Friday, August 01, 2008

Amazing Thailand!

One more of us swimming with the elephants!

Our second day in Pai we traveled 2,5 hours west to Mae Hong Son and back. We visited a longneck village, a few run down temples, a waterfall and a fish cave. As you might know I'm not one for the organised tours but this was just the two of us and we got to see some beautiful scenery's along the way.

The next day was mainly traveling from Pai to Chang Mai and Chang Mai to Chang Rai. It's taking a while but we're catching on so instead of an overpriced minivan we took the local bus. Aircon is provided in the way of open windows and the seats only fit one bum but it's fun, you're surrounded by locals and it leaves more money for shopping!

Chang Rai is just another city so the next morning we went on a one day trek into the jungle which ended up at little bungalows in the mountains with an amazing view from our deck. Nice and quiet night off course with the sound of rain. Like every night yet it rained but I must say the monsoon season has treated us well. Temperatures are bearable and the humidity isn't too bad.
The next day we knew we had to catch our bus down to Sukhotai at 6pm so that left the whole afternoon for our amazing race hihi. seeing as we had traveled so far north it seemed silly not to go see the golden triangle. This is where the Mekong divides Loas, Myanmar and Thailand. Also on the list was to get to Mae Sai where you can cross the border into Myanmar just for the fun of having the stamp in your passport but time didn't allow this unfortunately.



We arrived in Sukhothai at 2 am and were lucky enough to find a guesthouse right at the bus station. Thanks Zsuzsika! Remember those earplugs that were in my survival kit for my first trip...they have saved me before from snoring guys in dorms and came in handy this night again ;-)!

Sukhothai is the old capital of Siam. We rented a bike a biked the whole day around ancient ruins. Great fun and a welcome difference to the shiny, with gold decorated Wats we had seem before.

After a long day of exercise we got on the night bus to Bangkok where we arrived at 4am, had a coffee and bacon & eggs and got on the next bus to Kanchataburi. Surprisingly enough I didn't feel too bad today considering my bed had been an uncomfortable chair.

We visited the impressive Death Railway Museum and the Bridge over the river Kwai. Our history is up to scratch now. We were both emotionally touched by the exhibition and the events that took place here. I never payed too much attention in history classes and my traveling if definitely filling in the gaps. After the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia this was yet another edition to the European history which I believe to be more aware of ;-).

Tomorrow we leave the jungle and cultural part of our trip and trade it for beach, diving, surfing, cocktails and party!

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

oooeeeee chickie chica ziet er goed uit!!!! Ik ben jaloers!
Zou willen dat ik even mee kon doen met jullie, maar morgen roept het werk mij weer. Ik denk veel aan je en aan new zealand...ik mis je! pfff emo! Maar hier is het ook fijn en het gaat goed!
Zet em op girl!
Veel liefs shaz

7:38 am

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

uhm nou ging ik net een hele lieve post achterlaten maar volgens mij is er iets misgegaan.
Well het komt erop neer dat je lief bent en ik veel aan je denk!
Veel liefs shaz

7:40 am

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Mariette! Het ziet eruit alsof je een hele mooie vakantie in Thailand hebt gehad. En nu weer terug in NZ? De volgende keer wel even langs Singapore komen hoor, kan Xandertje je een knuffel geven!
Nathalie x

2:57 am

 

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