A slice of Pai

Sat 24 Jan 2015

Off to Pai. Got a taxi to the bus station, terminal 2 to get the 12.30 minibus. This is our bus and driver behind sticking his tummy out.

    All aboard

We booked the seats behind the driver, the buses have aircon, but Matts got a window he can open and I've got a view straight ahead, thought that'd be a good idea with 762 bends coming up. Don't want breakfast coming up!

The only person who was sick was a Thai girl next to me and she managed to hold on til the checkpoint.

We arrived in Pai around 4pm. First impressions were 'oh shit we're at Glastonbury', lots of crusty hippie westerners trying to grow dreadlocks. 

Couldn't get a moped from AYA (the big rental company just up from the bus station), all the bikes were out. Same response from other places, it seems Saturday's are busy. We needed one as we're staying out of town at Bueng Pai Farm (This place was recommended to us by a lady called Paula we met at Tri Gong). We sat and had a coffee in CafeIn, a cute little place and the lady rang Run (he and his wife Orn run Bueng Pai Farm) came to pick us up in this, a motorbike with a cart attached. 

He was chuckling and said 'either you are very heavy...or the bags are very heavy!' Matt said it was the bags, hehe. 

Hehe...he nearly crashed us into a barrier by the farm!

He whizzed us around a few other places to try and find a bike, none to be had, so off we went to Bueng. Bungalow 2 was to be our home for a few days...

    Aaaaahh, and relax, the view from no.2

    Even the hammocks are smiling

Runs mate dropped us into town later, we ate and managed to get a moped, yay.

Sun 25

Oh no.....food poisoning. Really bad, both ends and a fever. Bed ridden all day. Matt fished on the verandah inbetween running in and out when I was sick. He zipped into town on the moped to get antibiotics from the pharmacy, £1!

Bit better next day but still ropey, chilled out all day, Matt fished.

   One of several that didn't get away

Tues 27

Went out on moped...

    Wat Prah Mae Yen, the Buddah on the hill

    Pom Bok Waterfall

Stopped at Thoms Elephant place for lunch, you can ride the Elephants, but we've decided against doing this touristy thing as not sure about the Elephant welfare. This place seemed pretty good in that no iron seats are put on their backs, you ride bareback, and they're not chained up, but they're still in pens for the day until people come to ride them, then they're loaded up with three people at a time. 

We're gonna wait and hopefully see them in the wild at some point.

   Moped practice

    Hey! Hay stack

Hehe, counted 14 ghekos on our verandah tonight! Ghekkotastic :-)

Weds 28

Moved to bungalow 6 today as ours is booked out. Lovely view..

    Morning mist on the lake

Off on the moped again, to Sappong, a picturesque windy mountain road. Bum ache from being on the bike too long!

    Bamboo bridge, Pai

   The life of Pai

Had dinner at Bueng with Paula, she prepared a meal for us, a well travelled American lady who lived in Pai for a while, she even helped open a school here.

Thurs 29

Bus back to Chiang Mai today, 11am, had our last breakfast at Bueng Pai Farm, hard to tear ourselves away from this idyll. We booked 3 days originally, then extended to 4...then 5. Run dropped our bags to the bus station for us, we dropped the moped back.

We really enjoyed Our time in Pai, apart from the vomiting bit. Can see why people end up stuck here for a while, the guy on the bus next to me had been there for 3 months! I wished the girl behind us had stayed there, she threw up all the way to Chiang Mai :-/.

Stayed at Tri Gong (the place we stayed before) just for the night, off to Chiang Rai romorrow.

Had a pizza! A little place with a wood fired oven, made a nice change.

Fri 30

Green bus to Chiang Rai 12.15. A large bus with aircon, it was too cold! Got off when the bus stopped at Chiang Rai Bus station, not realising that they're are two stations, we were 5 km from town, easily remedied with a Tuktuk ride into town. 

Found a room at Orchids, 500tb a night. Near the Night Baazar, which is fantastic. Best night market so far, they have a central seating area, then food stalls all around the outside and a live music stage. You can get food and drink from different vendors. 

We had our first insect!!! I saw a girl buy some crickets and asked what they were like, she offered us to try. They actually taste nutty, no chewiness at all and you can't feel the legs once it's in your mouth. That's what I was worried about. These were quite small, I don't fancy the big ones, he had some that looked like giant cockroaches. Uugh.

