Posts with tag 'Thailand'

Arrived in Bangkok

Got into to Thailand today at around 3:30 and you can only imagine my disgust when I looked out the window and saw the exact same conditions that I left behind in Dublin! Not impressed. The only difference is though that here when you walk out side you just get smashed by a wall o heat. There are some funky smells here too. Some bad some good.

Bangkok is at times the exact same as Dublin or any other Western place and then at other times exactly like you see it in films with guys on bikes flying every where and just a mass of foot traffic. We got driven around in a tuk tuk earlier too. Those things can move. They are great fun. Its just a pitty I don't have a charger for my camera yet. When I do I'll get some pics together fairly fast I'd say.

Anyway we went down to TAT, although didn't ask for Gap. They pretty much just sorted out the next 2 weeks of our lives. First we head from Bangkok in 2 days and head north to Changmai. There we are doing a 3 day trek with elephant ride! Sounds like alot of fun. The we get a bus to a town on the border with Laos to stay a night. From there we are getting a slow boat into Laos. After that we are on our own again. They sorted out our Vietnam visas too as well as the hotel in Bangkok. All for about 250 and that includes most of our meals too.

Going to go now and try to get some food and some drink and a lady-boy... :)

Later

Brian

Bangkok Day 2

Day 2 in Bangkok is over and a lot has happened since arriving. I finally got a charger for my camera so I should have some pics in a while.

We went to an Irish bar on Khaosan road last night. Although I normally hate doing that when you go traveling but it was recommended to us by a friend of Jonny's who he randomly met. We stayed there drinking and playing pool (well I didn't play, didn't want to make a show of myself) until about 7 this morning. Met a few Irish, English, Dutch, German, Algerian etc. Was good craic. Especially when me and Jonny invested in a tower of Heineken. The girls we met then bought a tower of vodka and 7up and kindly shared with us. Was a fairly hectic night including a sing-along at the end.

Finally woke up this afternoon and all I could here was rain and the loudest thunder storm I've ever heard in my life. So we stayed around for a bit in the hotel room watching crap sports on tv. Then we got up and got a tuk tuk around for the day. The tuk tuk then brought us to a suit maker to get him some commission. I didn't mind though, no skin off my nose. When we got in there they tried to sell me 2 suits for about 450 euro. I laughed at him. He didn't like that. Got him down to about 200 euro but it was still way too expensive. He was an awful prick though. He started getting thick then so we just walked out.

Went down and got some food then and here we are in an internet cafe. Much cheaper here than in the hotel. We have a 10 hour bus journey ahead of us tomorrow so we are going to take it easy for tonight. Looking forward to sleeping actually. It'll be the first decent nights sleep in since the weekend.

Have fun and talk soon

Brian

Last Day in Bangkok

Finally today we get to leave Bangkok. The longer we stay here, the more I really don't like this city. Today though we saw the sun for the first time. Man is it hot. So we are hiding from it now.

Had my first red curry too, it was hot and probably a mistake on a day like today. Pad Thai is great though. Hopefully I still think that in a few hours. The curry was so strange. Basically it comes to you in a massive soup bowl. I fished out most of the meat then and left a huge amount of curry sauce behind. No way was I drinking that.

We took a few videos of a tuk tuk ride last night...

http://www.jealousofjonny.com/site_me...

The vidoes don't give you the whole experience though. You have to be able to hear it too. Plus the part of the Tuk Tuk ride we shot was not the best part. Its when you build up speed that it gets good. Not sure if I mentioned before about the tuk tuk drive who started doing wheelies with us in the back. Was great fun.

Anyway, will talk more later.

Brian

Chang Mai

What a savage last 4 days I've had. So much to say so will start from the beginning....

First we went from Bangkok to Chang Mai on a massive pimped out dubble decker bus. We were sitting at the very front and had loads of leg room. Good thing too coz the journey was 10 hours.

We got to Chang Mai at around 4 in the morning and went to our hotel/hostel place called BMP (Backpackers Meeting Place). Our room was ok but a come down from Bangkok. The place does have a swimming pool though so plus points there. I couldn't sleep when we got in so when it was light I walked around. Saw a few temples and got barings a bit.

Later in the morning me and Jonny went for a walk. Ended up in the scorching heat at midday so legged it back to BMP and had a nap. I like siestas. We had a meeting then to go to at 6 for the trek the next day. After that, we went to the night market with a dutch couple on their honey moon and a couple of an Irish guy and a kiwi girl. They are really nice and lots of fun. On the trek with us too. Had a few beers then and had an early night. Up for the trek in the morning then for 3 days. That was soo goog though it deserves its own post....

