Back Home, Back to Reality

Day 25
Our trip to the airport yesterday was thrilling!
We arrived at our hotel early to ask if the mini van could pick us up early because of the protests, just to be sure we would arrive in time. The guy at the reception couldn't reach the company, but said it could be that a taxi arrived at 9pm with travelers from the Chiang Mai bus. We just had to wait and hope we could take that taxi to the airport. 
Our plans to end our holiday with a good foot massage got cancelled, because we had to sit and wait at the hotel. 
At 9pm, no taxi arrived. We asked to call the company again to make sure they wouldn't be late at 10pm, due to the traffic. No answer and no worries. They should be in time, the receptionist said. 10pm he got a call that they would be 20 minutes late. 10.20pm they called to say they were nearly there. 10.30pm two motorbikes rushed onto the parking lot of the hotel, shouting to get on. They would take us to the taxi. Before we could say anything the receptionist had thrown our luggage on their steering wheels. My boyfriend jumped on the back of the motorbike, so I did too. I hardly had a place to sit, because my driver was a bit overweight. I literally had to grab him by his 'love handles' to have some grip. You can't even imagine how that drive felt! I feared for my life! Thai drivers are f*cking crazy!

We got at the taxi stop nice and safe, but apparently there were other travelers who were waiting there as well and had been standing there for a while. The motorbike drivers promised the taxi would be there at 11 at the latest, so we could be at the airport at 11.30pm. That was hard to believe, since the airport was at least 45min away and the traffic was still jammed. The police had blocked the street where we were waiting and made it a one way street. No stress!?
The minivan arrived at ten past eleven and I saw the driver putting a large bottle of Chang (Thai beer) from his car to the side of the road. This was a really dangerous situation, but because of our lack of time and the problems on the road, we had to get in. Their wasn't enough room for everyone and their luggage to get in, so me and my boyfriend had to take seat next to the driver. It took him at least 30 min to get out of the city onto the speedway. Almost every road to the speedway was blocked buy the police, but he managed to find a way. He rushed at 140km/h to the airport. I held my eyes closed for the whole ride. 
We arrived at the airport at midnight. In time for our flight, but a few people had to run to catch their plane. 

Our flight went well, no problems. We arrived half an hour earlier, at 1.30pm. 
Back home, back to reality!
We're so tired. We have to have an early night! We have to get up at 6 for work :(!

Bangkok: Grand Palace

Day 24
We checked out of our hotel and ordered a taxi to the airport for tonight. It's our last day today!
My boyfriend wanted to see a buddha but we accidentally winded up at the Grand Palace. To enter it you need to be dressed appropriate, so cleavage, legs and arms covered.Watch out here! You can borrow clothing for free inside at the ticket office, but outside at the walls there are scammers who tell you you have to buy from them. The soldiers at the gate also say you have to buy, but don't! Just go inside and give 200 deposit, you'll get it back later if you return the clothes.
My boyfriend had to put on hippiepants. Pretty funny!
The palace didn't impress me that much. Other places left a greater mark. The texile museum did impress me though!
During a few decades the Thai clothing style had become western. The royal couple had planned an 8 month trip around the world to visit other leaders and cultures. The queen was really bothered with the fact that a traditional Thai garment didn't exist anymore. Two years before their trip she began with the designs of 8 garments together with a designing team. Even a French coutourier was part of the team. She ordered them to visit tribes with their own traditions of weaving. The result was splendid. Thai fine handmade silk and clothing patterns based on old traditions and garments that expressed
Thai culture.
This museum really impressed me. There's a studio where you can try on a garment. Pictures coming soon!
After this visit we kind of wondered around.
We're now at the hotel, waiting for our taxi to the airport. Hope that goes well, because traffic is jammed because of the protests in Bangkok!

Bangkok: Shopping City

Day 23
I love Thai fashion!
We went shopping today. You can find things that are in style back home, but with a Thai twist. Very unique stuff too.
I bought a very nice shirt and saw a few dresses and blouses, but was on a tight budget. I also bought two amazing handmade pillows for our sofa for 900 Baht (around 20 euros).
Fashion shopping? Siam Center is the way to go! Prices from 20 to 150 euros a piece. Mix of small shops from young designers and bigger Thai clothing & accessory stores. You will not find H&M and Zara here, but why the hell would you want to shop here if you have the store at home???!!!
For electronics, MBK Center should be walhalla. We thought so too, but it was very dissapointing. Prices aren't that much cheaper than back home, so it would be much smarter to buy your device at your local store if you want warrenty :-)!

