Me Love You Long Time

I only woke up briefly in the night and only the one time, but when I did, my right arm had gone completely numb and limp, because I'd slept on it in a way that cut off the blood circulation. This happens to me every now and then and I always get scared that my arm will fall off from having no blood running through it. I begin frantically shaking my arm, trying to encourage blood back into it, waking Rachelle up in the process. I fall straight back to sleep. Rachelle didn't. In the morning she asks me what on earth I was doing.

Today is our first real activities day. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand (after Bangkok) yet it has the most activities to do because only one hour away in all directions is lots of rain forest. We say goodbye to Jeremy because he's leaving for Laos and tells us that on Friday another guide called Tony will be taking us further. A tow-truck-bus then pulls up and a fairly young Thai guy gets out to collect us for our day. There are five others already in the truck.

The weather is beautifully sunny. We travel the hour to the elephant camp, stopping off at a small orchid and butterfly park. We spend an hour riding elephants in the forest. I think the elephants are well treated and I certainly hope so. Rachelle seems to find it much easier to stay on the seat than I do. I grip the seat tightly because I keep slipping forward. After the hour riding, we buy bananas to feed the elephants and take lots of photos. The elephants are cute.

The second part of our day is an hour trek to a waterfall in the forest. I've really been looking forward to swimming in a waterfall. We walk up along the side of the large stream that is flowing from the much anticipated waterfall and we pass through some small hill-top tribe villages. Half way through the trek we stop for food and the Thai guy makes me a hat out of a big leaf - it's not very fashionable, but I wear it whilst I eat. The guide is quite a playful, jokey person.

The waterfall is amazing. It's massive and water gushes from over the top. Rachelle and I go straight in. It was surprising how powerful the water came down and with my back to the pouring water, it was like being pummeled, but not enough to really hurt. There were lots of other groups at the waterfall, so it was quite busy. After a while they started to leave and eventually Rachelle and I were the only ones in the waterfall - a perfect time for photos. 

Next is river rafting. The difficulty scale for river rafting goes from 1 to 6 and the river we were rafting was supposedly 2/3. I think it was more of a 2. Six of us jump in the boat with a strange Thai fellow as our captain. All the way down the river he shouts things like, "come on guy", "more power guy" and "me love you long time", whilst occasionally making woop noises and laughing strangely. One of the guys fell in and we had to drag him back into the boat. Another guy lost his ore and we had to chase after it. Maybe it was a level 3 after all.

Towards the end of our river run we got out of the rafting boat and sat on a bamboo raft, slowly drifting down the river. It was very relaxing. It was then time to go back to the guest house, but not before making a quick stop in another tribal village. In the evening we got food and chilled in a cafe.

Bits and Bobs in Chiang Mai

Rachelle and I wake up late; 11AM and it's the best night's sleep either of us has had since getting to Thailand. We have cold showers and head downstairs. Attached to the guest house is a tourism booking agent. Jeremy advised us to go there for any activities and to quote his name for a good price. We already know what we want to do because Jeremy told us about an adventure day including elephant riding, trekking to a waterfall and river rafting. We book it for 900 Baht each (approximately 20 pounds). We go tomorrow.

The rest of the day is hours. We have some bits and bobs to take care of:

1) Find a cash machine

2) Exchange Rachelle's money into dollars for the visa in Laos.

3) Buy mosquito repellent - it's expensive in Laos

4) find me a hair dresser.

The cash machine and exchanging money is easy enough to do. We find a pharmacy and look for mosquito repellent. In the shop is a Thai lady behind the till and an Australian man is talking to her. He tells us about wipes that repel 'mozzies' and are better because the spray always ends up missing bits. We look around at the different sprays and the Australian asks us what the Government developed substitute drug for heroine is. We consider this a weird question. Rachelle says she thinks it's called methadone. We buy two packs of mosquito repelling wipes and one spray, then leave.

