Cross country trip from Chiang Mai to Korat (otherwise know as Nakhon Rachisima) and then on to Bangkok

              I wasn't sure what direction I should take after staying in Chiang Mai, I would have liked to try out the 4 day prayer in a temple thingy but I decided that wasn't for me. I had a look at some job sites and noticed that they were looking for a native english teacher close to Bangkok. This was good enough for me so I applied for a position,. They got back to me soon enough but they wanted an interview in person so I decided to go back down the country. I noticed that the place close to Bangkok was (relatively speaking) not that close but I was able to take a bus straight from Chiang Mai to this place called Korat (Initially, I thought the name of the place was Kolat but then I forgot the locals pronounce the 'r' as an 'l') otherwise known as Nakhonn Rachisima... On of the girls that was working at the hotel in C.M told me that she spent her university years at this town and that there were no foreigners living in this area (despite the fact that it's the 3rd most populous area in Thailand.) She was telling me that C.M was a much nicer proposition for her (Jobwise) so this filled me with some dread! Anyway, I had to find a bus which couls take me to Korat so I paid a visit to a tourist office where the guy kindly offered to help me talk to the job advertisers wife (She was Thai and her standard of English wasn't  great. She explained the story to him and he told me to grab a red songtheuw to the bus station where I could grab a ticket from there. This was cool as the guy was getting nothing from it and he genuinelt wished me good luck .)
               Anyway, I grabbed a bus from the local bus station and I was on my way for a 12 hour journey on a bus which played local Thai music on a loop for the full 12 hours!! Nicccccccccce, but they did give me free food which was cool. By the end of the 12 hours, I was able to recognise some of the songs....Is it true that all pop songs sound the same regardless of the words?
               I arrived in Korat at 7a.m the following morning. I had to ring the lady as she told me she would collect me and drive me to the school. My phone actually stopped working (It stops woring on a certain date and after this date, you have to top it up again before it will work again) and i couldn't find a 7-11 to topup so i hd to use a public phone (I hadn't used one of those in  A LONG,LONG time!) Anyway, when I got through to her, she told me the interview was cancelled. I was a bit annoyed as I traipsed halfway around the country for nothing (and  halfway around Thailand is a hell of a lot bigger than halfway around Ireland!). Anyway, her husband interrupted her and told me to grab a tuktuk  to the other bus termianl and then get a bus.I was caught between a rock and a hard place as I hate tuktuks but I had no choice as I was in a place that I had no clue where to turn!!! So, the tuktuk drove me to the bus stop and I hung around there with a scob on my face as I didn't know where to go next. Eventually,I got some credit on my phone and I got one of the locals to help me talk to the women who was arranging the interview. She was a very patient woman (she must have thought that I was a bit mad!) who told me to go to the local bus stop to go to 'Dan Kun Thot'. So, I waited there for 30 minutes and I was on my way.
      The woman who had organised the interview with her husband said she would meet me at  'Dan Kun Thot' . I didn't realise that was 50km from Korat so this place was REALLY in the middle of nowhere. The womans husband intially told me that he wasn't able to meet me as he had to go to a meeting at another location.
       Anyway, I jumped off the bus at DAN Kun Thot and 5 minutes later , i saw a woman get out of a tuk tuk telling me that her  car broke down and to jump into the tuk tuk and the husband would drive me to the school. This didn't really create a great atmosphere with me but I had no real choice but to follow her. I met the husband 5 minutes later driving a car that looked  like it was stolen from 'the streets from san francisco'. (remember, that show finshed in the 1970's) The guy kept telling me that this the REAL Thailand. I had no doubt that it was but at the same time, my respect for thse 2 lads was dropping quicker than a diver jumping off a 100 feet cliff.[Although the guy did have a cool new yoikkkaccent!]
As for the interview itself, the Thai woman accompanied me to the interview whereupon I was interviewed by the local thai- english teacher who happened to be a cool girl/woman. She lived on the campus for the last 10 years and was really helpful. She even gave me her number if I had any questions relating to the interview..
           This had to be the first interview that I have tried without any shoes or socks. Actually, I had travelled from Chiang Mai in shorts and had thrown on trousers over the shorts so I must have looked 'a bit special'. The woman asked me if I had my C.V. I had but I had already given it to the Thai woman so I was a bit annoyed that she had not forwrded the details on. So, in essence, I ended up talking about my travels to a woman who couldn't really care less where I had been!! It was an 'interesting' hour to say the least! (Actually, at one point, I crossed my legs and noticed my feet were fairly dirty as they collect grime preety quicky here. Now, I understand why its a real no,no to show your feet to people on this side of the world!)
           At the end of the hour, the man collected his wife and myself in the streets of san francisco car and said straight away that this place is too remote for you, yeah?? I asked him to drop me off in the town as I wanted to hang around the town befoe heading back to Bangkok, He offered to meet up with me when I was finished wandering about. That was cool but I wasn't too pushed. In any case, while I was loitering about the place, a guy came up to me and wanted to practise his english. He offered me a lift to the bus station and I Accepted as he seemed like a cool guy (to be honest, I am brutal at differenciating between cool people and sh1t people at this stage (or at any stage!) )
         Anyway,here are a couple of pics of Dan Kun Thon (Apparently, it's a big place for monks!)

