Chilling in Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai on New Years day after a 60 minute flight from Bangkok - what a breeze! It was such a relief to get away from the hustle and bustle, not to mention the intense heat.

We were met at the airport by an ex work colleague and his family (Alan, Apple and Andrew) Alan used to live here a few years ago and is currently on a career break and back in Chiang Mai soaking up some culture. It is not difficult to see why he has come back. Chiang Mai is a fantastic place. It is much cooler than the rest of Thailand and without the humidity, it is less busy than the touristy resorts and it has so much to see and do and fantastic restaurants, bars, shops etc. It is going to be difficult for us to leave!!!

We are due to fly home to the U.K on the 16th January, a little bit earlier than we anticipated but we are both ready for home now, despite it being mid winter there! So rather than clock up more miles travelling to Cambodia for a week or so we have decided to put down our packs for the last time and spend the rest of our trip in Chiang Mai, it has got everything we need to end our already superb trip on a high. Cambodia will have to wait for the next trip when we will have the time and inclination to do the country justice.

On Wednesday we hired some bikes with Alan and Apple and they took us to the Elephant Reserve, about 20k outside of town. It was a great drive (despite the pot holes ;o)) through windy roads up into the hills and away from city life. Myself and Matt went on an elephant ride, it is something I have wanted to do this trip and obviously Thailand is the perfect place for such activities! There are loads of elephants at the reserve and they are amazing creatures, I love them. Our elephant was a female and she was called Mae Moo, she was 38 years old which meant we were the same age, she did seem to be aging better than me though, although I'm not sure I had quite as many wrinkles as she did!! We were on Mae Moo for an hour, we sat on a seat that is attached to her back and there is a local sat up front (on her head) giving her directions and steering the way. I couldn't help but think that it was a cruel thing to be doing, but the elephants handled our weight with ease and it is such a relief knowing that these animals are protected and looked after daily without the fear of being hunted or separated from their herd. Elephants are extremely protective of their young and the rest of their herd, and they become very distressed when one of them is captured by predators or runs into difficulty. They do everything they can to protect each other, they really are something special and it was a real treat for me. It was a slow and bumpy ride, and often quite smelly when one of them would stop to do their business ;o) We also went into one of the rivers where the elephants had a drink and sprayed some water around, it was a great experience and one I will never forget.

After that we headed off to a great Thai restaurant for a lovely Thai lunch, because Alan and Apple have lived here before they know all the best spots so we really have being spoilt since we arrived. We then went to see some waterfalls before heading back. A fantastic day. Yesterday we opted for a lazy one, so we headed across the road to a "posh" hotel and made full use of their sun deck and swimming pool amidst the Germans. We sat sipping ice cold drinks soaking up the rays, thinking of our friends back home venturing back to work after the Christmas holidays!

We have been doing a bit of shopping since we arrived here as we have put it off our whole trip as we couldn't afford to pack any more weight. They have a night bazaar here every day and it is huge. The handicrafts are beautiful and if I had my way I would but them all. There are shoes, handbags, t-shirts, dvd's, cd's, jewellery, souvenirs you name it it's all here for the taking. The only thing I'm not too good at though is the bartering, they come in with a ridiculous price and then we have to haggle. I have had a few attempts, some successful and others not so. We have another week and a half though to get the rest of our pressies so I hope to have it cracked by then.

On Monday we begin our 4 day cooking course. We attend cooking classes Mon - Wed, 10am - 4pm and then our last day is Sunday. We are shown how to make our own curry pastes, Thai soups and other local dishes, this involves a trip to the market to buy our own ingredients. We are really looking forward to this. We get to eat all our own cooking too so we will be stuffed by the end of each day, it's a hard life!!

Today we are just going to amble into town and have a look around, we have had Alan showing us the sights and delights of Chiang Mai since we arrived so we have being spoilt not having to get the maps out finding somewhere to eat, best places to shop. We'll probably end up in some girly bar paying through the nose for our drinks being accosted by lady boys!!

Whacky Races

Well Bangkok is certainly banging there's no doubt about that!

