The trip in Thailand wasn't exactly the way I thought it would be.
First of all, appart from Chiang Mai, the rest of the trip I felt like I was in any normal touristic place. I might have chosen the wrong places to go or there's just so many "farangs" living in Thailand that is impossible to avoid them.
Then I didn't feel that people were as friendly as everyone else told me! They see you as a potential source of money. Most are extremely polite which is good.
Furthermore, traveling in Thailand is not easy if you're on a tight schedule and that forced us to spend some extra money on trips that was missing for partying.
I spent around 27 euros/day not counting the extra souvenirs I bought. 2 euros above my initial plan, it shouldn't be a problem.
I left Thailand with a feeling of there's still so much to be seen and to learn about. It's quite an ancient culture with a very rich story that can be seen in the several ruins spread around the country (and that we missed). And of course, the sea is fantastic, specially if you find places that are not touristic. It's a great destination for all of you beach and sun lovers. Just bear in mind that paradise comes with mosquitoes!
Going back, why not!?
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thailand. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Bangkok - part III
Third and last time in Bangkok. There were a few more temples to see, a visit to the world famous Patpong imitations market and to Chinatown on the "things to do" list.
As we arrived and found a room at the Rainbow hotel, very (too) close to Khao San road we went out for dinner on the street vendors. Street food is extremely tasty and cheap. You can eat for 50-60 bt (and I'm talking about real food, not bugs!). After that as we were walking around we were approached by a rickshaw driver that offered to take us to Patpong for a ping pong show (if you don't what this is, google it :p). I skipped the show and asked him to drop me off at the nightmarket. I would meet Tiago later back in the hostel. My main objective was buying a watch and some other gifts. The watch imitations are world famous and some are of great quality. After checking a few places, and bargaining a little (i wasn't really in the mood for bargaining which made things more difficult) I bought a beautiful Tag Heur. I shipped it home, lets hope there aren't any problems with customs.
We met at the hostel around midnight. I joined Tiago and the crasy english guy, Mathew, he had met at the show. They had managed to gather quite a crowd around their table. 3 canadians, two other brits and anyone interesting that passed by. It was quite a funny evening, went to bed at 5 after a serious 1h conversation with Mathew and the other brit.
The next days in Bangkok were spent sightseeing, shopping and eating. The most impressive places I went to in those two days were Wat Pho, a beautiful complex of temples where the enormous reclining Buddha is found, and Wat Arun - temple of dawn- from where you get outstanding views over the city palace and city itself. I also visited the old portuguese neighbourhood and church they have there. It's a simple church that seems to have an important social role. I had a feeling (and that is actually written in the guide) that the portuguese have left but the genes are still around...
The last thing we did in Bangkok was buying some funny T-shirts they sell all around in Khao San Road. Soon it will be time to throw away one or two and this is the perfect place to renew the stock.
As we arrived and found a room at the Rainbow hotel, very (too) close to Khao San road we went out for dinner on the street vendors. Street food is extremely tasty and cheap. You can eat for 50-60 bt (and I'm talking about real food, not bugs!). After that as we were walking around we were approached by a rickshaw driver that offered to take us to Patpong for a ping pong show (if you don't what this is, google it :p). I skipped the show and asked him to drop me off at the nightmarket. I would meet Tiago later back in the hostel. My main objective was buying a watch and some other gifts. The watch imitations are world famous and some are of great quality. After checking a few places, and bargaining a little (i wasn't really in the mood for bargaining which made things more difficult) I bought a beautiful Tag Heur. I shipped it home, lets hope there aren't any problems with customs.
We met at the hostel around midnight. I joined Tiago and the crasy english guy, Mathew, he had met at the show. They had managed to gather quite a crowd around their table. 3 canadians, two other brits and anyone interesting that passed by. It was quite a funny evening, went to bed at 5 after a serious 1h conversation with Mathew and the other brit.
