29th October 2010
8.15am
Very excited to have found a blogging app for my N900 so now have to have a go!
Despite being too excited to sleep and not settling down til 1am we were awake at 7am.
Cases almost packed, camera/ phone/ ds batteries all on charge.
Downloaded a 2 meals & 2 drinks for a tenner voucher for a pub near Heathrow & planning to set off at 3pm even though flight isnt til 9.30pm, in case of breakdown / crashes / tsunami etc
Have checked all the paperwork twice after the Gatwick parking paperwork fiasco last July, probably the scariest airport journey ever and got to gate with 10 mins to spare!
Have to get up now, deal with excess hair & go to ‘Mataland’ or ‘up Asdas’ for comfy travelling trousers & John needs to pick up a loan phone as Nokia still seem baffled by his 5800.
Arrived with hours to spare, had our lunch in the pub in Feltham, and to get in the holiday spirit had a huge pudding!
News 24 was on in the pub and there was a terror alert at East Midland airport and a suspicious package. Other airports were being checked, so we were prepared for some problems.
Couldn’t believe the size of Heathrow airport! All the delays seemed to have sorted themselves out luckily and no security concerns.
We played the ‘ I hope they’re not staying at the same place as us game’ ( in some cases the same country..) Don’t judge me, you’ve all played this game at some time!
The flight-
description:
lots:
of old English men, mostly alone, a few hunting in packs
of free drinks
of pretty Thai stewardesses
of choice of films
of Chinese subtitles on the films
of the man next to me hogging the arm rest
of pain in my neck
Evening meal pork & rice, roll, salad, crackers & camembert and shortbread fingers.
Watched The kids are alright, no idea what happened at the end as fell asleep.
Watched Doubt which weve had laying around at home for ages,and John never fancies watching. He was right, it was pretty rubbish, but Meryl Streep – brilliant as usual.
When I put my interactive map on at 5.15 we were over Islamabad, Afghanistan. Felt quite uneasy.
Had breakfast at 7 over Bangladesh.
Breakfast was lovely. The stewardess asked if I would like chicken & noodles or hash. It seemed a bit early for chicken & hash sounded intriguing. It was in fact full english breakfast without baked beans in a stroganoff sauce, and was delicious.
And finally aged 49 I’ve tried hash.
John opted for the chicken but that turned out to be the same in fact as the hash.
Landed at 3.30pm Thai time ( 6hours ahead)
Got a taxi to our hostel, which is quaint & has 2 coat hangers, 2 wall hooks , bed, TV & a shelf unit. The communal basins & shower are close by.
Want to go & explore but Johns found some crappy old film on.
Will finish writing this, then start sulking so we can go out!
Went to Khao San Road, market stalls, bars & loud music. Loved it instantly, so much like Turkey, same fake stuff, copy dvds and people coming to sell you things while youre sitting having a beer.
Yep. Khao San Road is Turkey, with noodles & Leo beer.
Had pad thai, spring rolls and barbequed meat on sticks from one of the many stands.
So tired, home to bed & crashed at 10pm, even though it was 4pm UK time.
Sun 31st October
Woke at 8.30 looking forward to breakfast with some nervousness about what it would be:
Menu A toast & jam, fruit, tea or coffee.
Menu B cereal, fruit ,tea or coffee
Menu C yogurt, fruit, tea or coffee.
no idea what the white fruit is, tasted of nothing & gives the sesation of eating crushed beetles. Gave mine to John.
Set off to explore. Were standing on a corner looking at our map & a nice man came & started chatting, where are you from, what football team you like etc. He told us its a special holiday & government doing a special day where the yellow Tuk Tuks take you on a circuit to promote tourism for just 10 b * each person.
* 45b = £1
A yellow tuk tuk came so we double checked price & off we went.
First stop a temple where they sell you a little cage with 5 litte birds in it (90 b)
If you set them free in front of the huge gold Buddha you will be blessed with good luck, so of course we did.
The temple ,the buddha, & the atmosphere were amazing, couldnt stop taking photos and saying wow!
Next we went to another temple, the black buddha, another man came to tell us its very lucky today because of the special holiday, we were able to see his tomb inside, which again brings luck.
lots more photos & wows . Once back in thetuk tuk I was telling John he must be more trusting, this isnt Turkey & no ulterior motives and just go with it.
Next stop, a tailors shop, driver said we have to go in as part of the special deal, but dont have to buy…. Lots of hard sell, suit brochures, fabric swatches…
John bought a silk tie. 300b.
Next stop, tourist information centre.
More hard sell, have booked day trip, special promotion, private tour instead of group tour for same price to floating market & rose garden. A bargain at 1500 b each.
Next stop jewellery making factory & souvenir centre.. One silver ring for me & a silver & amethyst ring for John later…… A mere 3000 b or so later… Oh & John bought a shirt 200b.
Then another shop. Driver apologised but said he wont get his Government promotion voucher for 5 free litres of petrol if we dont do all the stops … Didnt buy anything but had an interesting chat with a Thai man who used to really like England, but not anymore because hardly anyone is English there now & they dont say please.
Last stop a monestry, Golden mountain. Driver explained way home & left us there.
Felt terrible as had kept him out for hours, couldnt give him just 20b, so gave him 100 which he was very happy with.
Total cost of 20b trip….. About 6500b, but worth every bit for the experience !