We are not staying in the Backpacker side of town which is Khao San Road, we are in the "better" side of town, where dare I say it's a bit quieter??

Yesterday we took a taxi to The Grand Palace, it is easy to see where it gets it's name from, it is an absolute splendid sight, and well worth a visit. It was a blistering hot day yesterday around 32c with not a breath of air. Matt had been going on at me about appropriate dress for the said Temples and told me that I should dress respectfully (as if I don't normally!!) So with that in mind I opted for a long cotton skirt, a vest top and a jumper to cover my bare shoulders with when we went into the Temples. Matt went along in shorts and a t-shirt. As soon as we tried to walk through the gates we were shouted at through a loud speaker and told that we weren't dressed appropriately and that we would have to go and "borrow" some clothes from their office. This didn't prove to be a real problem as there were 100's of Westerners there all with the same problem, us Westerners seem to have no regard for other countries culture. We were wondering what the particular problem was with our dress (or lack of) as we really thought we had it covered (no pun intended) anyway it only turned out that Matt was showing too much leg!! He was handed a beautiful pair of pea green elasticated waist trousers for the tour. Well I just fell about the place laughing at him, he looked ridiculous, especially as he was wearing a trendy blue t-shirt and flip flops, he wouldn't let me take a photo. I was in hysterics, it was one of those "you had to be there" moments! Anyway we took lots of snaps, we went to see the Emerald Buddha and a few other bits and pieces but because it was just soooo hot we cut our visit short. Matt couldn't rid himself of his newly acquired pants quick enough he he!!

After that we walked to the Khao San Road, it was full of Westerners and pervy old men. It was more like home than Bangkok. We went for a beer and half a Pad Thai which was horrible and then had a walk around some of the shops/markets. We didn't do any shopping though as we aim to do it before we fly home so that we don't have to cart it around with us. There are lots of bargains to be had though!!!!!

The traffic here is like Whacky Races, there are about 3 lanes on the road but with 8 lanes of traffic, it's mayhem in places. There is also a constant smog about the place and difficult to breathe in places where there is a lot of cars and buses. A lot of the locals wear the masks over their noses/mouths. If the locals think it's bad you can imagine what it's like for tourists. It is much cleaner than I expected though, a lot cleaner than Kualar Lumper, although the stench of rotting food and sewers does not escape you!!

The buses here are like something from a Bollywood movie, they are painted in bright gaudy colours and have the same interior as a tacky Indian restaurant, with tasseled curtains, red and orange lighting and dodgy piped in back ground music. The only thing is you can't order a curry on one!!

Today we went to one of the many shopping centres as it really is too hot to be wandering around the streets aimlessly. We ended up in the cinema to see I am Legend. It was really funny at the beginning as the Thai National Anthem comes on and you all have to stand up and pay homage to the king. Can you imagine that at home with all the cheeky little brats, they'd all be swearing and shouting out obscenities! It was a great film though.

I'm not too familiar with the Thai religions although I know it's mostly Buddha and Hindu. One of the things that the Thais do though is have a little temple of worship outside their property, whether it be a shop, house, cafe etc. The only way to describe these little temples is to compare them to a bird table. On them they have a little Buddha and lots of flowers and crosses and other paraphernalia, they also leave food and gifts out for whoever it is the table is set up for. They believe that if they feed their God that it will keep any evil spirits away. It is quite funny actually, if you could see some of the crap they leave out. In Ko Samui they had a bottle of cherryade with a straw in and a pack of 10 cigars. I thought it was hilarious. I thought with it being Christmas that they may leave a glass of Sherry, a mince pie and a carrot for Rudolph!!

We fly to Chang Mai tomorrow so will post more then and let you know how the cooking lessons are going.

Happy New Year!!

One night in Bangkok..

... actually you better make that 3!

Well we are unexpectedly in Bangkok, we arrived at our lovely beach resort on the 27th only to find that there had been a mix up with our reservation and that there were no rooms left!! The rest of the resort was also busy as it is now a popular time for Thais to holiday, and the resort we had chosen was popular with Thais not Westerners. Anyway I'm not going to bore you with the whole fiasco, suffice to say it was just that.

