19/01/2006 by drops.

Chiang Mai, in the north, was our first real destination in Thailand after Laos. As Thailand’s second city, it’s a place where there’s something for everyone: trekking, temples, cookery classes, bamboo rafting, etc… or just chilling out and doing nothing. We went there, though, for the partying on New Year’s Eve; we were not disappointed. That night we floated between three different parties - in our hotel, in a pub with a good covers band, and the big one at the nearby city gate. The decision to go from party to party was ultimately forced upon us when the hotel staff monopolized the karaoke equipment and regaled us with tuneless shrieking that set the dogs howling for a mile around - but not before Marilena had belted out a few Madonna classics to an enthralled audience. The city gate party was the place to be as the minutes counted down to the New Year. There were thousands of people enjoying live music, fireworks, and letting off hundreds of traditional fire balloons that made their own constellations in the sky. In the early hours of 2006 we were almost hit by a burnt-out fire balloon while relaxing on the swimming-pool loungers, which we were hurriedly assured was good luck. We can’t believe it would’ve still been good luck if it had been alight, though.

After Chiang Mai we headed through central Thailand, stopping at the ruined cities of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. It’s hard to say which one we preferred. Sukhothai had an incredible setting, its temples set in landscaped gardens and enclosed within moats; Ayutthaya, though, was more of an Indiana Jones experience, with crazily-leaning towers crumbling in amongst bodhi trees, and Buddha heads imprisoned within trunks. We then arrived back in Bangkok where we were dazzled by the kaleidoscopic Grand Palace and Wat Pho. Some people really hate this city, because of the noise, bustle and pollution, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves there, a holiday within a holiday. Neil celebrated his birthday there very decadently (he’s now 22) and forced Marilena to join in. After sight-seeing in the morning, it was time for a dip in the roof-top pool before a full-body massage in the afternoon. We had planned a six-course dinner on the river, but no taxi driver would take us to the pier (it was Friday night), so we satisfied ourselves by pigging out and drinking a bar dry locally.

We had to tear ourselves away from Bangkok eventually, though. We caught a train south and then a ferry to the remote rocky island of Ko Tao, one of the best diving sites in Thailand. Not too many photos from here, we’re afraid. We were either underwater surrounded by hundreds of fish or trying to cool down in a beach bar somewhere. Somehow, doing anything more energetic lost its appeal. After about a week spent in this fashion, it was time to renew our visas, so we headed for depressing Ranong, a fishing town close to the Burmese frontier, the closest to us at the time. We commissioned a local agent to coordinate his network for a visa run. With mobile phone in hand, Pon greased our way through Thai immigration and then dropped us off at the pier, entrusting us to one of his mobile phone-wielding lieutenants. This guy then handed us over to another operator, who ran us into Burma and back on his boat, waving our passports and money at border officials, whereas all we had to do was walk ten metres into Burma from the boat and back. It was a smooth two-hour operation…

So now we have an extra 30 days to enjoy southern Thailand. We’re now in Phang Nga, close to Krabi. More photos soon!

10:06:25 - Thursday, 19.01.06

Posted in travel | Print | 5 Comments »

04/01/2006 by drops.

Happy New Year, Everybody!Since it’s time for resolutions, ours must be to post more often! This time we’ve got three countries to talk about. To make it up to you, we’ve got new photos up in our galleries (Australia, New Zealand and Laos) and links to a few further down the page. Enjoy and let us know which ones you like best!

We crossed the Pacific to reach New Zealand, where we met up with Mark, a Kiwi friend of ours. Mark drove us around Auckland, showed us the sights, and introduced us to life in Kiwi-land. We didn’t have a lot of time in NZ (or Oz, for that matter), so unfortunately we couldn’t see everything. After Auckland, in the North Island, we headed south to the glowworm-riddled caves of Waitomo, and Wellington, but our favourite place there was the geothermic wonderland of Rotorua. This town, a thriving Maori centre, is actually set inside a volcanic crater and the sulphuric rotten-egg stench hits you as soon as you arrive. As the coach rolled in, we passed what looked like a normal English-style park, until we spotted the clouds of steam rising up from fenced off volcanic pools. The real highlights, though, were the geysers in Te Puia and the psychedelic mineral-stained pools at Wai-O-Tapu. In the South Island, we only made it as far as the laid-back Abel Tasman National Park. There we went kayaking along the coast, and were taken out to swim with fur seals by mad John the Walrus, who chose to entertain us with songs about blues-loving prehistoric penguins and other topics. The seals were really curious, and came almost an arm’s reach away, swimming around and underneath us. They took a good look at us with their big round eyes. They probably couldn’t believe what poor swimmers we were.

In Australia we did the standard ‘Rock, Reef and Harbour’ tour. Our first stop was in the Red Centre - the Uluru-Kata Juta National Park. Our views of Uluru (Ayers Rock) weren’t quite what you usually see in the postcards. We went to see it catch fire at sunset, but were caught in a dramatic rain and sand storm instead. Water sluiced down the Rock in sheets, and the air turned orange from the sand blowing in waves across the desert. We then got treated to an incredible electrical display and a rainbow right on top of Uluru. The next morning, we dragged ourselves out of bed in the dark to see the park at sunrise and hike around Kata Juta (The Olgas), vast scoops of red rock, where we spotted our first (and only) kangaroo. A couple of hours by plane took us from dry desert to the sticky humidity of Cairns. We went there, of course, for the Great Barrier Reef, but, after diving in the Caribbean, we were disappointed. The reef was bleached out, and to reach the best sites we had to share a huge catamaran with a hundred or so others. After that we decided to stick on land and went to visit a crocodile farm-cum-zoo, where we patted koalas, watched sparring wallabies, and paid our respects to the huge numbers of crocodiles there. The star of the show was Sollie, a 4.5m giant of a reptile who was removed from the wild after making a bit of a nuisance of himself. One Xmas morning, some boys decided to take their dog for a swim in the local waterhole. Luckily for them, the dog was the first one in the water… The croc was named after the dog, his last victim. Our last few days in Oz were spent in the Sydney area, hiking in the Blue Mountains and messing about around the Harbour, and then it was time for our flight to South-East Asia.

We landed in Bangkok, jet-lagged and bleary-eyed, and sped off almost immediately to Luang Prabang in Laos. Before going there, we had this image of a poor Asian country, with no English spoken, and terrible hygiene. However, in Luang Prabang, at least, lots of locals speak some English, and we had no problems with the food - other than knowing when to stop, that is! When we’ve not been stuffing ourselves or getting pampered with Lao massage, we’ve been exploring temples and waterfalls, seeing traditional dance, and riding elephants. Laos was a great place to chill out after rushing around Oz and New Zealand, and the Lao are a lovely, genuinely friendly people. Our innkeeper told us that they think the PDR in the Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic) should really stand for Please Don’t Rush. It was really appropriate, then, that we took the slow boat up the Mekong into northern Thailand, arriving on Xmas Day. We’ve now been in Thailand for around ten days, but we’ll tell you more when we have the pictures up. For the moment, Sawat-dii!

09:15:08 - Wednesday, 04.01.06

Posted in travel | Print | 2 Comments »