Golden mountain was lovely, fantastic views from the top.
Had noodle soup outside on a street stall afterwards, yummy.
Decided to walk to the zoo, quite a long way but well worth it. Were the only English people there & John got to see tigers & I fell in love with the goats.
More walking, back towards our hostel found more street food, pad thai wrapped in a fried egg with crab meet & crispy noodles. It was amazing & have a feeling we will have to go back there.
Got back and had a look at the guide book for ideas for the next day and read all about the tuk tuk scam where they will tell you its a special Government promotion, blah blah blah….
Monday 1st November 3.50pm Thai time
Went to Turk, I mean Khao San Road, last night, madly busy, everyone celebrating Halloween, big street party. Lovely atmosphere and some very gory outfits.
If you cant beat them join them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4tiiyQ1GMM
We didnt get home to bed til gone 1am.
Went & checked out 2 nearby hostels for when we come back to Bangkok after Chiang Mai.
Found one in same little road as where we are now, so will need to find a back route in so current place doesnt find out!
Went to collect our train tickets for Wednesday, they had made a mistake booked for next week but luckily still had spaces for this week.
We caught a boat along the Chao Phraya river, wonderful, have never seen so many boats in one bit of water.
Went to the Silom Road area to explore the markets & oriental area.
Am now writing this from a Thai massage parlour which was recommended by a nice man from Singapore that we got chatting to over a bowl of soup.
It looked nice, and tasted ok until I asked John what he thought was in it, and the nice man said its flat noodles, and various different meat, liver & pig entrails flavoured with star anise.
Well at least it was a good conversation starter.
Amongst various recommendations of must sees around Bangkok he recommended the Green Leaf massage.
It just happens to be in the district where all the red shirt riots happened. He said tv made it look worse than it was and because he gets bored in Singapore & loves the excitement of Bangkok he went to watch many times.
I asked if it was true about so many terrorist bombs & he said yes, usually aimed at these banks around you. But dont be scared, if you feel uneasy at any time, just jump in a taxi.
So we both had a foot massage, Ive tried every other remedy for my cough, so why not reflexology too.
Johns now been taken upstairs for a back massage…. Im desperate for a wee but its upstairs & dont want to appear like some crazed bunny boiler.
Hopefully it will be ok, the man said many places offer ‘happy ending’ for just 100 b extra, but not always so happy and Green Leaf is a respectable place. Its next door to Boots, so it must be ok surely?
I have all the money, so will know about extras when we get the bill.
Its no good, I have to go for a wee….. Have had 3 cups of green tea since getting here.
Aaaah, thats better, but no sign of John. There are more stairs and some private rooms…..
Well John appeared & his back is good and his morals are intact.
Walked for hours until I got grumpy, feet hurt so badly due to being out of practice with flip flops.
Finally found beer with sensible prices outside the posh area, sat for a while, then got a taxi back to our hostel for a change of footwear.
Had dinner outside by a building site recommended by our hostel, good choice, it was yummy.
Popped into hairdresser next door at 11.15pm, wash, head massage, shine treatment, cut, blow dry – £3 and looked lovely the way they blow dried it.
Maybe I should buy a hairdryer.
Tuesday 2nd November
Got woken at 6am by couple upstairs trying all the Kama Sutra, at least I hope it was upstairs as the mental picture of the ugly man in the room next to us was too much, especially as I had heard him grunting and groaning in the toilet having a poo last night.
Have just had set menu A for breakfast & now off to find Chinatown.
Might have to do shorts & walking boots as flip flops killing after walking from room to breakfast.
Got the river boat to Chinatown. Its an amazing place, lots of alleyways, markets etc. Spent hours walking and exploring.
Had our daily soup, skipped the entrails & had duck & noodle soup and our daily pad thai later.
Went to the temple & exhibition of the giant buddha, believed to be the biggest gold one in the world. Just stunning.
Theres temples, shrines & beautiful ornate monuments all over the place, you need eyes in the back of your head to take it all in.
Some parts near the river have started to flood, sandbags are mostly keeping it at bay, but quite deep in a few places.
Johns amazing at navigating, and managed to get us to the flower market, which I really wanted to see. It was incredible, every colour and type of flower stretching as far as you could see.
Its on every day, just cannot imagine they would ever sell them all. Masses of bags of marigolds, which were being threaded onto strings. Reminded me of Monsoon Wedding.
Then we found the Saphan Put night market. Mostly clothes & jewellry but also a stall of tiny rabbits and guinea pigs, some wearing little outfits & some with bows on their heads.
They seem to like dressing animals up, many dogs wear little dresses and jackets and are carried around like babies.
Sadly lots of street dogs and cats too.
After 11 hours walking we got a taxi back to near the hostel as just couldnt do any more and had another meal at the little building site place. Crab sausages with plum sauce, chicken rice, chicken red curry & spring rolls. Yum.
Brought a spare hold sized suitcase with me to buy souvenirs & xmas pressies but cant take both cases on the train, so need to work out what I can leave in Bangkok.
The lady at the place were going to stay in when we come back has kindly said I can leave one case there.
Probably would be a health & safety enquiry & a few forms to fill in if you wanted to go off and leave a bag in a random hostel in the UK.
Wednesday 3rd November
Set menu A
and the fruit with crunchy bugs in and another that looks like carrot but tastes of nothing. Reminds me, at the market last night we saw stalls selling witchety grubs & locusts, for eating.