A wim bo wa a wim bo wa... in the jungle

Trekking in the jungle north of Chan Mai for 3 days and it was unbelievable.

DAY 1:

The first day we got a bus that dropped us off somewhere in the jungle. There were 12 of us I think and 2 guides (Tarzan and Promise). We trekked through fields, rivers and jungle pathways to some huts about an hour or 2 in where we stopped for lunch. The heat was incredible but the walk was flat so we were ok... for a while. After lunch we trekked again for hours through the jungle again but this time for hours. It was much harder. With many hills (we were on a mountain!!) Our destination was a tribal village of the White Karin people. Sweating was not the word. Although it was never too hard or hellish it was tough. The last part of the trek was up a very steep muddy slope to the village and of course the heavens opened!!!! I've never seen rain like it. Rivers flowing down as we tried to slip our way up. Saturated by the time we reached the top. We then settled into our hut, all 12 of us in the one place. There was only little running water and electricity was from a government supplied solar panel. Not to be wasted on us :)

After getting into dry clothes we sat down for food and drink by candle light. The craic was mighty. All laughing and joking. The 4 Irish girls brought a bottle of vodka with them and kindly shared. The tribes people sold us beer at a fairly high price, but it was still only 1 euro. It gets so dark so early up there that at half 9 we thought it was about 12! It was nice and cool there though so that when we got to bed air con wasn't missed. (When I saw bed... bamboo with a sleeping bag. Very hard to sleep in maybe rocks would be as comfortable :) )

DAY 2:

Because of 2 English girls who thought a trek would be more like a stroll we didn't walk too far on day two. The people only staying one night left before us and then 4 of us started off towards the waterfall where we were staying the second night.

The water fall was unreal. We swam and had a shower under the water fall, just generally relaxed and took it handy. So easy going. Not much I can say about that place though. Have plenty of pics, they speak for themselves. Main point is though that I cannot speak highly enough of it.

DAY 3:

Today we left the waterfall and headed to the elephants. After a short walk we got into the back of a pick-up truck when again the heavens opened. I was wearing a poncho which was useless. I was still soaked so just took the thing off. When we got to the elephants it was still lashing. They took one look at me and called in the biggest elephant they had. It was huge. We got on that then and went for a ride. I tell you, the knackers should ditch the horses, these things rule. Not very comfortable but these things were going up and down mad steep slopes, no bother. Me and Jonny holding on for dear life.

After that it was back into the truck for some bamboo rafting. That was so much fun. We didn't go terriblely fast but we nearly fell off a couple of times. We then started throwing what looked like crab apples at each other. What a laugh.

When we got back to BMP we had a hot shower. Its amazing how much we take them for granted. Was nice to be clean again. Alhtough if I could have had a shower in the waterfall again I'd take that any day.

So we are all heading out now tonight and off to the Laos border tomorrow. Bring on the good times.

A night in Spicy

So we left Chiang Mai yesterday with a massive hangover. When we came back from trekking the 8 of us that were still in Chiang Mai (all Irish) brought our tour guide to an Irish bar. He'd never been to one before. He wanted to know what it was like. Unfortunately for him though, he only started drinking 2 months ago so he just couldn't handle drinking with 8 Irish people!

When the Irish bar closed, we asked around to see if there was a disco. We went to a place called Spicy. As soon as we walked in the door we knew it was a bad idea. So sleazy. There were young western guys thinking they were hot shit because there were about 5 Thai girls around each of them, grinding away. When you walked around the place if there were a group of Thai girls standing around talking, they would start dancing if you got anywhere near them. There were plenty of old dirty bastards there too!!

I went in to use the bathroom once, a mistake I made sure not to repeat. I was standing at the urinal doing my business when two Thai guys came over. Kind of like the guys in the jacks in Irish night clubs. Only they started to try and give me a Thai massage, when I was pissing. The first guy came over and craked my neck while in the mean time the other started at my legs. I started telling them to go away but they didn't. I walked out of the place in agony.

Jonny ended upkissing one of the Irish girls. But when the bouncer saw this he started whipping Jonny. Kind of like a school teacher with a bold kid. Jonny moved somewhere else, started kissing the girl again but the bouncer guy just followed them around! We took our leave and cut our loses.

