Bye, bye Thailand

Wednesday 12^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: Hysteria - Muse

Weather: blue skies, fluffy white clouds and not to hot ... perfect weather

I had so much to complete today that, not only was I up and out of my guesthouse by 8:30am, but I also wrote a list … number one, 'Wat Rong Koom'.

'Wat Rong Koom', or in other words 'the white temple', was a Thai Buddhist temple located thirteen kilometers out of Chang-Rai. Both my guidebook, and Matt and Rachael, had made a special mention not to miss this temple and so I went down to the bus station to find some transport. Platform two was where the ticket salesman told me to go and, once I had arrived at said platform, my bus was waiting for me. Moving closer the external paint work had mostly scratched away from the rusting metal shell of the bus. Climbing on-board I looked at my surroundings to find that the engine was laid out on the floor front of me (covered by a foam shell with a sheet on top) and that the metal frame of the seats were all rusted with the foam from the seat cushions making a bid for freedom. All-in-all the bus had character and it reminded me of the buses in Fiji; I sat down, ate my breakfast, and awaited for the off … which commenced at 8:45am.

This bus seemed to be a 'family affair' with the dad driving the bus, the mum collecting fares and their young toddler-boy playing with his ball and pillow on the seat behind dad (well I suppose it means that they don't have to pay for a child minder). As the temple was only thirteen kilometers out of town it didn't take me long to arrive at my destination; once off the bus I walked in the direction of this tall white building. It only took five minutes to get to the front of 'the white temple' and, I have to say, that I wasn't quite expecting what I found. It seems the temple has a connection with death as skulls where present on the traffic cones outside the temple and there was a pool of model-skeleton hands trying to break out of the ground. This temple was certainly cool and so I went forward to take a closer look.

Having moved to the edge of 'the pool of skeleton arms' I could see that some hands where holding skulls and there seemed to be two guardians, at the entrance to the temple, keeping the skeletons at bay. Whoever the designer was, he had seen one to many horror films. I moved past the two guardians and across a white bridge, taking photos along the way, until I reached the temple itself. Once I had taken my shoes off I went inside; there was a huge Buddha directly in front of me however, as I turned around to head out of the doorway, I looked at the artwork and noticed that there where small images hidden within the main piece. I managed to find an image of Batman, Spider-man and a few space rockets but I'm sure that there where others if I had looked harder … how odd I thought.

Once out of the temple I put my shoes back on and followed the arrows directing me off the temple. As I walked I took numerous photos as, with the blue sky as a background, the temple looked magnificent. I visited the rest of the attractions within the area which consisted of a golden building and a shop … neither of which where a patch on 'the white temple'. As I investigated the area further I found a free-entry art gallery which I had a look around. The art work in there was some of the best I had seen in any country I had visited so far and consisted off the usual, but brilliant, Buddhist art followed by a mix of Buddhist art and problems facing the world today (for example global warming) which was interesting. Towards the end of the gallery there was a small exhibit on drawings of women that, once down at the bottom of the piece, transformed into places within the United Kingdom … very good. Finally I made it into the art exhibition shop where I had already decided to purchase a few postcards of the artwork present here … that was until I saw a small A5 photo-book of the temple, and art gallery, and so I purchased that instead.

I had arrived at 9am and I was leaving at 10am; as I was walking away from the complex I was very glad that I had arrived early as thousands … yes thousands … of Chinese 'battle bus' tourists had just descended on the place (four double-decker coaches!). I walked back to the main road and caught a bus back to the city; all-in-all my trip had cost me ninety baht (twenty baht, each-way, for transport and fifty baht for the photo-book) which was well worth it.

I got back to my guesthouse at 11am and proceeded onto item two on my list, book ticket to Laos. I went up to the shop counter and booked my boat to Laos for tomorrow. 1,400 (£28) baht later it was all booked and so I moved onto item three, re-pack my bag. As you know I always go through the entire contents of my bag to make sure that nothing 'alien' had been placed in my bag before I go through a countries border security. This took quite a while and once completed I headed for lunch before coming back for a shower; I then headed downstairs to use the internet.