Just off the food area is a massive market stall area selling all sorts, some beautiful textiles and materials from the hill tribes. Matt tried on a pair of baggy thai trousers, they were so big he asked the stallholder to climb in with him! ...he didn't buy them.

All in all a feast for the senses.

Chiang Mai

Tues 20 jan

Arrived in Chiang Mai

Tri Gong Residence is our home for 4 nights, inside the old city perimeter which is separated by a canal all the way around. We've got a nice room upstairs, right on the end, en suite, small balcony so Matt can smoke! tb600 a night. Free coffee and bottled water, nice guy, Adam owns the place.

Our favourite place for breakfast, just around the corner form us is Natures Way (KNature), do seek it out if you come to Chiang Mai, the food is amazing, all natural, ingredients just plucked from the fruit basket and shelves and cooked fresh in minutes! Vast menu, the Banana and Cinamon pancake is fabulous, also the Thai sticky rice, mango and coconut milk. 

    Sticky rice and mango

   Banana and Cinamon pancake mmmmmmmm

    This guy likes it, he's here every morning! Matt calls him double decker Dave!

The city is fairly easy to walk around, we zig zagged through diagonally to the park. 

Street markets where you can get a cheap meal in the evening, all the Thais descend on their mopeds, whole family aboard! Some kids riding mopeds, they look about 10!

    Wat wat wat!

                                                              

    Believe it or not this is not a real person, it's a fibre glass replica, never seen anything like it!

    I had to stare at it for ages to believe it. So life like, even the hairs and tiny whiskers on chin!

   Chilling in the Temple gardens, oddly listening to 'didn't we nearly have it all' by Whitney Houston, Buddist version played on something similar to a sitar, surreal.

   Matt didn't see this until it was too late!

            ............. Only joking ;-)

       This scaffolding is all made out of bamboo

Thursday 22

Went up to Doi Suthep, a temple up the mountain, left around 8.30 to beat the crowds. The Songthaews ( bigger than a tuk tuk with bench seats) wanted 6-700 To go up and back, but we got a private guy, Su, with a Toyota Hilux to take us for 300, he waited for us for an hour whilst we looked around. He kept telling us how poor he was, Matt kept laughing and said 'nice truck though'. He told us he works selling fruit on the market 4-7am then tries to drive tourists for extra money. We gave him a tip.

    The steps up to Doi Suthep

    Nearly there

    Another Buddah

                                             

       Coffee time, yeah

We've only learnt a few phrases since we've been here, hello, thank you, how much etc. 

Matt finds it easy to remember as everything ends in what sounds like 'crap' for a male. Thank you sounds like 'cop coon crap'. He loves that.

Fri 23

Breakfast at our usual place, the owner gave me this fruit after I asked her what it was, she looked up the English  translation, it is...........

    Nipple fruit or Titty fruit!

Breakfast over, off to the Bus station to advance book tickets for Pai tomorrow.

Walked 40 mins to the 'Arcade bus station' or 'New terminal' they call it, out of the old city, there are two terminals, 2 and 3, as luck would have it we arrived at terminal 2 which happened to be the one we needed :-).

We were planning to get a normal bus as the journey is on a particularly windy road, with about 96 hair pin bends! But...there is only one normal bus a day leaving at 7am, don't want to rush in the morning so opted for one of the orange and White mini vans. 150tb each. Apparently lots of people are sick on this journey, hope we're not unlucky!

Got a Songthaew back into the centre, near the Tha Phae Gate on the outskirts of the old city, started walking the wrong way, realised, then crossed over the water into the old city limit.

Lucky for Matt we took that wrong turn, as he forgot to bring filter tips with him and they are really really hard to come by out here. Walking along I spotted a paper shop selling cigarettes, tobacco and rizlas. We asked, not thinking they would have any filters.. But they did...a very very happy Matt...

                                  

                                     You can get filter tips in Chiang Mai!!!

On Moon Muang road at the little shop next to Queen Bee  hire...

                         

Sorry to bore everyone with that but it's a desperate topic on trip advisor!

Matt stocked up with 5 packets of rizlas and 5 packs of filters.