The next days in Bangkok were spent sightseeing, shopping and eating. The most impressive places I went to in those two days were Wat Pho, a beautiful complex of temples where the enormous reclining Buddha is found, and Wat Arun - temple of dawn- from where you get outstanding views over the city palace and city itself. I also visited the old portuguese neighbourhood and church they have there. It's a simple church that seems to have an important social role. I had a feeling (and that is actually written in the guide) that the portuguese have left but the genes are still around...
The last thing we did in Bangkok was buying some funny T-shirts they sell all around in Khao San Road. Soon it will be time to throw away one or two and this is the perfect place to renew the stock.
Koh Phi Phi
Koh Phi Phi
Our next destination was the beautiful brochure model Phi Phi islands. They're not a backpackers destination, most backpackers stay in Krabi in the mainland, but we wanted to see these world famous islands.
As we arrived we took a long boat to Longbeach, where the bungalows we had booked were located. It's a nice area, 30 min away from the noisy party Phi Phi village. The Longbeach bungalows where we stayed were quite basic, but better than the ones in Koh Phagnan (800 bt/night).
There's not much to do in Longbeach. It's a place to relax and enjoy the sun and the water (in high tide, otherwise the sea is full with rocks). We met two swedish girls in the resort (we can't get rid of the Swedes...) and went out one night to the only bar where something seems to happen. They have fire shows up till midnight. It was really funny dancing on the beach under a thunderstorm. We also had a close encounter with the chef from the restaurant where we had dinner earlier. Strange creepy drunk guy. He was chewing his lit cigarette in front of us.
Maya beach
We took an afternoon off to go to the now extremely popular Maya beach, in Phi Phi Leh, where the movie The Beach was filmed. I can only say it's a fantastic place, well worth spending a day there (it's in a natural park so you have to pay to go in and there are no touristic infrastructures on the island).
Phi Phi Village
The new Phi Phi Village (the old one was washed away in the tsunami) is a labyrinth of narrow streets located between the sunrise and sunset beaches. It's not a nice place to stay, but it's the only place in the island where you can find supermarkets, bars and restaurants at affordable prices and a market. At night it's crowded with drunk tourists. The bars on sunrise beach were funnier and less crowded. There's fire shows every night on the beach bars and we just grabbed beers in the supermarkets and sat down on the beach enjoying the shows until the party started. It was fun to stay there for two nights, but I don't think I would have enjoyed staying there for a longer period.
The postcard picture
Walking up to the viewpoint to get that beautiful picture of Phi Phi Village in between both beaches with the bluish/greenish sea bathing the island is an exhausting activity given the heat, humidity and inclination. On the way up we took the forest trail. After reaching the viewpoint we relaxed there for a while enjoying the views. It's quite relaxing the place.
After that we decided to walk to another beach on the other side of the island. It's a hard walk downhill but it was well worth the effort. Hat Rantee beach it's the place I had been dreaming of all this time. Almost deserted, there are only two resorts there and they're kind of hidden by the vegetation, sandy beach, hardly any rocks. Simply perfect. It's a pitty we didn't stay longer. It started raining a couple of hours after we arrived so we left before the steep trail became muddy and before the actual storm that was heading for the island arrived.
Phuket
We just went to Phuket to catch a plane to Bangkok. As we saw that the airport wasn't that far from a beach we left the bags at the airport and walked 15 min there. it wasn't as easy as i expected to get there, because it is part of a national park, so foreigners have to pay... as i wasn't willing to pay when i was 50m away from the beach, we turned back, turned right and walked 10 min until i saw a trail following an electric wire that went through the forest. we followed it and... arrived in a beautiful, deserted beach, where we stayed until it was time to go back to the airport and catch our flight.
Our next destination was the beautiful brochure model Phi Phi islands. They're not a backpackers destination, most backpackers stay in Krabi in the mainland, but we wanted to see these world famous islands.
As we arrived we took a long boat to Longbeach, where the bungalows we had booked were located. It's a nice area, 30 min away from the noisy party Phi Phi village. The Longbeach bungalows where we stayed were quite basic, but better than the ones in Koh Phagnan (800 bt/night).
