11 Mar 10 Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chang Mai and back to Bangkok
Since arriving in good ol’ Thailand on 3rd March we’ve been pretty darn busy, but to be honest we’re getting a little larthargic so we’re looking forward to some major beach time.
Our first stay in Bangkok was for three nights and to be honest we made a poor effort at sight seeing. We began with a ‘Farewell’ dinner with our intrepid group which deflated quite early on. The next day Jackie and I had to make our way to the Indian Embassy to arrange our visas. Sounds straight forward, but you’d be wrong to think that. The bloody embassy no longer processes Visas for India so we had to trek to find a small office on the 15th floor of some random building. Needless to say we were both frilled with this! On the way back we stopped off at the Victory Monument and walked past the Royal Palace.
The evening quickly came round and the four of us that were left (Jackie, Aimee, Hillary and myself) decided to go out drinkning down Koah San Road; this is where all the backpackers and bars are. Before we went out we jointly pollished off a bottle of vodka and then were off on our merry (quite literally) way.
The first place we stopped had some techno pumping and random middle ages to over aged men trancing it up on the street. So that seemed like a good place to stop... It actually was though, the lady who served us was so wasted on some sort of illegal substance (I’m purely speculating here, she may just be like this all the time… god help her) that she took our money and gave us the exact same cash back as our change. RESULT. Two Vodka and coke buckets for free. After this the night got a bit hazy so it’s best to leave it there.
On 6th Jackie and I got up early to catch a train to Ayutthaya (the old capital) which is full of old temples and ruins. It was a nice day but once we did the major attractions there was no real need to stay there. In the evening we caught, what was possibly the coldest night train in the world to Chang Mai where we would do two days trekking.
Early on 7th we arrived in Chang Mai and was taken straight to the hotel. After a quick orientation walk of Chang Mai, where we found a Boots, Tesco, Mc Donalds, Sub Way and Burger King (nice), we retired by the pool.
The next day we made an early start on our trekking tour with about 7 other Europeans. Of the 7, 5 were French and after spending a couple of days with these people it has come to my attention that the entire nation should not be allowed passports. They just cannot cope!
The trek started with a 2 hour drive to the outskirts of the national park, where we took a 1 hour elephant ride. Naturally Jackie was over the moon with this and to be honest it was fantastic. Our elephant was a bit temperamental and likes to throw mud at us and spray us with snot and water, but I think that was his way of showing us affection.
After the ride we then had a 2 hour trek to our overnight stay. The heat quickly got to me and I was soon sweating like a pig. On the way there was waterfalls to cool off in so that did help.
The overnight stay was awkward to say the least but we all managed to overcome our language barries to make the most of things. And I began to warm to the French. They’re actually nice people!
After 0 hours sleep on a rock hard sleep sheet we got up the next morning to complete our trek. Another 2 hours in the hot sun. Again there were waterfalls to cool us down and at the end we took a bamboo raft down the river which was scary and awesome!
On 10th We took another overnight train to return to Bangkok to pick up our Indian Visa and to arrange the next exciting installment of our trip. Tigers and beaches. Can’t wait!
