Just a brief note to let you know that I managed to upload some pictures and will be trying to upload the rest tomorrow.
Enjoy them.
Kanchanaburi was a true discovery in Thailand, and one of my favorite places. Lovely. I hope to write about it, the Bridge Over the River Kwai and the Death Railway in the coming days. Stay tuned :)
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Sunday, June 26, 2005
16 months on the road!!
Yes, yesterday was the day that marked my 16th (and today beginning of 17th) month in the road. What started as a 8-months trip full of uncertainties has become the most incredible adventure I've ever undertaken.
I though I was going to get tired, miss the comfortable things of my previous burgeous life, miss having a place to stay, to rest, to drop my stuff. Not to mention missing family and friends!! But the thril of traveling got me so intensely that it compensated for all those lacks. And the 8 months became 16 and a half!
But now, after these 16 months I must confess I feel that my time to come back has come. Don't get me wrong, I could keep on traveling as before, but I'm thinking more and more often about seeing my family, having a drink with my good friends, see my good ol' DVDs, not have to unpack and pack almost everyday and, in short, I need now a bit of stability, a bit of back to the known world. Plus, I have accumulated so many experiences that I need to tell anyone, that I can hardly wait any longer.
So yes, my friends, my trip is coming to an end, believe it or not (I still don't). 5 more days in Thailand, and then other places where I will meet different friends and then back in Madrid by mid July. I cannot disclose the exact date as it is still pending on flight confirmations.
Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about what I've been doing lately. I left Chiang Mai to go to Thaton, a lovely village on the side of the river Kok, surrounded by mountains and rice fields, and with a lovely temple in a hill with a marvelous view. I was the only "farang" (foreigner) in the village when I arrived, as the only others I saw, a family, left shortly after my arrival. This made my objective of getting off the beaten track a total success. Such a success in fact, that I had to cancel my plan to go down the river to Chiang Rai in a bamboo raft because there wasn't anybody to do it with (and renting a whole raft is much more expensive than flying).
Luckily, in the afternoon, two pairs of girls arrived in my guest house, one of them a pair of Belgians that had the room next door and we got alone perfectly since the beginning. So, went out for dinner and decided to rent a long-tail boat the next day, to arrive in Chiang Rai in 5 hours (with a few stops along the way). And so we did.
The trip was very relaxing, with a few stops in hilltribe villages (that didn't seem to care about us, which was wonderful, but that no longer looked like hilltribes, which made it less interesting). We also stopped at a hotspring (not as enjoyable when it's VERY hot outside anyway) and at an elephant camp, where I holded the biggest snake I've ever seen: a 20-year old, 100-kg Pithon!! Yes, I know, it's patheticaly touristry, but it was also spectacular and I couldn't not resist. And I would have paid for a massage afterwards!
I would post the pictures of all this, but unfortunately all the internet cafes around here are Windows 98, and this OS doesn't like my camera. Perhaps later.
Chiang Rai was a very lovely city, much more quiet and organized than the typical Thai city. It must be some sort of posh district, since here the upmarket restaurants and bars are filled with locals instead of farangs. What a lovely change!!
From Chiang Rai I made a one-day trip to the old ruins of Chiang Saen, right on the border with Laos (although all the boats at the port were surprisingly Chinese).
And now Sukhothai, the cradle of the old Thai empire and the place were the Thai language and script were developed. The surprise here has been not only the ruins, which are absolutely superb, but how friendly people are here. This is the friendlies place I've been in Thailand (and believe me, the standard was already quite high). Everybody waves and smiles at you, helps you find places before you ask,... quite surprising for a touristry place. But then again, perhaps it is not so touristry after all despite the historical importance and visual delight of the ruins in this city.
Believe me, I would like to write more and fill you up with some of the interesting things that happen, but I'm very tired and extremely hungry. Can't wait to have my deliciuous 50 euro-cents pad thai. And this absolutely delicious food at this price is certainly one of the things I'm not looking forward to say goodbye to.
More in a few days!
I though I was going to get tired, miss the comfortable things of my previous burgeous life, miss having a place to stay, to rest, to drop my stuff. Not to mention missing family and friends!! But the thril of traveling got me so intensely that it compensated for all those lacks. And the 8 months became 16 and a half!