Next on the list is a hair cut for me. My long hair has been really annoying me in the hot weather and I can't take it anymore. After shopping around I see that the best price is 100 Baht, but the places don't look too great. A nice looking place has a Thai woman listening to her iPod. She takes out her headphones and I ask how much for a male hair cut. She says 200 Baht. I begin to walk away when she says, "but I do discou' fo' you... 150 Baht". The place looks nice so I agree. I ask for a short cut, very short by my standards and I worry about how it will look. She takes a lot of care and time, but it's all worth it and I like it. I pay 200 Baht because I think she deserves full price for the work, despite the cooling fan in the place blowing my cut off hair back into my face the whole time. 

With all our tasks done, Rachelle and I walk around Chiang Mai looking for temples. There are some really nice ones, but none as nice as the oldest Chiang Mai temple, which is completely different from the other temples and is huge. In fact, i'd go as far to say that it's magnificent. We are lucky enough to be here whilst there is a festival around the oldest temple lasting seven days. Lots of stalls, young monks and even some entertainment goes on all around the place.   

After we've had enough of the temple we go to a bar before heading back to the hotel.

Thai Night Out

Once again I couldn't sleep. The jet lag has been very hard to get rid of, especially as I keep having to take naps in the day. For example, I slept nearly the entire train ride yesterday. As per usual it took me hours to get back to sleep, tossing and turning.

With little sleep we get up early to go to the historical park - the reason for coming to Sukhothai. It's a place with large Buddhist ruins from the old city and is spread out over a large area. We hire bikes for 30 Baht and pay our entry fee. We are then free to cycle round as much as we like, exploring all the ruins. Rachelle goes on about how nice it is to have the wind in her face as she rides around. It's a really fun experience and some of the ruins are really beautiful. It's probably the best thing we've done so far.

We take just over an hour to go round the historical park and then head back, dropping off the hired bikes on the way. We get our bags, check-out of the guest house and head to the train station on the tow-truck-bus with Jeremy. We have a seven hour journey to Chiang Mai. The train is shockingly on time (give or take 5 minutes) and is the same as yesterdays train, serving the same disgusting food that neither of us touch. Feeling more awake than the previous day, I watch the Thai country side pass us by. It looks how you would expect. I'm pleased to be able to stay awake for the journey, other than the 40 minutes I napped, because it's a sign that the jet lag battle is slowly coming to an end.

We get to Chiang Mai station and get another tow-truck-bus to our guest house. It's called Manee House. We opt for non-air condition for money saving purposes. We have decided we will do this from now on. The room is very warm, too warm, and the shower has no heating, which I suppose means that they cancel each other out? Or maybe they are just both uncomfortable...

After cold showers we go downstairs and Jeremy is in the outdoor lobby. He tells us he is going to meet his Thai friend and they are going to a bar for food and drinks. He asks if we want to join them. We say, "yes".

A Thai girl drives up to the guest house and introduces herself as Ja. We get into the back of her air conditioned car, Jeremy in the front of course, and park at a bar called 'Give Friends 100%' - not only the bars name, but a good message. Another Thai girl meets us there called Nan and we sit outside. Both of them are very nice and more talkative than Jeremy, even after he's had a few beers. We order food and it seems that the custom here is to share everything. This would be fine except, of course, they order a platter of fish along with seaweed soup. I hate seafood. I try to eat some of the soup to be polite, but end up sneaking it to Rachelle to finish. I don't even attempt to try the fish. 

The bar is full of Thais. No tourists (apart from us of course). Whenever your beer is nearly finished, a member of staff takes your glass and pours more from the bottle into it. Your glass is never empty and the beer is shared between the five of us - like the food was. Eventually, another friend of Ja's shows up; a Thai guy whose name I never managed to figure out, but it began with 'M'. Ja places him between Jeremy and herself, which Jeremy does not seem to like. It becomes obvious he wanted to stay sat next to Ja. Jeremy moves as far to the end of the bench as he can. He's not subtle. 

