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.
No comments:
Post a Comment