 

Local Wat

 

 

Van with multiple colours to indicate its coolness

 

 

 

Downtown Dan Kun Thon

The 2 dog obeying the green cross code

 

 

These symbolise life or the lack of a 'live' tiger in this location

Well, if they are not here, create them (no boubt a quote from yer man, God)

      The bus to Bangkok took 4 hours. I arrived at the bus station there in the pouring rain. All I wanted to do was get to a hostel close to the centre and it didnt help that the tuktuk drivers were looking for extortionate amounts. Luckily enough, I walked  around the back of the terminus and aw the local buses that were congregating there. I jumped on one and one hour later I was in the centre of Bangkok again.
               So, what to do in Bangkok the second time around?

Bangkoks waterways, the hub of the city!

The markets line the roads along the waterways

             Well, I knew Candy was on a whistle stop tour of Bangkok again in a few days but in the meantime, I wanted to pick up a few singlets (I think all of my clothes now consists of singlets and flipflops!!) So I was able to add to my collection od 'classy' t shirts at the market.
I paid a visit to the cinema and had a go at bargaining with the locals.(This is really important in South east asia!)
           I found out
(a) that the local buses are the way forward!
and
(b) that I was scared sh1tless of bumping into a kid at the skating rink. I thought better of it and decided not to skate! By the way, If you ever have free time, go around the market close to the Siam malls. They are really cool.
     I met up with Candy the following day and it was cool to hear how she she got on on her travels and that she was on her last leg (almost!) before heading home to Oz. I hope you found all those elephant boxers Candy! Remember, you need the yellow ones to complete the collection!
To be honest, I wasn't too much of a fan of Bangkok but it was nice to pass the time in a chilled out atmosphere before heading on to the 'thrill' of a bus to Poipet and further into Cambodia!
       Actually, now that I think of it, one thing did freak me out on my return to Bangkok.... I  walked past a guy on the street. That's no big deal except he was face down on the road and one of his flip flops was located 3 meters away from his foot and he looked in a bad way (He was a tourist and you never see tourists over here lying face first on the road. That only happens in Ireland and the U.K on a friday and Saturday night ), Anyway, I thought he was ill  but I continud walking for 13 meters, My concience got the better of me and I walked back , I turned around again before I walked across the road and asked local guy what had happened. He said he was drunk and robbed  by a guy.I asked him if he rang anyone but he looked at me as if I had 2 heads and then pointed towards the police office.  I headed  to the  local police but they were useless  (they saw I was in a bot of a panic and deliberately ignore me) so I went back on street .At that point, there was a  policeman there and the guy had woken up. I was genuinely relieved even if I didn't know the guy.
           I think it was time to move on.I chose Cambodia as I ....actually, to be honest, I am not really sure why I chose Cambodia but it was the closest to Bangkok so it seemed like a good idea. Maybe, it was due to Candys friend.. We had a good converstaion with her at one point where she seemed to be a bit of a well intentioned hippy (Are there any other kind?) She was in her 60's and travelled every summer and she seemed to be very airy fairy with talk about ghosts and spirits. I thought she was ok and she seemed to know quite a lot of the places that I had been to so it was nice to hear somebody else talk about these places!

My views on Thailand:
              I have to say that Thailand grew on me. Initially, I did not know what to think as most people in Hat Yai and Songkhla did not seem to speak much english (Of course, that is my experiance and I have been known to be wrong before!) At the  same time, it was really nice to be helped to the various hostels by well wishers like the woman from the public bus at Songkhla.She did not have to help me out but she went out of her busy day to find me the hostel. I wish she was fluent in english!
             On the negative side, I really did not like the tuktuk drivers in Bangkok. Calling them 'pushy' would be an insult to the word 'pushy'. I did not like the way they would chat to you as if you were their best friend and then after realising that you had no interest in getting a tuktuk, they would
a.) completely ignore you
           or
b.) insult you
          or
c.) just walk away
             On the silly side...I should stop trusting people who tell me their lifestory and then look for money. To be honest, Wat seemed like a good bloke but he did not seem to be struggling for money.
            
             On the thrill side, all the sporty things that I tried (1 man canoeing, 2 man canoeing, white water rafting [twice] , elephant riding, cooking (yes, cooking is a sport :-) , scootering in the rain , snorkeling, diving) were pretty cool. I am glad I drove the scooter as I never knew how safe they were as long as I had my wits about me! At the same time, I am not sure if I would like to drive one in Bangkok but I think it would not be such a big deal.

             On the jogging side of things, the jog around the old town in Chiang Mai was a site to behold but a word (or two) of warning. It might be a good idea to jog in the evening or early in the morning just to avoid the heat of the day..My clothes were ringing from the sweat after those jogs (Also, I learned to never play truth or dare with a tuktuk driver on the road while jogging. The guy came within a millisecond of making minced meat of me (My fault as he ownes the road!))