We make casual conversation. we find out that Nan is Ja's manager at a hotel spa. Ja is the most talkative and makes lots of jokes. She even went to a table of Thai boys and asked to have a stick of their meatballs, which they gave her and she shared them with us. Eventually, we move on, getting in the car (Ja hasn't drunk enough for it to be a worry) and we park on a street full of bars, all playing live music. We find one we like and take our seats. It's a very nice place and the band playing are actually really good. They are playing all the latest radio songs like Lady Gaga. It's nice to hear some familiar tunes. Before Rachelle and I know it, they have ordered a tall tube of beer. I don't know how many litres of beer was in it. Again, it was shared between all six of us and again, the staff don't let our glasses empty. We couldn't make too much conversation because the band were quite loud, but they were also worth watching - much better than any cover band of that type I've seen in England.

Towards the end of the night we have ordered another big tube of beer and the band have started playing popular Thai songs. The night comes to a close and we head back to the car. At this point I am very aware that Ja has been drinking and is certainly over the British drinking limit to be able to drive. However, laws here are different and no one bats an eyelid, so Rachelle and I don't either. In fact, Nan drives her car back too and 'M' drives home on his scooter. She drives us home safely and we retire to our room, leaving Jeremy in the car with Ja to 'catch up'. 

The three Thais were unbelievable nice and showed us such a good time in real Thai places. Non of that tourist stuff. We are grateful for the experience.

Departure for Sukhothai

Again I woke up in the middle of the night. The jet lag is harder to get over here than I anticipated. This time Rachelle had the same problem and we lay there wide awake. After a while, getting back to sleep seemed impossible for us both and Rachelle suggested some Television. The best thing on was 'I love you, Beth Cooper'. Once that had finished, we tried to sleep again, but failed. Instead, I read 'The Beach' to Rachelle. 

Hours passed and eventually we got to sleep, but an hour later at 6AM the alarm went off because we had to be at the StrayAsia agency for 6.45AM. We set off leaving ourselves 15 minutes to get there, but for some reason took a wrong turning and got lost - Bangkok is not the easiest place to navigate. We were running around with our heavy bags and little sleep and it was stressful. I was sweating. Luckily we made it on time and our tour guide was waiting for us. His name is Jeremy and he is french.

When we get to the train station we are early; an hour early. I think of how wonderful that extra hour in bed would have been. At exactly 8AM the national anthem was played over the speakers and everybody, including ourselves, stands up - very patriotic. When it's time for hour train at 8.30AM we head to platform 10. Jeremy warned us that when we arrived that trains in Thailand can be late and often are. True to his word the train is an hour late. The platforms are outside and it's the hottest day so far and my arms are glistening with sweat. It's not attractive, nor comfortable. 

When the train finally arrives it's actually quite pleasant. Space for bags, enough leg room and air conditioning. They serve a meal too, but it's not very nice so neither of us ate much of it. 

The train journey takes 5 hours to Phitsanulok where we get in the back of a converted tow-truck which has benches, no seat belts. It takes an hour to get to Sukhothai and the air conditioning is the wind. 

When we get to Sukhothai we check in to a guest house. We save money by getting a non-air conditioned room, but it's still nice enough. Thereafter, we explore a monk cloister which is pretty because it's in the middle of a reservoir. On the steps are two Asian girls feeding catfish. There are loads of them and it makes for a good photo. It's a very pretty and peaceful place.

We head back and meet our guide, Jeremy, for dinner where we ask him some question about traveling around Thailand and Laos. He's already been drinking so he becomes talkative, something he was not without Chang beer. Afterwards, we head to the guest house for a beer and sit outside. We briefly talk to two other travelers; a Finnish guy and a girl claiming she was Argentinian, despite a very strong American accent. I'm pretty sure she was American and was trying to sound exotic. She dances on her own to Brazilian music (making things even more confusing) played off her phone- it's a little odd. Once the beer is finished we go to sleep.