Going to have a cultural day today, Grand Palace and all the temples nearby.
At 10pm we will be catching the night train to Chiang Mai.
Just hope they dont have the bug fruit up there.
We got the river boat to the Grand Palace stop. There were Thai men everywhere telling tourists it doesnt open til 1pm / 2.30pm / 3pm – all a ploy to get them into a 10b tuk tuk journey to the jewellry factory.
etc.
It was very much open. We had to sign something a bit like the treaty of Rome & leave a deposit for trousers for John & a wrap round skirt for me.
The Palace was huge, took hours to go round it and included the temple of the Emerald Buddha.
By the end I didnt care if I never saw another buddha, Theres only so much. It was very impressive though. Wandered off looking for food and stopped at a little street stall.Got chatting to an Austrian lady who used to live in Bangkok and she was asking where we had been & said we should see the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, just around the corner. We made faces but she insisted we should go & thank goodness we bumped into her, it was amazing.
We then crossed the river to Wat Arun, again very impressive.
So thats it, weve been to nearly all the major Wats (temples) although we did keep forgetting which Wat was what.
Weve seen standing, giant, black, emerald & reclining Buddhas.
Exhausted, got boat back to near our hostel & stopped for a beer in Khao San area. It was full of young, dreadlocky, unwashed looking backpacker types who had been there a while judging by their loudness.
They dont know the meaning of the word travelling! Ive learnt that what they actually do is get up late and sit around drinking.
Picked our cases up, and dropped small bag to other hostel over the road when the owners from ours had gone inside…
Got a taxi to Huamphalong station, traffic wasnt too bad so had a long time to kill. More street food.
The station was really seedy, people sitting on concrete steps and some sleeping on the ground. Couldnt make out if they were sleeping rough or just waiting.
Saw our first lady boy, more Lily Savage than ladyboy.
Our train was in so they let us get on.
The oldest grottiest thing you can imagine, didnt look like it would make it out of the station let alone 15 hours to Chiang Mai. 
Took loads of photos while shaking heads in disbelief.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlH6SWecSi0
The toilet was like an aluminium can with a sort of squat thing about 6 inches off the ground.
Wasnt impressed with the cockroach that ran across by our cabin. Glad I’ve got top bunk, although John reckons bugs start at the top and work downwards.
Watched 500 days of summer together which I had downloaded onto my phone, nice film.
Settled down for the night.
Thursday 4th November.
Slept really badly, train very noisy and like a boneshaker. Picked our breakfast last night, set menu C, and bed area has now been converted and the lady just brought us a table as the other one didnt fit and has scrunched up some loo roll and poked it in where it meets the wall to keep it in place.
Finally arrived in Chiang Mai at 2.30pm and got a ‘Songthaew’ to the Green Tulip hostel. A songthaew is like a truck with benches and they are the local transport.
Having read about Stella & Nine on Tripadvisor I was pleased to find that Stella is as crazy as everyone says!
Our room is huge, lilac, green, blue and has multi colour bedding. The whole place is multicoloured and I think Stella must have designed it.
She gave us a map and told us not to go too far as we were tired and not to buy anything as we must buy from the weekend market.
She wanted us to look at her books of trips but being suspicious as usual we said we would look later.
So off we went into town costing all the trips….
Met a nice lady in a Songthaew who was also trying to sell trips and arranged to meet her tomorrow at 10am to be transported to the Tiger Kingdom, just 100b each way & they wait there for you.
Went home after hours of walking & just looking at the Night Bazaar. Stella was on the red wine but not really much more crazy than before. We sat and had a beer and chatted with Nine and booked 3 trips as mostly cheaper than elsewhere and really need to start trusting these people!
Poor John has the start of man flu.
Friday 5th November
Met our songthaew. The lady had sent her uncle as she was busy and his wife/ friend/ mum whoever came for the ride.
Tiger Kingdom was about a 30 minute drive.
There was a choice of packages, smallest, small, medium and large. John went for the full works & I opted for smallest & medium.
The grounds are beautiful, the tigers definitely looked healthy & well looked after. There were signs asking you to report any sign at all of staff being cruel.
We went in together into a large cage with 2 baby tigers, 2 months old, Lala & Lulu. They were just adorable. I didnt have any expectations or even get excited beforehand but when they sat Lala on my lap I started snivelling.
Just fantastic, will never forget it.
Next John was with the 7 month old ones, I took loads of photos while he was in tiger heaven. 
We went together to the 2 medium ones, by this time they are pretty large & I was quite nervous. The staff are just brilliant, they guide you all the time & reassure you. All they have is a thin stick each and they dont need to raise their voices, the bond between them and the tigers seems to work on mutual trust.
Then John was with the big ones, I wish I had been brave enough, in hindsight having watched them I could have done it, but you dont know that at the ticket entrance.
John had a photographer for this & got a cd of all the pics, definitely made me wish Id done it.
Had an iced coffee in their restaurant which overlooks the 4 large tigers. The one John was laying with 2 minutes before loved playing chasing branches with the staff and got some fab video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7qi5TwJ1VM
Were driven back to town, went & got man flu tablets & had lunch.
The pharmacist didnt understand the whole man flu phenomenon – but he was male, which could explain it.