             On the conscientious side of things, I was kind of shocked one day when I saw a guy face down on the path at 9.30 in the morning ,passed out. Normally, you might see people on the road but this seemed different as one of his shoes seemed to be thrown beside him and the other was on his other foot. Lots of people walked right passed him (myself included) before turning back. He eventually got some help but it made me wonder if this was a normal scene in Bangkok and the locals are immune it. Now, that I think of it, you might see quite a few people sprawled on the streets of Dublin on a friday or saturday night and most people would assume they are drunk....

               I was not sure what to expect before I entered Thailand. All I ever heard was ladyboys and the ping pong show and not much else... As with most capitals , the atmosphere is more international so you have to get out of the capital and look around to see the real Thailand. The real Thailand seems to be quite conservative with the exception of the humour in their main program on t.v which consisted (from what I could gather) of men with goaties dressed as women and making silly faces. I think something was lost in the translation of the humour!

                  So, I travelled from the bottom of the country right up to the top and back down again...the transport system was cool...well, apart from the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai which broke down after a few hours and arrived at its destination 6 hours later than planned. (which was a common enough occurance). Oh yeah, and the car which broke down in Chiang Mai while we were going to the river to attempt the white water rafting...and the car which broke down while coming back from the river kwai!!! Ah, you get the picture! Stuff breaks down quite a bit over here but  I was in no rush so I did not mind at all.

Verdicts!

Hat Yai:
 Nice food and markets. People applauded me when they saw me jog.cool! Their foot massage was so good, It made me think of taking a course! I bought an '80s style casio watch  there and have since spent many seconds trying to get the stopwatch to stop at 1:00 seconds exactly...It's a tricky thing to do you know!

Songkhla:
Lots of things to visit but this can be seen within a couple of days. The beach was serene and I had no problems with the locals (with the exception of the stray monkeys who were eyeing up my food) and I never felt threatened while I was there. A nice place with cool local markets. I wish the locals could speak some english as this seemed like a cool place to me and from their reactions to me, they seemed a friendly buch of people.

Phuket:
I stayed at the backpackers hostel and to be honest, it seemed like a drinkers paradise.I didn't drink too much when I was here so I felt a bit out of the loop.
The chinese museum was interesting though.
 I spent a few quiet days there. For the first time, I met a person and I seemed completely disinterested in what she had to say about anything. I did not feel too bad though as this was recipricated by her!! Imagine having a conversation where you could not be bothered finishing a sentance. Now, imagine the other person not even noticing..That was the sort of conversation we had! As for the place itself,It seemed quiet enough but I did not do enough to say how good r bad it was although I did hear a story from another backpacker stating that her wallet was stolen by the lady of her guesthouse.The wallet was found the next day with the credit card intact but the money was gone. Then, the lady told the woman to use an atm to get money out of the bank...eep!

PhiPhi:  
             The scenery was stunning. The amount of tourists to locals was not. It felt like I was in Europe (mixed in with a bit of China) but PhiPhi is a real party place , more designed for a younger crowd. The tours around the island and the diving  were  special though. I wonder if I can take sun cream orally at this stage. If so, I would have eaten many suncream tablets in PhiPhi! I like the way the guys pushing the trolleys (filled with various items that they want to sell) \cycling with no horn on their bike make the noise of a horn of a car (beep beep) when they try to pass you on the streets though! The first time I heard it, I thought it sounded a bit weird but I got used to the noise very quickly.

Krabi:
            Krabi is quite a sleepy town in the rainy season. There isn't much going on so I tried quite a few tours from here. The 1 man canoeing tour was brilliant as well as the tour which contained elephant trekking,waterfall,white water rafting and food! The place itself was too sleepy and I might have been better off going to Ao Nang but I went on quite a few tours here so I didn't need to stay at a noisy area! The night market in this town is pretty cool though!
If you go joggin here, make sure to jog at night time as jogging in the daytime could damage your health and skin!

Bangkok:
             Crazy place, the ping pong show was a lowlight. The calypso show is an oddity that was quite funny to be honest.[you can post up that photo of me with the ladyboys if you want Candy!] The ice skating (once I stopped hugging the rails (which was most of the time) ) was fun. I must try that again at some stage. The tuktuk drivers are another species entirely. The Khao San road wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and they have cheap Pad Thai there!It was nice to sit with local people and watch the olympics with them. I was glad that there was a woman who was able to sow the ...ahem...crotch in my jeans back together as they are my only pair!
If I ever need to buy a suit, the Khao San Road is the place to go. The only thing is...you have so many people shouting ,'you want to buy a suit sir?' , that you become inclined to say 'no' to everything. This is the worst marketing trick in the world but it seems to happen there!
The markets around The Siam malls are really nice though so if you ever go to Bangkok, that should be your first point of call.
If at all possible, try to stay away from tuktuk drivers as they come across as slimy ESPECIALLY the guy who mimicked the sound of a ping  pong ball EVERY time I walked by him. Try to avoid the guys who are advertising a cheap tuktuk drive as they are on a commission (don't get too upset if they call you a loser as My friend from Chiang Mai (who I met in Krabi) told me that he was chastised as a loser by The Bangkok drivers due to his 'country' accent.)
The Muai Thai is expensive (2000 Baht) You can  go and see it in Chiang Mai for 400 although the quaity might not be as good.