Welcome to Bangkok

Day 22
From our hotel at Sam Roi Yot we managed to arrange transportation to Bangkok. We travelled by minivan with a crazy driver who certainly wasn't living in the land of smiles and he had awful long nails.
We got there OK.
Once we arrived at our hotel we went to look for some food and ended up at Khao San Road. Not our cup of tea, that's for sure. A street full of drunken tourists and during our five minute walk we passed two fights.
Back at the hotel (Penpark Place) we turned on the TV. Our favourite channel, Lotus Macau, was playing Kill Bill. Chilly Billy!

Chiang Mai: The best is yet to come

Day 4
We got a warm welcome at Siri House yesterday. We needed a bed very badly after our bus rides. Pat kept asking about our plans in Chiang Mai and tried to help us by giving us a stack of brochures. We were super tired yesterday but went to the Sunday Evening Market anyway. Glad we did it! A mix of locals and tourists, very crowded, but great for souvenir shopping! I didn't bought anything though. I'm scared I won't be able to close my backpack...

Our first day at Chiang Mai: First impression confirmed. Although they say that Chiang Mai is the second most crowded and busy city after Bangkok, it's totally different!
People are very friendly here and taxi/tuktuk drivers don't hassle you all the time. They don't follow you around, they just knock their horns and drive by.
Siri House is a 15 to 20 min walk from the old city. We could take a taxi, or 'red car' is how they call it, or tuktuk, but prefer to go on foot. Stretch our legs, because my boyfriend wants to do a trekking through the jungle. I have to mentally prepare myself for this trip. I have no problem in walking this far distance, I'm trained since our trip to Wallonie a few weeks ago. The problem is: my arachnophobia  Jungle is full of spiders, isn't it?! I can't stop thinking about it! But I have to be strong and positive! I can do this! Although I can't stop thinking about the catapult I should have bought at the evening market yesterday...

We slept in today and had breakfast at 10am. We started looking at some brochures Pat gave us and the map of Chiang Mai so we could plan our stay. We immediately booked two more nights at Siri House. 
We started our day around 2pm at a tea house Pat had recommended us: Vieng Joom On. If I would start a tea house, this is how I would decorate it! Super cozy and typically tea-like! Expensive tea for 'normal' Thai though when we got the bill, but totally worth it! I had a rose bud ice tea and my boyfriend had a honey ice tea. Jum! They had small pastry to go with hot tea so I had my boyfriend promise me we'd come back here our last night at Chiang Mai. If you hadn't noticed, I'm a tea and dessert freak. Can't live without!

On our way to the travel agency to book the trekking we passed a few temples and went to take a look. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go in there, because I was wearing really short shorts, but apparently there was no problem. 

It's quite a long walk to the center, so every shop with handbags we cross, I take a quick look if I can find the handbag I saw yesterday. Many are look-a-likes, but not THE ONE!

We arrived at the agency but it was closed. Weird, because everything in this street was open. But this was the only agency that organised the trekking he wanted. We walked around for a few hours at the center, came back and it was still closed. We bought a wooden game for 190BHT on our way: Othello. We played it when we got back at the hotel and booked Elephant Nature Park for Friday and a cooking class for tomorrow.We'll choose some easy dishes so my boyfriend can't make up excuses anymore for cooking with food from a jar!

Day 5
Woke up to have breakfast at 9am. The chef who'll learn us to cook Thai will come and pick us up at 1pm.
We'll have to go to the center first to get some money at the bank and to get some musquitospray for the trekking tomorrow. We managed to book through email, but need to go by the agency for our payment. On our way there we passed a used bookshop and bought a Lonely Planet. We also passed a shop with embroiderd accessories and clothing and found a bag that beats the other one. This one was embroiderd and with a leather finish. My God, I've never seen a bag more beautiful, until I looked at the pricetag... 13000 Baht. 300 euro's?! I've never bought a bag in Belgium that's that expensive! I'd like to think I misread and that it's 1300. Maybe I'll go back and take a look on Thursday... The embroided dresses were'nt that expensive...

We got back in time for the chef to pick us up. His cooking school is named: I DiD
First we visited a local market and got some information about all Thai ingredients. We got to know all different chillipeppers, the difference between some sorts of rice, ... I really liked this visit. We were the only tourists here, so you could see the real Thai people and their ways. I took some great pictrues, after asking if it was OK.

We went to the chef's place. We could choose 4 different dishes. 

• Starter: Thai Chicken Wearing and Fried Canape with Chicken Spread.
• Soup: Tom Yum Goong and Thai Spicy Chicken Coconut Soup
• Curry: Massaman Curry and Northern Thai Curry Noodle with Chicken
• Dessert: Sticky Ride with Mango and Siamese Red Ruby

My boyfriend did really good for a dummy! Everything was tasty, but the soup was really too spicy for me! I should have used less chilli. We got a little recipe book to take home with us. It was a nice surprise!

