Wednesday 26 December 2012

You know those moments when one can find themselves asking "What am I doing?" Well, I just had one of those.

After scouring the many streets with the mid-day sun beating down on me,  I finally found a motorbike shop to rent a scooter for four or so days. The beauty about the rental shop is that I didn't have to give away my life, my soul possession for my travels - my passport. I gladly gave them my 'operators license' after explaining to the Thai lady that 'operators license' is the same as a drivers license (but I don't need to have a drivers license anyway). I have come to the conclusion that for my Christmas present to myself I will be taking the Mae Hong Son loop through Northern Thailand. 

With just over 600km starting from the bustling, yet highly pleasant city of Chiang Mai, circling clockwise to Mae sariang, Mae Hong Son, and finally passing through the 'hipster' town of Pai before returning to Chiang Mai. Of course the route can also be done in the counter-clock wise direction if one chooses to do so, but I have been informed that it's best to go to Mae Sariang to get a feel for the road before descending on the 1,864 curves that the whole route claims to possess. Sounds exciting right?! After three times on a scooter here in Thailand, I feel I can conquer this. 

Christmas in Thailand was definitely different. Considering that the majority of the population are Buddhists they don't celebrate Christmas, so for them, Tuesday was just another day. I seen the occasional 'Merry Christmas, Happy New Year' banners hung up over the Thai restaurants catering to westerners. The Deejai hostel that I am staying at did a fine job at the Christmas party here.

They, the hostel owners, hired a local Chiang Mai jazz band to play live music for us, while the Thai dinner consisted of spring rolls, curry rice chicken, mixed veggies and to top it all off, turkey was served for dinner. What a contrast of flavours that was, and for dessert I had cake... then roasted worms. 

Some photos of my Christmas Day

+33 degree temperature. 


I think I see some snow... wait, no



The hostel Christmas Tree




Saturday 22 December 2012

To feel the wind on my face a plume of black smoke clouds the view in front of me as it billows out of the truck a cars length ahead, and as the inevitable fate would have it, we soar right through the middle. Ah the sweet joys of a motorbike taxi in Chiang Mai.

After a nice air conditioned five and a half hour bus ride costing a mere 237baht ($7.50), I suddenly forgot about the nice peace and quiet I had experienced from the lone bus ride as soon as I stepped off the bus in Chaing Mai. I could barley get my backpack out of the compartment in the bus as the hoards of Tuk Tuk drivers and Taxi drivers rushed over as if we were a freshly caught basket of fish for the seagulls to chow down. "My friend, Tuk Tuk?" "Where you go?" "I 'av air conditioned taxi, best price!" I've made a lot of friends already on my trip.

A kind motorbike taxi driver came up to me and asked where I was going. I told him, he gave me his best price of 70 baht, so I strapped my backpack to my back and he put my little back between his legs and off we went. I don't think I've ever held on so tightly to a piece of plastic handle as we rushed in and out of the traffic. I definitely looked like a 'Farang' or Foreigner on the back simply because I was holding on with white knuckles. As families would pass by on their mopeds/motorbikes, the wife would be on the back texting in one hand, holding the groceries in the other hand while her legs dangled off of the side - the kid? Oh they would be between the mom and dad laughing away. With that being said, I made it safe and sound to the hostel after nearly being hit, twice.

If that wasn't enough, a day later I heard about a temple on a hill about an hour drive from Chiang Mai. I convinced three others to join me, and we decided to each rent a moped to do the journey.

My Moped.
After navigating throughout the traffic in which I have to drive literally a meter away from another car, even when the cars are stopped at a red light I must keep driving to get to the very front of the line through a little narrow gap they, the cars, left me between them and the sidewalk, we made out of the city. The hostel owner drew us a map of the road leading up to the temple, and I don't think he put enough curves in his map. The road up there was phenomenal. In the spots where the sun could pierce through the think forested landscape I felt the true Thai heat, but in the shade it was refreshingly cool. The road up had turnoffs where one could stop for a dip in a waterfall, or pray kneeling down, feet away to the Buddha.  I can honestly say that after driving through the traffic here, I'm confident about driving anywhere.

Temple at the top.

300+ steps to the top.

At the temple I walked into a room where the Buddha statue towered over me, and a monk sat cross legged on his chair. I sat down, pointed my feet away from the Buddha and smiled politely at the monk. Soon after, a few Thai locals joined me in sitting and praying and then the monk dipped some straw tool into holy water and said blessings as he splashed the water over us.