Me, Jonny and the 4 Irish girls from the trek then hopped into the same tuk tuk! The driver could barely take the corners and I'm nearly sure we broke the thing. We were in there singing Ride On and the Rathlan bog. Wish we had a photo!

The next day after 3 hours sleep we got a bus to Chiang Kong and in an hour we get the slow boat to Laos.

Until next time

Brian

pre trek in chiang mai

Ok, I've gotten some pictures from the trip and will put them up here coz the galleries don't seem to want to work. Will have to sort that in Oz. Any way have a look and comment if you like. will post about hanoi when i get to a keyboard that works properly....

Brian

trekking pics day 1

pictures from trekking in chiang mai

me and the gang take a deserved break

rice fields

jonny and john before the last leg of the trek

panned out in a random hut

me and jonny boozing in the jungle

that german (really dutch)

me and mr. promise

trekking day 2 images

Day 2 of trekking

me and jonny sweating

view from a small tribal village

promise and jonny

me and jonny beside river

waterfall where we stayed for night

pic from behind the fall

trekking day 3 pictures

Pics from day 3 trekking and the night out after... although camera went dead before we left the BMP

waterfall on the morning

flower

me and jonny put on a show... a gun show

puppy that hung out at our hut

me, jonny and promise

nothing like giving an elephant a good ride

the fun begins!

the demise of promise

A little something I forgot to mention

With all that was going on there are a few things that I never posted that I'd like to add. I'll start with the White Karin tribe who we stayed with trekking.

These guys came originally from Burma and settled in the mountains in North Thailand. They used to grow opium and marijuana but the police came and told them to stop it. So now there are rice fields everywhere. Most of their huts don't have electricity but the government had given them some solar panels for the villages which makes life a little easier.

The people go to school at around 12 years of age I think, both boys and girls. They are thought in their own schools, where they learn Thai and English, more too I'd imagine but thats all I was told about.

Girls usually marry then by 19 and guys by 25. I don't know what happens after that. One of our guides had been asked twice but said no.... playa. If your younger sisters marries before her older brother, she has to make him a tshirt to say sorry. Also, if you sleep with a girl before marraige you have to go to everybody in the village and apologise and plow their fields for them, when I think they stand around and throw abuse at you or mock you or something. Not really sure about that either

The thing that surprised me most about the tribe was that about half of them are Catholic. I wasn't expecting to see our guide with rosary beads around his neck! The other half then are Budhist. I assume the Catholic Church was introduced to them by the French but I don't know.

These people are extremely self sufficient and live off the land very well. They get money then from tourists coming through and buying some of their handicrafts. They also supplied us with beer and water which again we paid for but it was pittance. Some of their crafts were amazing. I'm sure they have other sources of income too though. For example our guides were obviously getting paid to bring us trekking.

Off To Nha Trang

So today we leave Hoi An and head further south to Nha Trang. Jonny keeps reffering to it as a party place but to be honest I don't really fancy partying at the moment. Maybe when I get there I'll feel a little differently. All depends I supppose on the kind of people you meet there.

Last night we met the kind of English people you hate to meet, which is a real pity because all the other English people we met were such good fun and really sound. The ones last night were loud, drunk, annoying, full of themselves and insulting. They came down and sat beside us, 2 more Irish teachers and another English girl, completely univited. As soon as they sat down, there was no craic. The atmosphere completely changed so me and Jonny bailed fairly soon after. On the way home Jonny was saying he didn't even like the 2 Irish teachers, I thought they were great craic. They were just taking the piss, was quite funny (until those pricks sat down beside. Wish they'd stick to Aya Napa or Ibiza).

Looking at places in Nha Trang to stay and thankfully its back to places for $6 a night. Hoi An is so wierd, I really was expecting more backpackers and lower prices. Backpackers generally tend to just collect there suits and go, but it has been nice to just relax a bit here. Although it serves to just delay yet another 12 hour bus journey. All these over night journeys eat into the time you can spend in places without you ever realising. We now have 10 days before we are due to meet the lads, which will probably be broken down like so...

1 night - bus to Nha Trang
2 nights - stay in Nha Trang
1 night - bus to Dalat including stopping in Dalat (don't think we have an option but to stay)
1 night - bus to Ho Chi Minh
3 nights - stay in Ho Chi Minh

After that it looks like we need to take out the big money and fly Ho Chi Minh to Bangkok and from there to Ko Samui in the same day. Both flights are about an hour.