Sat on hostel rooftop for a while, lovely, hot and sunny but man flu boy was falling asleep in his chair so have put him to bed and am sitting in multicoloured heaven blogging and drinking cherryade from a glass bottle with a straw.
Funny how glass bottles and straws bring back memories of being left outside pubs in Cornwall, Dorset & Devon.
So while he sleeps here are few observations of Thailand that I want to record to look back on apart from the obvious tuk tuks, monks & temples
driving the same side of the road as in UK
whole families on mopeds, no helmets
iced drinks of every flavour & colour
deep fried insects
carnation milk – used mainly on top of the iced drinks, but on display on every street food stall
food & drink served on plastic plates & cups, usually pale pink or blue and often badly stained
take away bags of liquid ( I guess some sort of soup – think goldfish at the fair but brown)
pad thai wrapped in newspaper for take away, or served on the go, like on the train
banana trees
coconuts
same temperature day & evening
people begging/ sleeping rough
Japanese Akita type dogs on the streets
dogs wearing outfits
Thai music seems to be all soft really nice ballads, anything faster seems to all be Brit pop.
Pigs trotters, entrails
people with learning disabilities walking the streets collecting money, singing into microphones with large speakers around their necks singing to Thai backing music – usually incredibly well, no idea if they are miming
The people are hardworking and very resouceful. Nothing is wasted and people put their kids in their pyjamas & make make shift beds for them while they work at their night market stalls.
Apart from a few pushy people around the main tourist areas the Thai people tend to just leave you be, children sometimes look and stare. If you make the first move and smile the Thai people smile warmly back.
Stella has just come in & greeted me like a long lost sister. I can see why people come back here again & again.
Time for a bit of facebook & emails then Id best go wake Noddy up or he will fidget and keep me awake all night.
Forgot all about Noddy as got chatting to a lady called Clare, comes from Cambridge, born in Iraq, lived in Africa, Indonesia & has travelled all over the world doing humanitarian work.
4 hours later Noddy & I went to local stalls outside 7 eleven & tried a selection of different meat things on sticks from one that all basically tasted the same & roti ( pancakes) from another that were yummy, with Carnation milk of course.
Thai words learnt so far :
Roti – pancakes
Chang – elephant
Soi – street
Doi – mountain
Saturday 6th November
Went on an orgaised tour, us, a man from Iceland who is staying at Green Tulip too, a German man who said nothing all day, so I assumed he couldnt speak English until the guide asked him something, a man who reminded me of Les from Buckingham Road Day Centre & his Thai wife, and Meryl, 71 from Australia.
Loved Meryl, a real inspiration. She was travelling alone, her 5th time in Thailand, she loves it as she feels very safe.
She lives near the Great Barrier Reef & is a regular scuba diver and part time supply teacher.
Doi Inthanon is a national park about an hour and a half away. Our first stop was a huge waterfall with a stunning rainbow over it.
Next we stopped at a hilltribe village, population 17, where we saw women weaving beautiful scarves & pasminas.
We wandered around looking at the sparse living conditions, no running water and very basic. Lots of children, dogs, puppies, chickens and a tiny church.
Our guide was showing us the rice field and explaining how its harvested and pointing out 2 huts in the distance where they sleep for an hour or so when they need a rest, when 2 young girls came towards us in traditional village clothes, one on her mobile phone.
Kind of spoilt the moment for me.
Next we stopped at a Mong village market. Really colourful & atmospheric and bought some little stocking fillers for Lauren. 
Saw another waterfall, not as impressive as the first but still very beautiful.
Next we carried on up the mountain and near the top in the middle of nowhere saw 2 extremely large pagodas, a blue one for the King and a purple one for the Queen built about 20 years ago which house large stone buddhas in their honour.
The Royal Family are very highly regarded, pictures of them all over the place. Apparently the people of Thailand & the Government paid for them to be built. Theres even escalators!
Nice, but couldnt help but think the money could be used to help the poor instead… Anyway, the guide clearly is a big fan of the Royals and loves the Pagodas so we all smiled sweetly & had a mutter about it when she wasnt looking.
I say all, but obviously Bjorks Dad & Herr Schmidt had no comment as usual.
Then onto the summit, very impressive. Saw a rainbow around the sun.
‘
‘Les’, his wife, John, the tour guide and the lovely Meryl
All the Thai people had warned us about how cold it is up there. We were warm enough in t- shirts, all the Thais had jackets, some even had ear muffs.
Went to the infamous weekend evening market this eve. It was very big and atmospheric. Several disabled people singing, some even sitting in a line as if they were going to do oops upside your head, but were in fact playing different instruments & were really good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucRpDdVVqXY
One little boy of around 5 or 6 was hula hooping – so good & really cute. Some little girls were in traditional costume dancing.
Food galore – just wish we knew what it was.
Bought a couple of xmas prezzies and a cushion for Zeera the dog that belongs a few doors away but is always asleep on the concrete at the front of the Green Tulip.
Thai cooking school tomorrow. Really hope John is feeling better by then as he has no sense of taste at the moment.
Sunday 7th November
Zeera took one look at his lovely cushion with pandas on and wandered off to the shop next door.
John is still 7/ 10 feeling groggy but knows how much Ive been looking forward to cooking school and is soldiering on. Its things like this that makes him so special. Special in a nice way!
Got picked up for cooking school, everyone else in the truck were really young!
