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We arrived in Bangkok and felt as though we had stepped forward in time. The city was so well layed out and simple to get around. The trains were as good, if not better than the rail network at home which was really fortunate as we had done little to no research on where to go in Bangkok. We debated staying a night in Bangkok but decided that we were on a role now so we may as well carry on up to Chiang Mai. We booked our train tickets to go up to Chiang Mai that evening and found a bar to watch the Rugby. Trev was over the moon as South Africa played really well and smashed Fiji so we got on our sleeper train fed, watered and in a good mood.
The sleeper trains felt like luxury after the busses in Vietnam. It was almost a double bed to yourself which is fortunate really as our train was delayed due to flooding and took 15 hours to get to our destination.
Once in Chiang Mai we found a lovely family run guest house who welcomed us in like long lost children, They became incredibly excited about the different tours on offer so we were soon loaded up on the vast array of activities.
We had a couple of days before Mum arrived so we took a rekkie around the city to get our bearings. We were staying in the old city which is confined by brick walls and surrounded by a moat. People generally get around by motorised tuk tuks or mopeds so the pace is much slower. The whole aura is very laid back and spiritral due to the heavy presence of monks and temples. The city hosts scores of temples with everyone of them outdoing each other in size and beauty.
We picked Mum up from the airport the following day. It was sooooooooo good to see her after so long and we couldn't wait to show her the city and what was on offer. She was very tired after travelling for much of the previous night and day so we kept her awake by sight seeing and feeding her everytime she looked to be flaking. I think we toatally overwhelmed her with a jam packed itineray but she seemed as excited as we were once we had been through everything.
We started the week off gently with a Thai cooking class. Trev passed on this and went for the more testosterone fuelled Thai boxing class. It's ironic really that we probably ate the same amount of calories as he burnt off but it was such a great experience. I had been really intriegued by the different flavours in Thai food which was strange for me as I had never really been interested in cooking before. The class took place in a farm just outside the old city so after visiting the local market to pick up our main ingredients, we got to pick most of our own herbs and extra ingredients from the farm.
During the day we cooked 6 seperate meals and ate each one as we went along. They gave us a recipie book to take home so I'll attempt to recreate the dishes when I get back and impress Trev with my new culinary skills. Well, I'll try anyway.
We returned to the guest house fed and relaxed and were greeted by a pretty worn out Trevor. His thai boxing coach had decided that he had a natural tallent for the sport and gave him a 6 hour gruelling work out. Apparently they had a break mid way through where his coach took him to his house and they had an hour's nap on the floor which I found quite amusing.
The following day Mum and I embarked on a 2 day meditation retreat. This became quite a surreal experience as we had to spend the two days in silence. The retreat was conducted by a monk who had been practicing for the past 20 years. He was 30 and looked about 16. He went to great lengths to help us understand what a monks life is like and to try and explain how the Buddhist religion works. The monks show a crazy amount of disipline in their everyday lives but the results are evident through the gentle, relaxed nature and aura that they exhibit.
During the retreat we had to participate in several hours of meditation which I really struggled with. I'm not very good at staying still at the best of times so doing this for a length of time with no talking was not something that came naturally to me. Mum took to it really well and she found that it had great healing effects on her legs and back. I think it's a dicipline that we will both be using going forward but it definately takes a lot of practice. Before and after meals and meditation we had to chant. Initially I felt totally rediculous doing this but you soon get used to it and kind of loose yourself in the chant. I actually started to look forward to chant times as it was the only chance we got to speak.
There is such a lot that we took from the retreat but the most inspiring thing was probably the deeper understanding of Karma and incorperating it into our every day lives. It was all very profound and interesting and something I will try and keep in mind going forward.
We decided that Mum had relaxed enough so we took her downhill mountain biking. With hindsight this may not have been the best idea considering she had hurt her knees prior to coming out and the biking was about a million times more extreme then we anticipated but we all had a blast all the same.
The trip begun with a a jeep taking us 1500 meters up a mountain. I was green by the time we got to the top due to the continuous turns so the fresh cold air that greeted us when we arrived was more than welcome. Trev took one of the more difficult routes whilst mum and I signed up to a route that was supposed to be easier. Little did we know that when it says suitable for beginners with moderate fitness it actually means you will be going pretty much vertical for the next four hours on crazy slippery terrain. Mum did really well and stuck with us for the first 5 KM. We encountered a fairly tricky bit quite early on which lead to her going straight over the handle bars. Eeek. Fortunately one of the lovely guides called for the jeep and he took her for her own personal bike tour of the lake at the bottom. By the time we met up later on Mum had councelled this guy through his whole life story and he had taken to calling her Mum :)
After Mum had left we carried on down the mountain. The heavens decided to open up making the journey down even harder than before. I loved every second of it and managed to get to the bottom with only a couple of war wounds. The poor girl who was also on the trip fell over her handle bars so many times that she resigned herself to walking the bike down the mountain. The views from the mountain over Chiang Mai were out of this world which just made the experience all the more amazing.
We were all pretty broken after the riding but Trev was keen to do another thai boxing session so for my sins, the next morning I thought it would be a good idea to join him. We were picked up on little mopeds to take us to the ring. The flooding in Chiang Mai had been pretty imense by this point so we spent the majority of our journey with our knees in the water. I kept expecting the bikes to break down but they carried on chugging along. Once in the ring, Trev and I took it in turns to be manhandled by our coach whilst he did a top to toe massage on us with deep heat. As soon as our muscles were burning we started our three hour session. This involved skipping, jumping on tyres, kicking what felt like a million repetions and punching. Apparently I have a rather potent left kick however I need to remove the smile that i couldn't help but wear throughout the session. Trev was pretty amazing at it and the guy even said that he could train him to be in the ring within 2 weeks.