I was overjoyed to find a 'SpicyLao' within Louang Phabang and, considering what a good time I had at 'Spicythai' in Chang-Mai, I booked myself in for three nights. I uploaded my photos from 'the white temple' and did other bits and bobs (which included checking the UK / Laos exchange rate. £1 = 12,483 kip … blimey!) on the internet before tea. After tea I headed to a 'seven-eleven' to get quite a few snacks for the two day trip a head of me. As my trip was starting at 7am tomorrow I headed to my dorm early, watched part of a film before getting an early night.

So my time in Thailand ends today. This is the third, out of six, South East Asian countries I shall be visiting and so far it's the one I've liked the most. Even though Thailand is poorer than the other two countries I've visited (Singapore and Malaysia) the people seem a lot nicer and the infrastructure is a lot better than in Malaysia. The road system here seems to work and unlike the other two there seems to be a real effort in making things pretty with art, statues and other bits and bobs lining the streets. It's nice to be able to walk on pavements and accommodation here has been good. However, It still isn't a patch on Japan, Canada or New Zealand and I still wonder, bar how cheap everything is, why so many people come here for their holidays. Speaking of how 'cheap' things are my wallet wouldn't agree with the 'cheap' statement I made above as my daily average was over £20.00! (more than Malaysia ... and my budget was ten!). However I have done quite a few activities (elephant trekking, Boat trip to 'The Beach', Bridge over the river Kwai and the cooking course … plus I have been traveling within 'peak season') so I could have done things cheaper if I had tried. On the plus side I haven't been locked up in a lady boys wardrobe or got married to a Thai bride (I don't find Thai women that attractive … not like the Japanese girls!) … every cloud and all that. Finally I don't think that I will be coming back to Thailand anytime soon as other parts of the world do things much better.

So before I sign off from Thailand just a quick reminder than I leave for Laos early tomorrow and it's a two day, one night, trip to Louang Pheblang meaning that I doubt I shall be blogging tomorrow (and depending on what time I get in on Friday I might not be blogging that day either). I hope to see you lot on Saturday … until then have fun!

Toodle Pip!

A bit bored in Chang-Rai

Tuesday 11^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: Show you how - The Killers

Weather: Cloudy and spitting. The good news is that it's been about 20 degrees all day … a perfect temperature.

I lay in for a little while before eventually emerging from my dorm around 10am. I had a pretty good nights sleep; looking at my bedding the previous evening I was a little worried about bed bugs but alas no problems to report. My plan was to eat breakfast here, at the guesthouse cafe, however that changed very quickly when I saw a rat running around under the drinks fridge the previous night. I left the premises and headed for the clock tower.

At the end of my road, about a minute walk, is a huge golden clock tower positioned right in the middle of a round-about (in fact it was the round-about). The clock tower was attraction number 'eight' on Chang-Rai's 'loop-walk around the city'. Attraction eight or not I decided to start here as it was the closest attraction to my accommodation. After photographing the golden clock for a little while I proceeded onto attraction number nine; not actually having a map with me (the 'loop-walk around the city' maps were erected on wooden boards at all nine sites) I couldn't quite work out where attraction nine actually was and I eventually ended up at attraction one … never mind I thought, I'll see number nine on my way back.

Attraction one was a statue of an old king, from this area, who must have done something really cool as this is the first statue, that I've seen of someone important within Thailand, who wasn't the king or apart of the Buddhist religion. The next six attractions consisted of a building (that wasn't very good) and five of Chang-Rai's best Buddhist temples. Now I have to say that, whilst visiting Thailand, I think I've visited around twelve temples and they are getting a little 'been there, done that' and so I quickly skipped through each of them. Five temples, one statue and a building made seven and so I was back at attraction number eight, the clock tower. I found the information board and studied it hard to find out where attraction nine was.

Attraction nine was a park - and very nice it was too - however it wasn't that big. Again it didn't take me long to photograph the place and by 1:30pm all nine of Chang-Rai's main attractions had been completed. I went to a restaurant for some lunch and pulled out a map of Chang-Rai from my back pocket hoping for inspiration. Na, the map could have been a blank piece of paper for all the use it was in giving me ideas; the problem is that I don't really like Chang-Rai and I'm a little bored of it already. As I walk through the town it's okay, it has some nice bits and the weather is spot on, the problem is that it isn't a patch on Chang-Mai and, having just left there, I found myself wishing I was back.

