Thailand

Nong Khai and the fairly weird and wacky sculpture park at Salakeawkoo (a short and pleasant bike ride along the banks of the Mekong (Laos on the other side)).

















Tuk Tuk (each town has a different style - if I'd realised earlier they'd be a danger I'd have become a tuk tuk spotter nerd).
















The essential "sunset behind temples" shot - missed due to the invasivelly curious monk.













Our transport around Sukhothai.













Muay Thai (Thai boxing) - or a spectator show in a food hall full of tourists - Chiang Mai Night Market










The most photographed shot in Ayutthaya- invading Burmese armies had a habit of lopping off the heads of the Buddhas-this one found later with tree roots growing around.











River transport is important in Bangkok.













Bangkok - old and new












Happy New Year 2006













Christmas Day - Jim, myself (Sam took the photo - it wasn't a boys night out) sharing it with a typical FROUB (see below) from Canada who "knew" someone at the bar and hostesses (seemed like nice bunch of people).





Thai means "free" - in 1939 Siam was formally renamed Thailand (Land of the Free) to mark the fact the country had never been colonized.

Two years later the Japanese invaded for three years.

Sixty six years later we arrived (said for continuity - no parallels) slightly after midnight - so we'd pre-booked a room in Bangkok. The (very) four star Asia hotel close to Siam Square appeared to accept our scruffy appearance and backpacks without issue and I even got caught up in the moment and tipped the bell boy 100 bahts -pronounced Barts (cue jokes). This was one pound forty - I was tired and didn't know what I was thinking.

On the second night in Bangkok we booked ourselves into what our guidebook said was "a typical 60's no-tell motel" (The Star) for just a little more than my tip (all the nice places were fully booked just around Christmas). As innocent as our staying in a discreet motel was, people did seem to mistake Sam for a Thai with alarming regularity, and looking around we were seeing a lot of fat, richer, older, uglier and bald western gentlemen (FROUB for brevity) walking around with slim and pretty Thai ladies.

We noticed that the FROUB / Thai couples never seemed to speak to each other - perhaps something to do with sharing absolutely nothing in common (except "no money no honey, you good looking man, love you long time") . As Sam never stops chatting, wears western clothes (not miniskirts and high heels) and is often seen carrying a rucksack almost two thirds the size of the average Thai lady (nb not ladyboy) ... hopefully people didn't tag me too often as the fat, richer, older, uglier and bald western gent. (The average Thai in the street is very conservative on such matters).

We stayed in the (no) Star Hotel for five days (or 120 hours - wasn't sure how they worked out our final bill).

On the third day I popped into a barbers for a quick haircut.

In Mendoza I got my hair cut by Edward Scissorhands. He brandished large scissors in one hand, a big comb in the other and by the time the first hairs were hitting the floor he'd finished the job - and it was a really good job. In Bangkok things were different - having agreed a price with a nice lady I was shown into a small room with all sorts of equipment (Sam came into the room before the door was shut - which was a reassuring moment as I was becoming less sure about what I'd just agreed the price for). After just a couple of short hours my haircut was complete - in that time each hair had been individually accessed and cut, my nose hair had been trimmed to within an inch of my brain, my beard was trimmed (electric razor put aside and small scissors employed) and my hair was washed twice. She was going to carry on for as long as possible proffering expert head massages, shoulder massages etc to keep the nice paying man in the seat - but we made our escape (only after she'd thoroughly cleaned my ears out with dangerous looking and oh so long appliances).

On the eve of Christmas Eve Jim popped out for Christmas. We'd booked a house in Hua Hin (180kms South of Bangkok on the Gulf of Thailand). The house was lovely - two air conditioned bedrooms, a large TV and DVD player and less than two minutes to the beach - all done the backpacker way. We went swimming twice daily - once during the day and again around midnight (having come back from town fed and "watered"). A week is a crazily short time for people to holiday however, and after four days on the beach and (surprisingly) three day in Bangkok we were back at the airport waving farewell.

We spent New Years eve in the company of (allegedly) 200,000+ people - all very sober and quietly listening to Thai pop on several stages and screens. With ten seconds to go there was lots of noise, then some fireworks, then immediately home to bed (and some much required air conditioning for us).

January the first - New Year - is celebrated in Thailand as something of a courtesy to the west, the Thais celebrate Songkran (which falls this year over the 13th to 16th of April when the sun moves from Pisces to Aries and Indra, the king of heavenly spirits, comes to earth for three days to take note of the good and evil deeds committed since his last visit. In order for Thais to be clean and fresh they spend those three days dousing anyone and everyone with water.

Presently the current year for more than a quarter of the worlds population is 4703. 4704 will be welcomed in on January the 29th (Chinese New Year always falls between 21/1 and 19/2 on the second new moon after the winter solstice). It's the Gregorian calendar that's used mainly for civil purposes in China, with the traditional calandar (based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon) used for determining festivals.

Vietnam's New Year is called Tet (Tet Nguyen Dan) which is based heavily on Chinese influences. It also therefore falls on 29/1 this year - but they make a three day event out of it. (In Vietnam, New Years day is also everybodies birthday. The Vietnamese don't know or acknowledge the exact day they were born (a baby turns one on Tet no matter when he/she was born that year)).