There's not much to do in Longbeach. It's a place to relax and enjoy the sun and the water (in high tide, otherwise the sea is full with rocks). We met two swedish girls in the resort (we can't get rid of the Swedes...) and went out one night to the only bar where something seems to happen. They have fire shows up till midnight. It was really funny dancing on the beach under a thunderstorm. We also had a close encounter with the chef from the restaurant where we had dinner earlier. Strange creepy drunk guy. He was chewing his lit cigarette in front of us.
Maya beach
We took an afternoon off to go to the now extremely popular Maya beach, in Phi Phi Leh, where the movie The Beach was filmed. I can only say it's a fantastic place, well worth spending a day there (it's in a natural park so you have to pay to go in and there are no touristic infrastructures on the island).
Phi Phi Village
The new Phi Phi Village (the old one was washed away in the tsunami) is a labyrinth of narrow streets located between the sunrise and sunset beaches. It's not a nice place to stay, but it's the only place in the island where you can find supermarkets, bars and restaurants at affordable prices and a market. At night it's crowded with drunk tourists. The bars on sunrise beach were funnier and less crowded. There's fire shows every night on the beach bars and we just grabbed beers in the supermarkets and sat down on the beach enjoying the shows until the party started. It was fun to stay there for two nights, but I don't think I would have enjoyed staying there for a longer period.
The postcard picture
Walking up to the viewpoint to get that beautiful picture of Phi Phi Village in between both beaches with the bluish/greenish sea bathing the island is an exhausting activity given the heat, humidity and inclination. On the way up we took the forest trail. After reaching the viewpoint we relaxed there for a while enjoying the views. It's quite relaxing the place.
After that we decided to walk to another beach on the other side of the island. It's a hard walk downhill but it was well worth the effort. Hat Rantee beach it's the place I had been dreaming of all this time. Almost deserted, there are only two resorts there and they're kind of hidden by the vegetation, sandy beach, hardly any rocks. Simply perfect. It's a pitty we didn't stay longer. It started raining a couple of hours after we arrived so we left before the steep trail became muddy and before the actual storm that was heading for the island arrived.
Phuket
We just went to Phuket to catch a plane to Bangkok. As we saw that the airport wasn't that far from a beach we left the bags at the airport and walked 15 min there. it wasn't as easy as i expected to get there, because it is part of a national park, so foreigners have to pay... as i wasn't willing to pay when i was 50m away from the beach, we turned back, turned right and walked 10 min until i saw a trail following an electric wire that went through the forest. we followed it and... arrived in a beautiful, deserted beach, where we stayed until it was time to go back to the airport and catch our flight.
Koh Phagnan
I guess this is the post everyone is looking for, but lets start from the begining :)
Full, bad A/C and narrow sits, that was the nightmare bus ride to Surat Thani, where we would take the boat to Koh Phagnan. Unfortunately we still had to wait over an hour to be carried to the bus that would take us to the harbour. Confusing? Well try doing it after two awful nights in a bus...
We took an overcrowded ferry, that left the harbour around 10. I took a "seat" on top of the backpacks. That was the most comfortable place available! The sun was shining, which when you're in the middle of the sea without any shadow in sight means sunburn on the way.
After a 3.30h trip, 30 min by taxi to haad rhin (the party beach and village) we still had to walk 15 min to Leelha beach, where we had a booking in the very basic Leelha beach bungalows, for 300 bt per night.
Beach finally
This was the beginning of our relaxation part of the trip. Our days in Koh Phagnan can almost resume to waking up, diving in the warm and translucent water, eating breakfast, staying at the beach the whole day and then having dinner in the afternoon and partying in the evening. Well, not in the first day... We stayed in Leela beach for a couple of hours and then went to the center to Haad Rhin beach. It's a beautiful bay, with lots of sand and almost any rocks in the water. It must have been a great place before the tourism industry arrived... And I have to say, that I kind of felt I was... Back in Sweden... Given the amount of Swedish food restaurants and the amount of Swedes on the streets!