Chiang Mai:
Brilliant place, nice people both local and travelers. very chilled out vibe.The people seemed genuinely interested in seeing that you had a good time and the owner of the Chiang Mai Packers hotel was one interesting guy who commanded a ton of respect from anyone who talked to him.
There was lots to see and do here and it was nice to meet some locals (well, you're a good as a local Rose!) as well as some travelers along the way. The markets really added to the atmosphere (There many markets and thy were all cool)
My favourite town/city within Thailand.

The border run to Myanmar (Mae Sai):
Normally, this would have been a boring 4 hour journey to the place (Mae Sai) but the entrepraneur talked about anything and everything so It ended up being a philosophical journey! The stamp itself cost 500 Baht. Normally, it costs 10 dollars but 500 Baht is slightly more so they instist on 500 Baht. A similar thing happened on the Cambodian border but I wil leave that for another blog!
If you can avoid spending the hour across the border, avoid it as it is just a haven for tuktuk drivers to annoy you andyou have lots of decent shops on the Thai side where you can visit while you wait for your passport to be processed

Korat:
This was just a flying visit.Nakhon Rachisima (which is another name for Korat) seemed similar to Bangkok but without any foreign people. The locals (with the exception of the tuktuk guys)  were quite helpful. I tried my couple of phrases that I know here 'sawadee kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa' (hello)
and 'kran um krab' (thank you - when said by a man) but they looked at me with blank faces. I have to work on my intonations!

Dan Khun Thot:
Nice place but I feel that  would be lost if I stayed here for any length of time as it felt very isolated from the rest of Thailand. The guy who organised the interview was correct when he said that this was the real Thailand though. The bus from Korat to Dan Khun Thot was an experience in itself as I genuinely didn't know when I arrived in the place until a nice woman turned around waved and shouted  'Dan Khun Thot' in my direction!


Anyway, onwards to Cambodia and that 'magical' border crossing at Poipet!!!

Chiang Mai... go to the Sunday night market here!!...a.k.a : it's probably best not to trust strangers a.k.a: I have 12 magic beans, would you like to buy them. No, my good man , I would not but i might buy 14

        So, The trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai became a bit of an adventure in itself. The engine blew up along the way so we were stuckat one place for about 5 hours. I started talking to a guy called Wat at one point. He menioned that he was traveling back to his job in C.M fr om Bangkok. He started telling me about hs lifestory , about how he attended school in India for 10 years and how he was able to speak a multitude of languages. During this conversation, another guy got on the train.He was coming to Chiang Mai as a volunteer teacher. I guess he was in his late 40s but he seemed like a nice guy. He started talking to me about the stock market and how easy it is to make money and if you know the system, you cannot fail. I have my doubts as the stock market is always a bit dodgy (Ask anyone with stocksin the irish banks) He was telling me that he hadn't tried the  markets in quite a while but he ws coming to Chiang Mai to clear his hhead andonce that was achieved then , he would make his fortune. I dunno but he did seem liike a nice guy and he gave me loads of leaflets if i wanted to volunteer to that was cool.
At one point Wat turned to me and said,'I have some travelers cheques and I will not be able to cash them until the weekend has finished. Would it be possible for you to loan me 300 Baht?' seeing as I had his phone number, I thought 'why not' so I gave him the money.
         At around 6pm, we pulled into the train station at Chiang Mai. Wat recommended  a place called the green hotel close to the outskirts of the city and we shared a songtheuw (basically, a red public bus) to get to the hostel. He  moved on while I decided to grab some sleep.The hotel iself was nice and as i was not a dorm, i was abl to get some sleep pretty quickly.
         I took a few photos of the journey from Bangkok all the way to Chiang Mai so here are some of them

The 'Express' Train.

Destination : Chiang Mai.

Arrival Time: Depending on how long the engine works before it blows up.

Mood: Be Patient or you will go crazy!

They do see a lot of rain here

(which is good for the rice)

Fields seem to be a lot smaller over here but a lot flatter until you reach the moutainous areas 

Nice shadow of the cloud projected onto the water in the field

weird looking tree amongst the corn

 

I always thought Ireland was such a green country but it seems like most countries have their green spots.

Well, green with a bit of mud!

scenic view of the countryside

 

Cool reflections

The tractor looks a bit like a jeepney with the roof ripped off

 

 

Interesting styles

Looks like I have taken a train through Galway

 

eemmmmm, the part of Galway that grows rice

 

 

People working in the fields

 

 

Nice field-sky contrast here

Whoever said Ireland was a green country has never visited Asia as all these countries are just as green as Ireland!

mmmmmmmmmmm rice as far as the picture can show

 

I think this is corn

 

 

Tropical forest ...or at least, it looks like one!

 

 

Stream breaking through the forest

My room mate at the green house hotel.

I like to call him Gicky the gecko 

A list of pics would not be the same without some food

The lake seperating the inner and outer one way road system within Chiang Mai

Remains of a gate

 

 

Ah, I have finally found home!

 

 

The Elephants are on guard here in Chiang Mai!

