Nothing’s Familiar

My last e-mail was sent when I was in Ayyuthya, since then I have stopped off at pretty much all stops on the train visiting anything that locals and maps told me to. I’ve walked around temples dominated by monkeys, towns littered with Wats, markets oozing with copied goods, historical parks populated by decaying Buddhas and towns with nothing at all apart from expensive hotels and 7-11’s, I’ve also juggled in the Old Kings Palace with an American who does things with his balls that I can only dream of……
Anyway, I’ll talk about a few experiences before I forget them and make before I make you miss Eastenders or whatever crappy soap people watch around the world now (I’ve heard Australians don’t [or claim they don’t] actually watch Neigbours)
After I visited one of the said pointless towns, I got to the train station early in the morning to escape spending even more money on the Internet, my cheap 3rd class train was meant to take me North at 12.00pm – it didn’t arrive until 12.15pm and when I jumped into a seat (someone was sat in mine) I realised then, that I was blatantly on the wrong carriage. All the people in my carriage had white skin, not just the tourists but the rich Thais as well, instead of windowless holes, we had sealed windows. Instead of having wooden seats, we had reclining comfort, instead of having uncomfortable broken-fan heat, we had uncomfortable airconditioning-on-full cold. I had walked onto a 1st class carriage, that much was obvious. The lady next to me confirmed my suspicions by comparing the prices of our two tickets, unsurprisingly hers was 400baht more expensive than mine, we then both confirmed I was in fact sat on the wrong train. The good news was considerably fancier train was stopping at the same station as less fancier train, so it was just a case of hiding until I got there – it was scheduled to arrive 1.30 hours before my train. I travelled un-noticed for at least 45 minutes, It was only when we arrived at the first station, when the person who’s seat I was sat in showed up, I had problems. The guard checked my ticket, noticed the incorrectness of it, then requested I followed him. I followed him until I was on the station platform, then I watched him get back on the train, then watched the train disappear. So, back again in another pointless town.
I rented a motorbike when I was in Phitsanaluk to drive the 60km to Sukhothai ( a place with lots of pretty amazing ruins ), the drive there was OK – the big 3 lane highway I had to drive down was being renovated so I had dust in my eyes for a good 30km’s and had to overtake work trucks every minute, but, it was a damn site easier than driving on any road in Indonesia. I spent all day driving my bike around mega Buddhas, climbing lots of steps to stare at decapitated Buddhas and getting scared at sunset when I realised the ruins I decided to visit where deep in woods, up bumpy tracks, far away from any people. I eventually chickened out and decided to drive back. I’ve now learnt from driving that far at night on a 125cc scooter you really need a helmet with a visor, I had one of those ‘Skid lids’ and during the day i was using my sunglasses to keep the occasional flies from my eyes. Now it was pitch black, so I couldn’t use my sunglasses and my headlight attracted 90% of Thailands mosquitoes. I was driving as fast as I could to get back as quick as possible and I now know that mosquitoes hitting your face at 120km an hour hurts!! It also didn’t help that I had the dust from the road flying in my eyes, I asked everywhere for a hotel but to no avail. When I eventually arrived back in civilization I phone my girlfriend to let her know I was alive, not because she was worried, but because I was so fucking relieved I needed to tell someone.
The next time I rented a bike was in Chiang Mai, I had been looking forward to visiting Chiang Mai as I had lots of good things about it, but when I arrived I wanted to leave straight away – the foreigners easily outnumbered the Thais and every shop was advertising some kind of tour, advice, vehicle rental or selling crappy stuff in English. Not what I really want, so I met a local Thai girl who took me to rent a motorbike. My girlfriend was flying to meet me in Chiang Rai in 5 days, so I rented the bike for 4 days and set off back down south to explore it in more depth. I had no real plans on where to go, so I just followed road signs to take me to Wats, Caves or Waterfalls (that’s all there is in the North of Thailand) – On my little adventure I found a temple high on a mountain, attempted to find a waterfall but ended up on top of a hill where the ‘road’ stopped and I came face to face with lots of very confused Thai workers, I stopped off at loads of little stalls to drink Ice tea and chat with the locals, burnt my leg but got looked after by a 90 year old man who rubbed various plants onto my wound, got really, really drunk and arranged to go to some lake with lots of Thai people, but the next day, when I woke up, it was just a girl who decided to come with me – I told her my plans had changed and I was travelling a further 60km to reach another town, which, was fine with her, so I ended up driving 200km with a girl stuck on the back of my scooter! I found and chatted to real tribe-people, swam in the tallest waterfall in Thailand, stood on the highest point in Thailand.
Visiting caves in Thailand is also something worth mentioning, these caves are huge and you don’t actually have to have a guide, the first cave I wanted to visit couldn’t find the damn thing, but a crazy looking man in his wooden house offered to be my guide – he had a considerably better and bigger torch than mine and seeing as there isn’t any electricity in those places I decided to use him. The next cave I found, I arrived there at 8.00am in the morning, so no guides anywhere – I decided to go in myself using my 20p Bolivian torch, but after 5 minutes of really low natural light it started to get pitch black and my 20p wonder wasn’t actually illuminating anything. I contemplated entering the cave with just that little light, but realised how massive the other cave was and how easy I would get lost. So, again I ran away! That I think has been the 2nd time in 7months I would have really liked to have a travel buddy, but didn’t – it would have been great fun to explore a cave with no lights.

When I eventually took my bike back, the lady said I had travelled 740km (320miles), which is roughly the distance between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Not bad for a little 125cc scooter.

The time I spent with my girlfriend in Chiang Rai was also amazing, we visited the Golden Triangle, had massages, played in waterfalls, walked in green tea fields and just relaxed together- a perfect way to wind down my travels. I am now living at my girlfriends parents house in Bangkok, I enjoy being here and I’ve always wanted to teach English so that’s what I am going to do. I also know that when I decide to travel Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam I want to learn the language a lot more and ideally buy a motorbike before I leave, for me it’s my ideal way of travelling.

Hope you are all good,

Rob

Videos and now online – www.buzznet.com/burb