After swimming for a while I had to sleep for a couple of hours. I woke up the next day!
The Full Moon Party
The main reason to go to Koh Phagnan was taking part in the full moon Party, a 24h rave party that takes place on the beach and attracts about 5000 people. Well we went first to the pre full Moon Party, where we warmed up for what was coming the day after (be careful with half a liter cuba livre buckets when you're tired and dehydrated...).
The party itself is just a giant rave spread out by different stages in a 500m sandy beach. What makes it so special? Maybe taking 24h, which allows you to watch the sun rising while you're still partying, being in Thailand makes it different as well.
It was great fun. I can definitely take part on it again. And I strongly recommend everyone to go there and just dance all night long. We didn't have time to explore the island and I heard from an american that used to live there that it is a really beautiful island. So, another reason to come back.
Well, after the Full Moon Party there's an after full Moon Party that takes all day until sunset. We preferred staying on the beach doing nothing the whole day, but we could hear the music all day long. And after the after full Moon Party ends, life gets back to normal... Meaning, the beach party starts again around 10-11 pm and goes almost until dawn.
Full, bad A/C and narrow sits, that was the nightmare bus ride to Surat Thani, where we would take the boat to Koh Phagnan. Unfortunately we still had to wait over an hour to be carried to the bus that would take us to the harbour. Confusing? Well try doing it after two awful nights in a bus...
We took an overcrowded ferry, that left the harbour around 10. I took a "seat" on top of the backpacks. That was the most comfortable place available! The sun was shining, which when you're in the middle of the sea without any shadow in sight means sunburn on the way.
After a 3.30h trip, 30 min by taxi to haad rhin (the party beach and village) we still had to walk 15 min to Leelha beach, where we had a booking in the very basic Leelha beach bungalows, for 300 bt per night.
Beach finally
This was the beginning of our relaxation part of the trip. Our days in Koh Phagnan can almost resume to waking up, diving in the warm and translucent water, eating breakfast, staying at the beach the whole day and then having dinner in the afternoon and partying in the evening. Well, not in the first day... We stayed in Leela beach for a couple of hours and then went to the center to Haad Rhin beach. It's a beautiful bay, with lots of sand and almost any rocks in the water. It must have been a great place before the tourism industry arrived... And I have to say, that I kind of felt I was... Back in Sweden... Given the amount of Swedish food restaurants and the amount of Swedes on the streets!
After swimming for a while I had to sleep for a couple of hours. I woke up the next day!
The Full Moon Party
The main reason to go to Koh Phagnan was taking part in the full moon Party, a 24h rave party that takes place on the beach and attracts about 5000 people. Well we went first to the pre full Moon Party, where we warmed up for what was coming the day after (be careful with half a liter cuba livre buckets when you're tired and dehydrated...).
The party itself is just a giant rave spread out by different stages in a 500m sandy beach. What makes it so special? Maybe taking 24h, which allows you to watch the sun rising while you're still partying, being in Thailand makes it different as well.
It was great fun. I can definitely take part on it again. And I strongly recommend everyone to go there and just dance all night long. We didn't have time to explore the island and I heard from an american that used to live there that it is a really beautiful island. So, another reason to come back.
Well, after the Full Moon Party there's an after full Moon Party that takes all day until sunset. We preferred staying on the beach doing nothing the whole day, but we could hear the music all day long. And after the after full Moon Party ends, life gets back to normal... Meaning, the beach party starts again around 10-11 pm and goes almost until dawn.
Bangkok - part II
Bangkok - part II
I hate traveling by bus... I hardly ever sleep. This time the bus had only 20 people inside so I had two seats for me but it's still too uncomfortable.
Well we arrived in Bangkok at 6.30 am and had the whole day ahead before catching the bus to Koh Phagnan at 6 p.m...