One of the many 'Wats' in Chiang Mai

 

 

Them dragons look fairly scary

 

 

This is a grand Wat

One of the gates leading from the inside of Chiang Mai to the outside

 

EM, I don't think this is a holy symbol

well, maybe to Walt Disney and kids

 

 

The 5 headed serpant surrounded by vicious looking creatures like the giraffe

 

 

This is a genuinely disgusting statue

I don't need to add any more comment to it.

 

Look, It has been at least 8 pictures since the last food reference.

Here is what the locals call 'a sausage'

 

 

There must be a Chinatown in every town.

Wonder if there is such a thing as a european town in China?

Odd colourful looking toys

Anyway, to get back to the 'wat' story, Wat said to meet up at some location the following  Monday.This was cool. Monday arrived and I sent him a text. He responded and I was about to meet up with him when I actually bumped into him 45 minutes before our arranged time. He asked me where I wanted to go . I asked him for the money but then he said that his visa travelers cheques bounced so he would not have the money for another few days and do I want a motorbike ride anywhere. I said I just wanted to go for a walk and I would go for food later, then he seemed a bit peed off that I would not accept his ride. He said he'd meet up with me later in the week. I kind of got the feeling that my decision not to accept that ride was the first decent decision as regards talking to him as his demeanour changed quite a bit at that point. I never saw him again and to be honest, i was kind of glad I didn't.
      Anyway, enough  of my trusting everybody! What did I get up to while I was in Chiang Mai? well, I decided to join the endomondo site and see how the jogging 'skills' were coming along. I went for a jog and came within 20 msec's of becoming minced meat by some tuktuk drivr coming in the opposite direction. He must have been going at some speed as I had to jump out of the way and as it was dark, I missed the path and fell on my knee. But , I traipsed on to the finish! I might use endomondo just to keep account of the places where I jog from now on.
            I changed hostels from the green hotel to the chiang mai packers hotel and that was class. I stayed in a dorm for the duration of the stay there which was cool as for the first night , i had the room to myself and for the rest of the stay I shared the room with Pablo from Guatemala . Pablo had been volunteering at Mea Sot planning and construction some houses for the locals there and Chiang Mai was the place to be after a hard month slogging through dirt!
           The guy who owns the hostel had actually been in the army and he told us some varioous army stories varying from the time that he fought off Cambodians who were illegally entering Thailand to his trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. You know the wway you can tell when somebody is telling tall stories and someoe is being serious.Well, this guy seemed to be 'on the level'. I would not mess with him for all the tuktuks in Thailand.  Fascinating guy though and really helpful when it came to everything from arranging tours to avoiding the local scams.The rooms in his hostel were cool and  the people that stayed there were sound also. We met with 2 Guys who had travelled up from Phuket not by bus but by Hitchhiking! Nikita is a Norwegian girl who is learning Muay Thai over here while she completes her online studies. (Wow, things have moved on since my time!) and Reiner is a south African dude who is over here to practise the art of kicking ass (Muay Thai) also!
In fact Nikita has a blog which is a really cool read. If you want to read it, here is a link to it...

http://finallywarmnomad.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/hitchhiking-thailand_part-1/


      Oh, I almost forgot, I was sick to death of hearing people shout 'massage' to me so much that  I ended up  taking a two day foot massage course at the 'Khunchmnan Family' house  (1/3 Soi 8 Moon Muang RoadA. Muang Chiang Mai) It was .....an ......interesting experiance. Initially we (there were 2 of us taking the course but the girl was taking the body massage one) Initially, we had to pray to some dude called Dr Shivago (like the film!) and then I was thought the basic moves. To be honest, I would need a fair bt of practise to keep the moves in my head but it was so relaxing, I came very close to falling asleep during the first day . The girl actually did fall asleep while her teacher was showing her what to do! It's good fun though , just as long as your feet do not stink before attending one of those places ! As an aside, I have mentioned before that I had a foot massage in Hat Yai. At one point dring the massage, the girl administiring the massage elbowed me in the groin and then proceeded to apply pressure while taking a phone call with her friend... I asked the guy in the class if this was a normal part of a foot massage (you can get a back massage while having a foot massage so this might not sound silly) The instructor just laughed at me and said that was an original move....note to self: original moves can hurt!

Max - The Instructor

 

 

The instuments to a foot massage

Alcohol to clean the feet with (and possibly drink later on if the bars are shut)

Some cotton buds to wipe away some dirt

some moistuising stuff to wipe into the feet

The stick is used to pinpoint certain areas of the feet whic correspond to different parts of the body 

            During my ime in Chiang Mai , I had to go on the visa run as I had spent the allocated 30 days in Thailand. So, it required me to hop over the border into Myannmar for 1 hour before walking back again and picking up thhe extra 15 days for the visa. This was a real pain in the ass although I did get talking to a couple of interesting lads on the bus. One of the guys had just been living in China for 3 years and seemed to be interested in everything from existential paintings to the next big boom. Another guy joined in on the conversation and this guy claimed to be an entrepreneur who had made his money from various business delings over the last 20 years. He seemed to know a fair bit about everything from Moores law to the state of Chinese companies when they 'cook' the books. He was wrriting a book about a fictional characters journey though 16th century China. (Yep, I was thinking that there wasn't too much of a markt for this but then again , there are quite a few chinese people who might buy the book if it was translated into Mandarin) Anyway, he said he wasn't too worried about making money from the book as he had already made his money and this was more of a pet project for him.One that had lasted 3 years.
            Getting back to the visa run! So, you had to line up and get your stamp ,then enter a room and get thumb printed and then the people on duty ask you if you want to go shopping in Myannmar for the hour before the bus picks you up again.FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IF YOU EVER ATTEMPT THIS TRIP, SAY 'NO' as you will only  be accosted by guys on the myanmar side asking if youi want a tuktuk ride even though they know that you have hardly any time in the county to see many sites. I spent the hour chatting to a scottish girl (who had just jumped off the same bus as me)  an trying my best to avoid being annoyed but it really was annoying. There is nothing on the Myanmar side anyway.