Now we're back at the hotel, writing postcards and updating my story. 
My boyfriend wanted to go to a Thai Boxing game, but we'll postpone it 'till Thursdaynight. We need to get up early for our jungle adventure... 

Waking up at Sukhothai

Day 2
After our stay at O'Nidra House in Bangkok, we went straight to Hua Lamphong Train Station. O'Nidra House is very clean and 2km away from the bus station. You can book double rooms, but there's no private bathroom. Bathroom is very clean though. 
Before we left for Thailand there were railway constructions going on. Trains to Chiang Mai would start riding again on the 1st of November. Perfect timing for us! Except when we got at the station we were informed that the constructions were extended until the end of November. That was quite a bummer, so we stayed at the train station for like an hour, asking around at the information points if there were busses or trains that were replacing the missing lines to Chiang Mai. Surprisingly, nobody could tell us more about that in English. We weren't able to log on at the wifi hotspots, so we had to search for a café or restaurant with wifi. We managed to find a café across the train station where we payed for an hour of internet.
We found some night busses riding to Sukhothai (historical temples) and Chiang Mai. We took the metro to Mo Chit Bus Station and booked the night bus to Sukhothai for 360 Baht (approx. 8 euros) for each ticket.
Night busses aren't as comfortable as a bed, of course, but are OK if you take VIP or 1st class. We got a blanket and some water, a juice and a potato bun on the bus. We drove for 7 hours and arrived at the bus station at 5.30am. 

My first impression of Bangkok: filthy smelly city and certainly not a part of the land of smiles! People aren't friendly at all and can hardly speak a word of English! People always try to get money from you. I hope the North will be better.

Day 3
At 6am We took a taxi jeep to the old center together with a few other tourists. We rented a bike for 30 Baht to explore the historical park. If you're planning to go to Thailand, make sure you visit Sukhothai! It's magnificent. I you ever played Tomb Raider on PC or Playstation 1, you'l feel like Lara Croft on a bike. The scenery is just the same as the game with all the temples, the trees and plants. If you visit Sukhothai, visit early in the morning! There aren't many tourists that visit the park as early as we did and I would definitely recommend the peace and quiet. 
We gave back our bike at 2pm and went for something to eat. 


We went back to the bus station to book a bus to Chiang Mai. For 240 Baht we drove 2nd class. 2nd class isn't as bad as the internet says. We got airconditioning and if you're a tourist you can definitely be sure of having a seat. If you're local you aren't. I was VERY surprised on how things were planned for that busride. We bought a ticket at 2.40pm to leave at 3pm. When we got on the bus with 2 other tourists there were not enough seats to put us on. I got outside and asked the bus driver if something went wrong with the booking. His assistant went inside the bus, we followed and he went to some locals. They got up and went to the front of the bus. At first I thought they didn't pay to get further than that stop, but when we got at the second stop 6 more people got on the bus, but no seats. The French couple did the same as I did: complaining to the bus driver. His assistant rushed onto the bus, went to a very old lady and literally grabbed her out of her chair (she didn't even had the time to take her hand luggage). He pulled her to the end of the bus while she had a hard time to walk. I saw what was going on and stopped the man. I said I didn't want to old lady to sit in the back of the bus (there were no seats there, it was just a little step where she could sit on) and offered her my seat. You have to know that the busride would take up to 5 hours! The assistant got a bit frustrated and waved his hands to me that I needed to shut up. I got really mad about this, blocked the pathway and said with a very strong voice that she could have my seat. The old lady didn't understand what was going on, she looked quite confused, so I pointed at my seat and nodded. She thanked me and got in my seat. The driver shaked his head. The woman of the French couple still didn't got a seat, so we had to stand up. She was really mad and she was right. This was truly a rip-off! The bus driver's assistant went to get his list and stood there for a few minutes, shaking his head and counting the seats. He was obviously faking his 'confusion'. 
The next stop a few people got off and I had some room next top my boyfriend and the French couple also got a seat. The whole busride there were locals coming on and off the bus. They all had to stand up or were banned to the tiny room at the back. 
I would never recommend this bus agency, but but I have a feeling that all 2nd class rides are like this. We don't have the name of the agency in English, but I have a picture of my ticket. The agency has its own booth at New Sukhothai bus station.

We arrived at Chiang Mai at 8.30pm and went straight to our B&B: Siri House. Pat, our hostess, is a very nice lady and gave us a map with some information about Chiang Mai. The Sunday market was till going on 'till midnight, so we went straight to there. Many people here, both local and tourists, but definitely worth checking out for souvenirs. I wanted to buy a nice handbag for myself, but another women bought it just before me. It was the last one :-(. 

My first impression of Chiang Mai: clean and more friendly than Bangkok.