Will have to wait and see what Nha Trang brings

Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

We left Ho Chi Min yesterday after 2 nights. Its a really nice city, but again very similar to Hanoi. We arrived after an over night bus and got somewhere to stay. It was about $12. Not too bad but probably could have gone cheaper. After arriving we did the usual thing and had a nap to recover from the bus. After we woke up we went to the War Remnants Museum. It was fairly cool and interesting but a bit scatty. There was no real flow to the display. I don't really like museums though and I struggle to keep attention in them. This museum was very small though, much smaller than I had expected. Was interesting though. Some of the pictures, especially of the after effects of Agent Orange were quite horrific and I did start to get angry about it.

After the museum we did the usual Sunday thing and found somewhere to watch the soccer. They show pretty much every game in Vietnam. I assume its the same in Thailand too. So we sat in a bar, had a couple of drinks, watched united lose, watch Liverpool get raped by a referee and headed to bed by around 12. All in all, a good night.

On the second day we did a half day tour to the tunnels. Our guide was an ex Veteran who fought for the Americans during the war. He spoke a lot on the bus and I was glued to his every word. After a while he started repeating himself but first time round it was hugely interesting. He talked to us about reunification camp after the war but he didn't get into much detail about that. I would have loved to have gotten him on his own so I could have found out more. The tunnels themselves were again interesting but its extremely touristy so its hard to get a proper feel for it. While there we went shooting too. I fired a pistol, an AK-47 and an M-16. It again was disappointing because the guns are kind of strapped to a wall. You don't really get a proper feel for it. Got no where near hitting a target, but then again the targets were about 200 yards away. Would have been doing well. Everyone can feel safe in the knowledge though that if I try to shoot you, I'll miss... by a long way :)

Yesterday then, we arrived back in Bangkok and finally met those pesky wicked leprechauns. It was so great to see them. We are staying near Khaosan Road now, and there is a much nicer feeling here than the last place we stayed. There is no bad smell and we are getting much less hassle. Maybe I've just gotten used to it though. We went out then last night but I'll put up a post with pictures of that soon.

I have pictures of Ho Chi Min too which I'll add to here too when I get the chance.

Until then...

Brian

Bangkok again, train, boat beach

I haven't posted in a while so this will possibly be a long one...

Met the lads in Bangkok as I said early. It was so good to see them again. We hit Khaosan road that night with Will who we had traveled through Laos with. That man is probably one of the funniest guys you can meet. A true hero. We basically just went out drank and talked. Had an awful lot of fun. After a while the lads, all bar me and Ian, to go to a ping pong show. Suppose, "when in rome..." I didn't quite see the attraction so me and Ian stayed in a bar and just talked a lot of shite about a lot of things. It was so much fun.

The next day I bought a fake student card, mainly so I can get a discount to matched and stuff. Unfortunately the clown that made it put me down as being in college in TKINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN. Oh well, might work in Oz. Not too pushed if it doesn't. After that we caught a train from Bangkok to Chumporn (or something to that effect) on the way to the islands. We just played 25 and Ian started to teach me a little about photography. He's letting me use his other SLR camera. started to get the hang of it on the boat to Ko Phangan.

So here I am in Ko Phangan. Been here for 2 nights now. The full moon party is coming up soon so each day the place gets noticeably busier. Have spent most of the time eating toasties and sleeping. Went to beach parties the last 2 nights. The first night I got quite drunk, last night I didn't drink all that much but had loads of fun. You can pretty much just wander around talking to random people. I'm really one for the dancing to the kind of music they play. Spent yesterday and most of today panned out in the bar at our bungalows. Hammocks rule the world :)

The beach we are staying on, Sunset beach, is fairly horribly. Its dirty and the water is murky and the sand is gritty. Still enjoying it though. Its too hot to go out in the day too. From 11 to 3 I pretty much have to stay in the shade. Not that its a problem. It was 4:30 by the time I got up today. Its a nice change of pace though to have 7 nights in one place. I don't have to think or worry about trains or buses, can just relax and gather myself a little.

Till next time,

Brian

Spur of the moment

So yesterday things took an unexpected twist and I leave for Kuala Lumpur in a couple of hours. From there, me and Ian fly to Jakarta. Just decided yesterday that it'd be a good thing to do. Means though that I'll be missing out on the Full Moon Party tomorrow and diving after in Ko Tao. THe diving I would like to do too but I've been on a tourist track the whole time so this is my last chance to deviate from that. Should be a lot of fun...

I know this sad but its something I have to do..........
I'm going to Java and staying in Jakarta. After that we might rent an Apache bike and head to the C. I hope there are no Pythons! We dont want to cause a stir so we have to remain very PC.