But now, after these 16 months I must confess I feel that my time to come back has come. Don't get me wrong, I could keep on traveling as before, but I'm thinking more and more often about seeing my family, having a drink with my good friends, see my good ol' DVDs, not have to unpack and pack almost everyday and, in short, I need now a bit of stability, a bit of back to the known world. Plus, I have accumulated so many experiences that I need to tell anyone, that I can hardly wait any longer.
So yes, my friends, my trip is coming to an end, believe it or not (I still don't). 5 more days in Thailand, and then other places where I will meet different friends and then back in Madrid by mid July. I cannot disclose the exact date as it is still pending on flight confirmations.
Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about what I've been doing lately. I left Chiang Mai to go to Thaton, a lovely village on the side of the river Kok, surrounded by mountains and rice fields, and with a lovely temple in a hill with a marvelous view. I was the only "farang" (foreigner) in the village when I arrived, as the only others I saw, a family, left shortly after my arrival. This made my objective of getting off the beaten track a total success. Such a success in fact, that I had to cancel my plan to go down the river to Chiang Rai in a bamboo raft because there wasn't anybody to do it with (and renting a whole raft is much more expensive than flying).
Luckily, in the afternoon, two pairs of girls arrived in my guest house, one of them a pair of Belgians that had the room next door and we got alone perfectly since the beginning. So, went out for dinner and decided to rent a long-tail boat the next day, to arrive in Chiang Rai in 5 hours (with a few stops along the way). And so we did.
The trip was very relaxing, with a few stops in hilltribe villages (that didn't seem to care about us, which was wonderful, but that no longer looked like hilltribes, which made it less interesting). We also stopped at a hotspring (not as enjoyable when it's VERY hot outside anyway) and at an elephant camp, where I holded the biggest snake I've ever seen: a 20-year old, 100-kg Pithon!! Yes, I know, it's patheticaly touristry, but it was also spectacular and I couldn't not resist. And I would have paid for a massage afterwards!
I would post the pictures of all this, but unfortunately all the internet cafes around here are Windows 98, and this OS doesn't like my camera. Perhaps later.
Chiang Rai was a very lovely city, much more quiet and organized than the typical Thai city. It must be some sort of posh district, since here the upmarket restaurants and bars are filled with locals instead of farangs. What a lovely change!!
From Chiang Rai I made a one-day trip to the old ruins of Chiang Saen, right on the border with Laos (although all the boats at the port were surprisingly Chinese).
And now Sukhothai, the cradle of the old Thai empire and the place were the Thai language and script were developed. The surprise here has been not only the ruins, which are absolutely superb, but how friendly people are here. This is the friendlies place I've been in Thailand (and believe me, the standard was already quite high). Everybody waves and smiles at you, helps you find places before you ask,... quite surprising for a touristry place. But then again, perhaps it is not so touristry after all despite the historical importance and visual delight of the ruins in this city.
Believe me, I would like to write more and fill you up with some of the interesting things that happen, but I'm very tired and extremely hungry. Can't wait to have my deliciuous 50 euro-cents pad thai. And this absolutely delicious food at this price is certainly one of the things I'm not looking forward to say goodbye to.
More in a few days!
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Exploring Northern Thailand
Just as I thought, I'm loving Chiang Mai. A very relaxed and chilled out city, surrounded by ancient temples everywhere, with elephant camps all around it, beautiful national parks, nice treks and very interesting (although a bit touristry) hill tribes nearby.
I dedicated my first day in the city to explore some of its main temples, which I found fascinating, with its beautiful architecture and imposing chedis (I must confess my favorite ones are those so old that part of them are in ruins). After that, I rented a motorbike and drove up to the Doi Ithanon National Park, which houses 3 of the most impressive waterfalls that I've seen in the last months.
I continued up along a very steep road (first gear) to reach the Twin Chedis, which are supposed to offer the most spectacular view of the park. Unfortunately, by the time I reached them they were immersed in a very thick fog that not only ruined any possibility of views but also made driving a scooter a very unsafe activity (not to mention the fact that I was running out of petrol)). So, I decided to drop my goal of reaching Doi Ithanon (the highest mountain in Thailand) in motorbike, and started heading down again.
I stopped at the town of Chom Thong, lucky enough to do it when all the little kids were coming out of school (in a storm of colorful and unlikely uniforms) so I could take some of my favorite pictures. Thai kids remind me a lot of Filipinos (in fact, many things about Thais remind me of that country). They're extremely cute, funny and with a lovely mix of shyness and curiosity.
