Thailand pt 1: Bangkok and the North
We arrived in Bangkok after an overnight flight through Singapore. We'd found the snooze lounge and had gotten a couple of hours sleep in the airport, but it clearly wasn't enough. We went to a food court in a mall for some lunch and then when we could check into our hostel we went for a quick nap that accidentally lasted until 10pm, at which point we decided to just call it a night and went to bed. We slept until the morning and then headed out, well rested now, to explore Bangkok.
Our first stop was some food, so we went to the morning market which was very close by. There were lots of very small street food vendors selling fresh grilled fish and bags of spices for cooking. We got some egg rotis and took them to the park to eat. The park was filled with retired people taking exercise classes, power walking and meeting friends. It was already so hot at 8am, so we could see why they were all taking advantage of this slightly cooler start to the day.
We then decided to go back to the hostel so we could change and go and visit one of the temples close by. It was very beautiful, with a big gold Buddha inside and a shining exterior.
We then went to find the Grand Palace, but on the way we met a woman who suggested we take a boat tour first. She put us in a tuk tuk (which cost about 40p) which dropped us at the river and took us all through the side streets of Bangkok, past more temples and houses built right on the river which we never would have seen otherwise. It may have been a ruse, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The boat dropped us at the dock and we visited a market where I got a coconut to drink and bought some flowy trousers to wear to temples in the 40 degree weather. The Grand Palace was huge, and very busy. The temples were incredible and covered with tiny mirrors which made the buildings shine brightly in the sunshine. There were lots to see, and cloisters and more, and we were a little overwhelmed by temples by the end.
We got some lunch at a vegan cafe, which meant we could try some traditional Thai food (I got spicy pork and rice and Mitchell a curry) and then we went back to the hostel for a nap until it cooled down again.
In the evening we walked to Chinatown to see the night market. This was also very busy, and both sides of the street were lined with vendors and whole side streets closed off to cars. We got some pad thai and mango sticky rice and ate it sat on little stools outside the carts.
We had booked onto a trip to take us out the next day, so we packed onto a minibus and set off out of the city. The first stop of the day was the Summer Palace where previous Kings had resided. It had some pretty buildings both in Thai and European style.
Next, we went to a floating market and took a little boat trip around it. It was very pretty, with lots of colourful flags overhanging the water. Once the boat ride was done, we had free time to look around the stalls and get some lunch.
After lunch, it was time to see the reason we'd booked the trip; Ayutthaya. This ancient city used to be the capitol of Thailand (or the Kingdom of Siam), but is now just a ruin. we saw the Buddha which had been engulfed by tree roots, old temples and crumbling walls. It was very cool part of history to see and very different to the clean and shiny temples still in use.
The next day was our final day in Bangkok, so we went for just a walk to see the flower market before it got too hot. It started with a whole street of flower shops, and then at the end it was a huge covered market filled with flowers, and lots of orange carnations especially. As we got further back, we saw more vegetable and spice stands too.
That was it for the morning, we did some travel planning and Mitchell went for a haircut (which turned out very nicely). We had lunch at another vegan cafe, which meant we got to try more traditional food. I had a noodle soup that came with veggie meat, veggie meatballs, and veggie crispy pork, something I'd never had gotten to try otherwise!
That afternoon, we packed our bags and set off for the train station. We were catching the overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai!
We boarded and sat almost like a regular train while we got out of the city and we ate our dinner. At 7:30pm, the steward came round and made up everyone's beds, pulling down the bunks, laying out the mattresses and putting on sheets and pillows. We climbed into our bunks which we opposite each other and settled in for the night. There was a curtain you could pull all the way across, a plug socket, valuable pouch and an individual reading lights you could use. The bed was a little hard for us, but we slept suprisngly well on the long train journey. Wake up time was 6am and staff came through selling coffee and breakfast and our beds were put away.
We arrived into Chiang Mai just after 7am and, following the hotel's instructions, hopped into a tuk tuk. It took us into the tiny twisting lanes of old town where we found our guest house and dropped our bags. It was too early for check in, so we went for breakfast.
Fed, we went for a walk around the town, seeing cafes, massage parlors and temples everywhere. We visited the biggest temple complex in the old town. There were a few temples to see here, ranging from very big and shiny, to a smaller, darker one, and a ruin. We also saw four monks getting into an orange car that matched their robes.
By then, we could check into our room, so we did that, cranked up the air conditioning and relaxed until the sun went down, only venturing outside to get lunch. It was hot up here in Chiang Mai too, 39 degrees each day and that afternoon we barely saw anyone out on the streets.
The evening was fun, we passed outside the ancient city walls to reach the night market. A whole street was closed off for food and souvenirs and we got some tasty rice and another coconut. We then went to investigate the non-food stretch of the market. It had clothes, jewellery, desserts, crafts and so much more. Mitchell got some new sunglasses, and we kept walking for about 45 minutes, with the end still not in sight. We decided at this point to turn back as we couldn't tell how much longer it went on for.
