Thailand Part 2 & Randomness That We Noticed There
It has been nearly a month to the day since we landed in Southeast Asia. So far it has been a hilarious mix of amazement, curiosity, adventure, comedy, and (rarely) downright frustration.
Usually when we travel, we tend not to stay in one place very long, rather hop around and visit as many different towns as we can. Of course, Thailand is no different, so after Pattaya, we packed up the following day, said goodbye to Bangkok, and hopped on a train for the 11-hour ride north through the mountains to Chiang Mai. Thailand's trains are charming (old) diesel things that would be more at home in a history museum, alas...the ride up was comfortable and uneventful - aside from the poor lady chucking up her lunch in the seat across from us.
We felt bad for her - her companion apologised profusely and unfortunately I had nothing to offer to make things a little easier for her, but the train security dude was extremely compassionate and kept checking on them for the duration of their ride. Even other passengers that got on later offered help and cheerful conversation. Thailand at its best. It really is the "land of 1000 smiles".
In Chiang Mai, we bobbed and weaved our way through the throngs of tuk-tuk drivers outside the train station, and made a beeline for what we thought was the exit to the street. There was a short fence between us and the sidewalk, and I wasn't about to go all the way back around (and through the mob of tuk-tuk drivers) again, so in true Teresa fashion, I said "screw it" and hopped the fence and made good our escape. In my brilliant planning, I booked us a sweet little spot 8 minutes' walk away, and we arrived at the Rainforest Boutique Hotel, an absolute gem of an oasis. The weather was noticeably cooler, by about ten degrees..but luckily I had the forethought throw a long-sleeved Tshirt into my backback at the last minute. We wrapped up the day with a lovely dinner poolside.
Every trip involves some sort of physical outdoorsy stuff, so this time we were collected from our hotel and taken to a cycle shop where we were given bikes and helmets, then sent up Doi Pui Mountain in the back of a pickup truck. The temperature dropped another ten degrees as we climbed the windy, misty roads up to 1500 metres. In full safety gear, we started our descent down; easy paved roads at first, but then that quickly changed to mud, sand, gravel, rocks, boulders and streams. "Moderate" they said. Really? Our guides were two hilarious Thais that kept us giggling the whole way down. We stopped for lunch and a well-deserved beer next to Huay Tung Tao Lake, a little restaurant apparently well-loved by locals.
Dirty, dusty, muddy, and little sore but somewhat triumphant, we hauled our tired butts back into the truck and waited at the cycle to be taken to our homestay for the evening. Mae Kampong Village is a beautiful, lush secluded mountain settlement along the main narrow windy road. Our house was a woody, open-air three-storey cabin-like structure. We took advantage of the hot shower, had a delicious home-cooked meal, and finished the evening with much-needed Thai massages on the living room floor. At one point during the massage I opened my eyes and found the family cat nestled in my armpit - animals are a big part of the family here.
The following day, we were collected and taken to get fitted for harnesses and helmets, and spent the morning zip lining through the forest canopy. It was an absolutely stunning and exhilarating outing! Tired and dirty (again) we found our accommodation back in the city of Chiang Mai for the next two days; a cute little guesthouse and a room with nothing more than a couple of Thai mattresses!
Chaing Mai is a bustling little city of temples. Not as busy as Bangkok, but busy enough to cause a headache when crossing the street. We spent the first day wandering around visiting markets, where I found a beautiful Thai silk duvet set, and the second day we rented a 2015 850cc Yamaha FZ09.
!!!
Google Maps showed us the way to Chiang Rai, the next town North, and we were on our way. I spent most of the time laughing my head off because I felt like we were going so fast, we would go through a time warp (really). We visited the White Temple, a stunning masterpiece of art and sculpture; a temple painted white, covered in thousands of tiny mirrors with amazingly detailed sculptures and reliefs.
We'h heard about a waterfall nearby as well, so we hopped back on the bike and headed to Khun Korn Forest Park. With the limited time we had, we figured we'd walk there, grab some photos, and walk back to the parking lot. NOOOOOOOOObody said anything about climbing or crossing streams on broken bamboo footbridges with nothing to hold onto! Luckily it was worth the trek, and we were refreshed and ready to hit the road.
