Southeast Asia

Despite the fact that last Monday was a pubic holiday for the kings birthday, so too was today. This made it very difficult to get organised to move on to Ayuthaya since I couldn’t cash any travellers cheques. Spent the day walking around the city and the new shopping centre. I bought a new alarm clock (sorry mum, the other one broke) and a few items like tissues and soap because its easy to stock up in Bangkok. Had lunch in the new shopping centre at a really expensive restaurant, the food was good but it cost 450B.

Spent the evening doing laundry and packing up a bit. Wasn’t particularly hungry for dinner and didn’t want to spend the money, particularly after lunch, so I went without. Watched ‘Dodgeball’ with Derek, Dave and a Welsh girl.

I have a really bad cold, which I caught on the plane, but I managed to keep it at bay by taking the Keflex for my eye. The problem is now that I’ve stopped taking it; the cold has come on badly. I have noticed that it doesn’t take long to learn to talk in disjoined English. You start asking questions like “where boat go?”, “do metre?” and pointing to a map whilst saying “I go here”.

I’d also have to say that whoever created traffic lights that count down was not the sharpest tool in the shed. As the light reaches the final ten seconds before it turns green the swarm of drivers all squished at the front with about 20 bikes thrown into the mix all rev their engines and begin to inch forward into the moving traffic in order to be first off the mark. However, even worse than red lights that count down are green light that count down which encourage drives to put the pedal to the floor and screech around the intersection in order to make it through the lights in the last 1 or 2 seconds. There also seems to be a rule that if your not talking on a mobile whilst driving then your not multitasking. Also of note is the fact that lanes here are really more of a guideline and any vehicle can drive anywhere they want at any given time, provided nothing bigger comes along. This is all alright of course as long as you have the standard Buddhist alter on the dashboard.

Well tonight its goodbye to the chaotic heap that is Bangkok and hello to the former capital Ayuthaya. I’m going to miss Suk11. I have had such a good time here. Paid the bill which came to 2700B for 6 nights including air con and breakfast (approx $14 per night).

Alarm went at 6:30 this morning so that I could get ready eat breakfast and leave by 7:10. Got a taxi to the southern bus terminal on the other side of town for only 100B. Had no problems finding the correct bus to Kanchanaburi and I was on it by 8:00. Of course the bus didn’t leave until 8:40 and the next 40 minutes were spend with people walking up and down the aisles trying to sell lollies, drinks and magazines while being forced to watch a terribly bad Asian soap opera. My taxi driver had offered to drive me to Kanchanaburi for 2000B (US$60) but the bus only ended up costing 78B (US$2.5). It was clearly a public bus because we stopped at least 40 times on the 3 hr ride and at one stage it was so packed we made sardines look like they have legroom. I was surprised that in the whole 3 hr drive we never really left the city. The density of houses and shops decreased, but thee were never areas of wide open spaces or anything. Every minute or so the driver would honk the horn at the up coming bus stop to see if anyone wanted to flag him down, in doing so he would slow down just enough so he could stop if necessary but if no one was waiting he’d hit the pedal and we’d take off again, this made for a very bumpy and noisy ride.

Arriving at Kanchanaburi I went to the TAT office and got a map and directions to the tiger temple before visiting the bathroom. Today was my first experience with squat toilets, it could have been worse I suppose, it was really quite clean. The bus from Kanchanaburi to the tiger monastery was 25B, had no air con and was packed solid. The drive took over an hour and the bus driver beeped the horn at anyone walking along the road in the hope to pick up an extra fare. I was very impressed with myself for spotting the stop to get off and telling the other 8 tourists on the bus to get off. Maybe I’m not a completely incompetent traveler. The walk to the monastery was 2km. Entry to see the tigers was 300B, but I donated an additional 500B. The tigers were amazing and so beautiful; I couldn’t believe how docile they were. Was talking to a guy who worked at Florida zoo and he was shocked that people were allowed so close to such dangerous animals and yet there had never been a serious injury. I took heaps of photos.

Took the 2 km walk back to the road and was waiting for a bus when a couple I had been talking to at the monastery offered me a lift back to town. He was European but he lives in Thailand with his wife and they visit the monastery regularly to donate money. We spoke for quite a while about the Tiger Foundation and all the work they are putting into building the new enclosure. They dropped me off at the Kwai River Bridge. The bridge, which was a strategic part of the death railway to Burma and attacked and rebuilt during WWII, was swarming with tourists (ironically many of the Japanese). There were also young boys jumping off into the water. I walked the bridge and part of the railway and took a few photos.

Next I went to the Jeath War museum to get a bit more background info on the bridge. It was a good museum, however they were renovating and many things were poorly labeled. Grabbed a motorbike taxi back to the bus station which was heaps of fun.

The bus back to BKK was only 62B, had far less people and only took 2 hours. I was however subjected to watching the drivers choice in TV which happened to be Thai stand up comedy. Of all the things to watch in a foreign language stand up is the worst because you have no idea what’s going on, but all of a sudden its extremely funny and the old Thai man in the seat next to you is elbowing you as he laughs. The driver obviously loved it too because he kept taking his eyes off the road to watch it. Noticed driving into BKK that all the fairy lights were gone, pity because they added a lot of atmosphere to the city.

When I finally got back to the hostel at 9:00 I went and got dinner with Dave and Derek, then we all stayed up drinking until 2:30, met another Aussie girl traveling with her father, they had just come from India. When I finally went to bed I died of exhaustion.

PS: give me a break on the typing, this is an Asian keyboard and I’m trying to do it in the least possible time so as not to be charged a fortune in this very expensive internet café.
PPS: I have not worn high heels for a whole week. I don’t think I’ve done that since I was about 12.

I saw my first car crash today as I was walking to the skytrain. 2 4x4's collided in the middle of the road, not quite head on. its no wonder really given that the middle lane between the traffic is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Woke in the middle of the night with my right eye itching, knew immediately that i had conjunctivitis, took 2 antibiotics and used an antibacterial wipe on my eye. i think that helped a lot because it was much better ... [Continue reading this entry]

Passed out last night and didn’t wake up until 8:30. Breakfast is provided at suk11 so i ate enough food to try and avoid lunch for a while. Spoke to a German girl who suggested i head to China Town ... [Continue reading this entry]

Got the hotel shuttle back to the airport and from there managed to find an airport bus that went into the city for 100 Baht. Bangkok has some serious infrustructure, the express way into the city was 12 lanes and ... [Continue reading this entry]

I hit the jackpot on the plane, despite the flight being packed to within an inch of its life i managed to score 2 seats all to myself as did the guy next to me. this meant a great flight ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, my trip aroung SE Asia begins now. After a mad and frantic morning trying to pack, get organised, have a farewell breakfast with jess and a bikini wax i finally left for the airport. Had to stop at Chatswood ... [Continue reading this entry]

What a huge farewell party / 21st. I really want to thank eveyone for coming and making it such a great night and drinking shit loads of alcohol and staying out until ridiculous hours of the morning even though most ... [Continue reading this entry]

I got my pack today, its a 65 litre odyssey moutain designs pack, and its blue and black. I think its going to be absolutley perfect for my trip, it has a zip off day pack and all the nifty ... [Continue reading this entry]