Now that we had seen what the Thai boxing was all about we decided to go and see what a real fight looked like. We all came away with mixed feelings. Mum and I loved the dancing and the rituals that they do before they fight and the atmosphere was fantasic. Each fight takes place to live music and they kind of dance to the beat whilst they are fighting. The other side of the coin saw people being knocked out, a fair amount of corruption and the referees getting into a fights. Whatever we made of it, it was a thoroughly entertaining evening.
We had wanted to do a three day hike in Chiang Mai as the landscape is absolutely stunning but unfortunately the flooding was getting worse and the walks were becoming too dangerous. Instead we did a one day hike which also included elephant riding and white water rafting. The day started off gently with a tour of the orchid farm and visiting the long neck hill tribes. After lunch we went for a ride on the elephants which was a bit bitter/sweet experience. The elephants were beautiful and it was great to be so close to them but we didn't like seeing the chains around their legs or the spike on the end of tha stick that was used to control them. If we could do it again we would have probably skipped the ride and gone to one of the sanctuarys instead. We live and learn I suppose.
After lunch we started the walk up to the waterfall. This sounded very plesant until we realised that the river had become so high that we would be walking through the river up to the waterfall. It was pretty hard going and we were both very impressed that for the majority of the journey Mum was leading the way. The reward at the end of the walk was the most beautiful waterfall which was worth all of the new cuts and bruises we had gained along the way.
The day had turned out to be far more action packed than we had anticipated and it wasn't over yet. The next leg of the trip was white water rafting down a very angry looking river. We rafted down some crazy rapids and thought on several occasions that we would be flipped. I expected to look round at mum and see a terrified expression but it turned out she was having the time of her life. The rafting only lasted for about 20 mins but we all felt quite lucky not have finished in the water and in fact alive :)
Chiang Mai had provided such an eclectic mix of culture and activities. We spent a couple of evenings walking aroung the evening markets and buying super cheap local produce. The food was as amazing, as expected, so we enjoyed authentic thai food and lazy coffees in the cafes to pass time in the evenings. We had become quite friendly with the owners of the guest house which added to the familiar homely feel of the place. When we left for the airport to fly down to the islands the lady who ran the guest house waved us off in the middle of the road shouting goodbyes. I think this might be a place to revisit in the future.
After an action packed 10 days in Chiang Mai we wanted to experience what the south of Thailand had to offer. It didn't dissapoint. We arrived in Phuket in the middle of the night and were greeted by the usual mass of taxis. We had arranged to stay in a hotel a few KM away but I think the receptionist had fallen asleep so we had find another accomodation. Our taxi driver was a littler angel taking us to all the hotels and hollering at the top of his voice for people to wake up. Eventually we found a place at about 3 AM and settled in for a nights kip.
In the morning we made our way down to the south of Phuket to meet up with a couple of our friends who had come over for a holiday from Australia. After a quick catch up we all made our way over to the pier to catch a ferry over to Phi Phi. The boat was pretty rough due to the monsoon season. Luckily Trev and I have become seasoned travellers now so avoided sea sickness, unfortuanately most of the rest of the boat hadn't. By the end of the boat everyone looked green and a fair few were hanging off the back of the boat feeding the fish.
We couldn't help but have high expectations of Phi Phi due to seeing the Beach and I have to say that once you got through the over commercialisation of parts of the island, it didn't dissapoint. We found a quiet area on the island where the accomodation was affordable and so we started our island getaway 'Leo-esk'. The island is surrounded by high limestone cliffs that tower over us giving a welcoming remote feel. The waters were warm and a kind of turquoise/lime green colour. We spent much of our time here lying on the beach and soaking up the atmosphere. Trev and I had spent a few hours exploring on the kayaks and found some beautiful little caves scattered along the cliffs.
Mum left half way through our time in Phi Phi so the two of us did a spot of island hopping over to Phuket for her to catch her plane. We had a lovely evening in a hotel up by the airport and both turned into blubbering messes when it was time to say goodbye. It had been so wonderful having her out here I wasn't really ready to let her go home :(
Back on Phi Phi, we opted to take the ever so popular tour to Maya beach where most of The Beach was filmed. We hired a longtail boat for the day with our friends and went to see what all the fuss was about. The first stop was snorkelling in one of the lagoons. After jumping off the boat, the guy driving it started feeding the fish. Suddenly we were engulfed in this huge swarm of fish. It was a bit freaky to start with but we soon got used to it and were free diving down through the fish.
We had to earn the trip to Maya Bay by swimming into shore from the boat and then climbing up a kind of rope bridge. The walk through to the Beach was so exotic with white sands and high rising trees forming a pathway. The path opens up to the most breathtaking beach I have ever seen. There is no way i'll be able to do it justice by discribing on here so I'll try and upload some pictures at some point. We papped away for the next hour or so and swam in the bay before returning by boat to our accomodation.
The next stop after Phi Phi was Reigh lei beach. We only intended to spend a couple of days here but loved it so much we ended up staying for the duration of the Thailand trip. It was low season so most of the nice accomodation was still affordable so we thought we'd treat ourselves. We spent much of our time here swimming in the sea and rock climbing. We found two brilliant instructors who took us under their wings and got us doing what felt like impossible climbs. We were both totaly hooked by the end of the trip and will take it up when we get home.
We are now in Australia after a mamouth bus journey through Thailand, Malaysia and onto Sinapore. We spent a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpar to break up the trip and and then flew out here. South East Asia already feels like a distant memory now that we have fully embraced the Western culture again. It's nice in many ways but I do miss the Asian way of life. Lets see what Australia will bring.
Lots of love to everyone
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