Chiang Mai

The bustrip to Chiang Mai took some seven hours. We had enough space enjoying the fan throwing fresh air to us, reading, writing diary, and like always sleeping. We arrived in Chiang Mai and the first foot out the bus door, thousands of tuk tuk driver (like taxis) tried to convince us to go with them to town. We did not like the first guesthouse we went to and so, the next day, we checked into another one, slightly more expensive but recommanded by our English couple we met. It was worth it! Chiang Mai is a rather big city so it took us a while until we felt like home again. The first night we just went to a roof-top bar which was in the roof on the fourth floor overlooking the old city walls of Chiang Mai. The bar had no windows but was open and decorated completely in a Raggae-Style. Those of you who know me well can imagine how much I liked that bar...for all others: a heck of a lot!!! The day after our arrival we slept in a while because the vodka from that bar gave us quite a hang over :) We decided at 3p.m. to yet get out and go to the royal summer residence and Doi Suthep, which turned out to be the most astonishing wat we have been to. The palace was unfortunately closed by the time we got there but Doi Suthep, which means "Mountain of the good God" was amazing, 300 steps led aus up the hill to that golden temple with tons of different Buddhas. The temple was on a mountain, so we also could enjoy a nice view over Chiang Mai and its aiport *g* After we left we had dinner with a Thai girl we spent the day with. The good thing about it was, that she could speak English and finally we were able to learn more about the Thais and their culture. The next day we had to get up early and made our way to Doi Inthanon, which is the highest mountain of Thailand. The first couple of hours we took a local bus and then we had again to hitchhike to get to the summet, lying in a national park. The family who took us was really nice and showed also some waterfalls to us, amazing!!! The sad thing was that it rained and also it had only 15 degrees making us shiver a little. Luckily we had our raincoats because once again we had to sit in the back of a pick-up. Even though the sight was really foggy we enjoyed our time there. From there we travelled to Pai, a paradise for backpacker up in the mountains of Thailand...

Sukothai

Early in the morning we left Phitsanulok after our second night for Sukothai. In Sukothai we booked into a guesthouse which was recommanded of two of Uli's friends, turning out to be a good joice. For the first time we had our laundry done which we got back more or less clean and dry. The same day we went to Old Sukothai were millions of temple ruins could be found. The Historical Park was so big that we decided to rent bikes. On our way to the park the busdrive wanted more money than the actual price was and luckily the woman from the bike rental place helped us negotiating with success. After we settled the little dispute we took the bikes and rode around the old temples, taking pictures of them an the respecitve Buddha. By now I know a lot more about Buddhism, their values and habits. We really liked Sukothai a lot. On our way back to the hostel we met a couple from the UK who has been travelling for 7 months already through India, Nepal, South-East Asia, and countries I do not remember. We exchanged how to handle the threat of malaria be present during this time of the year. We met them again twice, first when we got dinner in New Sukothai and the next in the bus to Chiang Mai, this time also offering enough seats. By the way, pictures are to follow...

Lopburi and Phitsanulok

...after our experience Uli and I both were pretty tired and looked forward to a two-hour bus ride to Lopburi, having a seat and a nice air-conditioning. Yet not so...the bus indeed had an airconditioning as booked, but the seat turned out to remain a dream. The bus was full, and once again, it is not the European-American full, but the Thai-full. We were the last two to enter the bus and the last two who could possibly fit in the aisle...or so we thought. At the next station some other 10 people wanted to go to Lopburi and thinking they would not fit was naive. Some Thai woman came into the, yelled something we did not understand, and the people scewed up more and more so that the unbelievable became true: Everybody fitted in the bus. Lopburi itself turned out to be rather boring and the only amazing thing was that the city inhabits more monkeys than people. So we left early the next morning for Phitsanulok. The 6 hours ride was finally one on which had seats all the time. But that it would not become boring for us, the bus broke down and had to be repaired. Once arrived in the early evening we found a really nice hostel with a room on the forth floor, being the roof with a terrace and a view over the town. We had a look at two temples (Wats) and were amazed to see tons of Thais jogging along the riverside. Funny how they jogg...We stayed two nights before continuing to Sukothai, also being a former Thai capital.

