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Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia

a travel blog by chrischarly

This passage will be our longest one and it will be during our time in SE Asia visiting Malaysia, The Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, proabaly in this order before flying to Australia towards the end of September. Unfortunately we've run out of time to go to Burma and Vietnam... maybe next time!
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Another day sweating in Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand



Another temple we think

Nice smoked duck

And again we walked around Bangkok soon becoming exhausted by walking for so long in this heat and humidity and we realised that we have in fact covered a lot of ground in the past few days, ticking off many of the main tourist sights and things to do.


Memorial bridge monument

Indian food stall

(Even if it meant just peeking over the wall into palaces as we weren’t dressed appropriately).


Nice old houses

Making our tasty spring rolls

We decided to go and see Th Khao San (road) which is the main backpacker’s street, which reassured us that where we are staying in Lumphini was the perfect choice away from the scams and hassle in a local area.


Temple

A sneaky photo of monks from behind

One of the many busy streets

A temple

Inside one of many temples

The train station waiting area

To get there we took the underground, which is our favourite mode of transport for efficiency in Bangkok, the sky train and then a Ferry and in between all this, a lot of walking.


The skytrain

Inside the skytrain

Just set off

Chris and I on the very cheap ferry

Another boat

A river boat

A house on the water

Wat Arun (Dawn Temple)

Outside the entrance to Th Khao San

A bridge

It was a nice day and although we have yet to see some Thai Boxing and a Ping-Pong show, we’ve decided to leave that for our next visit here and went to the train station and luckily managed to book the last 2 train tickets to Chang Mai for tomorrow evening.


The train station

Just managed to cross the road in time

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 13, 2011 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Day 366 of our travels

Phichit, Thailand


Chris and Graham playing chess
We had to check out at 12pm today and as our train wasn’t due to depart until 6:10pm we had a lot of hanging about to do with our bags until then. So we decided to make a brief stop-off at an internet café to search for some accommodation in Chang Mai, but a heavy downpour of rain, so heavy you could hardly see through it meant we stayed there for 3 hours as we were unwilling to get ourselves and all of our belongings drenched.

Kyra and Chris' legs
Eventually the rain did ease off so we missioned it to the underground and then onto the station where we brought some cheap market food before boarding the train… Again, on the train we had top bunks, and yes that also meant that the lights were left on throughout the night. We did however make 3 new friends so time passed quite quickly whilst we played games with them until gone midnight (well until a moody British lady told me to ‘shut up’) whilst the rest of the train was sleeping…


Everyone tucked up in bed
On another note, it is exactly 1 year ago today that we left Essex and got on a plane headed for South Africa! We can’t believe it’s been a year already, it seems to have gone so quickly yet I suppose we have seen so many amazing things since then including visiting 14 countries in that time (not including going back to the U.K. for 3 weeks). Fingers crossed our money is able to stretch for another amazing year!


permalink written by  chrischarly on July 14, 2011 from Phichit, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Exhausted us

Lampang, Thailand


A tuk-tuk driver fast asleep
After a 16 hours train journey, we arrived in Chang Mai only 2 ½ hours late, but as it was still morning it didn’t matter. We had already booked somewhere to stay, C.M Blue House so we had made our lives pretty easy, so it was just a tuk tuk ride away.

The pretty river
It’s actually a really nice room for the price, so after a quick shower we happily went for a walk around Chang Mai.

Chris excited about his dinner
We were actually surprised, but more disappointed just how touristy this city is.

Tasty food
We were hoping to escape this by travelling up North, but we have found that the whole of Thailand is very much this way.

6 mouths in jail ???
But saying that, it was quite nice walking about for a while before the temperature got too much and every single part of our bodies were caked in sweat, it was quite disgusting, so back to our guestHouse for shower number 2 before some dinner, closely followed by shower number 3 and then an exhausted sleep…

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 15, 2011 from Lampang, Thailand
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Chiang Mai invaded by tourists

Chiang Mai, Thailand


One of the many temples

A temple

A temple

A huge wall

A temple

Nice gold temple

Another day of walking about Chiang Mai, possibly seeing more tourists than locals…
Also, another thing we’ve noticed is how many temples there are here for one city?!
Chris guesses about 50.
I gave up counting and taking photos of them.
Good day though; just uneventful to write about…



permalink written by  chrischarly on July 16, 2011 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Last day and night in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand


Lots of tobacco

Lots of stuff I have no idea what it is though


Nice unbrella to cover the hole!
We decided today would be our last day in Chiang Mai. The main thing to do here is to go on one or more organised tours but we haven’t exactly heard many positive things about them.

Enjoying a G&T
Firstly, they are far too pricey; geared mainly for package tours but there is one,

The bar
which did in fact sound really good as you could go and visit the tribal villages and people in the jungle.

View from the bar
However, by reading up about it a bit further outside of tour agencies, we heard that many of the tribal women are captured Burmese refugees made to live in these villages.