The pictures below are at the temple half way up the hill - we had the place all to ourselves minus the monks.










Wednesday 19 December 2012

A lone monk on the water taxi.


To fall asleep with the frogs, mozzies, and crickets a chirpin' away, to then being woken up by the sweet sounds of birds singing over the low hums of monks at the nearby temple... in my own bungalow. Could life get any better?

I would like to formally say, sawatdee kap (hello in Thai). I have been in this beautiful country for well over three weeks and I realise that I have yet to make a blog entry. Now I blame that on three factors. 1: The heat penetrating my brain. Two: The humidity on my fingers would stick to the keys, and my writing would start to look as if somebody had smeared honey over my hands to ttyyippppeeeee. And three: It could be a little thing called Procrastination. But as my ma says, and I quote, "you don't want to spend all your time on the computer".

I'm going to whisk a wee little ways back to the 6th of December 'queue in the movie scene where a bubble would appear over someones head indicating to go back in time'.

It's not everyday I can take two flights, three subway/sky trains, two tuk tuks, one bus and a lot of walking. In my earlier post I mentioned the fact that somedays you just have to laugh at those little things that 'just don't go the way you were planning', and arriving in Bangkok is no exception.

After taking off from Istanbul's airport, I watch the sunset high in the sky. Then five hours later, thanks to the time shift, I watch the sun rise crest over the hills of Malaysia. One word: Stunning. To find the We Bangkok hostel it consisted of three metro trains but to my relief they were air-conditioned (if anyone is travelling to Bangkok and you're in need of some serious cooling down, just take the metro). Later, after meeting a gal from... Well I can't quite remember where she was from so I'll generalise it - from somewhere in the world, we decided to take a walk to Bangkok's China Town. From there, one bouncy, air polluted Tuk Tuk ride to the nighttime flower market where I could recover from the fumes of the cars. Then we tried to get back to the hostel but the tuk tuk driver took us about a two hour walk from it. He took us for a scenic ride to the Grand Palace. After one bus, and a thirty minute walk we made it back to the hostel. I've never slept so well.


Ahhh the sweet joys of a Tuk Tuk
That was three weeks ago. From Bangkok to Thailands former capital of Ayutthaya pronounced (ahh-yoot-ahh-yaa) - it's okay if you can't pronounce it as I still have a hard time wrapping my tongue around the word. There was a two week festival going on and they brought in the Jewel of Thailand - the elephant. There were elephants everywhere! Elephants walking alongside cars, when I looked ahead, elephants. When I would turn slightly to the left of right, elephants. Can you guess what was behind me? Elephants! I even got to feed one of them cucumbers. At night there was a performance being put on to show how the old capital got destroyed by the Burmese people back in the 1300's, and they wanted 500 baht from me to watch it! So I just sat across the lake and watched the outdoor show for free. I love free.

From ahhyootahhya to the monkey infested town of Lop Buri. Tip - if a monkey steals something off of your table, chances are you won't get it back from them unless they drop it.
Monkeys in Lop Buri
Lop Buri to Kananchburi to spend a day swimming around in the seven tiered waterfall.








Lastly, Kananchburi to Sukothai.


A wat in Sukothai's historical park

I have come to the conclusion that I love Asia already. It's definitely cheaper than Europe, has some delicious food, and the Thai Hospitality is amazing.

Saturday 8 December 2012

After travelling the European continent for nearly four months, I have arrived in the 'Land of Smiles', literally.

I like to think that starting out in Europe was a way of teaching me some of the backpacker life style; the do's and do not's; how to read a map properly; how to stay cool and collected while lost in a city; etc. A lot of people have asked me "What is your favourite place that you have visited?" That is by far one of the hardest questions that I can possibly answer for each country has it's own beautiful uniqueness' to it. I have definitely liked more places than others, for example: When in Brussels it's better to reserve a hostel in advance and not just show up unannounced and expect a hostel or else you may be whisked away 5 kilometers out of the city center to sleep in a sports complex for a night. I'm not entirely sure if I wasn't quite fond of Brussels simply because I didn't get to see the city, or because of the sweet bitter taste of sweat from the tennis courts, badminton players, hockey rink skates lingering into my nostrils. I have come to the conclusion that I tend to like a place more if the place that I am staying at is decent.

