drink a fair bit of it to feel anything. Good, our lead guide, knew quite a few songs on the guitar, and so in a short time we were all singing along to the Beatles and Oasis. This attracted the attention of one of the other tour groups in the village, and we were joined by two English girls and a very drunk Spanish guy, who joined in our festivities for the night.

Lazy days

Day 33 & 34 (02/05/08 - 03/05/08): Chiang Mai, Thailand

I had two lazy days in Chiang Mai. I was still a bit sick, and was trying to throw the last of it off before I went trekking in the hills. Both days I slept in late, read my book and generally accomplished nothing. I had plans to go to the Chiang Mai zoo, but they never eventuated. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative either, with it raining most of the time.

One thing I did do was go to the Chiang Mai night bazaar. I met up with Helen and her Irish friend, and we spent the evening wandering around the stalls and shops. The variety was quite good, but most of it was still the same tourist rubbish you see all over the place. Once again I didn't buy anything, although the girls found a few interesting things each. There

The second night I was by myself, and spent an hour or so wandering around shops and restaurants, looking for an interesting place to eat (the food at my guest house is cheap, but not particularly good). Then the rain came back, hard. I was a good 20min away from my guest house, and by the time I got back there I was absolutely soaked! I had actually found quite a nice looking place to eat, but I thought it would be rude to walk in like a wet rag and drip water everywhere. In the end I just got a simple meal from my guest house, and spent the night (a saturday night!) in my room reading. I was pondering the idea of going to a pub, but the heavy rain killed that idea.

By now my cold was almost all gone, with the exception of a somewhat annoying cough. So I figured I was ready to go trekking! I booked a 3 day trek through my guest house, and tomorrow morning, I'll be off!

Into the North

Day 32 (01/05/08): Chiang Mai, Thailand

The overnight sleeper train was actually very nice. I had an upper bunk bed, and even though it was quite small, very narrow and slightly too short, it was comfortable. We did have to wait at the train station for quite a long time, as the train was over an hour late. Not much really happened on the train, most people retired into their bunks, drew the curtains and read books or played cards. I was reading the required backpacking novel 'The Beach' by Alex Garland (made famous by the recent movie starring Leo diCaprio). The book talks about backpacking around Thailand, staying on Khaosan road, Koh Phangan island etc. It is quite interesting to read a book about places you have just spent a lot of time at, and describes experiences that you have had, right down to the little things that wouldn't make sense unless you have been there.

Once again, I didn't get a great nights sleep. The a/c on the train, like in all of Thailand, is set to freezing cold. So I woke up in the middle of the night and everything was freezing. The supplied blanket was pretty meager, and I couldn't be bothered climbing out of my bunk to find my bag to dig down to the bottom to find something warm. Likewise I couldn't be bothered trying to dig around for my eye mask, as the curtain didn't do much to block out the light. Either way, the train was very nice for an overnight journey, much better than the overnight buses.

The train pulled into Chiang Mai station in the mid morning. I had thought that Bangkok was bad for touts, but the train station here was manic! It was packed full of people offering tuk-tuk rides, tours or guest houses, and it was impossible to walk a few meters without being assaulted. We had already selected a guest house out of the Lonely Planet guidebook (the cheapest one of course), and finally gave in to a tuk-tuk to take us there. The guest-house was rather nice, and our room even had its own bathroom, although we took the cheaper option with only cold water. After all, I haven't had a hot shower for over a month, so why break the habit?

Chiang Mai is a large, quite modern city. In the center of the city are the remains of the old fortified city. A large square wall runs around it, surrounded by a moat. On each of four sides of the wall, right in the middle is a large re-enforced gate, although some have now been enlarged to allow for traffic. My guest house was just on the edge outside the old city, overlooking the moat and the east gate. In the afternoon we went on a short walk around the old city. It is very nice and has a great atmosphere to it. The local government has gone to a lot of effort to preserve the city. No tall buildings are allowed with 93m of a temple (which apparently covers something like 85% of the city area), the rivers and moat have undergone a large cleaning and anti-pollution program (there are now fish and turtles in the moat), and there is an extensive recycling program. It is all very nice to see compared to the dirt and pollution of Bangkok.

Walking around the old city was, as always, hot work. Although while Bangkok seemed to be perpetually overcast (most likely the pollution), Chiang Mai had clear sky and you could feel the heat of the sun. The most interesting things to look at were some temples, which although I have seen a lot of, can still be very impressive. The biggest attraction around Chiang Mai tend to be the activities, the most common of which are treks into the nearby jungles and mountains. I am planning to do one of these at some point, probably in the next few days. Although I have also seen adverts for a whole range of other things; white water rafting, elephant trekking, mountain biking, rock climbing, even bungee jumping and paintball! So there you have it, Chiang Mai, adventure capital of Thailand!

My head was still feeling very bad, and my noise was running like Forrest Gump, so the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and reading a book (the area around the Guest House has a huge number of second hand bookstores, so I went and got myself a new book). Some good bed rest was in order to try and recover as much before going trekking.

