Thailand - the real story

Most people on entering the South of Thailand head straight for the islands and the infamous party scene. Not us. We are officially past it! Well maybe not, but after spending approximately three months on beaches and really not liking the whole 'herding' feeling of the backpacker trail, we wanted the big lights of the city - not the red lights - although they're hard to get away from - you know the ones; " Hey mister you want ping pong show? See pretty Thai girls?" Jo comes up behind me holds my hand and it suddenly changes to "Sawatdee Kaa" hello in Thai? Any way we digress!!

We boarded a sleeper train just past the Southern-most border of Thailand and embarked on a 22 hour journey to Bangkok. It went well; the seats were comfy and the scenery pleasant to look at. A couple of good books and the Ipod helped us on our way.

It was coming towards dinner time and we had our first Thai meal - green curry, spicy seafood soup and other little delights. It was yummy and all for three quid- Virgin and Great Western take note! After dinner the train guard for our carriage offered to make our beds for us! The top bunk was pulled down, the two seats on the bottom pulled out and joined together and new bed sheets were tucked in. I was on the top bunk and Mark on the bottom. I was so excited - I didn't think I would sleep!

We woke the next morning, me with a few bed bug bites to show for it, and we sat together for a while on Mark's bunk watching the sun rise over the paddy fields. At Ratchaburi, one of the first stations we stopped at in the morning, loads of hawkers with hot food boarded to sell us breakfast. They only just manage to jump off the train as it speeds up out of the platform.

We arrived in Bangkok and headed straight for the Bamboo guest house. Mandy and Steffen had recommended it. It was a massive old style house near the river and at 5 pounds a night was to be our home for the next 13 days. It was in a network of roads off the Samsen Rd in the Hualampong district of Bangkok.

The river in Bangkok is wider than the Thames and is still a working river. Huge barges towed by small tugs are a regular feature. We caught the express boats along the river which are used by Bangkokers to get to and from work and in and out of town; they're really cheap at 23pence a journey.

The boat journey, just like a journey on the Thames shows a varied history to the city. There are huge skyscrapers, traditional palaces, ancient temples and shacks! We boarded the sky train and saw a really different wealthy side to Bangkok. Aside from the metro and buses, the other form of transport which is really fun to take is a tuk-tuk, especially if you get a driver who likes to rev the hell out of it and try and pull wheelies! ( Mark- should of handed it over to me, I'm sure I could have done better!)

The red-shirts protest started on our first weekend there, which meant a few of the sights were shut, but we managed to see a lot of Bangkok, eat a lot of Thai food, enjoy the markets and shops and the nightlife. Our friend Andy was just coming towards the end of his holiday in SE Asia and met us in Bangkok. Andy had wanted to see the bridge over the river Kwai and so had we, so we all embarked on a trip to Kanchanaburi.

I imagine most of you have seen the classic film with Alec Guiness, which tells the story of the POW camp based there to build the bridge over the river. We crossed the bridge and were on it when a train came past too, which was pretty cool. Having hired scooters for the day, we drove off out into the local countryside and saw some Wats (temples) and more of the river.

We returned to Bangkok and stayed long enough to see our friend Matt - another surprise as he was coming out for a friends wedding. A 24 hour whistle-stop-tour-of-the-city later and we were ready to go. Our train to Chaing Mai left at 7 that morning and we pulled into Chiang Mai at 9 that evening.

Chiang Mai is in the North of Thailand and is its second largest city. The old town is all enclosed within a moat and is a favourite with travellers because its a manageable city with lots of bars and live music and abundant activities. Both of us wanted to do a Thai cookery course and rather ambitiously booked ourselves into a five day course.

You can tell we haven't worked in ages, because we had to sleep for a few hours in the afternoon after each day's lesson! The course was very good, although after the third day the same jokes were starting to wear a little thin! Still, we can cook you a decent curry - green, red or peneang, stir-fries galore and many more dishes.

We celebrated the end of the course at the Smile festival - a really good music festival around the lake - where we heard a DJ play some really good house music. My god, it had been a long time! We danced our arses off with Vicky and Adam - a couple from London we met at the cookery course. The next day was a recovery day and then we were off to Pai.

Pai is sort of hippy enclave 160km north-east of Chiang Mai and is a big favourite on the backpackers trail. The bus journey there is infamous for having 762 curves and being sick-inducing. We were fore warned by Andy and had bought our travel sickness pills. We stayed in a little hut by the river in a really tranquil setting. It was a lovely little place. All you can do there is relax and eat and relax and eat and swim and relax and...you get the picture!

Six days later and we were back to Chiang Mai. Songkran, the Thai new year drew us back. It is a huge water-fight that lasts 4 days and Chiang Mai is supposed to be the best place to see it and be a part of it. The water fights originate from the idea of cleansing - I can promise you that after being soaked with water from the moat, I didn't feel too clean! The festivities were great - you can buy huge water pistols with 10 litre backpacks, buckets, squirters and water proof wallets and camera bags - they've thought of everything!

Everyone is out on the streets - families bring out their pick-up trucks, have huge vats of water in the back and everyone piles on to shower everyone else. People are on motorbikes, tuk-tuks, scooters and bicycles, all trying to soak people on the side of the street. All the bars and restaurants are involved and have huge bins full of water outside which you refill from. The city council puts out water taps for you to refill!! The only thing that would have made it better was if we'd had our niece and nephew with us to share in the fun! Of course, the temperature being 40 degrees and some, helps a lot!

So, that sort of concludes this part of the blog. Our next few weeks could be taken up with a Thai massage course, we'll see how we do on week one and let you know.

Love, Jo and Mark