Thailand via Bangkok, once, twice, three
times.......
08 Sep 2003
Dear Everyone,
Hope you are all well and happy. Not too long now before we see those at
home again and we don't have too many of these e-mails left to write now.
Am very behind, as we are now in Cambodia (amazing place) but will be
telling you all here what we have been up to in Thailand.
We actually flew into Bangkok about 3 weeks ago now. Flying at night all we
saw was a huge tapestry of lights. Heading by taxi to the backpackers mecca
of Khao San Road (Cheap digs abound here) we passed miles of huge
skyscrapers, banks and businesses and luxury hotels that we can't afford!
We were of course headed to the older part of Bangkok.
Khao San Road is closed at night so we had to walk a ways down to get to the
hotel we'd chosen for our first night from our guide. KSRd is full of life.
Bars, restaurants and guesthouses line the road with small shops, the odd
bank and little lanes leading off both sides. On the edges of the road,
obliterating the shopfronts were stalls, end to end selling just about
everything - every type of food, clothes, massage, hair extensions, cd's,
souvenirs, you name it.
In the middle of the road was a large mass of people. Some walking, some on
moto's (scooters) tuk-tuks (moto with carriage attached) bicycles, you name
it. There were lots of tourists, more locals and many lady boys (not very
good ones - Steve)! We dumped our stuff and headed out for a drink. It was
past midnight but no one looked like they were headed home anytime soon. We
spent our first night people watching and soaking up the atmosphere.
We were in Bangkok for a few days on this visit. Both of us were knackered
so we didn't get around as much as we should. We explored the surrounding
area, visiting an old fort on the river, checking out the alleyways etc.
Nearby was a large park and one of the days we were there was the Queens
birthday (more queens in this country than anywhere else on the planet -
Steve). Here were huge stages (think Donnington size) markets etc and all
the locals. There was also a Royal enclosure where we actually witnessed
the arrival of some of the Royal Family.
There weren't many guards. The Royals here are revered - you would deeply
offend if you said anything negative about them. All over the country are
huge billboards displaying their faces. However, it seems that they might
do quite a bit for the people in the way of funding charitable projects.
This day they also fed everyone for free, from huge makeshift kitchens with
couldrons of food and plenty of water. That night there was a fireworks
display. Lots of tourists were seen hanging around outside the 7-11 though,
as these were the only places to get a beer. For the Queens birthday,
restaurants etc. weren't allowed to sell it.
Well, I wrote the above over a week ago now - was interrupted by a storm!
We have now left Cambodia and arrived today on Ko Phi Phi, the island famous
for it's full moon parties (think The Beach). Will try and catch up with
the last month or so.....
In Bangkok we also visited a couple of markets and stuff but the most
amazing thing we saw was the great palace, a huge compound of temples and
open sided 'rooms'. They were decorated with small mosaics in all colours
making amazing geometric patterns over all the buildings. There were also
huge statues, murals depicting the story of Buddha and Thailand. The
colours were gold, emerald, red, blue, mirrored, sounds garish but was
bloody amazing!
>From Bangkok we got an overnight train to Chang Mai in the north. The
train, a sleeper was great, which we didn't expect, but beats British Rail
for sure (although the breakfast had me on the toilet for the rest of the
day - Steve). In Chang Mai we explored the town, visiting lots of the
temples there. We also did a Thai cookery course which was such a laugh.
Oue teacher Ed, a petite 25yr old (Whoar - Steve), was great, and had a
great time ribbing Steve, so of course I joined in. Especially when he
ignored Ed's advice about chillies and popped a few more in his pad thai -
he had steam coming out of his ears when he ate it! We cooked 10 dishes in
all, and ate hardly any as we were so full after the first couple. Be
warned - we are very enthusiastic about thai food and armed with cookbooks -
you may be our next guinea pigs.
Also in Chang Mai we did a day tour to visit the hill tribes. We went to a
Muong and a Karen village. Both made of wood and roofed with leaves. Both
tribes grow fruit, rice and make handicrafts to sell at markets and to
tourists like us. Under their houses they kept pigs (with cute little
piglets) and chickens. Everywhere are dogs, cats and small children running
around. We also visited a waterfall but the real highlight was our elephant
ride. Who ever would have guessed that we'd ever get the chance to trek for
an hour and a half on the back of an elephant? Brilliant, amazing - I still
can't believe it!
