Life of Pai

The road to Pai was paved with good intentions, but I soon realized where I was going once en route. I was sat next to a hippie from San Francisco who looked a bit like Rasputin but with a tan! The three and a half hour bus journey up into the mountains (273 turns - two girls got sick!) consisted of talking to this guy about metaphysics, consciousness and LSD... was possibly the most interesting three hours I've spent on a bus!!

Pai is known all around Thailand as like a hippie town with lots of drugs (opium, marijuana, mushrooms, acid) readily available. I'd planned three days but ended up staying for seven. I met a few people who'd planned a few days and ended up staying for a few years! It's that type of place. Quite untouched, cool vibe, nice people and cheap! Everyone gets a motorbike and chills around getting drunk and stoned... It was how I spent most of my week. It was awesome.

Left yesterday with some friends I met there and we're making our way down south to the islands. The Full Moon Party in Koh Phanghan is on the sixth of April so gotta be there for then....

Walking with elephants

Went trekking in the jungle about two hours south-west of Chiang Mai today. What an amazing experience...wow!!!

Chiang Mai and The Golden Triangle

My health and vitality have been restored after a week of peace and harmony in Chiang Mai. It's the second biggest province in Thailand and is historically very important (Chiang Mai natives are very proud!): during the colonial times when the French and British were over here colonising, the various provinces of what is now Thailand came together and decided rather than be ruled by a foreign power they would put aside their differences and join forces to eject the invaders. So the King of Bangkok married the princess of Chiang Mai and to create Thailand, which means 'The Land of the Free'.

Chiang Mai city is perfectly square and is surrounded by a moat, which you can see in the pciture above. There are four gates north, south, east and west around the city and they are the only way in or out. Makes navigating the city fairly easy. The north is a lot cheaper than Bangkok and for the equivalent of 10 pounds a night I have my own double room, with a/c and an adjoining shower/bathroom. My dinner each night costs less than a pound and is delicious. I usually cycle between pad thai (fried noodles), chicken and rice and spicy beef noodles in soup! Yum. Although make sure you ask for original spicy rather than Thai spicy. I made the error once and was wounded LOL.

On my second day I spent my extra cash renting a motorbike. Disraeli once said: 'expect the expected'. How well this man knew life! Bearing in mind I've never ridden a motorbike, plus have been off the road for two years in my own country after losing my license, you might be able to guess the result. The guy showed me how to start it, handed me the keys and said off you go! I crashed after about five minutes LOL, narrowly avoiding a collision with an oncoming truck!! It totaled the wing mirrow and scratched up the right side of the bike but they say if you fall off, you should get right back on so that's what I did. I kicked the debris to the side of the road and jumped back on... by the end of the day I was a pro! My tenacity (recklessness??) served me well. Sometimes you have to test the fabric.

Spent a day even further north in Chiang Rai too and up by the Golden Triangle, which is where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. This area is historically very important and is where most of the opium and heroin was traded in times gone by. Opium is distilled from the poppy flower which grows best on the hills in cooler climes. Heroin is then distilled from opium. Poppy farms are still widespread in Burma and parts of Afghanistan and pure heroin is cheap and readily available for the more intrepid addict...

A night out in Chiang Mai proved surprisingly fun too. Far from the hedonistic raves of Bangkok, Chiang Mai is well known for it's jazz bars and reggae scene! So I sat in on a brilliant jazz set then walked five minutes down the road to the reggae district and drank in Babylon and the Roots Rock Reggae Bar! Brilliant. Travelling up to Pai (three hours north of Chiang Mai) on Saturday. Will miss Chiang Mai. Big time.

The North

Arrived early this morning in Chiangmai after spending 18hrs on a sleeper train (this mode of transport is the way forward when travelling in Asia - cheaper than flying but air-conditioned with space, unlike the buses). I'm in real Thailand now, I've only seen one other westerner since arriving - bit daunting but I'll get used to it! I'm planning to spend around two weeks up here in the north, moving on to Pai and Chiangrai too, which are meant to be beautiful...

Going to rent a motorbike tomorrow and ride up to the hills to do some whitewater rafting and elephant trekking on the Mae Taeng... paradise. It's a lot cooler and lusher up here in the north, a perfect place for me to escape for awhile, to chill out and lay off the booze!

Drunk and orderly

Just in case you thought I'd forgotten how much of a party animal I am, here are some pics to prove otherwise! Went out in Khao San Road with my mate Stuart (also from London) and had a banging night! Started on the Chang then onto the vodka buckets, it got a bit messy LOL...Before I got too drunk, I witnessed a very brutal street fight between two Thai guys in a dispute over territory (one was local the other from the north). There was a lot of blood. Not nice. Had a bucket to forget!