After that and visiting another waterfall, I arrived in Chiang Mai under a pouring rain. Well, at least this is the first time in my trip that it rains when it's supposed to: during the rain season.
The next day I started a 3-day trek, visiting some of the beautiful countryside North of Chiang Mai and visiting 4 much-more-touristry-than-I-expected hilltribes: Akhas, Lisu, Palong and Karen. The first two basically asaulted us while we were having lunch trying to sell us their handicrafts. We arrived at the third hilltribe, where we spent the second night, after a lovely elephant ride in the middle of the jungle, a bath in a waterfall and an evil 4-hour walk along an extremely slippery path (each one of us fell at least 3 times).
Once there, the Palong kids performed a dance which was as cute as it was uncoordinated, and the next morning they presented their handicrafts (which resembled, suspiciously, the ones being sold at the markets in Chiang Mai). This tribe was much less pushy with handycrafts than the previous two and was much more welcoming, which made the overall experience much more enjoyable.
The last tribe we visited were the Karen, which seemed to not cared at all about tourist. This made the experience both interesting and difficult, since it wasn't easy to interact with these people.
We finished the trip rafting down a river in 2 bamboo rafts. The supposely placid trip became much more fun when we started a water fight, pushing each other out of the raft and boarding the other raft. Our guides seemed to like the plan and they also pushed each other into the water.
Over all, the trek was wonderful. We saw beautiful places, met interesting tribe people and the guys in our group were great. Jay, our local guide; Lia and Dylan, a Kiwi couple; Matt and Dom, two young Brits; and Veronica and Katrin, two German girls. In fact, Veronica, Katrin, Brad (another Kiwi that I shared my room with) and I ended up spending the following days together.
In fact, the first thing we did as we arrived in Chiang Mai was spoiling ourselves to a wonderful 1-hour long Thai massage (for less than 2 euro!!!).
The next day we went to the beautiful temple of Doi Suthep, situated in a mountain West of Chiang Mai and with beautiful views of the plains below. For some reason, my fellow country-mates must love this temple, as not only is this the first place in Thailand where I've seen signs in Spanish, but I also saw two groups of (noisy) Spaniards touring the site. After that, we went to the Royal Palace, which has very little interest except fot its nice gardens. Surprisingly, we had to rent pants and shirts (to cover the girls' shoulders) to enter the palace, while we didn't have any problem visiting the temple. This shows the almost religious respect that Thais have towards their Royal family.
On our way back in Chiang Mai we visited the unsual temple of Suan Dok, and then attended a "Monk Chat", where we spend about an hour with a very young Buddhist monk who answer our many questions about his life and Buddhism. That conversation could be enough for another post, but I probably won't have time to write it.
And today has been a day of relax. Looking for jobs in Spain, catching up on the Internet and not doing much. Tomorrow I'll try to get out of the beaten track, taking a 4-hour bus to Tathon from where I expect to sail down the Kok river to Chiang Rai in a bamboo raft. If that's not possible, I'll end up taking a long-tail boat, and being the rainy season, that may prove to be even more exciting.
From Chiang Rai I'll visit the Chiang Saeng ruins, that are supposed to be very interesting, and from there I'll start a slow trip South to end up in Bangkok for 3 or 4 days, before flying to Hong Kong.
I'll tell you more about Northern Thailand in my next post.
I dedicated my first day in the city to explore some of its main temples, which I found fascinating, with its beautiful architecture and imposing chedis (I must confess my favorite ones are those so old that part of them are in ruins). After that, I rented a motorbike and drove up to the Doi Ithanon National Park, which houses 3 of the most impressive waterfalls that I've seen in the last months.
I continued up along a very steep road (first gear) to reach the Twin Chedis, which are supposed to offer the most spectacular view of the park. Unfortunately, by the time I reached them they were immersed in a very thick fog that not only ruined any possibility of views but also made driving a scooter a very unsafe activity (not to mention the fact that I was running out of petrol)). So, I decided to drop my goal of reaching Doi Ithanon (the highest mountain in Thailand) in motorbike, and started heading down again.
I stopped at the town of Chom Thong, lucky enough to do it when all the little kids were coming out of school (in a storm of colorful and unlikely uniforms) so I could take some of my favorite pictures. Thai kids remind me a lot of Filipinos (in fact, many things about Thais remind me of that country). They're extremely cute, funny and with a lovely mix of shyness and curiosity.
