Thailand mainland - Blogabond

So, as a result of my stupidity & the injury I incurred, I was unable to take advantage of the notoriously good scuba diving off of the Thai island on Koh Tao. With my arm in a sling for a week I was resigned to sitting around - which is far from my idea of a good time. I am very grateful to the inventors of ipods & books; without which I would have gone insane. Dixy enjoyed a three day scuba course, while Smalls & I lay on the beaches. We all plan to visit the islands again before the end of the trip, so I WILL be doing my scuba then!

We caught an overnight boat from Koh Tao to the mainland, which was an experience. It was incredibly hot, cramped, & the waters were very choppy. As with most transport in Asia I expect the absolute worst & then enjoy the experience as an adventure.

Our next stop was Bangkok (pic above). I was pleasantly surprised at the (relative) cleanliness of the place, although still wasn't the greatest fan of the city. We had to stay a couple of days - in order to check out some of the classic offerings. One being Khoa San Road. This is a long street in the centre of the city that is loaded with market stalls, bars & restaurants. It is a popular backpacker destination, so we met many PLUs (people like us). We did venture out to see a local show at a club, the nature of which I won't disclose - & the less said about it the better (trust me...Asia is a weird place!). We also had to spend a day finding HSBC (so Dixy could pick up a replacement card, having left his wallet in a tuk tuk), & extend our Visas by a week.

Having completed our missions in Bangkok, we caught a bus up to Chang Mai.

Our purpose of this visit was to go Elephant trekking the in the northern Thai jungles. We were yet again incredibly lucky to be in a group of lovely people, so right from the off I had a feeling that this was going to be another memorable excursion!

On our way to the jungle we stopped at a local market, in order to buy local produce & any last supplies we required for the following couple of days. Andy decided that he ought to go fully prepared - hence the inspiration for the Rambo outfit! The lady on the stall was so impressed with his impulse purchases that she tried to sell him everything in the place! We were all impressed by Dixy's commitment to the cause, & felt so much safer having him along (just in case any of you are concerned at this point, the gun in plastic...no one would sell Dixy a REAL one!). The craziest product on offer was a bag of LIVE frogs...the picture doesn't really do it justice, but I am sure you get the point!

The Elephant trek was first on the agenda. We split into groups of two/three & had a group of Elephants take us on an hour circuit of the jungle. Along the way we were able to purchase bananas to feed them, & I can promise you that they can eat a LOT of bananas (we were informed as many as 250 a day - which might explain the regularity of the elephants!!!).

The Elephants were incredibly sturdy & seemed to take the rough terrain with ease. The views were fantastic & we all thoroughly enjoyed the ride from our giant grey friends.

After the Elephants we embarked on a four hour trek into the hills & valleys, which included a stop off for a swim at one of the waterfalls (which was most refreshing). The terrain wasn't the most challenging, although the scenery was fantastic...

We arrived at the top at one of the hills very late in the afternoon & our guide established where we were going to stay. A NEW set of huts that a local family had built for tourist purposes. They were adequate, although not particularly comfortable - but compared to many places I have stayed on my travels they were luxurious!

They were incredibly accomodating & very friendly, we all got on very well & really enjoyed the enthusiasm & comedy stylings of our guide (who had grown up in on the hills in one of the villages). That evening the family cooked us an incredible thai curry, provided us with ice cold beer (an amazing feat in those remote conditions) & a guitar! We all bonded well that evening & had an excellent time...

The following day we went on another hike in the morning, which was more of the same stunning scenery, before getting the our river rafting. Due to the wet nature of this particular activity I was unable to take any picture...so you will have to trust me when I say that this was possibly the most fun we had during the whole tour! Our guides even got involved when we decided that boarding each others' rafts & pushing each other off was the aim of the whole hour. It was a LOT of fun! :-)

Upon our arrival back in Chang Mai, we checked into a hostel & then booked our next move, then made our way out for the evening. We watched the first Lions test in an Irish bar, which we narrowly lost (great game), before heading to the local Thai boxing event - with our two new Aussie travelling companions - Ashlea & Elisha (great girlies!)

The Thai boxing was very entertaining, although we weren't watching the top flight fighters - as they fight in Bangkok. There are a number of fights throughout the night, including a blind round! This is when three thai boxers get into the ring (blind folded) & thrash around wildly at each other. A ref helps out by directing them at each other, although sometimes gets a whack for his efforts...it is very amusing! If all of that wasn't enough, we had Jenga & Connect4 to keep us entertained :-)

After the main event the champion did the rounds of the crowd & posed for photos...you know our ladies couldn't resist that opportunity!

The best event of the evening was yet to come...Mr Andrew Dicks was to enter the ring & battle it out against a fellow tourist, for the lowly sum of ten pounds! Dixy really did look the part in his thai boxing shorts. We are all certain (including Andy) that his decision to enter the ring had a lot to do with his beer intake; although he fought it out for two tough rounds & came out with his pride intact. No clear winner was established, although we filmed the whole fight - which some of you might be lucky enough to see one day!

The next day we all got a coach to the Thai-Laos border, where we were staying for the night - in order for our visas to be processed overnight. At the hotel on the Thai side of the river we enjoyed a few beers & got to know the group that we would be spending the next 48 hours with...as we were about to take the slowest form of transport in Asia = the slow boat.

It is aptly titled, as the journey down the river to Luang Prabang took a total of 17hours on the boat - with an overnight stop halfway. Our first views of Laos were very impressive, as you can see from the view we had from the boat.

The boat is very crowded & incredibly uncomfortable, but the experience was a largely enjoyable one - thanks entirely to the group on board. It would have been a tough two days if we didn't get on as well as we did! On our midway night stop we all went to dinner together at a small restaurant (taking the place over) & had a good time eating, drinking & chatting. The owner of the place came to tell me, at about 11pm, that the major of the town had come down & told him to close up as we were making too much noise! It goes to show how small this town was. When we arrived back at our hotel (which was disgusting, falling apart, but literally a pound each for the night) we found that the generators had been turned off = no lights, no fans. Our room was a sweat box that night!

We spent one night in Luang Prabang, staying in a NICE guest house - to make up for the previous night (none of the girls could imagine repeating that experience). We all went out for a meal together at the Lao Lao gardens restaurant, which has to be my favourite restaurant on my travels so far. It is tables set in a garden, all beautifully lit, with amazing food. I consulted Mr Google for this picture, as none of us took one.

The next day we had to take a 6hour mini bus to Vang Vieng, as we had planned to be there to go tubing on Dixy's birthday & meet up with Allan there too. The journey itself was only 150km, although it was across the mountains...which were stunning.

The roads are surprisingly good throughout, although they can get a little bumpy. All along the way we passed very small & remote villages, which had many strange food stuffs for sale - including dead squirrels, porcupines & many, many odd looking fruits & vegetables.

I am sad to report that the frequency of my blog entries will diminsh as the internet available becomes worse & worse. I WILL continue to report on my travels as thoroughly as I have been previously, although it will be in a feast or famine nature.

Next up - meeting Allan, tubing, exploring caves, hiring scooters, & the Laos jungle...an entry NOT to be missed...watch this space ;-)

written by

johnnoble on June 24, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand

from the travel blog: John's year off...

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