Another 762 bends and we were back in Chiang Mai with Alex and met with her friend Bee. Only a night was spent there before we said goodbye to them both as we headed to Koh Tao down south, north of Koh Phangan. One 12 hour bus journey to Bangkok was enough to ake our skin crawl with sweat and stickyness, so at 4:30am when we were dropped off on Koh San Road, we found a hostel to sleep in and finally have a SHOWER!!!! Another 12 hour bus journey later and we were waiting at 3am on Chumphon pier for the ferry to Koh Tao which left at 7. A final 3 hours later and we had arrived!!!! Diving was so close. We went and got a place with Crystal Dive (recommend to anyone, they're freaking great there) just as it started to rain... AGAIN. The next day we started our course (cost us 10,000 each, so around 210 pounds, cheapest place in the world to do it) in the classroom doing some theory. The second day was spent doing a it more theory, then a 50 question exam that no one stayed with us for... so it was more of a discussion of what answers everyone had... and then 3 sessions in the pool DIVING! Well both never forget the first time we started breathing through the regulator underwater. it's a facinating feeling, knowing that usually you'd be chocking, but somehow this feels normal. We went through some excercises underwater such as mask removal, blind swimming, out of air procedure, fin pivots, equalizing etc. This went fine, the funny highlight being Tim, who after cleaning his mask with fairy liquid (stops it steaming up) he didnt quite rinse it well enough, and so whilst underwater... as you do, he let out air through his nose... creating bubbles. At first it was fine, just a few bubbles, then it got a bit ridiculous with the whole mask filled with bubbles. I didnt know if I should go up and clear it because I didnt want the instructors to worry I was drowning or anything, so I just stayed there until they came to me to do the regulator removal exercise and then they just laughed. A lot. Sighhhh. The next day we were hitting the big blue ocean. Excitement!
Okay so no hitting the Ocean. A massive storm came and flooded the island. Waves were 4m high out at sea so no boats came or left for 3 days. The island ran low on eggs and beer. Tragic! So yeah, we didnt dive for 3 days. It rained, solidly, and very hard. Luckily our hut was on a slope so we had no trouble with leakages or flooding, but other parts of the island were hit badly. And indeed a navy warship came on day 2 to take stranded people off the island who needed to get off. We had a dive course to finish so we stayed, and headed to see the helicopters that were airlifting people to the warship out at sea. It was really cool. Apparently the news hit back home in the UK – flooding devastates Thailand, Koh Tao specifically was mentioned as being badly hit and that people had died and were stuck on the Island, apparently the british embassy had issued a message telling all tourists to get off the island. This was not the case. Indeed there was some flooding further north of us, no one died, they did on the mainland but not with us, people were not stuck, they;d been taken off by the warship if they needed to, and the embassy ahd said no such thing they'd said if you have to get off, get on the warship. When the island got internet back on the night of day 3, Tim had a few erratic and intense skyping sessions with his rents who'd been in contact with the embassy back home and been very worried as we'd had no way of contacting them. Bloody british news exaggerating everything!!!
Friday 8 April 2011
Pai
3 hours in a hot minibus and 762 bends later we arrived in Pai. A lovely small town North of Chiang Mai – a proper getaway. We rented out a Bamboo cottage and settled in for a fantastic few days in the sunshine. A day was spent looking at the town and finding out that hiring mopeds cost only 100 baht a day.. two pounds!The next Alex came up to see us. It was great having another person we knew from back home stay with us for a few days. A lot of fun was had on the mopeds. We headed out to some local waterfalls 8km away and spent the day sunbathing and jumping off the rocks into the pool below. We have a cracking photo of Zintl in her pink moped helmet climbing up the steep rocks, see facebook soon.
When we decided we'd had enough sun, we hopped back on to go and explore the surrounding roads of Pai. Zooming around we discovered helmets were annoying and didnt fit very well, in fact fell off if you went over 50kmph. Soooo after a bit of egging and a few races... we found some open roads and rather bravely/stupidly, in flip flops, t-shirt and shorts, no helmet we sped along and, Mother dont read this, managed to hit 100kmph!!!