Pak Chong - Khao Yai National Park

We started our next journey with the train from Ayuttaya to Pak Chong. Not only was our train late but it took also about one hour longer than the timetable stated. But it was worth it because the train rode through tons of different kinds of landscape, including dry plains, hills and mountains, rice fields and rainforests. Once again we did not get a seat and that is why we stood for about 3 hours. During the ride we gestured with some Thais, yound and old, and really regretted that they could not speak English at all. They are friendly people worth starting a conversation. Once arrived in Pak Chong we were welcomed by a lady who recognized us as Farang (meaning stranger) telling us why we should definitaly book into her guesthouse. And because we wanted to go there anyway, we went with her. The guesthouse was a needy place and in the late evening we went to the night market in Pak Chong. It was just like the other ones :) We expected the next day with great excitement because we visited the national park Khao Yai with all sorts of animals not seen in Europe. Unfortunately Uli and I do not have a car available and so we checked out a transport for free. Once arrived in the park we hitchhiked through this big area and met welcoming Thai families. We also trekked through the jungle by ourselves being confident we would not need a guide. In fact, the trek was well marked, however, almost half way at our destination - the waterfall from the movie "The Beach" Uli recognized some small red animals on his socks. It revealed to be leeches all over his socks and, as I took my shoes of, also over my socks. After getting rid of them we decided to go back and google the Internet to find out if those littler monsters transmit deseases...luckily not. We hitchhiked to the impressive waterfall and back to our hostel. In the car we were one American (daddy), one Thai lady (mom), three children, one grandma, and us two. This equals eight persons in a car constructed for five. As we arrived back in Pak Chong a bus took us to Lopburi, once again, the word "full" became a new meaning...

Sorry!!!

Hey everybody, sorry I have not been updating my blog since a while but it is really hard to find a cheap Internet place around and to take enough time to do it properly. Uli and I are well off and enjoy our days in Pai, northern Thailand. The last to do days we were crawling through the dschungel, playing once again with leeches and other species which like European blood :-) We safely returned yet had to pull out our truck from the mud. Really exciting, except the two girls who were with us, they got kind of scared. The next 7 to 10 days are spent in Lao and we hope that we will not meet any corruptive plolice officers longing for our money. Well, now you are up to date and I promise to write more about our last stops (quiet a few). It is amazing here!!! Miss you all, yours Jan

Ayuttaya-the former capital of Thailand

Our first journey within Thailand led us from Bangkok to Ayuttaya, the former capital. At 7 a.m. we took a train which only cost us 20 baht in third class (=40 euro cents) for a 1,5 hour ride. The trains here are like in a typical reportage about India. The trains are more than full so that the people even have to sit in the entrance area (doors being open throughout the ride) and in the train all kind of people want to sell food and other stuff like on a market. When we finally arrived we had to take a little ferry to Ayuttaya center because its an island which is surrounded by rivers (seem to be a little dangerous because we saw some aligator kind animals-however the Thais either do not know about them or are really into that re-incarnation stuff because they swim and bathe in there). Once we arrived safely we looked for a hostel and also found one which was really good. The first thing we did was eating breakfast which we didn't made to accomplish in Bangkok. After that we rented a bike with two girls we met and cycled over the island looking at ruins of temples, big elephants, and some temples from today hosting humangous golden buddhas. In the afternoon we took a boat trip on the rivers looking at some more temples (all looking similar) and visiting the night market - a place where you can buy foods and other stuff. It seems like the Thais always go out to eat because you find all sorts of stands selling different food looking either to be wanna eaten or to be not wanna eaten. After we walked home through the dark and dirty roads we had a beer or two and went very tired to bed...Sorry for the typing errors but the keyboards here look really wierd and different.

The first days - here we are

Hey everybody, this is my fist post from Thailand. Uli and I arrived safely here. We flew seperately and in Bangkok he was suddenly standing behind me at the baggage claim. So the meeting-at-the-airport-plan worked out well. Except for the breakfast, which was saussage with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and ketchup (yes, good guess, I flew with British Airways) the flight was good. I had a seat at the emergency exit, my own row, and thus a lot of sleep. The first shock came when we left the Terminal...Hot weather, really humid, and bad air. A cab took us to our hotel, which is really nice as you could see on the pics under the link below. We have not seen so much yet because we do not know where to go and also had some nice experience with Thai beer the first night. The next day, which is today, we did not get up until 2p.m. because of the jetlack (of course :-). Tomorrow we have to get up at 5:30h because we visit the floating markets. So far we
used tuc-tucs to move around-exciting but a little bit dangerous I suppose. These are small three-wheeled cabs, open at every side. Now imagen south asian traffic, moving through it with some 60 or 70 kilometers per hour, with a buddist driver, believing the issue of re-incarnation...Anyway, we two are well of and close to falling to bed. Hope to hear from you guys, yours Jan - One more thing: Happy Birthday for my little sweetheart Sara. She finally turned 20 today (do not know why, but she has been waiting for that moment forever...:-) Love you

Our first accommodation

Here it is, Uli´s and my first accommodation in Bangkok. We have booked the New Siam II in advance for the first two nights - that way, we can relax and get rid of the the jetlack without stress. It´s a new guesthouse which even has a swimming pool and own bathrooms for each room, some even having hot showers. Eventhough, Uli and I booked one of those hot shower rooms, I am not quite sure if this was way to clever: In Bangkok it is 36 degrees (celsius) hot and humidity amounts to almost 80 %...anyway, we hate cold showers. For more information and pics just go to http://www.newsiam.net/ns/newsiam2.php and have a look. And if anybody of you thinks that big cities are expensive to sleep at I can just reply: Not true. One night costs only 7,50 euros per person including the air-conditioning.