All really friendly, a couple from Wales who are 2 weeks into a year long adventure, 2 girls from USA who had a nasty accident and fell off a moped about a week ago and very matter of fact about it all, and a couple from Singapore. A couple from Belgium joined us later in the day.
First we went to the market & learned about some of the ingredients which was interesting.
Then we chose our recipes for the day. I made hot & creamy soup, chicken & cashew nuts, red chicken and pineapple curry, pork salad and mango sticky rice. It was all gorgeous apart from the salad!
John made spicy soup with sweet basil, spring rolls, chicken with fried ginger, panang curry, spicy mixed chicken salad & banana in coconut milk.
It was excellent as we copied the instructor step by step and could alter the amount of chillies as we wished.
We even made red & green curry pastes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMBRQEzM96w
Then we sat as a group & shared our creations so it was very sociable too
Would thoroughly recommend it. Not sure we will eat for ages!
Having a rest now before venturing off to the Sunday market, which sounds like the Saturday market but in a slightly different venue…
Dont really want handicrafts, need to find a towel for when we go to bath the elephants ( for us, not them! )
The Sunday market was huge, basically lots of stalls all selling much the same things, jewellry, handicrafts, lamps, hair clips, make up bags, phone bags, boxes, dresses, skirts, shoes bags etc. Could have bought so many things for Lauren but really struggling to find anything male.
Got back totally exhausted and feet on fire again and Zeera was laying on his cushion!
Monday 8th November
Got a songthaew to Chiang Mai zoo, a few km out of the city at the base of Doi Suthep. We have worked out that the reason the fares are so low and they are happy to wait there for you is that they all work on commission and get a cut of your admission fee.
Lovely zoo, beautifully landscaped, and lots of rare animals that we’d never seen before.
Saw 3 giant pandas which was our main reason for wanting to go.
We were standing on a wooden platform where some emus were at feet level. Whilst taking photos of our feet & laughing about how close they were and me daring John to let them nibble his toes, one went for my flip flop.
I screamed and pulled my foot away, leaving emu with my flip flop which he then abandoned in the enclosure.
One of the little zoo trains was coming so I dangled my foot towards the driver and pointed at the emus.
When he, and the people on the train, stopped laughing he called one of the zoo staff over, who jumped down, shooed ( shooed – get it? ) emus backwards and rescued my flip flop.
Ha, the hilarity….
John raided a bag of carrots that was laying about on a bench and managed to entice the hippos out of the water and draw a crowd.
The hippos got wise to this and were standing with their mouths open making hippo noises and waiting for more.
Some other people decided to copy and steal the carrots too, so we decided we should leave the area before getting deported.
The zoo had a few different shows during the day.
Heres a couple of my favourite clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkcolvR6EP8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOe4O-vPoU
After several hours walking round the zoo we got a songthaew to the Wat Phra temple which is about half way up the mountain roun lots of windy bends.
There was a choice of over 300 steps or a cable car/tram, so we took the tram.
Lovely temple, lots of outside Buddha areas, clearly very famous and meaningful judging by the number of Thai visitors and monks.
Great view of Chiang Mai from the top, it really is a huge city, much larger than we thought it would be.
Got dropped back to the night bazaar afterwards. A few more miles of stalls & stalls of the same but different to the weekend market, got back hours later minus a towel….
Found one stall selling them wholesale, but a bit pricy & too nice quality to use and then dump, and then hours later found some in a mini mart but the shop smelt so bad of the disgusting fat dog by the till that I could never have been able to use it.
Going to sneak one out from the hotel & wash it afterwards instead.
New Thai words today….
Emu – emu
pachedtua – towel
Tuesday 9th November
We were picked up at 8.30am to go to elephant camp. On the way we picked up another person, Bernard from Austria. Instantly liked Bernard and chatted all the way. Stopped en route at an orchid & butterfly farm for 15 mins but not sure why as no one tried to sell us anything.
Bernard was doing a 2 day 1 night trip, so had to stop at a small market to get food for his dinner. Luckily our guide Pat, helped with this and a few minutes later there was bags of fruit, veg, chilli powder & chicken. Doubtful theres a fridge in the middle of nowhere so Bernard is going to become a temporary vegetarian. He was slightly worried about whether anyone else will be staying over, so we assured him there must be others.
Finally arrived at our camp at 11am. We met Dodo a 4 year old baby elephant and were shown some of her charms & party pieces, what an amazingly clever little thing she was.
We gave loads of bananas to Dodo and another huge elephant, another female, 50 years old.
We were given Mahout clothing, blue cotton chinese shirts, 3/4 length trousers and straw hats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mels8La_87E
Pat our guide gave us all note books and pens and explained with the use of a wooden model elephant the basic commands:
To get on, hold right ear with right hand and put left hand on her body and say soong soong.
To make her go forward place wooden stick across her head and say by by
To stop, use hooked point of stick on her head and say how how
To go backwards use hook on forehead and say toi toi.
To change direction use hook on relevant ear and hand on head and say pay pay
We wrote all this down, confident that we wouldnt really have to know it as they would be controlling the right?
Next we had to take it in turns to demonstrate what they had just taught us on the wooden model. Slightly daunting as we were being videod.
Next we had to go and take it turns to demonstate on Dodo, we all pretty much froze and couldnt remember any commands once actually sitting on her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyC-DEufc7A
I felt so wobbly & insecure that how how (stop) was my main command and got off very quickly.