Becoming The Con

I did not have a good nights sleep. I probably woke up at around 2AM local time and it took me hours to get back to sleep. After waking up for good, Rachelle and I headed for StrayAsia - the bus company who are transporting us around Thailand and Laos. We get there at about 11AM and a very friendly Thai woman helps us sort out our first departure from Bangkok, despite us asking to depart the next day the next day when you need to book a week in advance when leaving Bangkok - this is because the first leg of the journey is all by train and they have to book the tickets. Sorting this out takes a while, but we were in no rush to leave because monsoon season showed it's face and it poured very heavily. The internet in the place was free for 'Stray Travelers' so we used that.

 After everything was sorted out and we were bored of sitting there, we headed back to the hotel through the pouring rain. Above us thunder tore through the sky. It was louder than in English storms, or at least it seemed that way.

I was feeling ill. I don't know if it was due to the jet lag, malaria pills or lack of sleep, but I needed rest. I couldn't help but fall asleep. I felt guilty because we had planned to see some temples scattered around Bangkok. 

When I woke up I felt much better. We headed out to see if we could find some temples before dark. After walking around and obviously not looking like we know where we were going, a local started talking to us. He asked us where we were from etc and then advised us to see a few places including the tall (40 foot) Buddha and the Lucky Buddha. He told us to take a Tuk-Tuk and surprise, surprise one pulled up next to us (I say 'surprise surprise' because they are everywhere and don't stop harassing us!). We are told by the local that it is free entry to these places and Tuk-Tuk's are cheap because it's a Government holiday today. The Tuk-Tuk driver says he will take us to the places the local has written on a scrap piece of paper from his wallet and back all for 10 Baht. Alarm bells start to ring as I've read these are exactly the sorts of things said to tourists to get you into a Tuk-Tuk and they end up conning you in some way. After much debate we accept the offer.

We enjoy the ride. Tuk-Tuk's are a novel way of travel for us. He takes us to the 40 foot Buddha and it's nice. We then go to the lucky Buddha which is just a small temple with a Buddha in the meditating position. From the back a local comes out and asks us where we are from He says he is a teacher at the school teaching English.He ends up showing us how to pray to the Lucky Buddha:

- Get down on your knees

- Hands together above your head

- Bow down putting both hands flat on the ground

- Repeat three times

- Make a wish

- Repeat the prayer sequence again three more times

Strangely the local then tells us about a suit shop called 'Top Ten'. We leave and the driver is sat reading in the back of the Tuk-Tuk waiting for us, get back in. 

At this point the Tuk-Tuk driver says something about gasoline, but I don't quite understand. We politely nod and he drives us. We end up at a suit shop. It's called 'Top Ten' and my initial sceptical thoughts from when we first ran into the local and the Tuk-Tuk drover seem realised. We sit down in the shop, say we aren't interesed and leave.

Now something strange happens. The Tuk-Tuk driver explains again about the gasoline and I finally understand: The suit shops pay for his gasoline if customers sit down, look through brochures and spend at least ten minutes in the shop. He begs that we go to another suit shop he has this deal with and that we fulfill these requests. He says we don't need to buy, we just need to pretend to be interested. Now, the Tuk-Tuk driver is actually a very nice Thai guy and I sympathise. We agree and I feel part of the con. The conned becoming the conning. We go to the suit shop, fulfill our duties and leave. I saw it as a chance to practice my acting skills.

The Tuk-Tuk driver is so grateful that he thanks us, touching my leg and bowing at if I've really done him a huge favour. He asks where we want to go, we say a temple and e takes us to one. We find ourselves at something called the Golden Mount. It has a lot of steps spiraling around a hill. Three quarters of the way a local comes down the stairs saying it's closed. This was a shame, but we had seen some nice water features and a giant centipede on the way up. The local asks us where we're from.