We decided to start the cultural visit of Bangkok during this stop over.
As we start walking, a rickshaw driver offers to drive us around for 5 bt each. Of course there was a scheme there. So he would take us to some travel agencies we would pretend to be interested in buying some trips and for that he would receive a pre paid fuel voucher from the agency. Before we said no more agencies he took us to the huge Standing Buddha, marble temple, the golden mount (from where one gets a great view over the city) until he dropped us at the royal palace, three agencies later!
The ticket to the palace includes a visit to the fantastic Wat Phra Kaeo, a complex of temples that is just next to the palace. As any westerners walking around in 35 degrees temperature i was wearing shorts, which are not according to the dressing etiquette, so I had to borrow some funny pants from the reception. Different cultures, we just have to respect (they have a well organized free service for people like me). The palace is not possible to visit and the museum's palace is not that interesting - the only thing I found interesting in the museum was learning that they change the golden dress of the emerald Buddha according to the time of the year, in case the statue gets cold with the weather changes...
When we left the palace the rickshaw of course, wasn't there. Why would he wait 2h for 10 bt if could just pick up more tourists and take them to more agencies...
It was then time to get back to the agency where we had left our bags, grab some food for the trip and wait for the bus that would take us to the party island. On the way to the agency we got our first experience of a thunderstorm in Thailand. When it rains, well it really pours down!
I hate traveling by bus... I hardly ever sleep. This time the bus had only 20 people inside so I had two seats for me but it's still too uncomfortable.
Well we arrived in Bangkok at 6.30 am and had the whole day ahead before catching the bus to Koh Phagnan at 6 p.m...
We decided to start the cultural visit of Bangkok during this stop over.
As we start walking, a rickshaw driver offers to drive us around for 5 bt each. Of course there was a scheme there. So he would take us to some travel agencies we would pretend to be interested in buying some trips and for that he would receive a pre paid fuel voucher from the agency. Before we said no more agencies he took us to the huge Standing Buddha, marble temple, the golden mount (from where one gets a great view over the city) until he dropped us at the royal palace, three agencies later!
The ticket to the palace includes a visit to the fantastic Wat Phra Kaeo, a complex of temples that is just next to the palace. As any westerners walking around in 35 degrees temperature i was wearing shorts, which are not according to the dressing etiquette, so I had to borrow some funny pants from the reception. Different cultures, we just have to respect (they have a well organized free service for people like me). The palace is not possible to visit and the museum's palace is not that interesting - the only thing I found interesting in the museum was learning that they change the golden dress of the emerald Buddha according to the time of the year, in case the statue gets cold with the weather changes...
When we left the palace the rickshaw of course, wasn't there. Why would he wait 2h for 10 bt if could just pick up more tourists and take them to more agencies...
It was then time to get back to the agency where we had left our bags, grab some food for the trip and wait for the bus that would take us to the party island. On the way to the agency we got our first experience of a thunderstorm in Thailand. When it rains, well it really pours down!
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai is kind of the capital of northern Thailand. It is a really nice city full with Buddhist temples and with a huge offer of activities to do.
As soon as we arrive we head on to eagle house 2 hostel. It's a really nice place, the room has A/C and hot water, all for only 290 bhat/night.
After checking in, the first thing we do is booking a thai food cooking course for the next day. 900 bt to learn how to cook 5 dishes from a list of about 20.
We spent the rest of the day visiting temples. It is quite impressing the amount of temples, history and monks that this city has. In the evening a couple of beers while listening to live music, close to the hotel made up for the rest of the evening.
We then spent most of the next day learning how to cook Thai food. I had some problems with our chef's good morning mood (i'm normally quite grumpy in the mornings) but once the real action started everything went fine). First we went to the market to buy fresh ingredients. The teacher showed us a lot of the different herbs and fruits they use. Some are familiar others not quite. It will probably be a pain in the hass to find these things back home, but I hope for the best.
Here is the list of dishes I chose: hot and sour prawns soup, pad thai noodles, pat paneng, chicken souffle and golden parcels.
