The start of the long trip
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| Saturday 3rd January
Hotel: Shandthi, Khao Sang Road Room Type: Three bedded room200 B Verdict: OK, outside shower and toilet - just bearable Relaxed and treated ourselves today. Went to see 'TITANIC" and enjoyed it!
Hotel: Shandthi, Khao Sang Road Chatachuk weekend market is an endless array of stalls selling everything you can think of. We wanted to spend but could not find much we could buy but have plans to come back here to buy for our future when we are on our way back to Ireland. I did but a present for my parents 30th Anniversary [Well done to you guys]. To wrap the gift I purchased some recycled coloured paper and when the bill came to 154 B I decided I was too tired to bargain. I strategically turned my back to Aisling (our avid and active group bargainer who would not have been impressed with my lack of enthusiasm for the bargaining sport) and took out the exact change from my purse. I had my hand out ready to give the coins but the Thai lady looked shocked - I had not bargained - or argued - so as she held her hand out and I was about to drop those coins she stopped and said 'OK. Special price for you , 140 B' It's a culture over here like or not or try to avoid it if you will. In the afternoon we took a canal boat trip down the beautiful and quaint Bangkok canals. Various women in dinky boats selling drinks and fruit touted us as we swept through the canal. Stopping at the fish feeding area was like revenge of the killer fish (big fish, big and strong). They were about ? metres in length and battered the surface of the water as the fought for huge hunks of bread thrown from the banks. Their energetic rush caused us to get saturated and it was hard to keep our agape mouths shut and not swallow the water. The waterside houses are quietly quaint little house-on-the-prairie meets the east American fishing lodge with decks overhanging the water. The lazy lapping water is edged by families eating on the piers, children playing on the steps into the water, men washing themselves, women washing clothes, dogs stretched lazily, cats curled in the warmth and women exchanging gossip from their respective backyard decks. Terracotta pots brim with blooming buds bursting generous rich colours. But for that fishy smell it is the perfect relaxing life - boat instead of car and gentle breezes and lapping water instead of noisy fumes and traffic. We landed back at the big Cho Phraya River past splendid decorated Wats and Temples lit up by the setting sun.
Hotel: Shandthi, Khao Sang Road Up bright and early (well the morning was hot and humid and we were not so bright) and taxied to the Vietnamese embassy. You can get visas organized by the travel agencies in Kho Sang road but they are more expensive, don't have the correct information and are often unreliable (basically sometimes they just take your money). Cost = 16950B. So it takes 5 days and we can go overland which we were told and still are being told we can't do - but if the Vietnamese embassy gave us a specific point of entry??? You just never know - Watch this space. Jim Thompsons' house is fantastic and worth a visit for anyone coming to Bangkok. This American was in the silk business and made lots of money from it but disappeared without a trace in the Higlands of Malaysia in 67. (After dismissing Tuk-tuk costs of 150 B we finally got a metre-taxi costing 50B to Chinatown - polluted and pungent smells of dead and dried fish made my stomach churn as much as the distorted skeletal meat offerings, birds claws, heads and throats and rats etc…. So we headed back to the road and bought the place dry of T-shirts to cheer my churning up.
Hotel: Shandthi, Khao Sang Road I'm here updating the site and the others have gone to get the Laos visa - the embassy has moved twice in the last year and it is very hard to get the correct location. Be warned - it is very far away. Visas take 2-3 days and cost 1050 B. You must state the point of entry and they last 15 days.
Back to The Diary South Bangkok has a superb parcel service for all those people who have gone wild shopping. Stamps and great postcards can be bought in local shops everywhere. There are many telephone exchanges and fax facilities on Kho Sang road although not all of them have a call-back facility (which you must pay for). Phone cards are also available in local shops. Email and Interent is accessable at HELLO Cafe on Kho Sang road quite cheaply. There is a scanner there too but it was never working when I was there.
