day 192, Pai

Had a big day planned and woke up early to crack on with it. Drove to the train station in order to see if the motorbike place had a bike for me to take up to Pai, they did! Drove back to the first bike rental place to return yesterday’s bike, walked back to the hostel for Galen to take me back to the train station and pick up my bike, back to the hostel and pack up my bag and drive it back to the train station for them to take my bag to Pai on the minivan, then back to the hostel to meet Galen, what a palava! We started on the drive all wrapped up as it was going to get cold and set off to cover the 190odd km ride. It was really fun, I clocked my bike at 105kmh and we were stopping off at places to take pictures and chill out. We stopped off half way along at a waterfall which was pretty impressive, then carried on our way up the winding mountain roads. Getting higher and higher it got bloody cold and started raining so we stopped off for some lunch at a roadside café before continuing. Really enjoyed the ride, bloody spectacular views and 5 hours later arrived in Pai just as the sun was emerging. It reminded me of Yangshuo and is lovely, we drove through the town and out about a km away down a little path was Spicy Pai hostel, and it is insane. It reminds me of my favourite grand designs, the one with Ben and he burns charcoal and builds this sick house with the massive a-frame wood workshop, and it’s exactly like that. The common room is one big A-frame with no walls either end, and there’s hammocks and cushions and just chilling out, the dorm rooms look like wooden spaceship similar to the ones off Independence Day and has beds at different levels which is so fucking cool. There were a lot of people from Chiang mai here, so spent the afternoon just chilling out and chatting, walked into town to pick up my luggage, had some awesome soup, got some beers and went back to the hostel to sit round a bonfire while Pong the hostel owner gave us a history talk about Thailand which was cool, before more chatting and hanging out, called the family and went to bed.

the dorm, mine's the one on teh right with my shit everywere

view on the way into Pai 

the waterfall on the way, sadly that's not me

the common room

day 191, Chiang Mai

Had an ambitious day lined up, me Andy and Galen went and hired scooters and set off for Thailand’s highest peak. It was a 2 hour ride which was really fun. We entered the National park and started winding up the mountains crossing the river and seeing beautiful countryside. We were almost out of gas so went in search and after 40mins and some fried chicken found an automatic petrol pump and filled up. We then gave up as Galen had a dental appointment and he was the map man who knew how to get back (incidentally Galen is from the states and he’s getting his dental work done over here to a really high standard and together with his 3 month backpacking trip it’s costing the same as it would do in the US). It was a good ride back though started to get a sore arse, chilled out at the hostel for a bit and started to make plans for tomorrow. I’m going to head to Pai which is about 4hours away, I’ve booked into the hostel and tomorrow morning will hopefully rent a scooter so I can ride up with Galen while they take your luggage for you. Apart from the petrol it’s the same cost as taking the bus, though a fuck load funner and you can stop off whenever you want for a waterfall or whatever. Me and Andy went to an organic vegetarian place which was lovely and went in search of the saints game, though is not on tv at all, grr. Sat in the hostel catching up on emails, admin and planning the next few days plus reading up on Laos.

day 190, Chiang Mai

Got up earlyish to get the most out of our bikes which we had till one. Becky and Sarah were still sleeping so myself, Graham and Andy set off for the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, one of the most well known temples in Chaing Mai, which was alright, it was a really cool wind-y drive up there, we had a look around and then carried on and ended up at this little village which we parked up and had a walk around, before going to this little street restaurant, got a curry and it was fantastic. Had a cracking ride back to the bike rental place and chilled out for a couple of hours. Sat in the hammock listening to some music nodding off. Went for a wander with Becky then met up with everyone for Irish Dave’s leaving do. He’s been staying and working at the hostel for the last month and is a lovely bloke. 24 of us piled into a southaew, a pick up truck converted with benches and a roof, myself and 3 others were stood on the tail gate clinging to the roof. We went to the riverside bar which was really cool, had a great meal and  beer. There was some live music which was cool then we went to the night bazaar. Had a mosie round plus an ice cream before jumping home in a tuk tuk.