We prepared and ate 3 dishes in the morning what left us full and sleepy. So we spent the 1h break resting. After the break we prepared the other two dishes but this time saved them for later.
After the cooking course we just rested.
1 day lifestyle tour
The tour consists of a visit to a butterfly and orchid farm, a visit to a village where 4 different tribes live (including the long neck woman), an elephant ride, a 2h trek to a waterfall, white water rafting in river Pai and bamboo rafting.
Lets just say I didn't see any butterflies, in the village I felt like I was in a human zoo, the elephant safari was boring and the beasts kept asking for food and the bamboo rafting was more like paddling a boat with water up till your waist... The trekking was great mostly because when we got to the waterfall we jumped in and relaxed there for a while. The white water rafting was great fun! I had been planning to do it for years.
It was a funny group that took part in the tour. We met some of the people in the evening and had a few beers.
By scooter around Chiang Mai
The next day we rented two scooters and explored some of the monuments around the city. We visited the ruins of Wiang Kum Kam and the temple of Water Phra That Doi Suthep, which is located way up in the mountains north from the city. This is a very relaxing place, with a great terrace overlooking the city and another one in the shadow that was the best option due to the extreme temperatures.
After returning the scooters we got ready for dinner and for partying. We decided to go and have dinner at the night bazaar. The night bazaar consists of a huge street market, that spreads for several streets and quarters. It took us sometime to find the food section. We first found the prostitution market, then the shops, the sea food market and finally some food...
Since it was still early and we had bought some stuff in the bazaar we decided to go to the hostel, grab a beer on the way, before going to a club. Well when we were relaxing in the room the lights suddenly went off. We immediately thought of Nepal and the permanent black outs. As I come outside I see some strange blue lights in the main street. I moved closer and saw a huge fire going several meters above the roofs! This was only 20 meters away from our hostel! We went out to the main street. The fireman were doing their job and everyone was surprisingly calm! After 30 min the lights came back, the fire turned to black smoke and there was one restaurant less in Chiang Mai.
We then finally went out. We went to Space Bubble. 100 bt to enter including one drink. Well going out in Thailand can be really funny! I sat most of the time observing what was going on. Westerners showing off with their escorts, groups of Thai girls looking for a western and hitting on everyone (yes including me). Drunk old hippie looking guys just enjoying themselves in their own world. I just laughed a lot until the place closed down. In the end since we couldn't find a taxi we took a ride with one of the girls that was dancing inside and that was drunk like hell...
We spent the last day in Chiang Mai visiting a few more temples and relaxing. The trip to Koh Phagnan takes two nights by bus and one day is to be spent in Bangkok.
Below you can find some pictures of Chiang Mai and surroundings and a video of our chef.
Chiang Mai is kind of the capital of northern Thailand. It is a really nice city full with Buddhist temples and with a huge offer of activities to do.
As soon as we arrive we head on to eagle house 2 hostel. It's a really nice place, the room has A/C and hot water, all for only 290 bhat/night.
After checking in, the first thing we do is booking a thai food cooking course for the next day. 900 bt to learn how to cook 5 dishes from a list of about 20.
We spent the rest of the day visiting temples. It is quite impressing the amount of temples, history and monks that this city has. In the evening a couple of beers while listening to live music, close to the hotel made up for the rest of the evening.
We then spent most of the next day learning how to cook Thai food. I had some problems with our chef's good morning mood (i'm normally quite grumpy in the mornings) but once the real action started everything went fine). First we went to the market to buy fresh ingredients. The teacher showed us a lot of the different herbs and fruits they use. Some are familiar others not quite. It will probably be a pain in the hass to find these things back home, but I hope for the best.
Here is the list of dishes I chose: hot and sour prawns soup, pad thai noodles, pat paneng, chicken souffle and golden parcels.
We prepared and ate 3 dishes in the morning what left us full and sleepy. So we spent the 1h break resting. After the break we prepared the other two dishes but this time saved them for later.