A boat journey down the canals is a must. The silent waters off the main rivers have a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere, wooden houses balance on stilts over lapping water. Residents get around by boat, kids play on wooden stairs above the water and older folks laze in swaying hammocks while pets snooze the afternoon away. If you are trying to get around the city it is often quicker to catch the express boat along the river and then make your own way from one of the many stops to your inland destination.
There are many great one or two day trips from Bangkok One should make an effort to get out while waiting for visas etc. It is too easy to waste time watching videos and shopping in Bangkok. Try not to let this happen. Unless you're a middle aged couple or on business I would not recommend the Rose Gardens as it is very package-tourist and a colourful showy version of Thai culture. Travel and visas Arranging travel around Thailand can be done at any of the tour operatos on Kho Sang road. Be aware of the many horror stories from a lot of travellers about these places. We decided to book a ticket directly from the Southern bus station to the southern islands. However it is as easy and as cheap to book tickets up north in any of the Kho Sang road tour operators. We shopped around for the cheapest and most reliable and bargained down the price. We encountered no difficulties or rip-offs going through the tour operators. We bought our visas for Laos aand Vietnam directly from the embassies which is cheaper and less risky than trusting a third party with your passport.
Tuesday 24th December 1997 Hotel; Bus from Bangkok to Kho Phang Nang via Seurat Thani and Kho Samui We got a bus from the southern bus station to Seurat Thani, across on a boat to Kho Samui and up to Kho Phang Nang. Having left Bangkok at 10pm we arrive after a bumpy journey at 11am on Christmas day. Wednesday 25th to Thursday 1st Janruary 1998 Hotel; Huts, Haatrin east. Room Type: Double room, inside shower and toilet (200B) Verdict: Grand, hot water, outside balcony with hammock provided. Not exactly the Ritz but quaint
This island is supposed to be less Costa del Sol than the nieghbouoring Kho Samui so we headed for this retreat for Christmas. There were hundreds of beautiful people strutting their stuff daily on the beach and wiggling their petite little bums to party music in the beach bars at night. There are plenty of places to eat and watch videos during the day and of course many shops. A boat ride around the island is recommended. It costs about $10 for the day and is really lovely if the weather is in your favour. Included is the chance to scuba dive (equipment provided) off the northern tip of the island. It is also a good opporunity to view the quaint secluded beaches which are accessible only by boat. For a bit of peace and quiet opt for these beach hideaways rather than the more hectic Haatrin and Thong Sala areas. You can also hire motorbikes for 200B to explore the islands' waterfalls and jungles. Be warned, the roads are extremely hilly and dangerous and in the north of the island they are merely sand tracks with areas washed away during the monsoon season. If you dare, be prepared to fall. Notice the scarred people limping around Haatrin!!!!! Friday 2nd to Friday 9th Janì¥Á THAILAND $1 US = 45 Thai Bhats (decreased to 55) 1 Sterling = 78 Thai Bhats
Saturday 20th to Monday 22nd December 1997 Hotel; Welcome Guest House, Kho Sang Road. I recommend that you try to get a hotel off Kho Sang road There are some great spots in monks villas which are much more homely and cultural than the loud Kho Sang road area. Room Type: Double room, outside shower and toilet (200B) Verdict: Sufficient, hot water Bangkok Bangkok has all the mod-cons and facilities of a modern western city, including the traffic jams and pollution. It also has a wealth of things to see, places to visit and hidden adventures. Eating and Entertainment Along Kho Sang Road where all the tourits hang out are many cafes with both thai and western food and most offer videos and football on large screens. There is a lovely Indian restaurant if you prefer the hot Indian food to sweet thai food. It is possible to spend a whole day in these cafes merely watching movies, reading and writing letters. Bangkok also houses all the fast food chains, plenty of McDonalds, KFC, Dunkin Donuts etc.... There are also a few cinema complexes showing current hits in english. The Central Cinema complex on the way to the southern bus station is an impressive