Chiang Mai - the trek !

Monday saw us start early (up at 6.45am) and drive north for about an hour through windy mountain roads in a minivan with 4 others - 2 Japanese girls who were highly excitable and a english guy and his mother. Our guide was nice, friendly and spoke very good english.

We were turfed out at a layby and, with our guide, we started walking uphill through what looked like a forest.... it was quite warm even at 9am but we soldiered on. I ( Michelle) took off like a bullet full of energy in the morning but was stopped in my tracks about 15 minutes into the trek when I came across what can only be described as a Indiana Jones style shakey bridge across a gorge !! I looked back to see the other gaining on me so I decided - bad and all as it was crossing the shakey bridge alone - it would have been a lot worse with people behind me on the bridge. The bridge was made of bamboo and didn't feel very stable crossing it - I had got about half way ( needed to go slowly as had to watch my footing) when I felt the bridge shaking .... the others had started to cross....kept the head up so as not to look down and made it across in one piece .. Phew !!
I (Sancha) loved shaking Michelle on the shakey bridge ;o) so apparently I have no problem with heights from above (see elephant piece later) but have a problem with heights to above, if you know what I mean. No? Let's just say I won't even be a Lisa Madden and conquer Aconcagua or Denali ;o)

We continued climbing ( and in Sancha's case, wheezing) for another 45 minutes, finally reached our destination - a tribal village high up in the mountains. We took a rest for 20 minutes, walked around the village, took photos and drank litres of water before making our way back down along the same route. Sancha felt victorious after the monumental climb and felt the need to reward herself with a handmade turquoise material bag. Totally useful aswell of course, most non-native girls in these parts have one right?

Our next stop was an elephant farm where we could have partaken in elephant rides ... most did including Sanch - I declined the kind invitation (big, smelly, not the friendliest looking animals) and instead sat under the shade and watched Sancha throw her leg over the side of the elephant's back, settle in and then saunter off into the woods. Indeed, I (Sancha) did! The trepidation and apprehension! It felt weird to be pitched on top of this beautiful but very high animal! They were very gentle, so once I got used to feeling like I was going to fall off every time he took a step, I actually got into it and managed to take note of the scenery etc. Three adult elephants with 5 people and one baby elephant headed off into the bush. Our "drivers" were people from the Karen tribe, originally moved from Myanmar about 200 years ago. They spent all the time shouting instructions to the elephants, shouting to each other, shouting at the people trying to flog bananas to us to feed the elephants and saying nothing at all to us. The one time I saw any form of expression on my driver was when a cute girl on a moped drove by.... They did manage to have a break however and rolled themselves some rather large smokes, if you catch my drift...

After the elephants, we stopped for a traditional thai lunch. We then headed to another tribal village of the Karen people where the local women hand weaved all the clothes. The day trip also included a stop at a waterfall ( not that spectacular to be honest...... nothing on Torc) and then onto the bamboo rafting which turned out to be the best fun.

There was 3 people per raft with a local guy steering with a long pole. I ended up with the two japanese girls who couldnt stop giggling and laughing . There was several other daytrippers at the launch site so there must have been about 20 rafts in a line heading down the river. The river wasnt that deep at all - just above waistline in most parts. It started off as a gentle, civilised float down a green waterway. Pretty butterflies adorned the air. Then it got kinda messy:

Down river, the local kids along the river back decided to soak everyone as they passed so a waterfight ensued with rafts against the kids. Then a group of 4 Aussie guys who were also rafting decided to liven things up by firstly trying to jump from raft to raft usually capsizing the unfortunates they landed on and then attempting a coup by throwing overboard the local guys and taking charge of the rafts themselves and then ramming each other. When faced with puzzled expressions, they simply said "we're from Australia", which to be fair was a perfectly viable explanation! By the time we got to the end of the line, everyone was drenched through - had a few Singha beers at the riverbank and attempted to dry off before all piling into the minivans for the drive back to Chiang Mai ( over an hrs drive).

We had a big feed of pizza washed down with local beer that evening.
Pic: View to Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep

Dublin - Hong Kong - Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Cambodia - Malaysia - Singapore - Australia - New Zealand - Chile - Bolivia - Peru - Argentina - Brazil - Dublin

Fashionistas in crisis

It's hot, it can be humid. You don't have any of the vast array of skincare products, cosmetics, hair straighteners, CLOTHES, earrings (big issue for Sancha) - ok, so you have a picture. One of the biggest fashion issues on the road in these circumstances is of course, the hair; how does one keep it from frizzing, curling and generally looking like Bridget Jones after her trip in the country?

Tips great appreciated. Though not appreciated if it means purchasing a large bottle of product cos we don't have room in our bags for large bottles.... :oP

Chiang Mai - Book your date now...

..for a thai dish. Now that we have mastered the art of thai cooking, you are cordially invited to dine with us in late 2006/early 2007 to sample the delights of freshly prepared red curry paste, fish soup, chicken with cashew nuts and so on.