day 189, Chiang Mai

Woke up feeling surprisingly fresh, wandered downstairs as had planned with Becky and Sarah to have a gander round town though Galen is getting a moped and going to a cave and a hot spring, Andy the Scottish bloke is joining him, had a word with Becky and Sarah and we headed off to go rent some bikes. We got 3 bikes with the two girls on the back and headed off in search of gas. It was a really cool ride out in the country, cruising past crops and farmers working the land just taking it all in. Arrived at the cave and walked up the stairs, the cave was bloody massive, you go down a really steep staircase into the cave and it is huge, had a massive Buddha and other cool shit down in there. We got back on the bikes and headed to the hot springs, where they have a 105 degree spring where people boil their eggs, they had a mineral pool which was really awesome and silky smooth and bathed in there for a while. Got some bbq chicken and rode back to the hostel. We went to a thai bbq which was fabulous, it was a massive warehouse with tables full of food where you can get everything from ready cooked meat and veg to raw meat and veg and a bbq on your table and you bbq it yourself. It was pay your 4 quid and it’s all you can eat, including ice cream and cakes and all you can drink (soft drinks), they had live music and was fantastic. Walked back to the hostel with a heavy belly and monged out, some people were going to Thai boxing but didn’t fancy it, watched Forrest Gump and called Jason as it were his birthday.

day 188, Chiang Mai

Slept pretty well and joined the aussies plus Jason’s gf Michelle who was sleeping last night to chill out and play a few more hands of hearts before I taught them shithead. The train was 4 hours late so arrived around midday. For some unknown reason I decided to walk to the hostel to get my bearings and was good to be off the train after 17 hours, it took me an hour and 45 mins and was bloody hot, though the hostel is really cool and full of people who are mostly travelling on their own which is awesome, it’s like a European hostel. Within 10 mins I was out at a local restaurant eating dinner with 5 people, a Scottish bloke who’s sound called Andy, irish Dave and american dude Galen, a girl from leeds called Amy and another Scottish lad called graham. After showering and sitting in the laundrette people were going out for dinner, we walked through a fair thing which was cool, ended up a restaurant outside, there were around 12 of us including sarah and becky the Canadians that i met in Bangkok. Had a really nice dinner and few drinks before moving off to a bar where another couple of drinks and shared buckets later which the owner of the hostel got in and I was smashed, enjoying myself just chatting to people. All together walked back to the hostel and passed out on the couch, where I woke the next day at 9 to crawl up to bed for another couple of hours kip.

day 187, Bangkok

As my train was at 6 I checked out of the hostel, dumped my bag and went off to do a few things. I got some cash, met up with Bryce, a Canadian bloke at the other hostel who is also off to Chiang Mai tonight on the later train. Walking around I got some Chinese food, then on the way back to the hostel to watch a film I saw a barbers full of thai people, my hair was getting a bit long so thought I’d nip in for cut. I sat in the only free chair and this little thai lady put the cape on me and pointed to the nine worst hair cuts I have ever seen, all thai men with bone cuts on a poor black and white photocopy, I couldn’t leave as I was already sat down and caped, so I pointed to the least creepy one and she set to work. The chair was not steady and I was sat down for 2 hours while she shaved me through a comb, then gave me a wet shave which was really good and cleaned my ears, however I look like  a right knobber. Went back to the hostel and chilled out before jumping into a cab to go to the train station. On the night train I listened to a few tunes then joined 3 aussies from Sydney, Dave, Jason and Perry, played some hearts with them then moved to the dinner cart which was transformed into the karaoke kart, it had fairy lights and shit loud music and people drinking and shouting and was a good laugh.

