Chiang Mai
I am in Chiang Mai. Arrived here yesterday morning on the overnight sleeper. The train trip a great way to travel.
I had heard a rumour that the dining car was fun, and as soon as we left Hualamphong station I left all the sleepy people in car 13 and made my back there. I opened the door and there was a bar, formica tables, Thai music blaring, party lights, open windows AND I could smoke. When I didn’t sleep in my comfy berth, that’s were I was.
Bangkok was great. I will go back again at least once before I leave Thailand. The local ferry up the Mae Nam Chao Phraya (the river in BKK) was wet and wild, why would anyone bother with the tourist boat? When Khao San Rd got too much for me I did some touristy, arty things like visiting Jim Thompson house (www.jimthompsonhouse), an American architect who fell in love with Thailand, and SE Asian architecture, art and craft and is credited with reviving the local textile industry in the fifties. For any one who likes troppo architecture and design, it was a dream house, not to mention the gorgeous artworks. It is 30 minutes and a thousand years from Th Khao San.
Khao San Rd is a different world to the rest of BKK. I’d read and heard about it, but nothing prepared me for arriving there at 10pm on a Saturday night. Commercial and hedonistic, the only locals on that street were there to make money from tourists, one way or another. And the tourists were only there to spend money, one way or another. My way was shopping (Backpack already 4kgs heavier) and eating.
Tuesday was my last overnight in BKK and I was wishing I could see the Patpong ping-pong girls, but there was no way I was going by myself. At dinner that night I met Alex, a German living now living NZ. It was first decent conversation I’d had since leaving Darwin. He knew BKK quite well and was only there for one night and wanted to go out, so we ended up at Patpong.
We went to the night markets first, and before I even got a chance to buy a single thing, a tough looking Thai guy approached us and asked if we wanted to see a show. We all jumped in a túktúk (my first one) and zipped down a dark alley, paid our huge entry fee and there she was, a Thai girl blowing smoke rings from a cigarette in her hoo-ha.
It sounds quite seedy but it is actually more of a tourist thing. A girl even stuck a pen up there and wrote ‘Welcome to Thailand on a piece of paper. Even the live sex was pretty dull or perhaps it was the ‘Candle in the wind’ soundtrack. It was touristy, overpriced, and you could not wipe the smile of my face and Alex was a gentleman.
Thais love their King, so I went to the Palace and Wat Phra Keow to see the Emerald Buddha, but it was so hot and uncomfortable that I could not enjoy it even though it was spectacular and my first temple. It was that thick blanked of heat that settles down just before a long overdue downpour in the tropics. The lack of sleep and too many Singas the night before didn’t help.
After arriving at 10.30 am, I spent my first day in Chiang Mai looking for new accommodation. I got ripped off on my accommodation. The travel agent who booked my train ticket said it was better that I book accom. through him, but I thought him over insistent (Mr Keen by name and nature) so I only booked one night so I could get picked up from the station (the price I paid was worth at least 3 nights). I checked out of the prison cell this morning. Where I am now has more Thai charm, and although rough around the edges is clean and neat, it backs on to a canal. And for the first time I have dial-up internet access from my room.
I’m just outside the city of Chiang Mai, on the other side of the moat (the city centre has a moat all the way around). Backpacker central is across the moat in the north eastern corner of the city, there are plenty of places to stay here, just quieter. Although there still many tourists, the Thais are much friendlier here. I don't get that feeling that everyone (every man I should say) just sees me as a mark.
I had heard a rumour that the dining car was fun, and as soon as we left Hualamphong station I left all the sleepy people in car 13 and made my back there. I opened the door and there was a bar, formica tables, Thai music blaring, party lights, open windows AND I could smoke. When I didn’t sleep in my comfy berth, that’s were I was.Bangkok was great. I will go back again at least once before I leave Thailand. The local ferry up the Mae Nam Chao Phraya (the river in BKK) was wet and wild, why would anyone bother with the tourist boat? When Khao San Rd got too much for me I did some touristy, arty things like visiting Jim Thompson house (www.jimthompsonhouse), an American architect who fell in love with Thailand, and SE Asian architecture, art and craft and is credited with reviving the local textile industry in the fifties. For any one who likes troppo architecture and design, it was a dream house, not to mention the gorgeous artworks. It is 30 minutes and a thousand years from Th Khao San.
Khao San Rd is a different world to the rest of BKK. I’d read and heard about it, but nothing prepared me for arriving there at 10pm on a Saturday night. Commercial and hedonistic, the only locals on that street were there to make money from tourists, one way or another. And the tourists were only there to spend money, one way or another. My way was shopping (Backpack already 4kgs heavier) and eating.
Tuesday was my last overnight in BKK and I was wishing I could see the Patpong ping-pong girls, but there was no way I was going by myself. At dinner that night I met Alex, a German living now living NZ. It was first decent conversation I’d had since leaving Darwin. He knew BKK quite well and was only there for one night and wanted to go out, so we ended up at Patpong.
We went to the night markets first, and before I even got a chance to buy a single thing, a tough looking Thai guy approached us and asked if we wanted to see a show. We all jumped in a túktúk (my first one) and zipped down a dark alley, paid our huge entry fee and there she was, a Thai girl blowing smoke rings from a cigarette in her hoo-ha.
It sounds quite seedy but it is actually more of a tourist thing. A girl even stuck a pen up there and wrote ‘Welcome to Thailand on a piece of paper. Even the live sex was pretty dull or perhaps it was the ‘Candle in the wind’ soundtrack. It was touristy, overpriced, and you could not wipe the smile of my face and Alex was a gentleman.
Thais love their King, so I went to the Palace and Wat Phra Keow to see the Emerald Buddha, but it was so hot and uncomfortable that I could not enjoy it even though it was spectacular and my first temple. It was that thick blanked of heat that settles down just before a long overdue downpour in the tropics. The lack of sleep and too many Singas the night before didn’t help.
After arriving at 10.30 am, I spent my first day in Chiang Mai looking for new accommodation. I got ripped off on my accommodation. The travel agent who booked my train ticket said it was better that I book accom. through him, but I thought him over insistent (Mr Keen by name and nature) so I only booked one night so I could get picked up from the station (the price I paid was worth at least 3 nights). I checked out of the prison cell this morning. Where I am now has more Thai charm, and although rough around the edges is clean and neat, it backs on to a canal. And for the first time I have dial-up internet access from my room.
I’m just outside the city of Chiang Mai, on the other side of the moat (the city centre has a moat all the way around). Backpacker central is across the moat in the north eastern corner of the city, there are plenty of places to stay here, just quieter. Although there still many tourists, the Thais are much friendlier here. I don't get that feeling that everyone (every man I should say) just sees me as a mark.
posted by x kel at 4:22 PM
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