We got on the bus for Bangkok yesterday, another 6 hours on top of the 14 hours we had done the day previously and we are now here until 1st January, when we will fly up to Chiang Mai for about 8-10 days. It is much cooler in Northern Thailand, which will be a welcome relief from this heat. Bangkok is as busy as you would be expect, we haven't seen too much yet as we only arrived late afternoon yesterday, but we are going to see some sights today, including The Grand Palace, so watch this space for an update and some pics.

We are staying in a lovely hotel, totally blown the budget, we seem to have forgotten that we're backpackers since we arrived in Thailand, oops!! I am loving the country so far, the only thing that annoys me about the Thai people is that they think Westerners have a licence to print money and try to rip us off at every opportunity. We are trying to stand firm but we have found ourselves in a situation that didn't leave us any room for bartering, or bantering for that matter and as a result we were taken to the cleaners!! It's a long story and one which I can't be bothered to go into, you will lose the will to live if I go into any kind of detail.

Food here has been superb, which we always knew it would be especially as it's my favourite cuisine anyway. When we get to Chiang Mai we will be both going on a 4-5 day cookery course, it is hosted by a top Thai chef who has been on lots of BBC cookery programmes!!! So no doubt our folks will be the first to sample our Thai culinary skills when we get back!!

We aren't going to Cambodia now, instead we will enjoy what time we have left in Thailand, Matt has a friend that he is due to meet in CM and we will also try and do some trekking, riding elephants and other Thai touristy nonsense before we fly home, date TBC!!

So that's it for now, just a short one, will update on Banging Bankok in a few days!

Homeward Bound

So Christmas is as far away as ever now, hope you all got lots of lovely pressies!

Today is our last day in Koh Samui, tomorrow we leave for Prachuap Khirikhan, where we will spend new year. It is apparently the best beach in Thailand and much quieter than all the touristy beaches. So that is why we chose it as we don't like new year. We will be there for 5 nights so we still have a bit of beach left yet!

Christmas day was weird, there has been a Christmas tree up in our resort with decorations up too but there is no Christmas vibe. Christmas eve all the young party goers went to the full moon beach at the next Island (forgotten the name) we contemplated going along too but decided against it in the end. We've heard a lot about these "party's" so we opted for a quiet one instead. You're probably thinking what a miserable pair of gits we are but it is difficult getting excited about it all with no friends and family about.

Christmas day we got up as normal and had breakfast by the beach, which is a bonus obviously. We then spent the rest of the day lounging about, drinking beer and eventually had a Christmas lunch of vegetable Pad Thai. We rang our families later in the afternoon and I managed to compose myself, I couldn't help thinking about them all sat round though enjoying the festivities.

Last night there was a party at our resort with some live music and a BBQ so we were looking forward to that, it was packed too with a good atmosphere, everybody wishing each other merry Christmas etc, some people wearing party hats and silly earrings so it did feel better. We also got chatting with a few Brummies so we spent the night with them, we didn't get in til 2am this morning. The band were appalling I have to say (Matt will agree) it was 2 cockney blokes of about 50 years old, dressed in checked shirts that you buy from Florence and Fred at Tesco, chinos with creases down the fronts and boating shoes. The 3rd guy was a Thai kid of about 25, now he really looked the part with long straggly hair, faded denims and a vest, with a fag dangling from his mouth. So you can imagine it was a bit of a strange combo. There was no drummer, it was all backing music run through a PR system. Well the 2 older guys were an absolute joke, talk about wooden. Their opening tune was The Shadows, Apache. Let's just say you had to see (and hear) it to believe it. We just took the proverbial out of them all night, they were that belligerent though that they didn't give a monkeys and just turned the music up even louder! I'm sure Hank Marvin would have had something to say if he'd have heard them...

Today we didn't get up until lunch time, easy life. The weather has been pants today with lots of rain and cloud so we haven't been on the beach or by the pool. We have spent it playing Scrabble and watching cheesy T.V.