Chris chatting to his mum
So, Chiang Mai, apart from the tasty food is a bit boring if you don’t go on these trips, hence why it’s our last day. But we did have a great evening, enjoying a nice Chang Beer and a G&T in a roof-top bar, before wandering around the busiest market, we think, in the whole world! It was CRAZY!


Bustling, chaotic, insanely busy market

Jam-packed market

Lots of people getting a foot massge

Ancient Ice-cream? Yuck...

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 17, 2011 from Chiang Mai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Hitchhikers guide to Thailand

Fang, Thailand

Moving on is something that we are quite accustomed to now, after a year of travelling it’s one of the constants. Unbeknown to us this was going to be yet another interesting journey………….


The bus

We set off for the bus station by Tuk-tuk, it wasn’t far, but 2km with backpacks and the humidity of Chiang Mai made it a worthwhile £1 spent. On arrival at the bus station, our very nice driver toured around until he found the bus to Tha Ton – the Indian tuk-tuk drivers should take a leaf out of the Thai book of tuk-tuk service. The conductor was there and waiting to take our bags and load them under the bus that was plastered with Chiang Mai to Tha Ton signs,so we thought to ourselves, this is really easy, but wait….
He then directed us to the ticket counter and using my best English I requested two tickets to Tha Ton, the response I got was not eligible, but I could have sworn she said something about Elephants?! A kind lady behind got involved, and translated that what I heard as “Elephants” was in fact “Only Fang”. Still slightly confused I grabbed the Lonely Planet and realised that Fang was in fact a town 30km short of Tha Ton, it all becomes clearer….. The kind lady said that she was also going to Tha Ton and she would help us get the right sawngthaew (a covered pickup truck with two benches in the back) onwards to Tha Ton. All good, I purchased the tickets.


On the bus

The bus ride was pretty standard and we immediately got a sawngthaew on to Tha Ton. We spoke more to “kind lady” and told her our ultimate destination was Mae Salong. She told us that we need to get another sawngthaew from Tha Ton, no problem we thought. When we got off at Tha Ton, we spoke to some sawngthaew drivers who said that we needed to get a sawngthaew to a junction 13km from Mae Salong and then another up the side of the mountain to the village. Ok we thought, maybe we might break the record for the most sawngthaew trips in one day, but at least we would get there.


In the sawngthaew

As usual, I requested a price from the driver and got back a response of 130Baht, or I thought and gave he some bemused abuse that it was too much, only to realise that he actually meant 1 person = 30, oops, he seemed ok – or so we thought – and we got on our way. He stopped at a layby by a junction with a sign to Mae Salong and as driving away smiling said ok, sawngthaew here……


A really cute kid

We again spoke to some drivers and people, none of whom could speak English, but the general laughing and shaking of heads was not a good sign – NO more sawngthaew to Mae Salong – oh bugger. After 10 minutes or so, some crook offered to take us for 400Baht and I politely laughed at him, and decided it was time in our travels to try hitchhiking. We set off up the steepest of hills with our bags and 13 km of mountain ahead of us, showing the internationally recognised (I hoped) sign of a thumb out. Car number one, two laughing people.


Crammed in the back of the pick-up


Finding this very funny!


200m in to our journey, Charly had nearly passed out and requested a stop, it was going to be dark in 6 hours, I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. At that moment a chariot was sent from the skies to rescue us, I say a chariot, more like a mini pickup with about 15 kids in the back. They pulled up and asked us where we were heading, and quickly got all the kids to move up to fit in all our clobber and us. We travelled about 8 km and it started to rain, why wouldn’t it, no problem they pulled over and told us to wait in a shelter while they run the kids back to their home village, promising they would be only 10-15 mins.


Chris drenched from the rain

Waiting for our lift to return


Loads of locals behind us travelling like us

As they said, they came back sans kids, and loaded us up and drove us all the way to Mae Salong, and to the doors of the guesthouse we wanted. I’m pretty sure they weren’t even heading this far, but were extremely kind and generous people, who would not take 1 Baht from me for their trouble. We thanked them profusely and they were on their way. The guesthouse was lovely with the friendliest happiest owners and once again realised that getting away from the tourist hoards is definitely the way to go!

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 18, 2011 from Fang, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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A very surreal day and night spent with some drunkeds

Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand


Nice view

Charly had a bad night with upset stomach and in the morning was still bad. I was a little rough but my consistency is a tad stronger, must be all the beers and chilli I eat that kill everything.


Pretty nice smelling flower

After nursing her for a while, she told me to go for a wander and I did, heading along the undulating road through the village to the day market – not much here, but some nice stalls selling veg and many local teashops. It started to rain so I ducked into a local coffee shop and enjoyed a nice brew with 3 Italian ladies who were passing through.