None of us made too bad a job of getting on and off and Dodo demonstrated some more of her party pieces
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TenQCT3jk_A
Next more feeding then our lunch of chicken & lemongrass soup, rice & mixed vegetables. And a pink version of the crunchy bug fruit which turned out to be dragon fruit.
Bernard established over lunch that he was going to be the only overnighter, with Pat the guide, and they pointed out his little hut.
He took it really well. Not sure I would have been so calm!
Next it was time for more feeding, more getting to know the gorgeous creatures and then riding!
I didnt feel confident about riding a big one myself so they put a seat on for me on the back of Johns. John was bareback and instructing her where to go with just a small amount of supervision from the trainer.
We started off along the path, about an hour ride down to the river. She seemed to want to keep veering to the left of the path and all I could see was a long way down and was convinced I was going to be catapulted down into the river so after about 10 minutes felt really scared and asked if I could be got down. After a bit of palaver the elephant dropped down on its side close enough to the ground for me to launch myself shaking into the arms of 2 of the trainers.
Phewww relief. Noticed about 5 mins later that my blue top had come open and I was flashing my purple bra at everyone but I think by then they already thought I was a total loon anyway.
I enjoyed the walk and chatted with Pat who hopefully hadnt noticed the bra incident.
Typical that about 5 mins after getting off the pathway became flat with no scary drop, and sort of wish I had braved it longer.
We arrived at the river and the elephants just loved it, especially little Dodo who flopped down on her side and wallowed. The trainers were encouraging her to blow water at us with her trunk, which she happily obliged. Lots of fun at the river, they were throwing buckets of water at the white water rafters on their way down the river.
After a while it was time to say goodbye to Bernard and an exchange of email addresses. Felt a mixture of jealousy and pity for Bernard. We would have loved more time there, but not sure about the remote hut. Bernard was last seen going off on his elephant into the forest….
We were taken to a little village to get changed, buy ice cream and wait for a copy of the dvd, which unfortunately wouldnt copy so we couldnt have one.
Probably just as well.
Had just the most amazing time with the elephants, will never forget it.
Why is it that I attract the crazy people?
Got caught on the stairs by an old German lady, probably in her 70’s, who said she was shaken up and needed to talk to someone and did I have a minute..
Ended up sitting on the stairs with her for ages, she was wearing a sarong which came to under her armpits that kept sliding down which was a bit unnerving. From what I could gather she had gone from some hotel in Chiang Mai where she reckons she was bitten by bed bugs, to Pai – a town a few hours away around bendy mountain roads. That wasnt the problem as after all she was used to the Himalayas and mountains around Germany. It was something to do with the accomodation and a 500 metre steep hill. Anyway she had come back to Chiang Mai and what did I think she should do now? Go to Pai as she wanted to see rice fields but someone said there werent any, or go to Laos? But what about accomodation in Laos?
I suggested she spoke to Stellas husband as hes really good on the internet and would be able to find her somewhere nice to stay.
She asked if I thought she should get dressed first as she wasnt even wearing any underwear…. Errm yes.
She was then confused about where her room was, it was in fact just at the top of them stairs and she left her door open and was just slipping into a dress as John came up the stairs looking for me….
The scary thing is she has been travelling since 1st October and will finish in Singapore in April….
Escaped quickly, went for a stroll, ate at some street stalls by the moat, 2 rotis on the way back and decided to try one the intriguing shake drinks. I had pineapple & cream soda with vanilla ice cream ) John had strawberry with mixed jellies and strawberry ice cream. We opted for large and sat for a while with the staff smiling and nodding at us, then left and abandoned the drinks before we were sick.
Wednesday 10th November
A day off!
Had a very unusual breakfast of Italian sausage, peppers, onions ,fried potato topped with scrambled eggs with cheese. Yum.
Walked to the river Ping, had a stroll and a wander round some markets. Wandered back and went and sat on the hostel roof terrace in hot sunshine and read our books.
Decided to go for a bit of pampering at Lila, its staffed by women from the prison who have been trained in Thai massage as part of their rehabilitation.
Foot massage, body massage / contortion and hot herbal compresses. 2.5 hours, lovely.
Smelt like a bag of musty old herbs after but would definitely recommend it.
Back to Green Tulip to spend time with Stella & Nine for our last evening. Had Stellas delicious yellow curry, John found some Belgians to chat to and we took farewell photos.
Thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Green Tulip, would strongly recommend it and felt really sad to be leaving.
Thursday 11th November
Writing this on Air Asia flight to Bankok. Had to get up at 6.30am, took off at 8.30 am and should land in Bankok by about 9.45am
Funny how blase I felt about flying today, not the same apprehension and excitement as the train, but 15 hour shorter journey!
Quick easy flight, the bus into Bangkok city was freezing and took longer than the flight.
Dropped our bags at our new hostel, Sivarin, in Samsen Soi 3 Bankok and have learnt the back route so the previous place over the road wont know were here!
Went by boat & taxi to MBK, a huge shopping mall over 6 floors and a further 2 floors of cinemas.
Shopped til we dropped, a great mix of designer & fake goods, everything you could ever want is there.
Decided to try the skytrain & very efficiently found our way back to the river boat. Got off the boat at stop 12 instead of 13 by mistake, but as we got off found an amazing 99b all you can eat barbeque buffet.