After the cooking course we just rested.
1 day lifestyle tour
The tour consists of a visit to a butterfly and orchid farm, a visit to a village where 4 different tribes live (including the long neck woman), an elephant ride, a 2h trek to a waterfall, white water rafting in river Pai and bamboo rafting.
Lets just say I didn't see any butterflies, in the village I felt like I was in a human zoo, the elephant safari was boring and the beasts kept asking for food and the bamboo rafting was more like paddling a boat with water up till your waist... The trekking was great mostly because when we got to the waterfall we jumped in and relaxed there for a while. The white water rafting was great fun! I had been planning to do it for years.
It was a funny group that took part in the tour. We met some of the people in the evening and had a few beers.
By scooter around Chiang Mai
The next day we rented two scooters and explored some of the monuments around the city. We visited the ruins of Wiang Kum Kam and the temple of Water Phra That Doi Suthep, which is located way up in the mountains north from the city. This is a very relaxing place, with a great terrace overlooking the city and another one in the shadow that was the best option due to the extreme temperatures.
After returning the scooters we got ready for dinner and for partying. We decided to go and have dinner at the night bazaar. The night bazaar consists of a huge street market, that spreads for several streets and quarters. It took us sometime to find the food section. We first found the prostitution market, then the shops, the sea food market and finally some food...
Since it was still early and we had bought some stuff in the bazaar we decided to go to the hostel, grab a beer on the way, before going to a club. Well when we were relaxing in the room the lights suddenly went off. We immediately thought of Nepal and the permanent black outs. As I come outside I see some strange blue lights in the main street. I moved closer and saw a huge fire going several meters above the roofs! This was only 20 meters away from our hostel! We went out to the main street. The fireman were doing their job and everyone was surprisingly calm! After 30 min the lights came back, the fire turned to black smoke and there was one restaurant less in Chiang Mai.
We then finally went out. We went to Space Bubble. 100 bt to enter including one drink. Well going out in Thailand can be really funny! I sat most of the time observing what was going on. Westerners showing off with their escorts, groups of Thai girls looking for a western and hitting on everyone (yes including me). Drunk old hippie looking guys just enjoying themselves in their own world. I just laughed a lot until the place closed down. In the end since we couldn't find a taxi we took a ride with one of the girls that was dancing inside and that was drunk like hell...
We spent the last day in Chiang Mai visiting a few more temples and relaxing. The trip to Koh Phagnan takes two nights by bus and one day is to be spent in Bangkok.
Below you can find some pictures of Chiang Mai and surroundings and a video of our chef.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Bangkok - part 1
Bangkok
We arrived in bangkok in the middle of the afternoon. After going through the passport control we went checking the flights to Angkar Wat in Cambodia. We were trying to organize the first week in Thailand and realised that it took forever to go from one place to another... Unfortunately the tickets were way out of our budget so we decided to move on to the city center and stay there for the evening and make the plans while there.
Koh Shan road
We went down to catch the bus to the city. We ask for directions to an airport worker who convinced us into taking a taxi instead because it would cost about the same and take only 30 min instead of 2h. We paid 600 bats for it. Later we found out this should have been cheaper (minibus from the airport should cost around 120 Bats)!
When we arrive in our destination we get kind of a shock... The street is closed to the traffic and there's people everywhere. The noise is coming from all directions, as there are bars and clubs everywhere each trying to be the loudest so that people choose their place to sit down and spend some money.
There are tourists everywhere. The only Thais we see are the ones who are trying to make up their living there. We are kind of confused with what we face but soon we refocus on our first objective - finding a place to stay. We enter the first guest house we see. As we go up the stairs we read signs like "no Thais allowed" which we will later understand. The place is clean, it has fan but sounds like there will be noise all night long. We decide to stay as it's quite cheap, it's only for an evening and it's conveniently located.