day 186, Bangkok

The morning was spent eating a bit of breakfast in the café which is attached to the hostel while watching the King’s birthday parade on tv. It was happening just round the corner from where I am staying though there was no point of actually going out and seeing it myself, as all that happened were loads of people crowd the streets and the king drives by in a minivan to the grand palace where entry is restricted and they have a big ceremony. It was cool to see on tv and it reminded me of something that goes on in Britain relating to our Queen. Made a decision to go to Chiang Mai tomorrow so walked to the train station and bought my ticket. Originally I wanted to take the day train as I read it was loads cheaper and I wouldn’t mind a bit of window gazing, though when I got there the day seat was almost the same price as the sleeper train so went for the latter option. Walked back and chilled out at the hostel escaping the sweltering heat, then late afternoon walked down to the other hostel to meet up with Karen, Mark, Aleen and Bryce, went out for some dinner then walked over to see the festival thing they had going. The roads were closed and there were hundreds of thousands of people, thousands of Chinese lanterns were going up, massive spotlights and lasers were roaming the skies and they had a big stage in a park with different acts going on. They had banned drinking on the streets and I didn’t see any alcohol whatsoever, everyone was in a chilled out mood and walking about or chilling on the grass. It was a great evening, really enjoyed it. Unfortunately there wasn’t any massive fireworks that  I was hoping for, there were a couple that went off that were cool though not in any real quantity. Oh, when we were eating dinner the owners of the restaurant and everyone else in the street came out with a candle and sang a song for the King, it wasn’t happy birthday though was very strange, they do love their king over here (it’s an criminal offence to criticize him) and they have the national anthem before every movie at the cinema!

day 185, bangkok

Rather then heading for Chiang Mai I’ve decided to stay two nights as it’s the king’s birthday on Monday and there’s a national holiday and abit of a party for it. The hostel that I’ve been staying at was fully booked so I spent the morning checking out places to stay. Found a really cool hostel about 30mins away, walked in the bleeding heat and flopped down on the sofa and put a film on. I watched the hangover 2 more out of obligation then desire and it was fucking awful. In the evening I walked back to the hostel I was previously at and met up with Chris and Mark, Chris being a really cool german bloke who’s living in Beijing, and Mark a manc now living in London, went out for dinner then headed back to call home and watch some football.

sidenote

hello! arrived in Laos yesterday, arrived in luang prabang this morning in the horrible early hours, settled in and met with scottish andy from chaing Mai. internet still works in patches so will update when possible. x

day 184, Bangkok

The other day I lost my lip balm and over the lat couple of days it’s been pissing me off. I did a bit of google-ing and found that Burts Bees has a shop in Bangkok, so that was the mission of the day. I got a map from the tourist info centre and selected other bits of interest to see on the way there and on the way back. I walked for about an hour and half and ended up at the MBK centre, Bangkok’s largest mall which is mostly all the knock off shit that you get up and down Khao san road though with air conditioning. From there I walked down the street to the Siam complex and Siam Paragon, found Burts bees and the one I wanted was “finished”, for fucks sake. More annoyed then I probably should have been I set off for the robot building, though when I was walking the sun was proper in my eyes and again pissing me off. I haven’t been with a pair of sunglasses since Krakow when I stood on them so I set about looking for a pair. I tried loads on, all of the fake shit which were shit (and there is no point having fake sunglasses as it is wank for your eyes) and some real stuff, ended up at the Oakley store and comparing shit loads I hesitantly spontaneously splashed out. From there I walked to the robot building which was cool though you couldn’t get the best view of it as it had the sky train dissecting it in the middle, caught the ferry back up to Khao San road. At the hostel they were having a bit of a party and joined in, played a few games, some bbq, chatted to a few people and headed out for a night on town, didn’t feel like drinking very much though had a pretty good time, had a boogie which got gatecrashed by a few soon to be ladyboys which was surreal and headed home.

day 183, Bangkok

In the morning we wandered into town to pick up a couple of things, had breakfast back at the apartment place then got a tuk tuk to the bus station to head back to Bangkok. Not learning previous lessons we opted for the minibus option which would drop us off at Khao San Road. The minibus was bloody cramped, it was boiling and they had shit music playing, the bloke drove like a lunatic and we went some bizarre way. Two joyless hours later arrived in Bangkok, I checked into the hostel where I stayed last time I was in Bangkok, went for a walk as matt wanted to buy a few things. Once that was achieved we saw this bar on a balcony and sat there having a few beers, were joined by two cool Mancs then got some street food, matt picked up his bags and got in a taxi to the airport. I had another beer and sat in the hostel, chatted to an American girl called Karen and went to bed.

sidenote

hey y'all, i'm still alive and having a ball, in pai at the mo which is awesome though my internet is not working so have jumped on the communal laptop for 20mins. i'm hopefully going to Laos tomorrow where finger's crossed my internet is back working so i can update properly. x