high-tech cinema. Of course the more mischevius souls head for the night shows on Pha Pong. Beware of being ripped off. A beer may only cost 70B but they'll try to charge for shows and all kinds of 'extras'. Sight-seeing and Shopping Bangkok is well endowed with plenty of temples and sights. Don't try to see too many Wats or you will be sick of them before you even get out of Bangkok. The Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha are magnificantly gaudy and a great first introduction to Thai style architecture. The Emerald Buddha is a meditating statue about 2 feet in height has been the object of a tug-of-war between the Thais and the Lao since it was found in Chang Rai, Northern Thailand in 1464. It is perched in it's specially made golden gown atop an extremely ornate golden altarpiece bordered by larger gold Buddhas standing in the peace position; elbows to the side, arms out and palms facing upwards. The Audience Hall, the symmetrial Dusit Group, the Goldren Stuppa, the Belfy and all the other buildings in the compound are intricately detailed in metallic coloured tiled mosaics. One has to admire the detail, craftsmanship and restoration work. I found the permanent collection at The National Gallery not as good as the fantastic artworks on display in the Environmental exhibition. Allow a few hours to wander around the National Museum across the road. There are many clothes, crafts or fruit and vegetable markets which you can explore, some at weekends and others being the early morning floating markets.You can get cheap fake designer clothes, watches and jewellery on Kho Sang Road and it's environs. Although local markets are cheaper they mainly cater for local tiny petite figures! Transport and Communications Tuk-tuks on Kho Sang Road try to charge exhorbident prices. We found it very difficult to bargain down to a fair price. Therefore if we did not avail of public transport (boat or bus) we took taxis which have a pick-up fee of 35B and are very cheap thereafter mainly because they don't get very far very quickly in the ridicuously congested traffic of Bangkok. The G.P.O. in sruary 1998 Hotel; Sidthi Hotel Bangkok. Room Type: Three bedded room, outside shower and toilet (200B) Verdict: Bearable, cockroahes and ghekkos only seen in the outside toilet and shower. Lots of interesting graffitti on the doors and walls Bangkok again We wasted a lot of time this week just hanging around. There are many paces to see on day trips including Ayuthaya and the River Kwai. Saturday 10th Janauary 1998 Hotel: Bus to Chang Mai (200B for bus and board the following night in Chang Mai).
Sunday 11th to Friday 16th Janauary 1998 (not including 2 nights on the trek). Hotel: Chang Mai Holiday Guest House Room Type: double room at 140 B (first night free, included in the bus ticket)) Verdict: Good; tempermental hot showers, good people but loads of shouting kids from the schoolyard in the early morning Chang Mai Chang Mai was freezing when we reached the city at 7am. We were collected from the bus station and brought to the Guest House where a humerous business-woman explained the customs, tours, regulations etc. to the group.
There are plenty of places in Chang Mai to eat local and western food. At the night market there is a huge outdoor courtyard with many tables bordered by about 20 stalls, each seperate stalls offering every kind of Asian food. This is a good spot for a crowd in the evening but watch out for the bat droppings. McDonalds and other fast food joints are just aound the corner. Chang Mai has its fair share of pubs both local and pseudo English/German/Irish. We located the Irish pub and had a makeshift Irish Breakie: ham instead of bacon, a single withered sausage, cold scrambled eggs and tomatoes, and a lovely warm bread roll. Also on the menu were tempting spuds garnished with spring onion. This Irish pub is not called, Molly Malones, Scruffy Murphys, Kitty O'Sheas', DarbyO'Gills, The Old Shebeen or anything as imaginative as those usual foreign drinking establishments claiming Irish culture. It was simply titled "Irish Pub", no beating about the mulberry bush. Of course the 'Irish Writers' with Seans' and Jimmys' intense mugs was pride of place on the bar. Other posters of Killarney, Co. Armagh donned the walls as well as the tea cloth with the letter from an Irish lad to his mum writing about the crazy Americans on a piece of cotton! There was a bicycle with a front basket parked outside but alas it belonged to a backpacker and was not part of the decor - an oversight by the manager.