One awesome thing about Pai was breakfast. Big's Little Cafe is a must if anyone is in the area. He whipped us up home made sausages (to die for), bacon, eggs and toast for a modest two pounds. Honestly the best sausages I have had. That might be influenced by the fact I havent had any sausages since we left over two months ago.
A great highlight of Pai was in bed with Alex (whey). We both decided to annoy her big time by spontaniously singing and meditating throughout the night. Much fun was had.
When we decided we'd had enough sun, we hopped back on to go and explore the surrounding roads of Pai. Zooming around we discovered helmets were annoying and didnt fit very well, in fact fell off if you went over 50kmph. Soooo after a bit of egging and a few races... we found some open roads and rather bravely/stupidly, in flip flops, t-shirt and shorts, no helmet we sped along and, Mother dont read this, managed to hit 100kmph!!!
One awesome thing about Pai was breakfast. Big's Little Cafe is a must if anyone is in the area. He whipped us up home made sausages (to die for), bacon, eggs and toast for a modest two pounds. Honestly the best sausages I have had. That might be influenced by the fact I havent had any sausages since we left over two months ago.
A great highlight of Pai was in bed with Alex (whey). We both decided to annoy her big time by spontaniously singing and meditating throughout the night. Much fun was had.
Chiang Mai
After booking our train to Chiang Mai, we were both rather interested as to how decent second class would be, especially just coming from 5* accommodation we were somewhat sceptical. However, after arriving at the station and grabbing a quick bite to eat complete with a very outrageous dunkin' doughnut, we walked down the platfom to our carriage. It was fab! Everything was clean and tidy, the seats were leather and comfy and when th beds finally got put down, they were more than adequate. A 15 hour journey got us to Chiang Mai which was very easy and shot past. Unfortunately however we arrived to pouring rain, which seemed to dampen our excitement. Stepping outside to find a taxi, we were approached by a woman who said she could drive us to the guest house, we were naturally sceptical. Despite this we ran to her truck, piled in, however she ran off... After waiting for 5 minutes we realised that she was being a nob especially when we saw her drive away in another car. GREAT! Soo, after a right kerfuffel we found a tuk tuk to drive us. She broke down. FANTASTIC! So there we were stranded at the side of the road with a broken tuk tuk and getting soaked by the english weather. After 10 minutes of waiting, a taxi driver took pity and stopped and after negotiating a price he drove us to Julie's Guesthouse. Paying the driver the 20 baht we had greed on seemed to go down bady as apparently he was asking for 20 each... cheeky sod! After arguing with him, the driver gave james a deathstare which we laughed at, before going on his way. Julie's was awesome, a backpackers haven full of foreigners trading in stories with stupidly cheap beer (around 60 baht or 1.20) for a litre! The room itself was basic, but clean so we were both happy :)
The first day in Chiang Mai was a bit of a washout, raining all day, so we spent the time playing pool at Julie's and heading into town to find a coffee house, a lazy day. The next morning we headed to the numerous temples in the city, feeling the need to do something cultural. The first temple Wat Phra Singh is the most popular temple in Chiang Mai due to it holding the most revered Buddha image, the lion Buddha. The temple was impressive, however, after visiting several temples in Bangkok, we realised that they seemed to be all roughly the same. What was interesting is that the monks were sitting in the chapel, eating communially while the public were walking through them and tourists taking photos. Very bizarre... Our temple hunt continued for about an hour, visiting a couple smaller and less popular temples, before we decided to head for coffee.
That evening we ventured to the night market, a bustling area fiilled with hundreds of stalls stretching from inside a large complex onto the sides of the roads. The market was vast and filled with everything you could possibly think of, yet, with no money to spend it was an anticlimax.