After that and visiting another waterfall, I arrived in Chiang Mai under a pouring rain. Well, at least this is the first time in my trip that it rains when it's supposed to: during the rain season.
The next day I started a 3-day trek, visiting some of the beautiful countryside North of Chiang Mai and visiting 4 much-more-touristry-than-I-expected hilltribes: Akhas, Lisu, Palong and Karen. The first two basically asaulted us while we were having lunch trying to sell us their handicrafts. We arrived at the third hilltribe, where we spent the second night, after a lovely elephant ride in the middle of the jungle, a bath in a waterfall and an evil 4-hour walk along an extremely slippery path (each one of us fell at least 3 times).
Once there, the Palong kids performed a dance which was as cute as it was uncoordinated, and the next morning they presented their handicrafts (which resembled, suspiciously, the ones being sold at the markets in Chiang Mai). This tribe was much less pushy with handycrafts than the previous two and was much more welcoming, which made the overall experience much more enjoyable.
The last tribe we visited were the Karen, which seemed to not cared at all about tourist. This made the experience both interesting and difficult, since it wasn't easy to interact with these people.
We finished the trip rafting down a river in 2 bamboo rafts. The supposely placid trip became much more fun when we started a water fight, pushing each other out of the raft and boarding the other raft. Our guides seemed to like the plan and they also pushed each other into the water.
Over all, the trek was wonderful. We saw beautiful places, met interesting tribe people and the guys in our group were great. Jay, our local guide; Lia and Dylan, a Kiwi couple; Matt and Dom, two young Brits; and Veronica and Katrin, two German girls. In fact, Veronica, Katrin, Brad (another Kiwi that I shared my room with) and I ended up spending the following days together.
In fact, the first thing we did as we arrived in Chiang Mai was spoiling ourselves to a wonderful 1-hour long Thai massage (for less than 2 euro!!!).
The next day we went to the beautiful temple of Doi Suthep, situated in a mountain West of Chiang Mai and with beautiful views of the plains below. For some reason, my fellow country-mates must love this temple, as not only is this the first place in Thailand where I've seen signs in Spanish, but I also saw two groups of (noisy) Spaniards touring the site. After that, we went to the Royal Palace, which has very little interest except fot its nice gardens. Surprisingly, we had to rent pants and shirts (to cover the girls' shoulders) to enter the palace, while we didn't have any problem visiting the temple. This shows the almost religious respect that Thais have towards their Royal family.
On our way back in Chiang Mai we visited the unsual temple of Suan Dok, and then attended a "Monk Chat", where we spend about an hour with a very young Buddhist monk who answer our many questions about his life and Buddhism. That conversation could be enough for another post, but I probably won't have time to write it.
And today has been a day of relax. Looking for jobs in Spain, catching up on the Internet and not doing much. Tomorrow I'll try to get out of the beaten track, taking a 4-hour bus to Tathon from where I expect to sail down the Kok river to Chiang Rai in a bamboo raft. If that's not possible, I'll end up taking a long-tail boat, and being the rainy season, that may prove to be even more exciting.
From Chiang Rai I'll visit the Chiang Saeng ruins, that are supposed to be very interesting, and from there I'll start a slow trip South to end up in Bangkok for 3 or 4 days, before flying to Hong Kong.
I'll tell you more about Northern Thailand in my next post.
Monday, June 13, 2005
30 hours and 2,000 km. later...
... I arrived in Chiang Mai. And although I've only been here for 30 minutes, and the weather is terrible, I have the feeling that I'm gonna love this place. But then again, after Phuket it isn't hard to love any new place you go to.
Despite the long trip, it was not tiring at all, since I got a bed from Surat Thani to Bangkok and managed to sleep through all that part of the trip. From Bangkok to Chiang Mai has been a bit worse, mainly because some bright mind in the State Railway of Thailand has decided to put a metal grid with little holes in the windows so watching the landscape from the train becomes as rewarding as watching a codified channel without the proper decoder.
My plan now is to spend here 4 or 5 days, doing a few treks to the nearby hilltribes and visiting other local highlights. Then, if I'm able to get a visa fast enough, my plan is to return to Bangkok doing a little 10-day long loop through Laos, but I don't think that'll be easy. We'll see.
Well, I'll keep you posted on my adventures on Northern Thailand!
