AHHH long time! Sawadeeka from Thailand.
Trip Start
Jun 12, 2006
1
21
29
Trip End
Sep 01, 2006
Bangkok, Thailand
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
So let me try to remember what i did in the past 2 weeks.....
My
brother arrived in Bangkok at 1am. i took a taxi to the airport to pick
him up, then we went to my host and stayed there for the night. we woke
up and decided to go sight seeing.. we went to the Grand Palace (i
heard its the most holy place to the Thai people). but we didnt go in.
they dont allow short pants/wife beaters inside. so we decided to pass
and keep on walking. next door to the Grand Palace there is the Wat Po.
Bangkok's largest temple with a reclining Buddha 46 metres long. the
Wat Po is also THE place to learn traditional thai massage. after
saying wow for an hour and after taking 300 pictures, we continued to
walk to China Town. there was nothing much to see there, unless you're
interested in buying gold, wholesale stuff... and crap. the smell in
China Town was too strong for my brother and he wanted to puke the
whole time. so we left there pretty quick. we continued to walk and
ended up in the Golden Mount which i already wrote about. we went back
to get our stuff and took a taxi to our new host's place. The next day
(Friday) we (I) decided to make it a Mall day.. we went to Siam center,
Siam Paragon, Siam Fun center, MBK - all those are connected somehow by
bridges.. in my opinion there are at least 4 million malls in bangkok.
then we went to Pantip Plaza - heaven for electronics, compuers,
illegal fake software, illegal dvd's, illegal fake computer games, and
fake everything... we didnt buy anything, just made a list of what we
want to buy when we go back there before we leave thailand.
On
Saturday we went to Khao San Rd. and we decided to buy a tour ticket to
Kanchanaburi. We got a one hour Thai Massage for 180 Baht ($4.80) and
then headed back to the Weekend Market - the hugest market in Bangkok -
i think - that is only open on Sat and Sun. We met Nammon (our host)
and enjoyed watching people stop and stand for a min while the national
anthem was playing in the background. then on a tuk tuk (taxi style
rikshaw) he took us to a pretty fancy thai restaurant. The next day
(Sunday) we were waiting to go out on the tour when suddenly i see
Tzofit and Shiri - the girls i started Thailand with. turned out they
are taking the same tour as us and are on the same van!!
On the van
we also met a newleywed couple from Israel on their honeymoon - Zohar
and Asaf (they will be mentioned again later on)
The first day of
the tour included a 2-2.5hr drive to Kanchanaburi - a little town west
of Bangkok close to the Burma border. we arrived in the very very cool
resort, and chilled out on the hammock for an hour. then we went on
Thai Speed Boats (very fun!!!) they took us to a cave near by. then the
boats picked us up and took us to the Kwai River Bridge (the one that
was built in WW2 by something like 60,000 war soldier prisonars.) after
that we went back on the van that took us to an Elephant camp! we all
got to sit on the elephant's head with one brush in our hand. the
elephant went in the water that was so deep it covered him and us. and
then we got to scrub his hairy head, and he gave us a shower with his
trunk. after that half of the group got to eat dinner, and half went on
an elephant ride. The guy that was in charge of our elephant was crazy,
and we are convined he is stuck on a trip. he was yelling and singing
songs in Hebrew (!!!) which made us realize how comerciallized and
israeli this trip is.... later that night we (me, tofit, shirt, and the
newleyweds) decided to go to the night market after a bathroom break.
after i was done i went down to the meeting spot, but no one was
there... i realized they left without me. so i decided to walk alone.
on the way i asked for direction and ended up getting a ride on a
motorbike. as soon as i got to the market i saw my friends that
apologised and said that the taxi driver didnt want to wait (wtf??)
the
next day we all woke up at 7, had breakfast, and left the place by 8am.
they drove us to a national park that had 7 waterfalls. we hiked up for
2 km and got to the 7th waterfall (tzofit and shiri gave up on the way
and turned around and hiked back down....losers!!) the waterfalls were
amazing, and the blue water made me want to be in the islands already!
after that we had lunch, and drove to the Tiger Temple.. we all got to
take pictures with the tigers - that some people believe are drugged
up. we were not allowed to wear the color red, yellow, and orange, not
to piss off the tigers. i was wearing a purple shirt that i found out
as i got to the temple was not a good color.. so i got to wear a stinky
white shirt on top of my purple (so when you see the pictures, you'll
understand why i was dressed like poop)
after the photoshoot with
the tigers we went to the resort again to pick up our stuff, and back
to bangkok. the next day (tue) we didnt do much... we went to this
shopping market called Big C that kinda reminded me of K-Mart or Wal
Mart.. walked around and then took a bus to Khao San Rd. were we ate
Israeli food. there i met Dana, the girl i was traveling with in India.
at 6pm we were on a "VIP" bus to Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) after
watching 2 dvd's and 12 hours ride on the bus we arrived in Chiang Mai.
the Capital city of northern Thailand. very cute town with tons of
travelers and internet cafes (but expensive ones). sits on the Ping
river that contributes a lot to the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok.
