What a crazy adventure, what a tale. We began by tossing ourselves into the crevices of Bangkok for two days, assaulting all our senses. The smells, the noise (mostly traffic patrol who replace breathing with whistle blowing and frantic arm movements, in the guise of directing traffic) and the grime; what better way to experience the true underbelly of a city than to be in a part of town where no other travellers seem to be. We spent most of this time wondering around in the 30 - 40 degree heat, trying to navigate the mad streets with maps that had different street names to those on the signs that kept pointing the wrong way. We ended up navigating from 2 maps, although I am not sure that this helped. From here, we took a night train up to Chiang Mai, a supposedly 12hr ride that in reality took 15. It was great as we had sleepers, the only thing is that you had to go to bed when they told you to do so as they pull the beds down and you felt like you should really obey in case they turfed you off the train. It was comfortable and private, the only oddity was waking up to a woman going up and down singing "orange juice, orange juice". We spent a couple days there, riding elephants (bumpier than you might think), oxen carts, rafts down the muddy river, and eating ice cream every hour. We took an air conditioned bus back to Bangkok which was a rather chilly event; we donned up in jackets and pants whilst the temperature was in the thirties outside. Not to mention the snoring, and the odd toilet stops in the middle of the night where you get off and fear being left behind.
From here we intended to go down to the beach island Koh Samui, but all the trains were booked up, so we spent one day in Bangkok and left at 7.30am the next morning for Koh Chang, also a beachy island but closer to Bangkok than Koh Samui. The bus ride supposedly 5 hours, took 7, and the ferry was a wooden, overloaded little Popeye type boat. The luggage was perched perilously at the end of the boat, at any moment ready to go for a dive into the water. The fact that we had so many people on board seemed to make the boat more stable. Despite this, it was a very pleasant ride. The bus/ferry ride cost only 300 baht return, around 13 NZ$!! We spent two days travelling, and one day actually on the island. It was long and arduous, especially as the bus driver didn't go faster than 60km at any one point, but it was worth it to be able to sit on the sand, see beautiful sunsets, and breathe air that didn't fill your lungs with polluted granules. The water was like a spa in the day, and at night it didn't even feel like you were in the water, it was perfect. The view from the water is great of all the beach side resorts, restaurants and flame throwers. Despite being in the small amounts of shade available provided by the coconut trees amongst all the topless European bathers oiled up like pigs getting ready for a spit roast, I still seemed to come out looking like a freshly baked bun from the oven. We stayed in a bungalow. When they say bungalow, they mean getting in touch with nature. We became friendly with geckos, cockroaches, and other creatures. We slept with the light on and a mosquito net (which we fixed with dental floss, kiwi ingenuity right there : )
TUK-TUKING ABOUT
One of the first things you want to do is ride a tuk tuk. The little motorbike cum taxi things that speed their way around the city barely stopping in time before you get hurled overboard, what a thrill!! On the first day, we had no plans, so we humoured the tuk tuk driver, and made three of his commissioned stops, from one he got petrol, we are not sure what he got out of the second, and in the third we didn't stay in the 1x1 square metre Thai silk store for long enough. It worked out great as he took us took book train/bus tickets, shopping, and we got a little tiki tour, and the best thing was it was free. After this, we pretty much gave up on tuk tuks as we couldn't afford the time to make these stops, and they seemed to want petrol more than money : )
LUXURY & PATRIOTISM
Whilst in Bangkok, we saw a film (due to the heat being ridiculously high and fearing that we may sweat out all the liquid left in our bodies); not only did we see a film, we saw it in luxury!! For around 5NZ$ we sat in plush, over sized chairs, that reclined, yes people, reclined!! I can only imagine what the Gold class was like!! And with enough leg room to get a Thai foot massage!! Before the film, everyone rose to their feet for the national anthem whilst images of the king and his people played on the screen. As it was all young people, it was impressive to see the respect paid.
TIP: if the beef on the skewer looks a little strange in shape or size, it probably isn't beef.
From here we intended to go down to the beach island Koh Samui, but all the trains were booked up, so we spent one day in Bangkok and left at 7.30am the next morning for Koh Chang, also a beachy island but closer to Bangkok than Koh Samui. The bus ride supposedly 5 hours, took 7, and the ferry was a wooden, overloaded little Popeye type boat. The luggage was perched perilously at the end of the boat, at any moment ready to go for a dive into the water. The fact that we had so many people on board seemed to make the boat more stable. Despite this, it was a very pleasant ride. The bus/ferry ride cost only 300 baht return, around 13 NZ$!! We spent two days travelling, and one day actually on the island. It was long and arduous, especially as the bus driver didn't go faster than 60km at any one point, but it was worth it to be able to sit on the sand, see beautiful sunsets, and breathe air that didn't fill your lungs with polluted granules. The water was like a spa in the day, and at night it didn't even feel like you were in the water, it was perfect. The view from the water is great of all the beach side resorts, restaurants and flame throwers. Despite being in the small amounts of shade available provided by the coconut trees amongst all the topless European bathers oiled up like pigs getting ready for a spit roast, I still seemed to come out looking like a freshly baked bun from the oven. We stayed in a bungalow. When they say bungalow, they mean getting in touch with nature. We became friendly with geckos, cockroaches, and other creatures. We slept with the light on and a mosquito net (which we fixed with dental floss, kiwi ingenuity right there : )
TUK-TUKING ABOUT
One of the first things you want to do is ride a tuk tuk. The little motorbike cum taxi things that speed their way around the city barely stopping in time before you get hurled overboard, what a thrill!! On the first day, we had no plans, so we humoured the tuk tuk driver, and made three of his commissioned stops, from one he got petrol, we are not sure what he got out of the second, and in the third we didn't stay in the 1x1 square metre Thai silk store for long enough. It worked out great as he took us took book train/bus tickets, shopping, and we got a little tiki tour, and the best thing was it was free. After this, we pretty much gave up on tuk tuks as we couldn't afford the time to make these stops, and they seemed to want petrol more than money : )
LUXURY & PATRIOTISM
Whilst in Bangkok, we saw a film (due to the heat being ridiculously high and fearing that we may sweat out all the liquid left in our bodies); not only did we see a film, we saw it in luxury!! For around 5NZ$ we sat in plush, over sized chairs, that reclined, yes people, reclined!! I can only imagine what the Gold class was like!! And with enough leg room to get a Thai foot massage!! Before the film, everyone rose to their feet for the national anthem whilst images of the king and his people played on the screen. As it was all young people, it was impressive to see the respect paid.
TIP: if the beef on the skewer looks a little strange in shape or size, it probably isn't beef.
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