Well we hit the cookery school on Sunday where we met a handful of other ladies from europe, korea and canada. Hands up who knows how much effort goes into making a red curry paste by hand? Our biceps and triceps got a great work-out! We are now excellent candidates to be thai wives apparently, as we kept on smiling as we were cooking and we did not tire when challenged with the pretty intense task of chopping red (hot!) chillis and seeds down to a pulp - try that without a Kenwood!! We will not reveal secret ingredients, tips and tricks unless you wish to part fund our trip...


The best bit was eating our own nosh and being amazingly surprised at how bloody good we were! Michelle marvelled at her own delicious chicken & cashew nut and sticky rice & mango dessert. Sancha meanwhile enjoyed her spicey fish soup chilli-ed to perfection. Now the challenge back home is to find all the wonderful ingredients.

Northern Thailand

We took the train from Bangkok to Phitsanulok - the express train that stopped about 20 times and took a little over 5 hours to get to our destination, at least we booked an air-conditioned carriage. The trip itself was a bit boring to be honest..... at least we had ipods, books and nibbles. The ticket we bought surprisingly included free soft drinks and a meal - which we passed on as it didn't look to appetising; instead we munched on crackers and museli bars ! We finally arrived at our destination and got a tuk-tuk (a pickup version of Del and Rodneys 3 wheeler van) to the hostel. We were the only people there the first night ... The place was v quaint ... but the rooms were clean. We spend that evening wandering around the town and had dinner on a river boat (under 8 euros including beer !!! bargain).

The next day we took a 1 hour bus trip to Sukhothai (where the ancient city is) and rented bikes for the day ...cycled around the ruins all day....checked out all the buddhas, museums etc... it was another scorcher of a day but very quiet tourist wise which suited us perfectly. Back on the bus home for another hour. I must say the bus drivers and locals even with minimal english are very helpful with directions, bus times etc.....

Friday morning, we took a bus from Phitsanulok to Chiang Mai (further north again) - well we got on the bus at 9.15am and didnt arrive at Chiang mai until 4pm... the bus made some stops where we could get off for 5 minutes and grab a bottle of water etc.... but the trip was a bit of a killer and we were shattered upon arrival. It didnt help that the bus driver at certain stages thought he was a formula one driver !

Chiang Mai is a lovely city..... our hostel is very centrally located and there are plenty of pubs and restaurants in the area. Sunday evening was spent enjoying the views of Leinster being thrashed by Munster! We were checking out the signs outside the Irish pub every time we passed it to see if they were going to show the match, which thankfully (a bit late notice mind!) they did. There must have been 12 irish people there and not a ONE was supporting Leinster.

Other acitivities in Chiang Mai during the first few days: wandering around more temples (lots of big gold giant buddhas) in another scorcher of a day, the heat is unreal during the day. We went to the huge flower market down by the river and wandered around a few general markets also. We decided to get a bit organised today too and have booked a Thai cookery course for tomorrow (am loving the chicken and cashew nuts here, Gert-Jan - I'm actually loving the food - shock horror !!) and a day trip on Monday that includes a trek in the mountains, a visit to a really quaint tribal village, elephant rides (??) and bamboo rafting.

It's a lot cooler in the evening once the sun sets and thats the way we like it. Patrick our mascot was very impressed with all the buddhas and temples but he's getting a bit bored with them now and fancies a change of scenery.

Bangkok

We flew from Hong Kong to Bangkok on Saturday last (Easter Sat). Its hot here also but less humid than HK. We arrived in the middle of the Thai New Year celebrations. One of the traditions is a water soaking festival.... as a results all the kids and some "older kids" simply throw water (sometimes water mixed with talc !) at passing buses, cars, bikes and pedestrians. There was a great party atmosphere in the city and everyone had a water gun (some with backpacks !). Sancha got baptised twice on the first day. It was hilarious.... just the thing though when its mid-30's outside.

As well as many street vendors and markets (as far as the eye could see), we have seen 3 elephants with minders wandering about..... they make money from tourists by allowing them to feed the elephants and take photos.... the elephants even have reflectors on their back two legs - as they are walked up and down the streets in the evenings.

We toured some temples (wats) on Easter Sunday and saw a giant golden buddha.... so while everyone else in IRL was coming home from easter sunday mass to tuck into their cadburys easter eggs... we were sheltering from a thunderous downpour (with lightning and thunder - that would wake the dead) with only a pack of yellow M&M's ( Ah.....) I did miss the Butlers easter egg this year !

Over the past two days we have got drowned in serious down pours and then 40 minutes later - the sky clears ad the temp rises to 35 again !! We found the "Groovy Map of Bangkok" a god-send - pointing out all the nice places to eat and visit ; took advantage of the new metro line in the city - it took 6-7 yrs to build and is v. impressive - a scout from the Luas works would learn a lot here.
We had a very civilised dinner on a traditional Thai boat last night with Thai dancers as after dinner entertainment. It provided some lovely photo ops of the city by night.

Tomorrow (Wed 18th April) we take a 5 hr train trip (apparently on the express train !) north to Phitsanulok to travel to Sukhothai - spot where there is a ancient city !

Dublin - Hong Kong - Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Cambodia - Malaysia - Singapore - Australia - New Zealand - Chile - Bolivia - Peru - Argentina - Brazil - Dublin