We raced (literally) back to Chiang Mai with 10 minutes left on our rental (I think we hit 157 kph at one point) and packed up in preparation for our return to Bangkok the following evening.
Our train back was a first-class sleeper cabin, and I think I had the most comfortable sleep ever there. Maybe it had something to do with the rocking of the train, but I woke up with the sunrise refreshed and ready to face the Bangkok crowds again! Our next stop was to head to the airport for our flight to Phnom Penh...
RANDOMNESS
1. Nobody gets left behind! Four people and a lawn mower on a motorbike? No problem.
2. Dogs really are man's best friend. If you're scared of dogs, don't go to Bangkok.
3. There's a massive shopping mall every six feet in Bangkok. No joking.
4. Moto taxis! What a brilliant way to provide quick, cheap (regulated) transportation. Just look out for dudes in bright orange vests, and there's often a line of people waiting.
5. Traffic! And lots of it. Like, every hour is rush hour. Seriously.
6. Thais have the strictest work ethic I've ever seen. They hustle for their Baht, though sometimes pushy and agressive, but I realised that their food carts and market stalls are their livelihood - so I politely say "no thanks" with a smile and keep walking when they try to sell us knockoff designer watches a a "special price just for you".
7. An extreme amount of Thai women draw on their eyebrows in interesting brown-red shades.
8. "Shoilets" - a toilet in a shower, with a little power sprayer to wash everything down. We quickly learned to hide the toilet paper when getting a shower (!) Going into a public restroom and finding everything wet is a little unsettling, since you never know if it's just water spray or another kind of spray. I wonder though if the locals' bathroom habits were so messy that they decided that a permanent spary hose in the bathroom was necessary?? LOL
9. Don't expect a private room when you go for a Thai message...you get a curtain to separate you and the next person. Clients all lie in a row, with the masseuses chattering away in Thai.
10. Thailand really is the land of 1000 smiles. The locals are helpful and friendly when they're not trying to sell you something. They're always interested in where you are from, and most of them have in fact heard of Bermuda - unlike many Americans I come across.
Usually when we travel, we tend not to stay in one place very long, rather hop around and visit as many different towns as we can. Of course, Thailand is no different, so after Pattaya, we packed up the following day, said goodbye to Bangkok, and hopped on a train for the 11-hour ride north through the mountains to Chiang Mai. Thailand's trains are charming (old) diesel things that would be more at home in a history museum, alas...the ride up was comfortable and uneventful - aside from the poor lady chucking up her lunch in the seat across from us.
We felt bad for her - her companion apologised profusely and unfortunately I had nothing to offer to make things a little easier for her, but the train security dude was extremely compassionate and kept checking on them for the duration of their ride. Even other passengers that got on later offered help and cheerful conversation. Thailand at its best. It really is the "land of 1000 smiles".
In Chiang Mai, we bobbed and weaved our way through the throngs of tuk-tuk drivers outside the train station, and made a beeline for what we thought was the exit to the street. There was a short fence between us and the sidewalk, and I wasn't about to go all the way back around (and through the mob of tuk-tuk drivers) again, so in true Teresa fashion, I said "screw it" and hopped the fence and made good our escape. In my brilliant planning, I booked us a sweet little spot 8 minutes' walk away, and we arrived at the Rainforest Boutique Hotel, an absolute gem of an oasis. The weather was noticeably cooler, by about ten degrees..but luckily I had the forethought throw a long-sleeved Tshirt into my backback at the last minute. We wrapped up the day with a lovely dinner poolside.
Every trip involves some sort of physical outdoorsy stuff, so this time we were collected from our hotel and taken to a cycle shop where we were given bikes and helmets, then sent up Doi Pui Mountain in the back of a pickup truck. The temperature dropped another ten degrees as we climbed the windy, misty roads up to 1500 metres. In full safety gear, we started our descent down; easy paved roads at first, but then that quickly changed to mud, sand, gravel, rocks, boulders and streams. "Moderate" they said. Really? Our guides were two hilarious Thais that kept us giggling the whole way down. We stopped for lunch and a well-deserved beer next to Huay Tung Tao Lake, a little restaurant apparently well-loved by locals.