They bring a table barbeque that has like an upside down colander over charcoal surrounded by a ‘moat’ of water for cooking the vegetables, noodles etc in. You help yourselves to meat, chicken, prawns, crab, mussels, liver etc and barbeque them. Lots of different sauces and garnishes as well as cooked meats, chicken, sausages etc.
Also sticky rice, fruit and ice cream and the wirdest jelly that dissolves in your mouth.
Wonderful and all set by the river so you can watch the boating world go by.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnXHunvKc1I
Walked back to the hostel, exhausted and have another early start for our trip to the floating market booked during out tuk tuk hijack.
Friday 12th November
I don’t even want to be bothered to write about our trip today, but maybe will look back on it and laugh in years to come.
Up early and had breakfast to be ready for our personal day out, which we found we have paid way over the odds for and sat waiting.
Was using Sivarins wifi and was very sad to read about extremists burning poppies in London, protesting and chanting ‘death to British Soldiers’.
A lot of very irrate people on Facebook about it all. Dreadful.
Simon our driver rang to say he was stuck in traffic and would be late.
40 minutes late and we set off in his yellow and green taxi.
He drove like a maniac, weaving in and out of lanes with no indicators, braking at the last minute and driving 140km /hr in an 80km limit. The scenery could only be described as dull, lots of petrol stations, car dealerships and metal shacks selling fruit.
However the lorries are amazing, beautifully decorated in bright colours and patterns, reminded me a bit of gypsy caravans.
I couldnt look most of the time and when we arrived at Ratchanburi floating markets an hour and a half later all I wanted to do was find a bus to get home.
Simon had 2 mobiles and was constantly on the phone, at some points both were ringing at the same time.
At the entrance they told us we would need to pay 1600b. I explained we were on a day tour and Simon shrugged and looked confused.
This would be an extra £30 on top of £60 already paid. I said fine just take us back then. Simon rang Mr V at the tourist office and passed him over to me. He said he had forgotten to tell us about the entrance fee and it was only small money. I said it was not a small amount and would go to the tourist police & he said ok then.
The man at the entrance ( I assume after hearing the words tourist police ) decided to let us in free.
After an hour round a series of canals and stalls and boats selling the same old same old the trip finished.
Im sure it was great really, just the lead up spoilt the whole experience.
Back along the boring highway listening to Simons phones and a stop at a handicraft centre. Our hearts sank, but in fact it was a place where people were doing traditional wood carving and was incredible to watch.
Next stop lunch in a centre with elephant and crocodile shows. A help yourself buffet of Asian food consisting of luke warm noodles, rice, stir fries, lettuce soup, really scary looking curry chicken soup and a Western food section of luke warm noodles, rice, stir fries, spaghetti, tomato sauce and beef stew.
And weird jelly fruit things and things that looked like dried tagliatelle but white, that tasted a bit like coconut.
Someone came and asked if we’d like to pay 500b to see the elephant show as we had an hour before going to the Rose Garden but we declined and went and sat with Simon and had an ice cream and listened to his ringtones.
The air con had broken in his car and a few minutes later someone came and took it away and swapped it for another car.
So off to the Rose Garden, nice grounds, stroked some buffalo and got licked and slobbered on, saw some elephants pushing big logs into a large pond and getting them out again. Then inside to the show.
It was a cultural show of different Thai traditions. Fingernail dance, candle dance, special occasion dance bringing dishes of food dance – all basically the same dance – different props.
A bit of Thai boxing, sword fighting, a wedding scene and people jumping in and out of bamboo canes being clunked together by other people.
Our friends the buffalos made an appearance. 
Actually the bamboo bit was very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv5SDy-o41Y
Back in the car, back for an hour or so past the garages and petrol stations, serenaded by Simons phones. He literally was on the phone the whole time.
The best thing was that the replacement car was automatic so he couldnt go as fast.
As soon as we saw an area near where we were staying we asked to get out. Simon looked a bit peeved, maybe he was hoping for a tip? Best tip – put your bloody phone on silent when youre supposed to be hosting a private tour!
We were so relieved to get away from the constant doodledoodo doodldoodo doodldoodo do
Arrrrggghhhh!
Needed a beer so set off to Khaosan Road area to the Gecko bar which we really liked for the people watching. Eccentric 78 year old English man going on about dykes and gay men, ugly old men with young Thai girls and listening to the little bar girls comments about the tourists was a great way to unwind.
Later we went back to our building site food place, had to eat inside as they were preparing for a Chinese festival outside, nearly melted in the heat but food great as usual.
Saturday 13th November
Off to Chatuchak market, one of the worlds biggest apparently.
Got the river boat to Central station and got skytrain to Mo Chit, then followed the crowd.
Some of the market is outdoors, then there is a maze of alleyways. The areas are broadly divided into sections, clothes, shoes, gardening, household, gifts, furniture, pets etc.
We decided to just wander and accept we would never see everything.
We were in the jeans section when I recognised Gez, a social worker colleague!
Stopped and chatted, shared experiences of Bangkok and couldnt get over the bizareness of seeing someone you know so far away from home!
After hours of enjoying the sights, sounds, mayhem and buying a couple of Christmas presents we escaped into Chatuchak park, which is just next to the market, and hired a bamboo mat and chilled for a while. There were lots of young Thai couples either chilling, or using pedalos and old Thai men limbering up, and a few joggers.