Within the old city walls surrounded by a dried up moat you will come across plenty of Wats and other hidden wonders. Take a taxi up steep windy mountain to Wat Phra that Doi Suthep. Reached by a curvy dragon/serpent lining the 300 steps uphill, this temple is a great Sunday outing for all the family. There is cable-car up to the top if the heart is weak or unwilling. Female monks vend incense, candles, flowers and paper parcels of gold foil to worshippers. The candles and incense are burned under any of the many Budha shrines. Exquisite white single blooms and roses are placed on the outstretched arms of Buddhas and gold foil from the paper parcel is stuck on to the figure. The gold, red and blue metallic temples, stuppas and walkways light up the peaceful relaxed atmosphere. While we sat in one of the Budhist shrines, feet and toes facing away from the figure as is the custom, we were invited to be blessed by Mr Buddhist monk from his seating position to the side. He waived branches tied together and whetted from an urn beside him, chanting a he scattered the droplets over our bended bodies. Markets The day markets in Chanag Mai are located by the moat. Night markets are more expensive and directed towards tourists. You can get trinkets, crafts and clothes everywhere in these. Treks A Description of the 3 day, 2 night trek we did from our hotel ($16) The squeez in the Ute (short for utility vehicle) lasted for 3 hours before coming to a halt at a marketplace in a race with many other vehicles - ute city. Hundreds of backpackers relieved themselves, bought whisky, bog roll, chocolate and water and some fresh fried rice. Boarding the ute again we drove off into the sandy horizon. It was cramped and hot and a few people were ill. Lunch was served by a hot geyser. Eggs were boiled in the bubbling sulphur pool and eaten with the rice. Our final destination was a remote village two mountains to the west of the highest mountain in Thailand (2,500m) which we were warned that we would have to climb in 2 days - a thought which remained in my brain for the followng 32 hours. At 4pm we set off trying to beat the setting sun to reach our destination 3 hours into the vales. Needless to say the mountains gobbled up the sun and our footing failed on many occasions. Arms grabbed at tree trunks, rambling roots and large fresh leaves to steady our wobbling bodies. Wet tiered rice fields bordered colourful mountains and smoke rose from the many fires that had ignited in the hot sharp sunshine. The forest jungle is hot and dry but the leaves exhibit autumnal colours and your pace crackles as you step on the crisp leaves. The Thai farmers here wear the tringular straw hats and walk on raised pathways between rice padies with their burdens balanced at the ends of the bamboo poles about the shoulders - just like the movies (without te American jet fighters and helivcopters buzzing overhead). Lodging for the night resided in wooden teak stilt-houses with a veranda and a welcoming fire. Dinner was served on a large mat before we smoked, sang and drank the night away. Turns were taken at bashing local drums, spluttering in wooden pipes, strumming the guitar and picking at some other similiar but smaller instruments. Accompanied by 14 wailing out of tune voices the result was pretty terrible but the banter was great. We settled down to sleep in our wooden room on woven mats to cover the holes in the floor with something burning to keep scorpions at bay. A version of Hotel California sung in a Magarita Prakatan way ( Clive James Shpw) and Jason Donavans "Sealed with a Kiss" made us long for some sleep and escape from this reality leaving with that lucky sucker on that jet plane. We were woken the following morning while it was still dark by the throaty calls of cockerals at 4am in the morning. This was followed by the pounding sounds of women bashing rice and babies crying in the next room. At 7.30 we were called to breakfast; cold toast an runny eggs which succeded in running down my face and fleece. Down at the fire the women and babies gathered in the slowly warming day. Us tourists took photos as they posed in the usual Thai-hill-tribemother-holding-child pose. Then they decided to play the ' look what the pink people do when we do this', game. One young woman sat on the makeshift swing and her chldren followed suit looking so cute cuddling against her breats. Sure enough 4 cameras were pulled out and 4 pink people hunched on honkers pointing appariels at the sight. This cynic took a photo of the hunched pink people from behind and the coveted photograph content in the distance. Five elephants trumped up to the village house and we mounted from a ledge. Kim