He tells us that the Golden Mount is a man made hill, it has 344 steps going to the top and it is closed because it is time for the monks to pray. He asks us about our Tuk-Tuk and laughs when he hears that we went to two suit shops - slightly embarrassing. He takes us down the steps and tells us to hit a gong three times each for good luck - three seems to be a lucky number here. He then takes us around a Buddhist place next to the Golden Mount and tells us about it, showing us what is good to take photos of. He is genuine and the nicest person we have met here. We see lots of Buddha statues and even get a peek at some money praying. We then say our thanks and goodbyes as we head back to our Tuk-Tuk.

On the way a local Thai woman asks if we are the two people going back to Khaosan road. We are. She explains that the Tuk-Tuk driver had to go back. We hadn't paid him yet so we didn't mind, but how would we get home? As it turns out the woman's dad is a Tuk-Tuk driver. She says for 10 Baht her dad will take us home, but we have to visit a suit shop. I explain we don't want to so she says she will take us back for free if we do it. Again we would have to sit down, look through their brochures and stay for ten minutes. We agree and again we con another suit shop into giving another Tuk-Tuk driver free gasoline. In a way it's nice helping the poorer Thais and it got us a free trip to three places.

I think back to the first Tuk-Tuk ride and can't figure out if the local Thai who suggested a Tuk-Tuk was part ofthe initial con, or if the teacher in the Lucky Buddha temple was too, but I do find it strange that I became a part of it all, conning suit shops. 

We go back to the hotel for cold showers, go out to eat and have a few drinks before bed.

Welcome to Bangkok

After about 19 hours of travelling, I arrived. Both Rachelle and I are exhausted and jet lagged. Getting up at 05:45 for a taxi to London Heathrow, and eight and a half hour flight to Mumbai, India, and then another four hour flight to Bangkok with an hour taxi to the hotel has a way of taking it out of you. The first flight was fine - I watched No Strings Attached, Gulliver's Travels and Tron, we had three seats between the two of us because the flight was fairly empty, two Indian meals and it was comfortable. The second flight however was horribly cramped and hot, I couldn't sleep because of the discomfort. When we finally got to the hotel, which was at 08:30 local time, I fell straight to sleep. 


When we both awoke there were some things we had to do;
1) Find a cash-point
2) Find an internet cafe
3) Find a shop for water - there are seven elevens everywhere!
4) Find a restaurant


We did all this with ease. The internet cafe cost 30 Baht, the water 14 and the food came to 510. I think we went to an expensive restaurant. I had Thai green curry (obviously) and Rachelle had Pad Thai with cocktails.


After completing those tasks we headed back to the hotel so that we could drop off our things and venture out for a few drinks before bed time - most of the day had past us by earlier whilst we were asleep. The hotel is nice, perhaps the nicest we've seen here. It's situated a couple of minutes from Khaosan Road. We spent a lot of time looking for the renowned road and I often though, 'this must be it', but trust me, you know when you've found it. It's a very busy road filled with stalls, bars and local Thais asking you if you want to buy a suit for 2000 Baht or go to a ping pong show... whatever that is. It's a cool place and is filled with tourists. After walking up and down it for a while we chose a bar and I had a beer for 60 Baht, which is about one pound twenty. Not surprisingly, the beer was out of date. We then moved on and looked around, finding another street which was much quieter and quainter for another 60 Baht large Chang beer. Chang beer is the Thai beer here.


I'll admit that on the walk home I was feeling a little tipsy (the beer was 6.4% after all) and after a short wrestle with Rachelle we fell asleep.

Background Information

Rachelle and I are going travelling around Southeast Asia for two months. We've booked the flights, bought the necessary equipment and have been jabbed with needles to stop deadly diseases killing us. We begin our adventure on the 26th May with flights from Heathrow airport and will be back on the 25th July. I hope that between these dates my head is filled with stories and I hope this blog will reflect some of them too.

The first stop is Bangkok, Thailand, and from then on it's up to us how we venture across four countries; Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Fingers crossed we don't get eaten.