Our elephant was 30 and Mum to a baby who kept with us or Daddy elephant who
was behind us. Baby was really playful, especially in the water when we
crossed the rivers, squirting himself with water and running about. We had
been a bit worried about the elephants but they were all happy and healthy
and very well cared for. They were logging elephants but now work for
tourists. The drivers are Burmese, with whom they seem to have a very close
relationship and who perch right on top of their heads. They steer by
wiggling their bums and talking to them. Strange but true! Our elephant
was always stopping for a munch. We were sat on top in a chair thing,
though at one point our driver got Steve to slide down off the chair onto
its neck. The elephant was happy but Steve was not, feeling very
precarious. After about 10 mins trying to keep his balance he clambered
back into our chair.
The last part of our day was rafting down the river on a bamboo raft,
literally about 6 poles of bamboo lashed together and a plank in the middle.
Raquel and I got the plank (but still got wet bums) our man poled at the
front and Steve poled at the back. Steve narrowly avoided falling in, which
one of our group did spectacularly, but lost his pole! Still, he was the
only one allowed to stay on the rafts when we went over some rapids (we had
to walk along the bank) so he must have been good at it - Tarzan in the
making!
>From Chang Mai we headed right up north to the Burmese border and Mae Sai.
>From our room we could see both Thailand and Burma as we were right on the
river which marks the border. We had planned to bus all around the small
villages but as it was low season and no tourists (we saw only a few) the
buses and songthaws weren't running everywhere and were very infrequent.
Instead we wondered around the villages near where we were and looked at
more temples, including one with a giant scorpian statue. I had a chat with
a monk, quite an honour. I was hauled out of my seat by a conductress once
in Bangkok to allow a monk to sit down. Steve moved for me but the
conductress nearly had a coronary when I went to sit, screeching and
grabbing me away - I learnt later that monks are allowed no physical contact
whatsoever with a woman. Ooops!
We crossed the border into Burma to get a new Thai visa on return. The
Burmese town over the border wasn't very interesting so we stayed in Burma
for all of a couple of hours only! From up here in the north we went back
to Bangkok, via Chang Mai again and a great market. From Bangkok we headed
to Kanchanaburri in the West.
This is the home of the Bridge over the River Kwai. Here we visited the
Allied war cemetary, an immaculately kept place, very tranquil, and home to
some of the graves of the 67,000 allied troops who lost their lives to build
the bridge. 160,000 Thai and Burmese also lost their lives under the
Japenese, to build the bridge, which took 20 months and was only in use for
17 months. The bridge was built solely by manpower alone. There had been
some elephants in the very beginning but the Japanese worked the Burmese
drivers so hard they died early on and the elephants would not work without
them.
There was actually 2 bridges. The first a wooden one destroyed by allied
bombs. The second was a dismantled bridge the Japanese bought from occupied
Singapore. This was also blown up by allied bombers but the bridge has
since been rebuilt with the original metal girder arches exept for the two
in the middle where the bombs fell. It's very sobering walking across and
thinking of all the peole who died for this railway line. Most of the men
in the cemetary were between the ages of 20-30. The museum was pretty
sobering too with the story of what happened, punishments, life in the pow
camps etc.
>From Kanchanaburri, also home to the best Thai restaurant ever, it was back
to Bangkok - again! Here we met up with friends and headed out for the
night. After dinner and a few drinks (quite a few) we thought it was a good
idea to head off to Patpong to see the infamous girly bars. This we did.
We went in two, with girls jiggling around poles all with numbers on, so you
could pick one you liked. The girls we met however, were more interested in
me and Rachael, and wanted to take us upstairs! My theory is it would be
gentler with a woman and we were better looking (what - Steve)! The blokes
they get, they told us, are usually older, western men. It was actually
quite sad talking to them, but they also laughed and joked with us and tried
to get Rachael on the stage. Racheal was up for it (she pole dances at home
for a hobby, like aerobics, women only, no funny business) but Jude was
going to kill her before he let her get up! What we didn't see were the
shows, which sounded disgusting. We were given a menu, detailing what
delights you could watch - very weird. From the expected boy-girl,
girl-girl fun acts to, and I'm quoting here, "bike plays ping pong (yep
it's true about the ping pong balls), bike plays darts, bike writes a
letter, you name it and they can do it. We passed on that.
>From Bangkok we headed to Cambodia. Will leave it here for now as I've
wrote enough. We are spending our last two weeks in Thailand on the
beaches. Will write about that and Cambodia in a few days - have to catch
up before we get home which is only one week away now. Hope your all well
and will see you soon,