That night I had tickets to a Muay Thai boxing match (otherwise known as Thai kick-boxing). I had been really keen on going to one of these, but hadn't managed to get to one yet. It wasn't a particularly big stadium, and most of the audience were foreigners. There were 8 fights during the night, starting off with some quite small kids (33kg), moving through some teens, a female fight, and finally into the main fights of the night (63kg). They were very impressive, and I really enjoyed watching them. It is very different to modern (western) boxing, although some fights just went into a clinch a lot, which can get quite boring. The main fights of the night, with the adults, were very well done, the competitors were all very good, and I particularly liked watching the different styles of each of the fighters. Although the funniest, and possible most enjoyable part of the evening was at the 'half time' show. Four boxers come on stage, all young men, and put on blindfolds. They then went around the ring swinging wildly and trying to smack each other. To make things more interesting, a fifth guy went around pushing the boxers in the direction of each other and generally trying to cause mayhem. Even though he could see, and tried to avoid the swinging gloves, he still took quite a few hits. It was a great laugh.

The other aspect of Thai boxing that I really liked was the sportsmanship. Each competitor always treated his (or her) opponent with respect, and always saluted at the start of each round. At the conclusion of the match, each competitor drunk from their opponents corner. I thought it was a very nice touch.

After the last fight, most people got up to leave. A free cabaret show had been advertised for immediately afterwards, and I was somewhat tempted to find out what it was about. However, after seeing a few lady-boys walk out in bikinis and big feathers, I decided I had seen enough, and joined the rest of the people leaving. It was a short walk back to the guest house, where I found my roommate asleep, and so read my book for a few hours using my headlamp.

(No photos unfortunately, like many internet places, the USB at this place doesn't work).

Raiding some Temples

Day 31 (30/04/08): Ayutthaya, Thailand

Once more, a night of terrible sleep. Although this time it was due to a blocked nose, wracking cough, bad headache and even some backache. This flu has hit me pretty hard. I took some painkillers, which helped things out a fair bit. I even succumbed and ordered some comfort food - a hamburger (I have rarely eaten Western food while travelling). Although the burger wasn't actually very good. Refusing to let the flu get the better of me, it was now time to go an explore some of Ayutthaya!

We investigated some of the guided tours you could take, but decided they were all too expensive. After all, we had legs didn't we? So with me at the map, off we walked down the street to the Historical Park. Ayutthaya is famous for its large number of Wats, almost all of which are now ruins, due to the many wars between Thailand and Burma over the last few hundred years. First stop was Wat Ratchaburana, a particularly impressive ruin, focussed around a large 'Prang', which is richly decorated with stone statues and engravings. We braved the perilous steps and actually climbed right up it to get a great view of the surrounding area. Also scattered around are numerous Buddha statues, most of which are now headless, or otherwise similarly ruined. Some were mere blocks of stone, and only on close inspection could you see the odd bit of decoration that once marked it as a torso.

Across the road is the Historical park housing the ruins of Wat Phra Mahathat. While this complex is considerably larger than Wat Ratchaburana, most of the buildings are in much worse condition. Originally built in the 14th century, it was burned down a couple hundred years ago. It is mostly brick and mortar construction, and after several hundred years, some of the stupas are now on a bit of an angle (like Pisa, only less Italian). This Wat is also home to the famous 'Buddha head in tree roots' thing. It's quite pretty to look at it, but nothing incredibly special. The whole experience of clambering around these ruins, some of which are hundreds of years old, really make you feel like Indiana Jones, or Lara Croft.

The heat by now was stupefying (nothing new there). So after a cold drink, a tuktuk to the National Museum sounded like a good idea. It is impossible to walk anywhere in Thailand, especially as a Westerner, and not be constantly hounded by tuktuk drivers offering you a ride. Unless of course, you actually want a tuktuk, as was our case. We started walking in the right direction, and it was only after walking most of the way there, that we finally got the tuktuk proposition. By which time of course, we didn't actually need a ride. The museum was reasonably interesting. Housing a collection of personal items belonging to an old Thai King from 150 years ago. More impressive was the collection of old ceramics, statues, and other everyday items, some of which dated back to the 13th century!

Walked back into town, by now on very sore feet, and am writing this post immediately up (in a nice air-conditioned internet cafe). We have train tickets booked for tonight, to Chang Mai. Quite a long train journey, but having learned from past experience, we booked tickets early to ensure a nice comfortable second class sleeper berth. My flu is still pretty bad (although painkillers are currently disguising it), so I am considering taking a few days off in Chang Mai, and just holing up somewhere and resting. The rest of my plan for Chang Mai involves going trekking in the mountains for a few days, so its probably best done in good health.

On an interesting side note, the tuktuks here are unlike any other I have seen. More of a cross between a regular tuktuk and a songthaew, they are little three wheeled trucks with two bench seats in the back (see the photo). Ten points to anybody who can remember the video game that one of these appeared in.