I made it back to my guesthouse to find the door knob to my dorm broken and two Aussie girls having just arrived in town. All my stuff was still within the dorm and the Aussie girls had no idea what had happened to the door opening device (i.e. the door knob). We chatted the usual chit-chat about where we've been, where we are going (which is starting to get a little annoying after seven months saying the same thing, however I can't stop myself from doing it) and then we got onto activities within Chang-Rai. The girls where under the same impression as I and therefore they were only staying here a night; they did tell me that they had just visited the 'Hill Tribes Museum' which they said was pretty good.

Even though I wasn't in a 'museum mood' I decided to go and have a look due to the fact that I missed the hill tribes museum within Chang-Mai and that, the more things I get done today, the quicker I can leave. I left the girls in the guesthouse and headed to the museum.

Located on the third floor of a large, rectangle white building it took me a little while to find said museum. It cost me fifty baht to enter and it was okay; the first part of the museum focused on the opium trade within the 'Golden Triangle' (the area that boarders Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) and how the hill tribes had got themselves caught up in producing the drug. After this there were smaller displays of items from each different tribe including a model of each tribes houses. The one that stuck in my mind the most was this one tribe that had many different doors for each house. They had a door for the spirits to enter and one main door for guests; it was then that the written explanation of said dwelling started to make a lot of sense. There were two other doors, one for the men of the house which lead, effectively, to the lounge and one for the women which – and I'm not making this up – lead to the kitchen. I feel British society can learn a lot from Thailand's hill tribes.

I spent about ninety minutes within the museum, which wasn't bad considering my 'non-museum mood', and then I headed back to my guesthouse to chill before tea.

I want to leave Chang-Rai as soon as possible however tomorrow I want to see temple 'Wat Rong Koom'. Now you maybe asking yourself why would I want to spend another day in Chang-Rai to see yet another temple; well the reason is that this temple is supposed to be a kind of 'designer temple'. Matt and Rachael said that it's worth visiting and so tomorrow morning will be spent, hopefully, getting a bus to this temple before returning to my guesthouse and sorting out my transport to Laos for the day after plus a thousand other things. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, better get an early night!

Toodle Pip!

Arrived in Chang-Rai

Monday 10^th January 2011

MP3 track of the day: I don't want to miss a thing – Aerosmith

Weather: Overcast, raining and for once quite cold

I was correct in thinking that I would be woken early today; from 7:30am onwards hostel guests came down to have breakfast … and they weren't particularly quiet considering that they could see me trying to sleep on the sofa. The sofa was much more comfortable than I had previously guessed and, considering that I had only five hours sleep, I felt rather good.

I got up, tried once again to book some accommodation within Chang-Rai (unsuccessfully), then headed to the local shop to purchase some 'bus snacks' before eventually getting a cab to the bus station. All went well and I was an hour early for my coach; the hour past quickly and my coach turned up ready for me to board.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the coach was remarkably clean. Further more the seat next to me was vacant, which meant I could stretch out a little. There was a driver and a young gentleman all 'suited and booted' giving stop information over a microphone, however only in Thai. We hadn't gone far when 'Mr suit' brought around free water and snacks. I was a little annoyed that I had used my own money to purchase two packs of biscuits when I didn't need to as complimentary snacks where on their way, however that annoyance soon faded when I was handed one small pack of dry crackers … and that was it.

The scenery was pretty cool; we gained height very quickly and, due to the road conditions, the first part of our journey was quite slow. Looking out of the window the terrain reminded me of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia; the vegetation was the same light green and trees, mountains and the occasional small dwelling dominated the landscape. After about an hour we stopped for a break; I didn't need anything to eat or drink and so I stayed on the coach, waiting for about fifteen minutes before we departed again.

Once back on the coach it started to rain; I continued to look out of the window; the land had become pretty flat however that didn't make the view any less dramatic; high mountain peaks and vegetation still dominated the back drop with the occasional temple coming into view. 'Mr Suit' then made another announcement; I have to say that this was the most professional bus service I had been on within South East Asia; continual information given by 'Mr Suit', snacks and a very clean bus made it a very pleasant journey … I almost forgotten that I hadn't booked any accommodation within Chang-Rai … until we arrived at the bus station.