It's safe to say now that we're looking forward to getting home, Christmas aside we are just weary from been on the road for 8 months. So we have brought our flight dates forward and we will be flying home in 3 weeks instead of 5. We still have a lot to see in that time though as we head off to Cambodia and up to Northern Thailand so don't give up on the blog just yet.

Christmas - Thai Style

Hello All, you must all be buzzing now with the anticipation of Santas arrival this evening and what he will bring all you boys and girls that have behaved this year. He will be mafted when he gets to Thailand I hope he has his swim wear with him :o)

Well we have had a very exciting couple of days as you can imagine, Matt's proposal and my Birthday yesterday, I'm on cloud 9. Thank you all for your lovely messages and well wishes it means a lot to us both. My engagement ring at the moment is a stainless steel band bought from the lucky lucky man on the beach, we're going to shop for a real one when we get back so I'm looking forward to that, not sure Matt is ;o)

We have had a really relaxing time since we arrived in Koh Samui and the weather has been superb. The resort that we're at is full of westerners and chavvy Brits which is a bit of a come down after 8 months on the road, but I guess it conditions us a little for return home. It is really touristy here and is not like travelling now at all, it's more like being on holiday. Thailand is beautiful (what bit I've seen) but I can't help but notice the seediness that consumes the place. There are so many fat, balding old men here who are just out for the Thai girls and there are also lots of the same kind of men married to the Thai girls. It's shocking to think that these beautiful women are exploited in this way, but as Matt said it's the life they choose and they don't see anything wrong with it. The men are just sad pathetic old perverts who can't form a relationship with a woman because she loves him, it's all to do with the size of his wallet.

Yesterday we spent another day relaxing by the pool and then late afternoon we decided to start my Birthday celebrations early. We had a wander along the Lamai Beach taking in the other resorts, some of them really luxurious and others not quite so. The beach here has surprised me, while the sea is that beautiful aquamarine colour and the sand is white, there is litter strewn everywhere, plastic bottles, fag ends, numerous shoes and flip flops, drinking straws, and there are loads of random dogs wandering up and down. No I'm not referring to the ugly women I'm talking the 4 legged variety. Not the sort of thing I was expecting. Having said that there are some parts of the beach that are spotless. Luckily for us we stay by the pool on the loungers, it's easier to get to the bar!!

So we went in the 1st pub yesterday, a Swedish pub and ordered a couple of Singah Beers, to be told the distressing news that they weren't serving alcohol that day as there were some presidential elections taking place, and it was against the law to serve alcohol. It didn't seem to have a negative effect on the prostitution laws in Thailand just the drinking ones. So we order a fizzy drink and made off back to the beach to our resort where we knew they were serving beer as it is off the main road and out of earshot of the police. As we were heading back we heard some Reggae music and saw some candles flickering away at some beach side bar so we parked our butts and spent most of the evening there, watching fireworks and sipping ice cold beer. We also bought a kind of balloon to celebrate my B'Day. You light it inside and then it takes off into the air and drifts off into the Thai night. It was quite romantic actually he he. After the beer we went to a nice little Thai/Italian restaurant for some food, we had been there a couple of nights previously and enjoyed a great Thai curry so we agreed that we would go back.Matt told the lady that owned it we would be back on Sunday as it was his girlfriends birthday, I didn't think she was paying much attention to us crazy westerners but last night when we had finished our meal she came across with a big cocktail of ice cream and fruit covered in chocolate sauce with two dessert spoons and wished me Happy Birthday. What a lovely gesture.

Today has been much the same as any other, we have been laid by the pool listening to Brits bickering at each other, touts trying to sell us sarongs and pancakes, and crazy kids diving about in the pool, with some dodgy 80's music playing in the background. It does not feel like Christmas at all. We are enjoying it though, we have had no stress of getting up the M1 in rush hour traffic, no Christmas shopping to do, no planning of our logistical Christmas between Droitwich and Hull, and to top it all it's sunny and we're in a lovely little resort on a Thai beach.