Nice produce at the local market

Heading a little further down the road, I was called over by a crazy looking German fellow, Ulrich, who asked me to join him for a beer, hmm, tricky decision. I went and sat down with his crazy drunk Thai girlfriend (Pim) and he disappeared on his moped, returning 5 minutes later with a crate of Leo (an ok local beer). I chatted with them for a while and enjoyed some beers and after a while a French guy, Sebastian, who had spent the night there after too much beer and whiskey, joined us. (Exactly my kind of people!)

After an hour with them I realised that whilst very nice people they were complete pissheads and a bit crazy too, so offering the excuse of needing to check on poor Charly I decided to head back. My offerings of some money for the beer was turned down with a simple, “you come back later, drink more beer!”


Local tribal village

I strolled back and checked on my poorly sick girl who was very much ‘getting it out of her system’, and had no intention of being further than 10m from the toilet. After a few hours of more nursing she told me to go out and have a good time, so I made my way back armed with a big bag of Leo’s. We spent several hours chatting about travel, Germany, France, England and anything else that semi-drunk people ramble about. Pim made some tasty soup and Uli made a fire and some pork BBQ. It was very basic but helped soak up the beer.


Crazy German and Thai couple Chris met

Time flew by, and soon I realised it was nearing pumpkin time; I made my excuses and left returning to cuddle up to my poorly girl for the night.


permalink written by  chrischarly on July 19, 2011 from Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Still recovering...

Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand


View from our guesthouse

Our nice room


Charly chilling outside our room
Nursing a slight hangover and with Charly still recovering we had a day of doing absolutely nothing. We made it as far a 7-11 to buy some yoghurt, cheese, and Gatorade – essential recovery ingredients - and got some bread from a local baker to make cheese sarnies. We watched some Apprentice and played some Angry Birds. We headed down to the restaurant so I could have some yummy pork with Thai basil, Charly stuck to cheese sarnies. It was a tough day!

P.S Happy birthday Victoria!! xx

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 20, 2011 from Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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718 steps to a temple

Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand


Tom Set - like tom yum but with pork
It rained most of the morning so we chilled in the room a little restless having not done or achieved much in the last couple of days...
At about 12pm the rain finally stopped and feeling better all the time, we headed back to the local bakers for lunch. Charly still recovering had a, no you guess… whilst I had a yummy NE Thai soup with pork, similar to Tom Yum but called Tom Set.
Afterwards, we went to the market and then headed up the 718 steps to the temple and amazing views.


718 steps to temple

View from the start of our climb

View from Temple, nice!

Temple and Charly

Temple

Temple guards


Arty shot from within Temple
In fact, it was 718 steps after 10 minutes of steep hills. Absolutely exhausting especially as we weren’t still feeling a 100%, but we took our time and eventually made it. Well done Charly! We took our time looking around at the amazing temple and beautiful views and on the way back took pictures of the many different types of caterpillar and insects we saw.


Me and Patricia
In the evening we went out with a nice Swiss couple for a couple of drinks before finding the most expensive local place to eat in Thailand as all the other were closed but nevertheless still had a great time.

P.S. Happy birthday Nan!! xx

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 21, 2011 from Ban Ho Mae Salong, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Ice-cram pasta...

Mae Chan, Thailand


No idea which direction= accomodation???
It was a struggle but we managed to leave Mae Salong this morning and the reason as to why it was a struggle was due to the nice cool temperature it is here and the amazing bargain room we had a Little Home Guesthouse. But it was time to once again go somewhere new and a little closer to the Laos border. So we caught 2 sawngthaews to Chiang Saen and were dropped off by the Mekong River overlooking Laos without a map or anyone close by who could speak English… We did strike lucky though and find Chiang Saen Guesthouse, which was written in The Lonely Planet. But to be honest is run-down and has what we call as ‘Lonely Planet Syndrome’ (aka as soon as they are listed, the owner cannot believe his/her luck and stops looking after the place) and could do with a smiley face, but it’s ok for a night or 2.

My ice-cream pasta... vile!!!
Absolutely starving we then went out to find something to eat and came upon a small restaurant that had what looked to be a tasty menu and as my tummy still wasn’t great, I ordered some mushroom pasta, thinking it would be bland and simple, so basically just what I needed. It didn’t however come out like this and instead the richest and possibly most bizarre and disgusting thing I have ever eaten, or tried to eat. They had obviously seen a photo how mushroom pasta looks like and cooked it looking like a carbonara, but it had a very strange taste and after a couple of mouthfuls we worked out in the sauce

Wendy the Wok lady
they used vanilla ice-cream! Chris thought it was hilarious and kept winding me up about it resulting in me gagging loads until I eventually moved it as far away as possible from me! Yuck. So completely put off food I continued to be hungry until the evening when we went out to the market and had 2 courses of tasty Thai food for both of us all for just over £1. Bargain!

permalink written by  chrischarly on July 22, 2011 from Mae Chan, Thailand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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