I still find it amazing how fast does fly by if I'm not paying any attention to it, but why should I focus on time when traveling? Usually if I need to know the time I won't ask any other travelers because seven times out of ten they don't know the time either. Judging the time based on the position of the sun always works. For instance, right now it's not as sunny as it was two hours ago and based on my calculations that I woke up at 10:00, left the hostel around 11:00, roughly speaking, that means it must be around 3:30. Okay I admit that I used a clock this time to tell the time, but I hope you get the point. The tricky part comes when there are clouds covering the suns' rays. Forget it if I need to know the day of the week as that is nearly impossible to obtain from other travelers. With all that being said, it's a nice feeling to not care about the time of day or if it happens to be Saturday vs. Tuesday, and of course if I'm desperate to acquire that iınformation my iPhone always comes in handy.

That's just one of the many wise wisdom's that I have learnt on this trip, here are some others if they may come in handy to any of you later in life, possibly to save you from embarrassment in front of many locals, or to make a future trip smoother. One piece of advice that I can give right now is if you are thinking about travelling, particularly to backpack, is just do it! Stop thinking, just go. Buy a plane ticket, hop on the plane, well sitting inside of the plane is usually better than hopping on the top.
  • Don't pull the ticket from the buses in Northern Scotland or the bus driver will yell at you in an indistinguishable accent - just allow him to give the ticket to you.
  • When trying to look for all of The Beatles homes in Liverpool, asking a local may get you a free personalised tour from a 'fab four' fanatic herself. Just judge who you ask because there are people living in Liverpool who have never heard of Ringo Starr, nor The Beatles themselves... I know, I hang my head low in shame.
  • To watch the Changing of the Guards at the Buckingham palace, don't stand in from the of the gates, and arriving one and a half hours early is still not enough.
  • To score some one Euro beer in Paris, go to the Sacré-Cœur at nighttime.
  • I have already informed you about Brussels.
  • If you are lost in Luxembourg city, chances are you might need to take an elevator to get to the street you're looking for.
  • Don't get upset if you buy some revolting buttery-slimy yogurt looking drink if you thought you were buying milk - It's not your fault you can't read the language.
  • If you can afford it, Copenhagen's Christiania district is a must-see to anyone travelling there, just be prepared for an eye-opener.
  • When trying to hitchhike - do it at a bus stop. If you get picked up by a passer by, great. If not, just take the bus.
  • Vegemite is not as bad as everyone says it is, just don't allow those Aussies to put it on your slice of bread like peanut butter.
  • Try to have a day where you don't spend any money at all. Not a single penny. It's rewarding.
  • Use the bathroom on the bus/train because nine time out of ten the moment you get into the bus/train station you'll have to pay to pee.
  • Laugh at all of the things that just 'don't go your way'. Because there will be days when it seems like the world is testing you to the max, and trust me, it is. It's all about how you handle situations and your attitude.
  • It is possible to cook pasta with just pasta, water, and a kettle.
  • Wear shower sandals in the shower. I shouldn't have to explain how many peoples dirty feet have touched that floor you're about to step on.
  • Get away from the big cities and enjoy some of what the country truly has to offer.
  • In Budapest, check out The Market. I spent a whole day in there tasting all of the food. mmm.
  • Learn how to barter with people, it's enjoyable and honestly, who doesn't love to save money?
  • In Turkey, dialling 155 on a payphone will get you the Fire Department who does not speak any English when you ask them "Operator"?
  • After spending a full day at Mount Olympus and your legs feel like there about to fall off. You may have to walk 17km to the bottom of the mountain to the nearest town in the dark, or if you're lucky, you can hitchhike in the back of a locals truck.
  • Trust your intuition.
  • I could go on for hours about all of the little things I have picked up along the way, but I won't for your sake.
  • Most importantly, have fun, don't run, and no photos - wait, sorry, those were the rules to Christiania. Most importantly, have fun, smile a lot, make lots of friends filled with memorable memories. Don't be afraid to look like a tourist while snapping a photo crouched down on one leg while at an awkward angle you weren't sure a human being could have possibly twisted their body into just to get that perfect shot. Did I mention SM :)E a lot?
I am not saying I'm an expert at the whole backpacking, travelling life. I can just give you my two cents of advice. Not literally my two cents, I may need those for a bus fare.

-Autumo