Guys queuing up for the big TukTuk question

This is the only view of Myanmar  that I took as I was  only allowed 1 hour in the country.

I am sure it's a special country but to stay in the county, you have to travel by plane from Bangkok

The entrance to customs reveals an electronic barometer.

29.3 degrees in the heat is still quite hot!

We stopped at a town halfway between Chiang Mai and ghe Myanmar border..

Nice view of the hills from here. 

I feel like I am back in Indonesia (Sumatra) again

 

Mountains ,sky and grass....

the perfect combination for a pic!

 

There's plenty of eating in them there hills!

 

 

This house reminded me of 'Little House on the Prairie'

Back to the Galway themed picture section again

 

 

As you can probably guess, rice is a pretty important crop around these parts!

 

 

 

I like to call this 'Sun breaking through the clouds shining on the scattering of trees below'

             At the end of the hour, we had to queue up to collect our passports again.The whole process of getting the visa cost 500 Baht. To be honest, it wasn't too bad but it took the whole day to get to the border and back again.
              Oh yeah, during the time in Chiang Mai, I met up with a fellow couch surfer called Rose. Rose is from the Philippines and studies linguistics out here.Actually, her boyfriend is from Cork but I did not hold that against her (I joke!) She was telling me the area where she is from (Davao) is a cool place to visit. I have heard a fair bit about this area from tourists and Filipinos and it sounds like it is safe enough to visit and really worthwhile....damn, I wish they gave more than 21 days for a philippino passport. I'd love to head back there and explore some more of thise 7,000 islands!
Anyway, Rose showed Pablo and his friends and I around the sites a couple of times. Some of Pablos friends were interesting people (actually, they were all interesting people!) but a couple of thee guys stood out. so much so that I have   forgotten the guys name (I think it was something like winston) but his girlfriends name is Chiara from Italy. They have been staying here for a while picking up some massage techniques. He is into acupuncture.One of the evening that we were hanging out together, he decided to check some acupuncture points on our wrists.That was 'interesting' as he said he could tell if we were anxious or not just by thefeeling of the wrist after prodding us with one of his (clean) needles.
            He was saying... a few years ago,he travelledto the amazon and lived with a remote tribe for 3 months. Sounds quite different to a suit and tie job.Later on that evening he told us that he used to be a semi pro footballer and nearly made it through to the big time at the same time as Ian Wright (whom he had played against from his non league footie days) But he decided to go on a different path at one point and became a councellor (where, at one point he would help out prisoners. He was a councellor to one of the guys that he went to school with) Chiara and himself were going to try and attempt the 21 day retreat at one of the Wats (Temples) in this area.These retreats involve talking to nobody and eating once or maybe twice a day. Sounds tough to me!   If you are interested, you can choose to stay in a 'Wat' for 4 days or for 21 days.I wouln't mid trying that myself at some stage but not now (you have to wear an all white robe all the time and I am not sure white is my colour :-) )
        So, what else did I do apart from the massage course. Well, I tended to fall asleep at the drop of a hat! Any time a football match happened to be on the tv/computer, I would tend to drop off. I must remember that in the future when I have trouble sleeping!
         I went for a few jogs around the old part of the city. This was pretty cool as you got to see some of the locals playing 'Takraw'. The sport looks like a mixture of volleyball and football (you use your feet instead of your hands to keep the ball off the ground.) Here is a pic I took of a game in action.

I still don't know how they manage to kick the ball and in the same movement stay on their feet.

Jogging in this part of the world wasn't too bad as long as you didn't jog around 3pm. Your face might turn a weird shade of red (as mine did) if you attempt it!
          I still try out the local  food as much as I can. I had a Thai green curry (Look, I know that's hardly THAT exotic but in thailand they ask you if you want it western style or Thai style. Western style means VERY,very,very,very,VERY mild. Thai style means.....prepare to feel the burn!) I had a glass of water with it. I am not sure if it was tap water but I tried it anyway an I was ok afterwards (although Thai style green curries are very spicy!)

Be careful with the strength of the chillis as they can burn!

I noticed that chickens were being bred at a certain place.This isn't such a big deal although the sign for the place seemed a bit odd .(well, it seemed a bit odd to me so I am sure it was fine!)

Won't somebody think of the chickens?

Oh Wait, they have!

Normally, I tend to go for random walks and take photos. Here are just two examples of me getting lost during a walk and taking photos (in part because they might help me find where the hostel is!)