On
the bus we met another couple on their honeymoon and a guy they met in
bangkok 2 days before. we all walked together in search of a guest
house. we finally found one in the old "walled" city of Chiang Mai. a
very cute guest house with very nice people, and a cute 2 year old
called Jing. after settling in we all went to rent bicycles (50 baht
($1.35) for 24 hours) we biked around the city that is not too big and
not too small. perfect for cycling. on the way we saw the 3 Kings
Monument, we went into the Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Center,
we saw a very very old and huge temple (you'll see everything in the
pics) and then we found a cute little local restaurant with amazing
food. at night me and Reut (the new wife) went to the Night Market a
huge market with northern thai products and hilltribe handmade stuff.
On thur we decided to keep the bikes and cycle 12km out of town to the
Mae Rim Lake. after cycling for 15-20 mins the newleyweds decided they
cant do it, and their friend they disscused things with their friend
and totally ignored us. they continued to cycle back to the city and we
kept on standing trying to figure out what to do. we decided to
continue... so we cycled for 45 mins untill my bro got us a ride in a
truck. we put the bike in the back and go in the car. the very nice guy
took us straight to Mae Rim. we couldnt really find the lake but we did
stop at Bai Orchid - an orchid and butterfly farm. there was nothing
much to do in that small town, so we started to head back into town..
on the way we got a ride again to Chiang Mai. the next day - Friday we
got ourselves another thai . this time it was 2 hours for 200 baht
($5.40!) which was so much better than the first time. whn you get a
full body 2 hour massage they do your sides too.. and your head.. which
was nice.
After the massage we went on a mini-van on the way to Pai
- a small town north of Chiang Mai. the ride was not easy. it was 3
hours of turnes and curves and steep. i was nausious the whole time.
later on i found out that everyone that does this road feels the same -
shitty and sick.
but it was worth it. Pai is a very relaxed town
popular with backpackers. we got a bungalow in a guesthouse were the
owner was not that nice.. and then went to eat pizza at a italian
restaurant operated by... an italian man.
On Sat morning we left
that guesthouse and got a new bungalow on the river! we 2 rented
motorbikes. at first i was not feeling comoftable driving it.. the max
speed in the first 2 hours was something around 20km/hr..what made my
brother really mad...hahah.. but then i got over the fear and increased
the speed to 40km/hr. hah! so we explored the region with the bikes, we
went to 2 waterfalls, and a hot spring which we never went into because
it was waaay to expensive. we saw the local villages, and the local
people that i think the only modern thing they own was a crappy
motorbike that always carrys minimum 3 people. for lunch we had a
"home-made" meal.. we made salad, tuna salad, cheese, and bread. it was
a feast. in the evening i decided i want to check out some of the cute
little shops in the town. as i look at the merch i hear my name.. and
surprise it was Zohar and Asaf! the newleyweds from Kanchanaburi (we
also saw them in Chiang Mai for 15 mins) during the day i told my bro i
wish we met them again, they were the nicest we met this whole time. we
hung out all night and went to the italian place with them again. the
next day they left for Chiang Mai and we made plans to meet again in
the islands. we didnt do much on sunday, just bummed around.. chilling
on our porch watching the river. on monday my brother impressed our
neighbors (2 girls from israel) with his salad skills - veggie salad,
and fruit salad. again, we didnt do much.. i watched 3 movies on that
day. my brother left for Chiang Mai at 2:20pm. and i stayed in Pai
untill 11:00pm. on 11:00pm i took a mini van to the Burma border for
visa extension. we arrived at the border at 6:20am. we (me and 3 other
people) stamped out of thailand, and stampped in Burma.. it was raining
and too early for stores to open, so we turned around 2 mins later and
entered Thailand again. so i got visa for another 30 days in Thailand..
some people choose to do visa extnsion but they only give you 10 more
days and its 1900 baht.
at 7:45am we left the border on the way back
to Pai. after 4 hours drive the driver dropped me off in a town 30 mins
from Chiang Mai (instead of going back to Pai and taking another 3
hours ride to Chiang Mai)
I took a ride to Chiang Mai and got there
45 mins later, met with my brother and did nothing. at 6:00pm we took a
night bus to Bangkok. we arrived this morning at 6am. we are tired..
especially me.. after 2 nights with no bed. it is 11:42am now and we
are waiting for the bus at 6:00pm - we are finally going to the
islands!!!!!!! the bus is taking us to a town in the south and from
there we take a 3.hr boat ride to the island Koh Tao. i cant wait to be
there.. shower.. and sleep. its going to be 3 whole nights without a
sleep on a real bed.
we have tons of photos to share with you, but we cant do it here... they dont have a cd burner here!!! what in the world!
miss and love you
next
time i will talk to you i will be on a sweet island, looking at the
blue water, chilling on a hammock with watermelon shake in my hand.
Maya
