2 days in Bangkok again. This time, sans Songkran and my posse of awesome. Sad times. On to Lao though next, and hopefully there’ll be plenty more people / places to visit and see, and hopefully more opportunities for photo glory. Bring on Vientiane.
Sitting in the bar at our resort in KPN, I don’t think I ever want to leave. I’m thinking of staying here for another 6 months, getting trained in Yoga and becoming a buddhist. Getting my whole body covered in spiritualistic tattoos, and taking up muaythai boxing. Man, that’s a dream… But it won’t happen, because my mac’s at home. I’d miss it too much.
The 13th to the 15th of April in the New Year in most of south east Asia. It’s a celebration of water, and traditionally involves dousing yourself with water that had been used to wash monks, which in the process becomes blessed. Traditionally, everyone is in high spirits, an it’s a time for people to visit their elders, wherever they might be. In Thailand, it’s called Songkran. It’s progressed through the years however, and while it still bears it’s holy significance, it’s now a huge party that takes place everywhere, for 3 days. It’s not even the 13th yet, and already I am utterly soaked. Street vendors and shops sell water guns and plastic pouches for phones and wallets, and the Khao San road - Which is usually packed - is devoid of stalls. There’s now a bloody massive area cordoned off for water fights. ...
Happy Saturday! The sun is shining most-awesomely today, the Bangkok smog has relented making it a bit cooler and brighter, and consequently, people seem a bit happier. Maybe that’s just because it’s Saturday though… Anyway, I’m currently being stalked by two people from our guest house in Bangkok. The first and most intrusive, is a retired schoolteacher from Canada, who lives in Japan. She kind of resembles a dumpy, blond, wicked witch of the west, with a nose to match. She’s currently working on a teaching-material delivery solution that she can sell to schools, and is therefore on her computer most of the time. She originally asked me if I knew how to get online–as she was having trouble, and I wasn’t–and then concluded that when I fixed it for her, that I could troubleshoot any issues she has in the future with her MacBook Air. So far, she’s followed me to the health spa, the restaurant down the road, and almost out to dinner last night (Susie an I ran away like school kids when we saw her creeping down the stairs of our guest house). She also moved rooms to be OPPOSITE ours. None the less, conversation is always of a technical nature, and usually boring, because - as is the way with most people who use technology but don’t understand it - she tends to dispute what I say to her, like she knows better. Usually I just politely nod and agree, and then wonder why the hell she’s asking me in the first place. ...
Back in Bangkok now. It feels like we’ve never left! I love this city. I didn’t know it until we got back here. On arrival, Phranakorn messed up our booking, the double booked us! So we got a free upgrade to the family room!!! AMAZING. Anyway, the train journey last night was hell, it was an hour an a half late, and consequently, we arrived late. It was also insanely cold thanks to the air con, and so I hardly slept. Looking forward to a decent night here though now, back in “Bangkok Kitsch” :) Haiku’s coming soon. ...
After a long bus ride from Bangkok (6 hours) we arrived at the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet. I’m totally glad we did our research. Everywhere we’ve read said that this crossing isn’t nearly as bad as it used to be before the Khmer and Thai governments clamped down on scammers and started to police the area more, but for 2 people who very rarely go out of our comfort zones and hate confrontation, there was a large element of fear involved. ...
This train is long. We’re currently travelling east towards the Thai / Cambodia border. The train takes about 5 hours and only has 3rd class - which is cool, because it’s 48 baht (about a pound) for the whole journey. I’ve managed to tip my cap and sleep twice, although I now have a crick in my neck (need another massage :D). The countryside is beautiful mind, and we caught the sunrise as we left Bangkok at around 6am. Other than the Mosquitos, I don’t quite mind the journey. Let’s just hope that the border crossing goes smooth today… There are horror stories about Aran/Poipet, the touts and the scams… Eeeek!
I’ve often said that I “suffer” from vertigo. I generally get the “chill” when i’m up high, holding something like a camera, have glasses on, or are wearing a hat. It’s a very odd thing, and I’ve spoken to a few people about their fears of heights and how / why it usually manifests. One guy I was speaking to said that he has this overwhelming urge to jump over the side of whatever or wherever he’s at. I can kind of understand this destructive urge, I remember having something similar when I was growing up - albeit not so life threatening - where I took a penknife to my brand new bike. Can’t tell you why I did, but it happened. And it seems to have carried on manifesting itself through various points. ...
Leaving Ko Phangan today. A week here has been awesome, and has more or less been a holiday all by itself. We’re about £100 over-budget over the last month (can’t believe it’s been a month already!) but we hope to remedy that over the next 6 weeks; Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos are all supposed to be cheaper, in that order. Thailand isn’t as cheap as we’ve been lead to believe :( ...
We’ve been in Ko-Phangan for about 5 days so far, and I have to say that this is - by far - the nicest place that I have ever been. This is essentially why I haven’t really been blogging much since I arrived, I’ve been busy relaxing on beaches, driving my scooter around the island and drinking cocktails, watching the sun set. If you’re reading this and you’re jealous, then I don’t apologise; just come here for yourself and you’ll understand what I mean. I’m currently working on a google map of all the places we’ve visited, and I’ve just uploaded a bunch of pictures from the resort we’re in. Also, this morning, we did yoga; AMAZING. I needed a massage afterwards, to I went to a resort next door to the one we’re currently in. I paid 250 baht for it (about a fiver) and it lasted about an hour. Funny thing though, before the masseuse started, the conversation went something like this: ...