On Jan 29th we hope to be in Hanoi, on April 13th we should be in Thailand again - seven days and three New Years celebrations this year (whatever year it is).

On the first of January all travel via (ordinary) trains was free in Thailand - Happy Western New Year (not exactly like home where the prices are hiked)! We were all set on booking our second class air conditioned train to Ayutthaya (50kms north of Bangkok) however there was a weight of expectation by the locals that we'd naturally save ourselves a pound or so each and travel for free on the ordinary train. Naturally therefore we did, smiling and socialising with the locals whilst wrestling them viciously to the small number of seats on the train. Two hours later I'd lost several pounds of weight in the heat (though my clothes had gained by the same amount). My knees were merrily aching from being squeezed into the tiny seats and around our bags - but at least we'd travelled local style this once which meant future transport could be justified in more air conditioned comforts.

In Ayutthaya we started the mosquito bashing games. The ideal room to be staying in is small, painted all white, maybe square (no alcoves), the curtains can be folded out of the way and the bed is on a solid base - this way, after just a few short hours, we can be fairly sure to have added some new mossy squish stains to the wall.

No rooms are like this, but we're not taking our mosquito tablets yet and accepting the two or so bites per night. Mossies seem to be growing ever immune to the foul tasting but limited-side-effects chloroquine tablets - and we're carrying Doxycyline. Of their various side effects, Doxycyline can make the takers skin very sensitive to the sun (unfortunate) and women may be more prone to thrush. Obviously these are better things than malaria - but if we can avoid taking the tablets until we become proper mossie food (preferably a bit beforehand), then we will.

Incidentally - the perfect bathroom is also small and has a sink situated in front of the toilet at about neck stretching distance, perhaps, say if you were to be sitting down at the time. (As yet we've both been OK - but you never know the moment).

The plan was for us to travel on to Chiang Mai (before heading a little back down south, then east to Laos). The only available train to Ch[ang Mai was the ordinary (non air con hard upright seats for 14 hours on the stopping train). At least, after this, future transport could be justified in more air conditioned comforts. The train left at 7:44am with a pleasant morning temperature, the hottest point, at about 2pm, was when the sun was shining on us and that train was stationary for 45 minutes (the train was running late). At around 8pm it started to get very chilly with the more mountainous wind whistling around. Something for everyone .... but the times spent standing on the bottom step of an open door watching the rice fields (the green the day-glow green colour found in the monsoonal countries) then mountain forests go by were nice.

Chiang Mai is a mandatory stop for backpackers to Thailand - everyone goes there because everyone goes there. Previously it was seen as a "backpacker haven" kind of place were life was easy for the weary travellers making their way through the north of Thailand. Now it's a regular city used as a base for a g-zillion tours around the area - the long neck hill tribe women, the elephant sanctuary (where the elephant play football and various tricks), the once dangerous Golden Triangle opium growing regions (previously shared between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) but no longer now in Thailand after a concentrated effort to provide the locals with other ways of making a living (tourists))?

We could have extended our 30 day Thai visas by popping over the border to Myanmar for $5 - but as we now have an overall holiday timescale, and as none of the excursions greatly appealed - we really didn't do much in Chiang Mai. After we left (on our air conditioned bus to Sokhothai (5 hours)) we realised that we hadn't taken a single photo.

In Ayutthaya (one of the (many) first Thai capital cities (1350 to 1767) we saw a plethora of ruined chedi, pra phrangs, and all shapes and sizes of Buddha. In Sokhothai (one of the first Thai capital cities (mid 13th to end of 14th century) we saw some more. Chedi's (sometimes called Stupa's) are bell-shaped towers containing a relic of the Buddha - Pra Prangs are described as "corn on the cob" shaped and are towers found in the centre of temples.

In Sokhothai Historical Park we cycled around the various ruins. As we were poised for the essential sun sets behind temple shots an elderly monk ambled past.

95% of Thais are Buddhist - and every Thai male is expected to become a monk for a short period of his life. They must adhere to 227 monastic vows as laid out in the Vinaya Pitaka (Buddhist scriptures on monastic discipline) - obviously they're respected and dignified people.

Our elderly monk ambled past, stopped, then grasped my left breast for a few surprising moments before chuckling and moving of. I'd like to think I'd just been blessed by this, a very normal occurrence in Thailand. Instead we concluded he was fascinated by my man breasts. Although my genuine Oakley T-shirt (2 pounds from the market) was made for the western frame, size medium is still rather tight on me. (The Thais are a very slight race - on the coaches they manage to squeeze five seats to a row)!

After Sokhothai we travelled to Phitsanulok (the capital of Thailand for 25 years in the mid fifteenth century) before heading off to Nong Khai (where we are now - staying for two nights in a commune type hostel (much to Sams discomfort)) on the Mekong. It's very tranquil. Tomorrow we're crossing the Mekong to Laos (with the promise that it too will be very tranquil).

nb - we're not becomming tie-dye wearing traveller freak shows just yet (despite my beard) - the commune thing sounded like a nice place in the book - tis all.