and myself got into the basket and Andrea tucked herself on the neck between the ears, Tarzans'-Jane style. Hubon, our elephant led the way and was extremely well behaved. Five loaded elephants wobbled though paths and trees, up and down hills, over streams and under low hanging branches laden down with gigantic spider webs. Over warbling brooks, dropping our bags at a local house and we dismounted and climbed up to the waterfall. The vicinity was shaded and the water icey cold. Nervously we waded into the shallow pool and edged over to the cascading mass. It was fast and heavy and still freezing so we did not linger long. Lunch from the bonfire stove brought forth noodles and tuna while we dried out, packed up and trudged back to our bags. At the top of that mountain, beyond the picturesque shrivelled cabbage patch fields (no room for potential nurturing of ugly baby dolls) we witnessed more Kren village life. Daughters ground rice, women cooked, babies toddled in the mud and cheeks bloated trying to blow up the balloons that us pink people brought as gifts. Men grinned through beetlenut stained teeth as they sold us coke in bright red cans in the middle of nowhere. We struggled on down vales and across streams on makeshift bridges constructed from two bamboo poles cut and laid over the shallow waters gathering fresh loafas from trees and bushes for our iminent wash in the brook. Yes, loafas grow on trees, not on the sea bed. They come in pods and when dry one can peel the cloak layer, remove seeds and hey presto a loafa for the shower. One of the many the things you learn when you travel! After side stepping over and back numerus times like Moris dancers we came to a halt at a hut on the stream. Offering benches as well as the welcoming fire we laid out our sleeping bags for the night. The girls bathed by the trickling stream while the dinner was prepared including a pumpkin which we had picked up on our trek through the fields. Around the fire that night we ate, drank, told jokes and asked questions. I now know monkeynuts gow in the soil like a root vine, lentils come in a pod, loafas grow on trees and how rice ends up in Mr Bens bag. At least these were some of the various explanations being thrown around for numerous queries some of which were very bizarre. That night was extremel funny - enough laughs to fill a year and enough tears produced by the laughter. No sleep again and very little opportunity as we were not horizontal for long.
The best way to go from Thailand to Laos is to cross over beyond Chang Rai in the north of Thailand into Laos. At the Duty Free you meet a lot of people crossing the border and gossip is the best research. Then board a slowboat for the trip down from Huay Xai to the Mekong to Luang Praban. The trip lasts 2 days and chuggs past remote village life. We did not take this route because we had to go back to Bangkok from Chang Mai to collect visas. LAOS
$1 US = 12,5000 Lao Kip $1 US = 58 Thai Bhats in a bank in Laos! Saturday 17th Janauary 1998 Hotel; Santisouk Hotel, Vientiane Room Type: 3 bedded room at 12 US$ Verdict: Superb, clean crisp white sheets, ensuite bathroom with shower, bath and hot water, chairs, bedside lights, wardrobe and table. Fantastic and the cheapest around this city as there are no really low budget beds.
Laos is a tremendous country. It has a beautifully scenic landscape and is homeland to smiling friendly faces. Best of all this quaint and peaceful land has not yet being too tarnished by tourism, high rise buildings, extensive infrastructure and pollution. Let's hope it will remain innocent for another few years at least though there is a tourism campaign by the Government at the moment similiar to Visit Nepal 98 and Amazing Thailand, campaigns. The country population is only 4.8 million for the 200,000 sq km (compared with Thailands' 58 million living in an area only 2.5 times the size). The population is well dispersed around the country so rush hour in the captial (480,00 people only!) is a doddle to jay-walk through. To top it off Laos is also extremely cheap to travel and has numerous french restaurants and bakeries with tremendous food. Lack of comfortable transport is the only annoyance. The best route through Laos is coming from the north of Thailand across the border east of Chang Rai, going down the Mekong to Luang Praban, Vang Vieng and then down to Vientienne. You can also go east to the plain of jars but roads are hazardous and you my have to fly. Next go down to Savannahket and Pakse from where you have good access tothe Bolevian Plateau which is supposed to be beautiful. Needless to say we only found this out i retrospect so we did not take this route. |