There are no signs of a Christmas lunch anywhere on the menu here for tomorrow so it will probably be red and green curry for lunch, at least the colours are seasonal :o) Tomorrow night we are having a BBQ and there is a live band playing so we think(!) we're looking forward to that. If it's rubbish we are heading to the 7/11 for a bag full of goodies and beer and will barricade ourselves in our room and watch some trash TV, it will be just like home!!

Well you must have known it was coming...

Well lets get straight to the point, I've just proposed to Michelle! Yes, that's right we're going to get married, not sure where, when or how yet but I'm sure most of you who are reading this will be invited to the special day. That's it really, nothing else to say, but again have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Adios until 2008!

Lifes a beach

We're now in Thailand, the Island of Ko Samui to be more specific, it is lovely!

We arrived in Thailand on Monday direct from the Cameron Highlands, it wasn't planned that way. We jumped off the bus in Butterworth after about 7 hours and thought that we would stay the night there before going across the border to Thailand, but as we got off the bus we were mobbed by touts all trying to sell us bus tickets for our next destination. We were a bit weary after 7 hours on a ram shackle bus but we were on travelling mode so rather than mess about trying to finds digs for the night we decided to hop on a mini bus to Hat Yai instead (another 4 hours!!)

We had an hour to kill before the bus departure so we went to an indoor food market for a cup of tea. Well I had been spoilt in C/H as far as tea goes, the one we had here looked like tomato soup with some white stuff floating at the bottom. It turned out to be condensed milk it was vile!!

The mini bus into Thailand was a bit of a white knuckle ride, the driver stopped for no man. We made the border crossing and got all the necessary stamps before setting off again. Once across the Thailand border the Malaysian standard of living (such as it is) came to an abrupt end, much the same way as Singapore did when we left there for Malaysia. Thailand is very raw and reminds me very much of Bolivia (at least that part of Thailand did) in fact I'd go so far to say that it made Bolivia look like Hollywood!! It was hustle and bustle everywhere and a certain sense of frenzied mania everywhere.

We were dropped in Hat Yai at about 7pm in the midst of typical Thai life. We had been on the road since 9am and were in a totally new country, it was also extremely humid and we were both knackered and a bit tired. We picked out the first hostel in the Lonely Planet and went in to make enquires about a room for the night. Well words fail me. The hostel was a pit, there was a HUGE corridor that we had to walk down to get to our room (similar to the kind you would see in One flew over the cuckoos nest, but dark instead of sterile) we opened the door to our room and I was almost floored. It was basic and just a little bit on the shabby side. BUT it had a beautiful clean bed,and after 10 hours on the road I would have slept in the gutter, so we dumped our bags and hit the town for a few beers and a lovely Phad Thai!!

We stayed in Hat Yai for two nights, it is a really busy, noisy place with nothing much to do there but eat and shop. Its not very touristy and is only a stopping off point for the border crossing with Malaysia. It is an absolute shit hole if I'm honest and there are as many rats there as there are people. It is a smelly run down place, not too dissimilar to say, Bosnia??

Anyway we had a decent couple of days there before getting another mini bus yesterday (and ferry) to where we will now spend Christmas. Ko Samui. We have blown our budget and are staying in fantastic beach side resort. We couldn't have found anywhere nicer and it has exceeded our expectations by far. So much so that we are staying an extra 4 nights, so we will now be here until 27th before we go back to the mainland beach for New Year.

This morning we ate our breakfast by the sea, sat in our shorts and t-shirt. It must make you shiver at home when you think of such attire ;o)

So that's us for the moment. You must all be wondering are we feeling home sick? I'll be honest with you and say yes I am particularly so, Matt is but not as much. But we know that we are home in 5 weeks and back into the rat race and all the last 8 months will be a memory so we intend to make every minute count.

This is my very first Christmas away from home and as much as I have known all along that it would be difficult I didn't realise just how much. So make the most of yours at home with your loved ones and try not to worry too much about us laying at the beach side sipping cocktails to numb the pain he he :o)

Merry Christmas everybody, have a good one Michelle and Matt xx