For those who get that... sorry, I know its sad. But when again will I ever have the chance to do that. Haha.

The last couple of nights have been fun. Again its just been more of the same. Relaxing all day and heading out at night. We went on a boat trip around the island yesterday which was good. Did a bit of snorkling and played some volleyball. Not exactly the sexy image normally portrayed of beach volleyball!

Last night was the first night not at the beach. Instead we went to a pool party. That was lots of fun. Jumping in water that I'm fairly sure was mainly piss by the end of the night. Met a few of the people we've seen for the last few days. Never got to say bye to some of them though which is a pity. THey were a good bunch. Its kinda taken me by surprise leaving so early. Can't wait though.

Will keep y'all informed

Brian

SE Asia, A quick guide

Right here is my guide/advice/review for SE Asia....

We arrived in Bangkok and spent 2 nights there. We stayed ages away from Khoasan road the first time we were there which was a huge mistake. You're stuck in traffic for hours then if you want to get there and it's where most of the stuff is happening too. We went into T.A.T to book our hotel the first time round and while we were there we booked trekking in Chiang Mai and our trip into Lao. If you wanna do it that way then thats fine but they will over quote you so haggle with them. I would advise not booking a place until you've seen it first. You can book something when you get to a place. We got the Vietnam visa sorted there too which is a must because you need it before you go to Vietnam. The second time round, we stayed on Rambuttri in a place called the Orchid Guesthouse. It was reasonably priced quiet location and near to everything (parallel to Khoasan).

In Chiang Mai, we stayed in BMP Residential which was nice, had a pool, was close to town, and organised the trekking. We got a VIP bus up there which was savage. Talking to other people who've been trekking I'd recommend going with the BMP Residential, they're the only crowd who spend a night at a waterfall, from what I gather (thats the 3 days 2 nights option). That for me was one of the highlights of the trip. Outside of Chiang Mai there are other places to see but I'm not sure of where or when.

From there we went to Chiang Kong to catch the slow boat. No matter what anyone tells you, you get you're visa at the border. If you do get the slow boat bring cushions the seats are uncomfortable. Lao is a gorgeous country but we spent the time on the tourist track. Tubing in Vang Vieng is decent but to really experience Lao I think you might need to get off the tourist track a little, I'm not sure how easy that is though.

Vietnam was the same as Lao, we just stayed on the tourist track. Around Hanoi there's Hao Lon bay (check spelling) and Sampa which we didn't see and are meant to be good. You can buy a bus ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh for US$34 which lets you stop off in a few places. You can get suits in Hoi An but apart from a decent beach there is nothing else there. Hue looked nice but we only spent a couple of hours there. There are plenty of tours available but it might be best to see how much of the time you spend in a bus though. We didn't do anything. There is nothing in Nha Trang, maybe diving but Kho Tao is meant to be better.Stay a night or 2 and get drunk but don't waste too much time. The islands off the coast are meant to be nice, again we never made it there. Ho Chi Minh is cool. Its a good city and the tunnels are worth a visit along with the war remnants museum.

Kho Phangan is Ibiza but 10 years later. Full of English and Irish with nothing to do but get rotten drunk on a beach. Its good for a couple of nights but you need to be there long before the full moon to get anywhere. We were there 5 or 6 nights before. We stayed on the sunset beach which I think is close enough and far enough away from the action. Need to ask Jonny though.

Indonesia for me was the best place and the only thing that comes near it was trekking. The people there are amazing. We stayed away from Bali but there are the Gilli islands and Lombark in that general direction that we wanted to go to. We went to Sumatera, stayed as little as possible in Jakarta. If you only have a short period of time then Sumatera is you're best bet. If you want to climb a volcano the go to Berastagi. That place is amazing, the food, the people, everything. Around there as well is Lake Toba and Ketambe which we didn't get to see but heard great things about. From Sumatera we went to Bintan island. This place is a 2 hour boat journey from Singapore so you should make time for it. We stayed on Trikora beach in Yasin Bungalows, which is easy to get to. I would recommend going there during the week because a lot of people from Singapore go there for the weekend. I really recommend making time for the place.

KL is a really nice city and worth a visit but we didn't spend long enough there so I can't tell you completely what I make of it. I did like it though. Singapore is only good if you want to shop. After everywhere else in Asia it'll seem made expensive and drink is extortionate, even compared to Irish prices.

Any questions about anywhere, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer....

Brian