We leave our things there and start exploring the touristic ghetto of Bangkok. There's all types of things exposed, but what calls most of our attention are the funny t-shirts and the famous sports brands immitations. Suddenly we see people taking a lot of pictures to one of the street sailor's. We approach and understand what is the reason for so much interest. He's selling grasshoppers, worms and scorpions... Deep fried to be eaten as snacks. Tiago buys a bag of grasshoppers and tries them. I try one as well. It's crunchy. Almost like chips.
The temperature and humidity are extremely high. It's quite exhausting to walk around so we decide to stop and make some plans while having a beer. It's quite frustrating trying to organize our stay in Thailand... It takes forever to go from one place to another.In the end we are forced to abandon the original plan and have to skip Cambodia from our route and focus in the north, in Chiang Mai. We want to get there as fast as possible so we decide to check the flights prices with an agency. The prices for that evening are too much for us, but the guy gives a price of 2500 bats for the next morning. It's a bit expensive but we are kind of desperate so we take it. A few minutes after leaving the agency we see an add in another agency announcing the same trip 500 bats cheaper... We need to be more careful in the future.
We walk around a bit more. It's funny to see so many westerns with a thai "friend". Cheap and easy sex is really one of the reasons why many man come to Thailand... We still think about going to a club and party a bit but we're still tired from the previous night so we end up in the noisy hotel room. Back to wearing ear plugs if I want to get some sleep...
We arrived in bangkok in the middle of the afternoon. After going through the passport control we went checking the flights to Angkar Wat in Cambodia. We were trying to organize the first week in Thailand and realised that it took forever to go from one place to another... Unfortunately the tickets were way out of our budget so we decided to move on to the city center and stay there for the evening and make the plans while there.
Koh Shan road
We went down to catch the bus to the city. We ask for directions to an airport worker who convinced us into taking a taxi instead because it would cost about the same and take only 30 min instead of 2h. We paid 600 bats for it. Later we found out this should have been cheaper (minibus from the airport should cost around 120 Bats)!
When we arrive in our destination we get kind of a shock... The street is closed to the traffic and there's people everywhere. The noise is coming from all directions, as there are bars and clubs everywhere each trying to be the loudest so that people choose their place to sit down and spend some money.
There are tourists everywhere. The only Thais we see are the ones who are trying to make up their living there. We are kind of confused with what we face but soon we refocus on our first objective - finding a place to stay. We enter the first guest house we see. As we go up the stairs we read signs like "no Thais allowed" which we will later understand. The place is clean, it has fan but sounds like there will be noise all night long. We decide to stay as it's quite cheap, it's only for an evening and it's conveniently located.
We leave our things there and start exploring the touristic ghetto of Bangkok. There's all types of things exposed, but what calls most of our attention are the funny t-shirts and the famous sports brands immitations. Suddenly we see people taking a lot of pictures to one of the street sailor's. We approach and understand what is the reason for so much interest. He's selling grasshoppers, worms and scorpions... Deep fried to be eaten as snacks. Tiago buys a bag of grasshoppers and tries them. I try one as well. It's crunchy. Almost like chips.
The temperature and humidity are extremely high. It's quite exhausting to walk around so we decide to stop and make some plans while having a beer. It's quite frustrating trying to organize our stay in Thailand... It takes forever to go from one place to another.In the end we are forced to abandon the original plan and have to skip Cambodia from our route and focus in the north, in Chiang Mai. We want to get there as fast as possible so we decide to check the flights prices with an agency. The prices for that evening are too much for us, but the guy gives a price of 2500 bats for the next morning. It's a bit expensive but we are kind of desperate so we take it. A few minutes after leaving the agency we see an add in another agency announcing the same trip 500 bats cheaper... We need to be more careful in the future.
We walk around a bit more. It's funny to see so many westerns with a thai "friend". Cheap and easy sex is really one of the reasons why many man come to Thailand... We still think about going to a club and party a bit but we're still tired from the previous night so we end up in the noisy hotel room. Back to wearing ear plugs if I want to get some sleep...
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