Dirty, dusty, muddy, and little sore but somewhat triumphant, we hauled our tired butts back into the truck and waited at the cycle to be taken to our homestay for the evening. Mae Kampong Village is a beautiful, lush secluded mountain settlement along the main narrow windy road. Our house was a woody, open-air three-storey cabin-like structure. We took advantage of the hot shower, had a delicious home-cooked meal, and finished the evening with much-needed Thai massages on the living room floor. At one point during the massage I opened my eyes and found the family cat nestled in my armpit - animals are a big part of the family here.
The following day, we were collected and taken to get fitted for harnesses and helmets, and spent the morning zip lining through the forest canopy. It was an absolutely stunning and exhilarating outing! Tired and dirty (again) we found our accommodation back in the city of Chiang Mai for the next two days; a cute little guesthouse and a room with nothing more than a couple of Thai mattresses!
Chaing Mai is a bustling little city of temples. Not as busy as Bangkok, but busy enough to cause a headache when crossing the street. We spent the first day wandering around visiting markets, where I found a beautiful Thai silk duvet set, and the second day we rented a 2015 850cc Yamaha FZ09.
!!!
Google Maps showed us the way to Chiang Rai, the next town North, and we were on our way. I spent most of the time laughing my head off because I felt like we were going so fast, we would go through a time warp (really). We visited the White Temple, a stunning masterpiece of art and sculpture; a temple painted white, covered in thousands of tiny mirrors with amazingly detailed sculptures and reliefs.
We'h heard about a waterfall nearby as well, so we hopped back on the bike and headed to Khun Korn Forest Park. With the limited time we had, we figured we'd walk there, grab some photos, and walk back to the parking lot. NOOOOOOOOObody said anything about climbing or crossing streams on broken bamboo footbridges with nothing to hold onto! Luckily it was worth the trek, and we were refreshed and ready to hit the road.
We raced (literally) back to Chiang Mai with 10 minutes left on our rental (I think we hit 157 kph at one point) and packed up in preparation for our return to Bangkok the following evening.
Our train back was a first-class sleeper cabin, and I think I had the most comfortable sleep ever there. Maybe it had something to do with the rocking of the train, but I woke up with the sunrise refreshed and ready to face the Bangkok crowds again! Our next stop was to head to the airport for our flight to Phnom Penh...
RANDOMNESS
1. Nobody gets left behind! Four people and a lawn mower on a motorbike? No problem.
2. Dogs really are man's best friend. If you're scared of dogs, don't go to Bangkok.
3. There's a massive shopping mall every six feet in Bangkok. No joking.
4. Moto taxis! What a brilliant way to provide quick, cheap (regulated) transportation. Just look out for dudes in bright orange vests, and there's often a line of people waiting.
5. Traffic! And lots of it. Like, every hour is rush hour. Seriously.
6. Thais have the strictest work ethic I've ever seen. They hustle for their Baht, though sometimes pushy and agressive, but I realised that their food carts and market stalls are their livelihood - so I politely say "no thanks" with a smile and keep walking when they try to sell us knockoff designer watches a a "special price just for you".
7. An extreme amount of Thai women draw on their eyebrows in interesting brown-red shades.
8. "Shoilets" - a toilet in a shower, with a little power sprayer to wash everything down. We quickly learned to hide the toilet paper when getting a shower (!) Going into a public restroom and finding everything wet is a little unsettling, since you never know if it's just water spray or another kind of spray. I wonder though if the locals' bathroom habits were so messy that they decided that a permanent spary hose in the bathroom was necessary?? LOL
9. Don't expect a private room when you go for a Thai message...you get a curtain to separate you and the next person. Clients all lie in a row, with the masseuses chattering away in Thai.
10. Thailand really is the land of 1000 smiles. The locals are helpful and friendly when they're not trying to sell you something. They're always interested in where you are from, and most of them have in fact heard of Bermuda - unlike many Americans I come across.
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