Day 182, Kanchanaburi

After yesterdays exertions and early morning and with no plans apart from walk over the Bridge we treated ourselves to a lie in, mooched about a bit, got some late brunch and set off for the Bridge over the river Kwai. Again it was a bloody hot day, the walk took us 30mins to get to the bridge then we walked over it and back again. The day was full of ticking off the checklist of things to do,  inspired we walked along the tracks and set about it. First on the list was getting a coconut to drink which was fab, we continued to walk through this market which was full of locals and was half merged with a really shit carnival/fair, it was deserted but there were loads of people about, mixture of sleeping, walking and selling shit. On the way I broke my self imposed ban on fizzy drinks for the comical reason of having to sample a bag of coke. As they get money for the bottle recycling when you buy a soft drink they pour it into a plastic bag, top it up with ice and give you straw, hence you see loads of people going round with a bag of coke and a straw. The drink wasn’t that great but I slurped it with a constant smile/laugh on my face. Consuming our bag of coke we also stopped off for some undistinguishable meat on a stick which we see everywhere, the first was rubbish and was just fat on a bone (on a stick) the second though was sensational, liver charcoaled and it quickly disappeared. Walking back to the riverside room we stopped off at a bar for a beer and a few games of pool, back to mooch at the flat where I’ve booked 2 nights in Bangkok before heading North I think, then back out into the main strip for dinner. Not particularly hungry we stopped off at a bar on the pavement where you sit on upside buckets and had a couple of 10baht whiskeys before going to a cool place for dinner where I had a fantastic fish dish then in for a hours oil massage which was cracking. Back to the pavement bar for more drinks and headed home stopping off at the 7Eleven for cake and milk, watched a bit of facejacker on the internet and crashed out.

Day 181, Kanchanaburi

After fighting temptation to stay in bed still completely knackered we dragged ourselves to breakfast and out to the main road to flag down the bus which would take us to Erawan Falls. The bus ride can only be described as rickety, though did the job and offered really great window gazing. Thus we arrived at Erawan falls just over an hour and a half later, paid our monies and set off for a little trek to the waterfall. Arriving at the first one we hatched the plan to climb up all seven straight off with no swimming in the hope of it being less busy and then swimming in each one on the way down. The climb up was pretty cool, a little bit jungle-y and we rinsed through it pretty quickly stopping to take a picture of each of the waterfalls. At the top we stripped off and jumped in, well hobbled/fell in due to the sharp slippery rocks and the little bastard fishes that liked to nibble you. It was bloody amazing to be swimming underneath a waterfall, and we made our way down to the next one. We skipped 6 and headed to five which was pretty cool, there was a big fallen tree which went right over a cliff which was awesome to walk along, a la jungle book. (I wish I could claim that comparison but I pinched it off Brian’s mass email in which he took a shower under a waterfall in ‘Nam and he said he felt like Mowgli which I loved) Stopping off at number 4 waterfall was by far my favourite, it had two big rocks with the water cascading off them, they looked like an arse, and the water had fashioned two flumes and was amazing to climb up and slide down into the deep clear water, matt has an underwater camera so we mucked about with that for ages and watched some local kids just messing about which was fab. We got a shift on and decided to forgo the next 3 waterfall swimming spots to catch an earlier bus back to the river flat, chilled out and got some dinner and a shake, had a walk around town, beer and some pool, then popped in for an hour’s thai massage before heading to bed.

Day 180, Kanchanaburi

Exiting the bus in Bangkok we jumped straight onboard the bus headed for Kanchanaburi, 3 hours later had arrived to glorious weather, donned Michele and walked in search for a place to crash. The place we wanted to stay only had double beds so we went next door where they had a twin room, so we are staying in a lovely little complex which is actually on the river kwai which our balcony is on! After some breakfast it was about midday, we were both worn out from the bus so thought we’d steal an hours kip, that turned into 5 hours kip, so we thought we’d go for a look around just as the sun set. We walked through the village and ended up at the Bridge on the River Kwai, and accidentally stumbled into the festival. We paid our 20baht and got a seat just to the left of the bridge, which in the darkness was all lit up and had booming music playing. The place filled up and an hour later a short movie started being projected onto a bridge pillar. What followed was a bizarre mix of a light show, a laser show, some kids walking up and down the bridge dressed up as Brits and slaves from the war, some kids on the other side of the river digging a hole, lots of noise and music with gunfire sound effects, then the fireworks started just as a WW2 train was driving across the bridge. At first they were quite small, then when the train had fully exited the bridge they took off, along with Chinese lanterns being let off on the other side by the kids. The noise was deafening, and while not the biggest spread of fireworks I’ve seen was very impressive, my favourite being flying pigeons connected to the bridge from the building behind us, they got fired at the bridge and just as the landed a firework/explosion would go off, it was fucking amazing. As soon as the fireworks had finished all the kids came dancing across the bridge waving all the world countries’ flags to a jolly song which was a great end. We walked back home, went out for some dinner and a beer, off to bed ready for a early morning to visit Erawan falls, a 7 tiered waterfall!