Saw mynah birds and what looked like chipmunks in the trees.
Tried to get a taxi to Chinatown area to try and find Suanphang Lane, which we couldnt find before, supposed to be an atmospheric market selling unusual goodies, but none of them wanted to take us when we showed them on the map. Think it was just too far across the traffic.Ended up with quite a crowd of drivers around us, and one offered to take us for 300b, which is very high for Thailand.
We politely declined and decided to give the metro a try which was remarkably simple. The metro was very modern and spotlessly clean. Such a contrast to above ground!
Got to Chinatown, couldnt find where we wanted to go, asked a few times and got pointed in different directions, then someone told us it was closed….
Walked through Chinatown, in the day its all wholesale shops, people wheeling trolleys of all sorts in and out of little side roads, mad crazy place. In the evening, tables and chairs everywhere, food being wheeled in and out of little side roads, street food sellers everywhere. Still mad & crazy and a bit seedy, poverty, rats and people sleeping rough.
Walked to the ferry and got the last boat back to hostel around 7pm. The river is lovely at night. The Wats (temples) are glittery and sparkly and Chinese style river boats look lovely when lit up.
On the way we popped into a barber shop that was also a travel shop and booked a minbus transfer for the airport the next day.
Rested for a little while then walked to the all you can eat, cook your own.
After a while our waitress obviously decided we were being far too British & delicate and appeared with a load of fish and vegetables and plonked them in our hot water and laughed at us.
Luckily John ate them.
We shared 3 bottles of Chang beer which was enough to get John a tad merry, so I was supposed to be in charge of finding the way home. Good thing we didnt have more beer or we would still be going up the wrong steps over the bridge….
Sunday 14th November.
Am writing this on the plane. Its 3.20pm Thai time, 8.20am UK time. Took off 2 hours ago have done 995 miles and only another 5120
and 10 hours to go.
Woke up early again this morning and just typical – blue sky over Bangkok. Its been grey and very warm every day. Beautiful blue sky in Chang Mai everyday so we had convinced ourselves it was too polluted to be sunny in Bangkok.
Had breakfast and then went to 7 Eleven to try and use up last few bahts and get supplies for the flight. John also got a pack of frankfurters for the painfully skinny dog near our hostel.
7 Elevens are everywhere in Thailand and all have sliding doors that go bing bong every time they open and close. Must drive the staff crazy.
They sell a bit of everything including fast food burgers and iced drinks.
Then time to finish packing and walk to the barber travel agent to get our minibus.
Arrived promptly. Its these sort of things that amaze me, both in Thailand and in Turkey, you can book something the day before and its all coordinated and works like clockwork.
We then picked up another couple, Tricia and Gareth. Lovely couple about our age from Suffolk. Compared experiences and chatted all the way and at the boarding gate. They had been in Thailand for 3 weeks, Chiang Mai too and had just returned to Bangkok after a week in the islands where it had rained every day. Must admit to being pleased as my only feeling about our itinery was that I wished we had some chill out time in the islands…
So far we are coping well with the flight. Both have had a bit of Thai tummy over the last few hours. Thank goodness for Immodium.
Pork with curry sauce, salad, fruit and pineapple pastry will be a good test I’m sure.
More reflections about Thailand
Iced mocha, espresso, americano, cocoa, milkshakes, yogurt shakes- in fact you name it, they will fill a cup with ice and provide it.
Waterlilies
Thai girls constantly checking their hair, make up, doing each others nails on the skytrain, hair extensions
Really young children working in shops, restaurants, market stalls
Toddlers in the street helping with laundry and washing up
Washing up being done in huge plastic bowls on the streets outside restaurants
Being called madame, with the emphasis on the 2nd ‘a’
Many words have very long vowel sounds, and get longer the more they want you to buy something
Thai girls in denim short shorts
Thai people dont make eye contact or look at you, or each other, theyre all on a mission and dont care about pushing past as if everyone is invisible
Having said that, if you look at them and smile they smile warmly back and all those that we interacted with seem to have wicked senses of humour
The old man on the corner of Samsen Soi 3 that nodded and smiled every time we walked past
The old man in the other direction who really did look like he was sitting waiting to die
The sweet couple next door to Sivarin who made our iced drinks in plastic bags to take away.
And John for making the whole experience complete, as he said, it was wonderful to have discovered it all together.
John is watching Dinner for Schmucks and would appear to be finding it all very amusing.
Some people are starting to have a snooze. I’ve got no idea how I will ever know what time it is ever again!
Were over India now, 4746 miles to go and seatbelt signs on now and a bit turbulent. I hate it!
Think its time to find a film to watch then maybe I wont notice…
Watched The Heartbreaker again, love that film!
Poor John is feeling quite sick and had to go to the back of the plane when they served the second meal as the smell of it made him feel queasy.
He did the right thing, I felt queasy after eating it, was pretty horrible, chicken and noodles sounded better than the reality.
Finally landed 6.30pm UK time, which our bodies was telling us was really 1.30am.
Said farewell to Gareth and Tricia at baggage reclaim and made our way out to the cold and the rain.
Loved Thailand, would definitely like to go back, probably for longer and spend less time in Bangkok and more time in the north to visit more of the scenic areas, the Golden Triangle, Burma and Laos, then maybe to Vietnam, then Malaysia, perhaps Cambodia…..
Thai Adventures 