I am looking for a road.

This might some time

Dusk over Chiang Mai

Here are just some more pics of Wats and their various artifacts located beside the Wats.

Can be found within the walls of Chiang Mai

 

 

The laughing statue in  the background freaks me out!

A nice serene statue

This was the first time that I saw the symbol of a horse used

 

 

 

There were gates surrounding each of the 4 sides of Chiang Mai.The traffic went clockwise around the inside of the gates and anti clockwise around the outside of the gates....I think....or am I confused ....again... All I know is.....if you get lost on a scooter, it takes anage to get back to you original place due to the traffic going in one direction only!

Some information about one of the gates

Food update:
         I ate some all you can eat place within Chiang Mai and I have to say that I let myself down badly. My ambition is to one day get thrown out of one of these places but I performed poorly at this place. Basically , they had all the meats lined out for you and you boil/cook them yourself. It was a good deal but I am afraid my appetite isn't as big as it used to be (although, it's not too bad!)

MMMMmmm, you can't beat the 'all you can eat' buffet.

Literally, It's impossible!

Well, you have to eat some veg!

I have to have a balanced meal you know

mostly balanced towards meat though

Frying the meat, you pick it up raw and you get the frying utensils from the shop.

nice!!!!!

If you took some pork /chicken balls, you would throw them in here and boil them.

I am getting hungry just looking at these pictures!

        Oh yeah, the white water rafting! We all decided to have a go at this as the other lads (Pablo, Nikita and Reiner) like some action and I just go along with everybody! Twas great craic though! Tje scenery on the way to the location was stunning. It reminded me of Sumatra. Here are just a few shots of the area.

The journey leading to the rapids was paved with greenery

 

 

I think the elephant 'nose' the way.

Look, I am doing my nest with the pictures I have!

 

 

Stunning view of the area overlooking the rapids

 

 

 

Warning sign,(ignored at the time, d'oh!)

 

 

some luch vegetation

 

 

This is where all the magic happened.

for magic,read: scary descent downstream!

 

 

The guys were taking a bamboo boat past the finshing point.

It looked like they were levitating on the water!

 

 

Nikita and Pablo

 

 

Reiner

 

 

The end of the course from the bridge

 

We had a spot of lunch and then it was time to grab a jeep and head up to the starting location. Except, the car kind of broke down (Lots of things break down here!) But that wasn't too bad as we were in no rush anyway. We ended up walking a fair distance upstream before the guys were able to get the engine going. By the time we had out introductory course, we were ready for action! The guys mentioned something about safety procedures and the possibility of dying.(Maybe, I should have listened a  bit more at that point.) Irregardless, we jumped into the boat looking for the straps that are normally seen on the raft. I didn't see any .Then they told us that the legs had to go underneath the inside of the rubber seats. This was quite intresting to say the least as at some points, I felt like I was kneeling and sitting at the same time! But we had two extra guys in the boat to help us so we were safe and they didn't tell us to do much. One of the captains of another boat made them go through all sorts of manouvers before deliberately flipping their boat.  Actually, that wuold have been cool. In any case Pablo decided to jumo overboard followed by the other 2 and i was kind of dragged in. It was all fairly safe though as wer had those life preservers.
             We had to avoid one of the rapids as it was too dangerous.So we drover around that rapid and reentered at another point. We were able to jump out of the boat and actually float through a rapid also (making sure not to scratch our legs). This was initially frightening but then yoou kind of realise that if you tense up, you do yourself a bit more damage so I followed the flow and drifted downstream.
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             It was a pity the rafting wasn't a couple of hours longer as it was really enjoyable and the lads were good craic!
             Oh yeah, The Muai Thai boxing! I was going to go to this up in Bangkok but it seemed a bit pricey (which to be honest is no excuse but ill use it anyway!) So, Eventually, i had a look at a Muai Thai (traditional Thai kickboxing) in Chiang Mai.
                                                                                  Flyer containing the main event.

Wow, not ust fights but Super Big fights!

I must go there!

 

 

There were about 7 fights during the night but I wanted to sample the atmosphere from the start so I arrived 40 minutes early. When the lads saw me arrive on my own, one of the girls at the entrance directed me to my seat and she got really touchy , touchy with me. To be honest, I didn't really mind this even if she looked like a man and had a deeper voice than the sadly diceased Michael Clark Duncan. Anyway, once she saw that I really didn't want more than one drink , se moved me to a ringside seat as I think I was hawking the backseats and she wanted to get free drinks/tips off someone and I wanted to watch the fights!
          As for the fights themselves, there seemed to be a lot of playacting to the Thai music before the bouts began and the person who tended to dane more to the music tended to be the loser in every bout! To be honest, at the end of the night, the fights seemed to peter out and the atmosphere dropped to a murmur. I think it is better to be part of the action as apposed to looking at the fights. In saying that I did enoy the cameo fight between a dwarf ,a blind man and a randomer...

 

 

The dwarf is using his his quick movement\motor skills to full effect!

The 2 lads are are trying to outdo each other by praying to somebody.

This happens before the fight. I think the guy in the red trunks prayed a bit more. 