Day 179, Phang Nga

With a packed day in sight we got up early, sneaked a bit of food from the 7eleven and headed to the travel place  where we had booked our trip to Phang Nga bay. A converted pickup with benches picked us up and took us to a pier on the riverside, boarded a creaky long tailed boat manned by a olden thai bloke with a gammy foot. We headed up river and he took us to all the beauty spots and places of interests, through hoards and hoards of Mangrove trees, through caves and showing us bits and pieces on the cliffs, including caveman graffiti.

After a couple of hours we moored to a stationary boat where we hopped into a canoe and this cool bloke paddled us into some caves which was awesome, and we engaged in what I reluctantly describe as banter which was great fun.

Back on board and full steam ahead to Scaramanga’s island from the Man with the Golden Gun, which though it was riddled with tourists and the souvenir tat was awesome, a fantastic little bay with that iconic rock about 50m in front, though unfortunately the big satellite dish focusing the sun’s rays into an all destructive super weapon wasn’t there. I was also disappointed about the lack of The Man with the Golden Gun paraphernalia, it’s known as James Bond island though there was no merchandise, you couldn’t buy a replica golden gun fridge magnet or lighter and think that’s a trick missed. We took the boat back to the pier, stopping off at a fishing village in the middle of the river all on stilts, with it’s accompanying football pitch, for a delightful ice cream, then back to the meeting point after a thoroughly fantastic day.

From there we got some bus tickets to Bangkok for that evening, had some amazing Pad Thai from a grotty thai street cage, chilled out then on the way back from the shop for another water and ice cream run I walked past a local barbers, grab matt and go inside and we both get ourselves a cut throat shave. I hadn’t wet shaved since I can’t remember as I’m rubbish at it and I’m sensitive (in every way) though it was bloody marvellous. It was a little bit strange having someone hold something so sharp very near my eyes and throat, though he did a cracking job including shaving some hair off my ear lobes and the tip of my nose. Matt equally enjoyed his though had to re-iterate the desire to not shave off the Moustache he’s growing for Movember which is actually verging on glorious. (Also his Movember team is called ’Rage against the Mochines’ which I thought was brilliant and am still spending ages trying to come up with something equally good if not better, yet failing.) With baby soft cheeks we again got some food in before making our way to the bus station to catch the bus to Bangkok. Compared to the Nicky fiasco it was a brilliant bus ride, we got the government bus, 1st class with air con and a blanket for half the price as it cost us to come down, and it took the 11 hours as advertised which was bliss.

Day 178, Travelling to Phang Nga

Slept a lot better and refreshed myself in the morning with a cold shower in our outside en suite bathroom before going to Mr Fisherman’s for breakfast and catching a motorbike taxi thing to the pier. We sorted out tickets via a boat and bus to Krabi, chatted to a lovely German girl and boarded our boat. The boat took about 3 hours, then a minibus took us to Krabi Bus station. As soon as we departed the minibus we hopped on a bus that went to Phang Nga, where we found a hotel room, had a bit of dinner, booked a boat trip to Phang Nga bay tomorrow and chatted to the family.