Despite the long trip, it was not tiring at all, since I got a bed from Surat Thani to Bangkok and managed to sleep through all that part of the trip. From Bangkok to Chiang Mai has been a bit worse, mainly because some bright mind in the State Railway of Thailand has decided to put a metal grid with little holes in the windows so watching the landscape from the train becomes as rewarding as watching a codified channel without the proper decoder.
My plan now is to spend here 4 or 5 days, doing a few treks to the nearby hilltribes and visiting other local highlights. Then, if I'm able to get a visa fast enough, my plan is to return to Bangkok doing a little 10-day long loop through Laos, but I don't think that'll be easy. We'll see.
Well, I'll keep you posted on my adventures on Northern Thailand!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Finally Dive Instructor!!
Yes, after 3 days of stress (and also lots of fun), I passed all the exams and I am now Diving Instructor with additional Nitrox, Gas Blending and EFRI specialties (I know, I know, if you're not into diving that makes absolutely no sense). YES!!!!!
And, as an additional source of happiness, after over two months stuck in Phuket (great diving but certainly one of my least favorite places in this trip), I'll be able to start travelling again!!!
My immediate plans are to visit tomorrow the spectacular Phang Nga Bay, and more specifically Koh Phing Kan, the unique island that most of you know from the James Bond movie "The Man With a Golden Gun" (weather permitting, of course). From there, as I'm running out of time (and financial resources) I will head straight to Bangkok, missing out the islands of Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao, that I certainly hope to be able to visit in a future trip.
After no more than a day or so in Bangkok I will go to Chiang Mai and/or (hopefully and) Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Then, a few days of shopping (mainly presents) in Bangkok before heading for Hong Kong, from where I will be flying back to Europe. Initially I was stopping in Egypt on my way back, but I'm definitely running out of time now and I'm affraid that's another country off my list.
So, if everything goes as planned, I should be back in the old continent beginning of July. In fact, I may be able to give you a definite date shortly.
Anyway, in the next days expect more of those "over the water" pictures that were the reason I did this trip in the first place. After so many weeks living in "tourist territory", I can't wait to immerse myself again into the real Thailand and start travelling the way I used to (I hope I haven't forgotten how to do it!).
And remember, if you (or anybody you know) are thinking of doing a diving course, CONTACT ME!! The center where I studied is recommended by PADI as the best one in the world after Top Dive in Florida, and I got the best grades in the group. So I guess I can't be a very bad instructor! :)
Hope all of you are fine and happy. Take care, my good friends!
And, as an additional source of happiness, after over two months stuck in Phuket (great diving but certainly one of my least favorite places in this trip), I'll be able to start travelling again!!!
My immediate plans are to visit tomorrow the spectacular Phang Nga Bay, and more specifically Koh Phing Kan, the unique island that most of you know from the James Bond movie "The Man With a Golden Gun" (weather permitting, of course). From there, as I'm running out of time (and financial resources) I will head straight to Bangkok, missing out the islands of Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao, that I certainly hope to be able to visit in a future trip.
After no more than a day or so in Bangkok I will go to Chiang Mai and/or (hopefully and) Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. Then, a few days of shopping (mainly presents) in Bangkok before heading for Hong Kong, from where I will be flying back to Europe. Initially I was stopping in Egypt on my way back, but I'm definitely running out of time now and I'm affraid that's another country off my list.
So, if everything goes as planned, I should be back in the old continent beginning of July. In fact, I may be able to give you a definite date shortly.
Anyway, in the next days expect more of those "over the water" pictures that were the reason I did this trip in the first place. After so many weeks living in "tourist territory", I can't wait to immerse myself again into the real Thailand and start travelling the way I used to (I hope I haven't forgotten how to do it!).
And remember, if you (or anybody you know) are thinking of doing a diving course, CONTACT ME!! The center where I studied is recommended by PADI as the best one in the world after Top Dive in Florida, and I got the best grades in the group. So I guess I can't be a very bad instructor! :)
Hope all of you are fine and happy. Take care, my good friends!
Thursday, June 02, 2005
And a fifth picture of the day (this one, underwater)!
Just a brief note to let you know that after a short period of inactivity, a fifth picture of the day!! Hope you like it.
Tomorrow I start my diving instructor exams (3 days of exams), so keep your fingers crossed and wish me good luck. Tell you all about it once it's over.
Take care!
Tomorrow I start my diving instructor exams (3 days of exams), so keep your fingers crossed and wish me good luck. Tell you all about it once it's over.
Take care!
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