Not to be crude, but rather to present a fuller picture of Bangkok we saw a Thai girl jerking off an American in the street (outside a police station LOL) whilst making eyes at Stuart and I. Touting for the next customer! We moved on swiftly and ended up in a nightclub imaginatively titled: The Club. The pics can fill in the rest..!!

I love Ayutthaya

I love Ayutthaya (pronounced a-u-tia), it's amazing. Located just north of Bangkok, it's a city bursting with culture (I sound like a tourist leaflet!) and fun things to do. It's less 'tourist-friendly' as in there are no signs in English, nobody can speak English etc but the locals are lovely! One girl offered to show me around for a few hours so I jumped on the back of her motorbike and off we went! What an experience I had the best time!! Note to self: get a motorbike.

Chinatown and Bangkok by night

Chinatown was cool, a lot bigger than the one in London and most of the Chinese people who live in Bangkok live here. Street eating is very popular (not sure about the quality of the meat, however) but the people were very nice. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Spent most of the early hours last night out on the deck drinking Chang beer and talking to random people about their travels, their lives and their ideas. We solved a lot of the world's problems but in the morning couldn't remember the solutions! Sound familiar? Then a girl from Manchester rocked up and said she was going down to Limpini park where they were holding a concert for the king's birthday. So we all went for a walk down through the busy streets (at midnight) towards this park. When we drew near and heard no music the girl admitted she wasn't 100% sure there was a concert. There wasn't LOL...

So we sat in the park and drank more Chang. All this getting to know people can be a thirsty business! Heard a crash on the way home and saw a Thai guy come off his scooter and smash his face on the curb. We stood for a few moments shocked whilst the locals looked on (this sort of the thing is commonplace in the early hours of the morning in Bangkok - there is a lot of drink driving out here). He stood, righted his bike, swayed and then both went down again, one on top of the other. Knowing any help I could give would be unappreciated and unwanted we left. Bangkok can be a stressful place. Thinking of going up north next week to the jungle for some relaxation!  

Arun Wat

This is one such temple in the old city! Breathtaking.

The Old City

Up bright and early today to visit the Old City, which was a sight to behold. Aside from the manic, smoky seedier side of the Asian city there is an older and more beautiful part, with old temples filled with gold (check out the Reclining Buddha which is made out of solid gold!!) and grand palaces. Buddhist monks live in many of the temples and hold prayers a few times a day and so that was interesting to see - although felt a bit guilty standing there shooting pics like a pap...

The Face

Smile and say no thanks

The tuk-tuk drivers are at me again...incessantly LOL. So I keep walking and do like the title says. The usual questions are where are you from, where are you going? To which I now reply: nowhere. Its the most effective response so far! Some of the drivers are nice, of course but many are like human mosquitoes. I was even curb crawled one late night by a driver, who slowed right down to keep pace with my walk.

I was out on the razzle last night, and unfortunately am out again tonight for the hostel-promoted pub crawl. Got in at 5 a.m. last night and woke at 2 p.m. today. I was out with two blokes from Newcastle and as the geordies   say 'I was mortal'. We all were, three bottles of Thai whiskey saw to that!

Had a chilled one today. Went to a part of Bangkok called Siam Square which is the most 'western' area I have so far seen. It had a shopping mall, western clothes shops, coffee shops and cinemas. Had spicy chicken noodles with suateed garlic and onion with basil. Yum! Will miss Thai food when I leave. I also went to the Bangkok Art and Culture centre which was very interesting. I had my portrait drawn (its in the next post) and and then wandered around a bit more before heading back to Silom. It was the Sky Train I took from Silom to Siam and back, and the views over the city were as amazing as you might imagine. Sorry no photos, left my camera at home.

Going to try and take it easy tonight (where have I heard that before!!)...

The Floating Market

Woke at 6:15 this morning to go to the Floating Market, which was absolutely amazing! Located 75km outside of Bangkok it was a bit of a trek but well worth it. You can see from the photos, it's basically Asia meets Venice. We took a paddle boat down the river and would come abreast 'shops on boats'... the favourite saleable items of which incl: spices, coconut drinks, hats, pornographic ornaments and ceramic plates. There was an optional afternoon visit to a nearby tiger sanctuary where you could get up and close to the wild cats. The girls thought the activity unethical since the tigers were kept under severe sedation in order to allow tourists to pet them. I tended to agree with them. Cool experience, enjoy the pics...