We had a day trip to Chiang Rai booked the next day and as the pick up point was a Burger King we decided to have that for breakfast. Our first stop of the day was a hot springs. Right next to the car park was geyser which spouted water every 5 seconds or so. We went to the section where people were dipping their feet and took off our shoes to try it, but it was so hot! I love a hot bath, but this was too hot even for me. On the other side, there was an even hotter spring, and there were ladies selling hard boiled eggs which had been cooked in this water. We bought an egg basket and it came with a little bag of soy sauce too.
The second stop was the Karen long-necked village. The people of this community are refugees from Myanmar, and to supplement their basic income from the government, they open up their village to visitors with displays and crafts to sell. I got a brass ring in a spiral shape, just like their neck rings.
Then it was on to the main part of the trip. The temples. First up was the White Temple, Wat Rong Khun. It was made in the 1980s, so very new, and it was absolutely beautiful. Rather than all the colour like we'd seen in the others, this was only white to look like heaven. Every inch was covered in swirls, points and art.
In the same compound, there was also a smaller gold temple and an sculpture exhibit by the artist which was in a cave and featured characters from myths and modern stories.
We then went to visit the Blue Temple, Wat Rong Suea Ten, which was made by a different artist, but one who had worked closely with the original architect of the White Temple. This was also very cool, but smaller, and my favourite part was the intensely colourful painted interior surrounding the big Buddha.
Our final stop of the day was another temple, the Red Temple, Wat Huay Pla Kang. This was built in a more Chinese pagoda style, and had a huge lady Buddha on a mountain top next to it. By this point we were very hot and overwhelmed by all the temples. Fortunately, the temple was selling iced milk tea for very cheap so we got some for the ride home.
The tour bus dropped us off right in front of the Sunday night market. This was different from the one we'd seen the day before (which was every night), but still had lots of food options and market stalls. It seemed to be selling similar items, with maybe a little more art, and after our long day we didn't feel like exploring the whole length. It had a big stage at the main entrance and we saw a school age dance group performing as we arrived.
For our last day in Chiang Mai, we wanted to go and see another temple (our last one) that was up in the forest and very popular with visitors to the area. We got a cab to the edge of town (which cost about £2) and then jumped into a songathew, or a red taxi converted from a pickup truck, with two wooden planks running down either side to sit on. It was just us on the way up, but on the way down there were 10 of us inside.
At the top of the winding mountain road, we went to visit the temple, and then walked around to see the view point and a small water fall.
We also got lunch up here before heading back down. We packed up that night as in the morning we were off to the next location.
The minibus picked us up at 9am and we off on a three hour drive along winding roads into the countryside. I don't know if it was the roads or if the travel sickness pills we took were too strong (we bought them in Australia and they said take 1-2 so we took 2) but during the drive we were both so dizzy! We just put our headphones on, closed our eyes and zoned out for most of the journey. We didn't feel sick at all though, so I guess it worked.
We arrived in the village of Pai and walked through the town, across a swinging bamboo bridge and into our accommodation. It was a very cute bamboo cabin, complete with porch and hammock.
We ventured back into the town for some lunch and then spent the afternoon in our cabin. The only option for laundry here or in Chiang Mai was a service, so we dropped off our dirty clothes at the reception desk, and then spent a few hours reading on the porch while the heavens opened and the rain poured down around us.
There was a night market here too, although much smaller, so we found some wraps for dinner once it had dried out. For some reason this town out in the middle of nowhere has become a bit of a party town with plenty of bars. It wasn't anything too wild while we were there, but the age distribution here definitely skewed more towards university aged people than we'd seen anywhere else.
The bamboo hut did have the disadvantage of letting bugs into the bathroom, but because the gaps were so big it also meant that a little lizard came in at night and ate them all for us.
In the morning we went for a walk through the countryside. Lots of people rent scooters in the area, but as neither of us had ridden before and it was meant to be rainy again, we didn't want to chance it. We heard one crash while we were here and saw several bandaged arms.
The walk took us along roads, past fields, waving children, cows, and spectacular Northern Thailand scenery.
On the way, we saw a sign for "Mystic Village" and went to investigate. It was a yoga studio and according to the sign out front, they had a class the next morning which sounded good for us. We also passed a bookstore and chose a physical book to read to to make a change from our ebooks.
It rained again that afternoon, but with slightly less thunder, and we made good use of the hammock.
In the morning we went to the yoga studio for the class which was both relaxing and a surprising workout. The window looked out over the mountains and we enjoyed it a lot.
For once it didn't rain that afternoon, so we went to visit the public pool. It was big, with some floaties to use, deckchairs and umbrellas all the way round. They had a bar where you could get drinks and it was just enough out of town that right next door was a field with cows.
Other than some excellent pad thai at the night market that night, that was it for our time in Pai and the north of Thailand. In the morning, we caught the bus back to Chiang Mai (and were briefly held up by buffalo crossing the road) before heading to the airport. But we're not done with Thailand just yet!
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