Went to the Muay Thai boxing tonight, crazy atmosphere. They have a band that's plays

all the way through the fights, altering the tempo to suit the fight and really loud music in between.

They really mean business, saw 3 knockouts. 400tb each, well worth it.

    Wished I'd bet on the fights, got all winners apart from one! 

     Watch a bit of the Swiss guy vs the Thai here. http://youtu.be/ke5LzRVnLR4 and the last round here https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bzl260Y-_pd3RUlOQmdmTWlrLWc/edit?usp=docslist_api

Off to bed now, getting the bus to Pai tomorrow 12.30pm, night night, Milly x

Bye bye Bangkok

A few more pics from Bangkok...

    River taxis on the Chao Phraya river, any distance tb30 (30p)

               

   Wat Pho, reclining Budda

    Kho San Road, reclining Matt

    China town

   Tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk tuk

Sat 17 Jan

Leaving Bangkok...

Got on water taxi to pier 4 for Hua Lampong Station, tried some fried fish balls (balls of fish that is. Not fish bollocks, although if fish had bollocks the Chinese would eat them) from a vendor at the station. Disgusting, spat them out. Jumped on a train to Ayutthaya, about 2hr trip, sat in reclining leather chairs, only 65 baht. (£1.30). Vendors go up and down, up and down, up and down all day selling their wares...coffee, orange juice, fish balls, sausages, boiled eggs with sauce, rotis, rice meals, you name it, they sell it.

   Vendor on the train selling coke and water..

    This monk pinched a Cadandian guys seat. No way he was budging. Hehe.

    Arrived in Ayutthaya

Staying in a Thai/Chinese homestay 'Ban are gong', two min walk from the station. What a lovely place, it's 100 year old teak house, complete with a restaurant terrace right on the water.

We're one min from the ferry that goes back and forth to the old city where the ruins and Wats (temples) are. Wat wat wat! 

Checked in, jumped on the ferry and had a wander around up to the park and Kings palace, had an amazing Thai iced coffe in the park, they strain the coffee through a muslin bag and add condensed milk, delicious over lots of ice.

The tuk tuks here are crazy, some have neon lights all over and they seem to be having a competition on who can play the loudest music. Mental. Had dinner at ours chilling on the balcony, met some Aussies who LOVED to talk. Ear plugs are a must here, not just for the talkative Aussies! the walls are a wood panel thick, you can hear everything. Slept ok'ish though.

   Terrace at Baan are gong, and view.....

Sun 18

Rented a moped for the day, 150tb, including helmets. I had a little go on a really quiet road, my first ever go on a moped!

Toured around to see the sights...

    ... Here's a sight!!

    

                    

    Wat Lokayasutha, another lazy Buddah

 

   .... and another

Iced Coffee stop...50p!  Phil you're charging too much! Hehe ;-)

Mon 19

Pad Thai for breakfast, lazy morning before getting the train to Lopburi, thought we'd try 3rd class with the locals, 20p for an hours trip, stood up for a while, but soon got a bench seat.

This town has a gang of resident Macques..they are everywhere, climbing the wires, in the road, overhead on buildings. Hundreds of them. Scary. Big teeth. They pinched one guys food. I took some pics on my camera but the SD card is playing up and I cant access them.

Really cheap dinner from street cart before train 50tb for us both, that's £1. Sorry if I keep going on about the prices, but I just can't get over how cheap it is!

Jumped on the 20.40 sleeper train to Chiang Mai, it was only ten mins late. We got 'train 1, special express', it stops at fewer stations. Lower bunks are a must, they are wider and more spacious.

   In our little dens for the night, cosy! 

Settled in for a twelve hour trip, I slept pretty well, Matt not so well. The train is very wobbly and noisy.

Only cost £16 though, cheaper than flying and you save the room cost for the night. Awoke at 6am to see a completely different landscape of forests and misty mountains in the distance.

Tues 20

Arrived 08.15, decided to walk a bit, ended up walking the forty mins to our guesthouse, Tri Gong. The bed is nice and soft, Matt is happy, so far they've all been rock hard!

On first impressions Chiang Mai seems a lot more chilled out than Bangkok. Bit cooler too as we're much further North. 

Matt's having a doze whilst I catch up with the blog, cheers for now, Milly.