day 177, Koh lanta

As me and matt are sharing a double bed in our Indonesian hut just off the beach I didn’t have the best sleep, though woke up bright and early for a yoga session. It was taking place on a custom built platform again right on the beach, led by the rather miserable british lady who part owned the place with her lovely kind faced husband. There was five of us in total and she took us through the basic philosophy of yoga before getting down and dirty with it. I really enjoyed it and found it pretty difficult, I’m not the most flexible of people and controlling your breath was very hard, though I did expect to be worse and really hope to pick it up as something I do in future. We then treated ourselves to a fancy breakfast before doing absolutely fuck all during the day, it was bloody roasting so we alternated swimming, beaching and just sitting in the bungalow/in the hammock chilling out which was fabulous while planning what to do with the rest of our days (matt leaves on the 3^rd). In the evening we went back to Mr Fisherman’s restaurant just down the road as the food there was superb and the man who ran it (who we nicknamed John) was a fucking dude. No surprise that it was another fantastic meal and a milkshake that probably ranks in my top 3, then we wandered down the road looking for a pub with the football on. Ended up in a Irish bar sat at the bar having a few beers while chatting with the local expats, watched the united Newcastle game which was a cracking game before calling it a night.

day 176, Koh Lanta

Indeed woke up feeling wank, we bought our tickets to Koh Lanta yesterday, packed off and walked down to the pier, boarded our boat and an hour and half later was on Koh Lanta. We commandeered a makeshift motorbike taxi where the bloke had just added a side carriage to his moped which whisked us to our chosen place, somewhere that Lauren, the girl I met in Hiroshima stayed at and said was good, called Sanctuary. We got ourselves a bungalow right on the beach with a hammock hanging outside and headed straight out for a late lunch. Had an amazing curry just down the road then spent the rest of the day chilling on the beach and having a swim. In the evening went out for dinner and had some seafood which was very good, a milkshake then sat on the beachfront looking out into the world before off to bed ready to do my first yoga session tomorrow.

day 175, Koh Phi Phi

With no real plans for the day decided to have a chill out one. Spent the morning walking up to the viewpoint which was really cool, saw monkeys and this duck creature that didn’t look anything like a duck, like a duck crossed with a cockerel but bloody massive. The viewpoint was great, gave a awesome view over the island and the hourglass beaches, treated ourselves to a banana shake then headed to the beach after lunch. Spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening at the beach just chilling and reading. Went for a swim though the water was really shallow and full of rocks for as long as you could go, so settled for just sitting in the water. Walked back up to the bungalow, got a couple of beers and chilled in the glory of air conditioning while watching a bit of Lord of the Rings which was on tele,  went to the town and got dinner, some amazing pizza and another beer. Matt was done in so went back though I fancied a couple more beers, met a aussie group of doctors and hung around with them, went to a couple of bars and clubs on the beach, had a boogie and a few more changs and accidentally got really drunk, stumbled back up to the bungalow in the early hours of the morning, chatted up the porcelain lady before crashing out ready for my Changover tomorrow.

day 174, Koh Phi Phi

After sneaking in breakfast and a little apprehensive about the transport about to show up a lovely minibus with air con rocked up on time, took us through Phuket to the ferry terminal, they put a sticker on us and forwarded us to a slightly beaten up boat that had chairs and air con, a hour and 45mins later we are on Koh Phi Phi! Meandered our way around the people harassing for bungalows and rooms, walked a bit inland and picked up a map with all the resorts/hotels/bungalows listed and picked our favourite and made haste. On the way we got stopped by a van full of people who got picked up at the pier, jumped on board and checked out the wooden shack on top of a hill. After a bit of hard bargaining have a bungalow on stilts amongst modest jungle, 3 beds, tv and air con for 8 quid, happy as larry. Walked into town and down the beach on the north side, then walked to the south beach (the main bit of Ko Phi Phi don is shaped like an hour glass so not very far at all) then walked along the coast, over some rocks to Long beach for a sit down and a swim. On the way back stopped off at a bar/restaurant on the coast, hoping to see the sunset though it repeated it’s trick of yesterday of just disappearing, had some good thai food with a beer and sat there for a while, literally on the beach just looking out. Got chatting to an American/south African couple called mark and Katie, was getting bitten alive so walked back to the bungalow. Matt wasn’t feeling too great and it started to absolutely lash it down so switched the tv on and watched the end of blade 3, nipped in for a shower and when I came out matt was conked out, if you can’t beat ‘em join them so turned in more tired then I realised at nine.