Yet again the bus station we where dropped off at wasn't anywhere near town, however I didn't know that at the time. Once off the coach I got all my stuff together and prepared to march into town to look for somewhere to stay. Luckily I saw this British girl waiting at the bus station who, first of all, told me that town was 19km away. When I then asked her if she knew of a good guesthouse to stay at she said yes. 'YY' guesthouse was her suggestion and she said that it was brand new, 150 baht per night and that she stayed there nine nights. She did tell me that it was located near the 'clock tower' and then she started to go into further detail however I stopped listening, within my mind 'brand new' meant like the hostel I stayed in at Krabi. I thanked her, went off to find a truck into town, looking forward to staying in a replica hostel to the one in Krabi.

The truck was packed and I sat on the final seat, with my smaller bag on my knees, and my bigger bag resting on the step outside the vehicle (which I held onto for dear life). Luckily the journey wasn't long and soon where were in town; I got out my guidebook, found the map of Chang-Rai, and headed to where this girl said 'YY' guesthouse was. After fifteen minutes of walking, and asking two people, I found the guesthouse … or at least I thought I did.

Firstly the guesthouse was actually called 'Ti Amo cafe house' but it's logo were two 'Y''s. Secondly the dorm room was only 100 baht a night, however a single was 150 baht, but most important of all once I was shown my room it didn't look 'brand new' and I don't think I could spend nine nights there. There where a few positives though; firstly the owners were very nice, they had herd of the girl I spoke to, the guesthouse is in the center of town and they also run a small restaurant with CAKE for sale … though sadly not as nice looking as the cake in Chang-Mai.

I dropped my bags off within my room and, considering it was 4:30pm, I decided to go for a short walk north to the tourist information center and then loop back, even though it was still raining. Chang-Rai is not Chang-Mai; I currently can't put my finger on it but the vibe I get from walking around the town isn't as good as Chang-Mai. As I look around the place it seems to be a lot more run down than Chang-Mai however it seems to have everything I need. On the positive side there was a 'tourist walk', taking in all the sites of Chang-Rai (which I fancy doing once the weather's better), and it's lovely and cool here making trousers a good option … for once!

I went to the tourist office, picked up a free map of the area, before looping back to my guesthouse (still checking for another 'YY' guesthouse within the area). Once back I got out my netbook to find that Matt and Rachael where still in town, though only for tonight, and just down the road. We arranged to meet up for drinks later.

I continued surfing on the internet for a little while, checking Laos visa requirements etc, wondering whether I should just forget Chang-Rai and head out with Matt and Rachael tomorrow. I debated with myself for a few minutes; it would be nice to have a look around Chang-Rai first, and I have plenty of time plus if Matt and Rachael head off first they can tell me how it went and wheres good to stay in Louang Phabang … more decisions to be made!

I shut down my computer and looked at my watch, 7:30pm. I had an hour and a half to grab something to eat before meeting up with Matt and Rachael. I went up to my dorm and blew the dust off a piece of clothing I hadn't worn for a month … yes people, it's pretty cold up here in the mountains and so my coat was out … I was very happy to see that it still fit. My first port of call was the night market, about a five minute walk away. Now every night market, I've visited within South East Asia, has had a good selection of food stalls at reasonable prices … not in Chang-Rai it would appear. I went down the few rows of stalls, that where in the 'night market', to find that most sold clothes and other items that I didn't want to purchase. I went around the whole market to find only a handful of food stalls and none of them looked very appetizing. I decided to head back to my guesthouse as there was a restaurant next door, which looked good.

On the way back I saw a spring roll stand which, knowing me and spring rolls, I had to stop off and grab a bag. Twenty baht later I had six spring rolls in my possession … but not for very long, they where good. I then made my way to said restaurant only to find Matt and Rachael there; I joined them for a meal and we caught up on what we had been up to. As mentioned above Matt and Rachael where off to Laos tomorrow taking the slow boat, they still weren't fully packed so they couldn't stay out long however I did pick up some tips on what to see around the area.

After an hour or so we departed and said our goodbyes, however I hope to see them in Louang Phabang within the week. I came back to my hostel to go through my options; I've decided to stay in Chang-Rai for at least three nights, maybe four. I want to see the town tomorrow (weather depending) and Matt and Rachael told me that I must go and see the while temple (about 13km from here). That I reckon will take two days and so I might be heading to Lao, on the slow boat, on Thursday … I think. However now it's time for sleep, I'm pretty tired.

Toodle Pip!