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Well....2 weeks in and it's probably time for an update of my travels. I will try and make this a worthwhile read, hopefully leaving you all in high anticipation for my next entry!!! I have already seen and done so much, here is my recap of recent events...
Flight with Jet Airways (Indian Airline) very impressive, would recommend to one and all, a choice food from the in flight menu (Indian) good entertainment and nice air cabin crew.
2 nights & 1 day in Bangkok included 2 big nights and a tuk tuk day where we visited a few Wats (Temples), Big Standing Buddha and even though I pleaded with the tuk tuk man to pay him more not to take us, a couple of suit shops as well...some things in Bangkok never change...although we didn't have to stick around in them long as they weren't willing to meet my desired suit price of $30. It was 4 & 1/2 years since I was last in Bangkok and I was far more impressed by the city this time round even if I was there for just a short while.
So we headed North East to Pak Chong, the gateway to Khao Yai National Park http://www.khaoyai.com/khaoyai.htm. When I say "we" I mean Tom and I + an English girl named Becky who is still with us to the present day. There we undertook a 1 & 1/2 day trek through the National Park; really preserved and hardly any other travellers which was nice. We visited caves, relaxed in and around several waterfalls, helped a bunch of monks push a VW Combi and managed to see wild monkeys, deer, bushy tailed squirrels and crocodile...and ants. The highlight of the trek though was witnessing over 2 million bats leave their cave for the night, something that happens everyday at the same time (Video due to go on Facebook).
We broke up a long trip to Sukhothai in Central Thailand with a night in Khon Kaen where I sang karoke (unchained melody) in front of an all thai audience (7 members)...they clapped, we thanked them and left. We then made friends and partied with some non - English speaking Thai people, conversation was not stimulating but smiles say a lot in Thailand.
Sukhothai, another non major tourist destination, saw us renting out pedal bikes to explore the "Sukhothai Historical Park".... http://www.thaiwebsites.com/sukhothai_historical_park.asp Tom was a little annoyed at the distribution of the bikes as I was given "Turbo Charming" whilst he was given "Turbo Fairy"....we joked and laughed about this for several minutes...The day was really good; we pedalled around lots of old buildings otherwise known as "Ancient Ruins" as well as the rest of town where we were politely heckled and smiled at wherever we went; Thailand remains one of the friendliest countries I have ever visited.
Next stop was 'Chiang Mai' a major tourist city in Northern Thailand famous for its trekking. After arrival we soon decided against doing a trek, main reason being that the novelty factor seems to have worn off as so many companies run them now and the so called 'hidden tribes' are in fact ready and waiting with their gift stores. I can't guarentee this is the gospel truth but in any case we had already done one trek and opted against another.
We still spent 5 days there though, Tom and I + a couple of Canadian girls went for a massage at a Thai womens prison, unfortunately they were fully booked so we went to their parlour where ex convicts are employed. The women are not hardened criminals and they teach Thai massage whilst they are in prison so that they can earn money to leave with and to help keep them out of trouble in the future (Nice concept I thought).We rented out a motorbike for a couple of days and went exploring, first stop was'Tiger Kingdom'. http://www.tigerkingdom.com/Home.htm Here I laid and stroked real tigers!...I was a bit sceptical at first as I don't enjoy seeing wild animals in restricted areas but it was explained to us by English volunteers that they had all been there since birth and the centre is used as a breeding ground as their native wild habitats are unsafe and they would unfortunately be hunted if in the wild.
We then cruised around the mountains through the Mae Sae Valley, lush rainforest and some Elephants greeted us on our way. The next day we went to the highest point of Chiang Mai to visit the famous temple 'Doi Suthep, pretty impressive views and another lovely temple, we stopped along the way to chill out at some nice waterfalls (I love falling water).
The next two days Becky and I undertook a Buddhist Meditation Workshop http://www.monkchat.net/?name=workshop Here you have a basic introduction to Buddhism and then learn about and practice methods of Meditation (including my 1st attempt and failure at Yoga). It was very popular and a really interesting couple of days, getting to speak with lots of nice monks and learning about the their traditions and culture, we spent the night at the temples accommodation and fun was had by all.
Apart from letting you know that the food is amazing and that I have seen just 2 clouds in the past 2 weeks, that brings us to the present day where I find myself on the Thai / Laos border waiting to cross tomorrow. Laos will be a new country for me so I am rather excited about what lies ahead. We will travel to Luang Prabang via a 2 day boat ride down the Mekong River which should provide us with a nice alternative to the bus journeys we've had so far......
Will update in another couple of weeks....bye, tchau, ciao, au revoir, aufwiedersen....
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