The next day it was raining AGAIN. Apparently caused by the earthquake near Japan. We wanted to make the best of Chiang Mai so after a good few games of Pool, we ventured out to see what the shops had, and to go to the Black Canyon Coffee House again (best one we've ever been to!) We managed to stumble across a Tailor's shop... intrigued we asked the price of two, three piece suits. After a starting price of 7000 baht each (150 pounds) we got him down to 5000 each (solid 100 pounds). We then shopped around to make sure we werent being ripped off and indeed he had offered us a very reasonable price. We went back and after a bit more chit chat we had 2, three piece bespoke suits, with 4 silk ties and 2 hankerchiefs all for a modest 10,000 baht. Materials were chosen – italian cashmere, grey for Tim, blue for James. Tim chose a grey suit with blue and white striped silk linings. James chose a blue suit with red and white striped silk linings. We visited later on to be measured up and set him the task of making them by the tme we got back from Pai 4 days later.
The first day in Chiang Mai was a bit of a washout, raining all day, so we spent the time playing pool at Julie's and heading into town to find a coffee house, a lazy day. The next morning we headed to the numerous temples in the city, feeling the need to do something cultural. The first temple Wat Phra Singh is the most popular temple in Chiang Mai due to it holding the most revered Buddha image, the lion Buddha. The temple was impressive, however, after visiting several temples in Bangkok, we realised that they seemed to be all roughly the same. What was interesting is that the monks were sitting in the chapel, eating communially while the public were walking through them and tourists taking photos. Very bizarre... Our temple hunt continued for about an hour, visiting a couple smaller and less popular temples, before we decided to head for coffee.
That evening we ventured to the night market, a bustling area fiilled with hundreds of stalls stretching from inside a large complex onto the sides of the roads. The market was vast and filled with everything you could possibly think of, yet, with no money to spend it was an anticlimax.
The next day it was raining AGAIN. Apparently caused by the earthquake near Japan. We wanted to make the best of Chiang Mai so after a good few games of Pool, we ventured out to see what the shops had, and to go to the Black Canyon Coffee House again (best one we've ever been to!) We managed to stumble across a Tailor's shop... intrigued we asked the price of two, three piece suits. After a starting price of 7000 baht each (150 pounds) we got him down to 5000 each (solid 100 pounds). We then shopped around to make sure we werent being ripped off and indeed he had offered us a very reasonable price. We went back and after a bit more chit chat we had 2, three piece bespoke suits, with 4 silk ties and 2 hankerchiefs all for a modest 10,000 baht. Materials were chosen – italian cashmere, grey for Tim, blue for James. Tim chose a grey suit with blue and white striped silk linings. James chose a blue suit with red and white striped silk linings. We visited later on to be measured up and set him the task of making them by the tme we got back from Pai 4 days later.
Bangkok
This was a pretty sweet start to Thailand. Tim's parents put us up in 5* accommodation – The Metropolitan Hotel – which was just the most amazing hotel either of us have ever been to. We made the best of it for sure – Tim wrote a list of trains and flights and activities to research, then gave it to the receptionists to do for him! Cheeky bugger. They did a fantastic job though. For the 4 days we were there we went and did a number of thngs. Firstly the Long-tail boat trips – these were incredible. It was like being in a Bond movie, shooting down the River Kwai with a fat Vsomethng engne behind us. We also went to see a few temples, which now we have realised are all roughly the same in Thailand. Big dragons at the front, stairs leading up to a temle with a golden Buddah iniside and on top of the temples large finger shaped objects poining up to the sky. Oh and they all have stain glass walls or some other object. A really good part of Bangkok was taking bikes out and doing a 22km route in 37 degree heat around the backstreets of Bangkok, seeing the “real” Bangkok – see photos on fb. Finally we spent a fair amount of time making good use of the facilities at the Metropolitan. Swimming Pool, massive jacuzzi, steam room, complimentary EVERYTHING, massive rooms and beds and oh the pillows.. the pillows were sublime. In the end we did drag ourselves away and went to Chiang Mai.
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