          Food in hostel alert:
Have you ever wondered what a chinese breakfast (from a Thai perspective) looks like?
well, fear no more because here is a picture of one! It consists of congee with some orange juice and some tea. To be honest, I never thought that I would ever like eating rice at breakfast but it seems to be the way forward in most of Asia and it  actually tastes nice to me so it's a thumbs up!
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          I rented out a scooter for a couple of days. On one of the days, I went to the Sirikit botanical gardens with Reiner. It was as relaxing a place as you could imagine when you are surrounded by lots of flowers. The pictures speak for themselves.

Entering the park

 

Nice colour coordination here

 

 

Grass cut in a wavy pattern

 

 

I am starting to feellike David Attenbourough here

well, minus the smart comments

Banana leaf with the beginning of more bananas

(see the purple bit)

It feels like we are walking in the jungle

well, one that contains a footpath like all good jungles should!

That's one big leaf!

That's one dehydrated person

Mountain partily covered by the raincloud

I saw a bunch o' Daffodils

Sammy the snake decided to pay us a visit

Look at the top section of his belly.

I think he has just eaten his first meal of the day.

Better not scare him from his after meal stroll as he hasn't broken it down yet!

Better leave him alone before he gets angry!

 

Follow the magic steps to find the promised land!

There is a nice drop  behind the bannister.

Notice, I am fully aware where the bannisters are located!

The pods are HUGE

 

 

 

I call this '2 flowers in a pot'

 

 

Do NOT fall into the water!

 

 

Flowers, Flowers everywhere.

 

 

I had to take a pic of the fan as the heat in the greenhouses was somethiing else.

 

 

Indoor waterfall

 

 

These photos always end up with me feeding fish!

 

 

Either the waterfall is small or I am now officially a giant

I will go with the former.

 

 

Zingiberaceae

Looks fake....but it's all real!

 

 

This place is like a desert

 

 

 

Cactus with different looking cactus in the background

 

There is no need for gimmics in this place

but I guess it helps!

 

 

trees arranged in a strata formation

I need someone to 'fan' me with that leaf!

 

 

Nice entrance to the greenhouse with the 2 lions welcoming you inside

 

 

View from the top of the mountains

I'd better be careful when taking the corners here as it looks like it's about to rain

Water feature #4,000,001

 

 

mae sa noi waterfall

 

Nice view of Chiang Mai from a distance

 

 

You can see some rice fields in the distance here

 

 

Some of the statues look weird

 

 

Looks like a running track in the middle of the forest!

 

 

Picture of 'Nature'

 

 

Looks like I am taking a photo from the top of the world!

 

Reiner with his bike

I forget the size of the engine, let's say it was a 500cc manual bike.

That bike can pick up speed very quickly (or should I say Reiner can pick up the speed)!

I can touch the clouds.....nearly

You would never guess that it was raining when this photo was taken

Let's say this was a 125cc bike...

man, I look huge beside the bike or the bike looks tiny beside me!

 

It's just me with the cow for company in this photo!

    Oh Yeah, I almost forgot he visit to Huai Thai Tong. This is a sort of national park close to Chiang Mai. Pablo and myself rented out a couple of scooters and met up with Chiara at he location. Unfortunately, Pablo had a flat tire which needed a bitof mending but this coulld wait until the end of the day. In the meantime, there was plenty of relaxing to be attempted! There were lots of places like chalets but without the actual chalet, just a kind of roof ,where you coud sit and look out over the river and chill. It was a cool peaceful,place and by the end of the day, we saw a man fix the backof a motorcycle. Result!

One of those boats that pretends it's a swan but without the violance that comes with being a swan

We thought we were ordering snake but I think this was called a snakefish.

Tasted nice though

A really chilled out place

Huts located across the water from the eateries

 

 

 

I am going to look for that pot of gold now

don't eat all the snakefish!

 

 

 

Pablo and Chiara enjoying the view

 

 

Nighttime at Huai Thai Tong

Pablo was getting his bike fixed.

I did my bit by posing for a picture with my cool helmet (can you see the picture of the flower on it? class!!)

 

 

Don't worry Pablo, The guy knows what he is doing.... I guess!

 

Pablo and Chiara are concerned.

nice pic of the guys office/house in the background

       Of course, there are a few night market pics. The night market In Chiang Mai on a sunday is a special place. Cool musicians and a nice atmosphere.

The group line up behind each other and play for what seems like forever.

good though!

 

 

Quails eggs , these are really cheap over here

You can't beat Samosas!

 

 

One of these flavours was beetroot.

eugh!

This girl was really good at the xylophone (or something that looked like a xylaphone)

 

 

Interesting style of dance seen here

 

 

 

Having a drink with the lads after going to the market

        I got the chance to experiance the thrill of being on a bike with 2 more people! That was one journey that I won't forget. I would imagine it's difficult enough to drive with 2 people but with 3 people it takes a bit of skill. I'd be grateful if you could pat your friend on the back for me Rose !
         I went to the cinema here. I like the way that everybody has to stand to the nationa anthem before the film starts.(Well, the Thai anthem isn't bad either.)
         I took a motorbike ride on my own and kind of travelled in random directions taking various photos.These can be seen on my facebook page .
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