Thailand

Thailand: 5th September 2011 to 25th September 2011

Total days travelled: 162

I had previously been to Thailand a whole 10 years ago for about two months and absolutely loved the place and this time was no different.  OK, so 20 days is not quite two months, but, having been before, I took some pressure off myself from seeing every sight and going to every bloody night market!

We crossed in from Cambodia and went straight to our hotel in Bangkok which was handily situated about 2 mins from the (in)famous Khao San Road, full of backpackers, scuzzy hostels, tattoo parlours, bars, pad thai stalls etc.  It's changed a fair bit in 10 years (no surprises there), with MacDonalds, Subway etc to add to the Boots that was previously there, but on the whole it's pretty much the same place.  And most importantly the pad thai and banana pancakes from the street vendors were as remembered!

The boys went for a boys night out (which can only mean one thing in Bangkok) while I escorted Jenn out to get her new tattoo done; much more civilized!

Jenn's new, and rather gorgeous, tattoo

Jenn and I then spent the next day shoe shopping in the lovely malls of Bangkok, being a little cultured-out after Cambodia and we all had our girls' night out, starting at the Vertigo Bar on the roof of the rather fancy (too fancy for me!) Banyan tree hotel.  

Super expensive cocktail at the Vertigo Bar

With Jenn

The rest of the girls then sampled all that Bangkok had to offer, but I left at that point and get a mototaxi back to Khao San Road to meet up with the lovely Alice Orton and another of her Edinburgh chums for a fantastic meal and a beer or two in a blues club.  It was really nice to see Alice and so kind of her to take me out on a school night.

The next day was cultural day, taking in the Grand Palace, and getting local ferries back to the hotel.

We got the sleeper train up to Chiang Mai and it was quite a different journey from that 10 years ago, but surprisingly, a fair bit less entertaining, with fancier (but not as fancy as the Chinese train) sleeper compartments and some irritating ladyboy waitresses.

Chiang Mai is a lovely city up in the north. It was pretty much as I remembered it and I had a great time just hanging around, eating cheap food and drinking beer.  Perfect.  Jenn and I also managed a wee wander round town and visited a couple of wats, but we didn't go crazy!

A picture of the King (Elvis) with the King (of Thailand)

Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Wat Chedi Luang, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai

Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai

The truck (which Jim had picked up in Vientiane and driven into Chiang Mai in one mammoth day) then headed south to Kanchanaburi and the Bridge over the River Kwai, but I'd been before and I wanted to get some diving in, so I took myself off on a plane to Koh Samui and boat to Koh Tao, a diving island in the Gulf of Thailand.

The place is super famous for diving, but it's a bit like Utila in Honduras - nice enough, but clearly more famous for dive schools and number of students than fantastic dive sites.  I managed to squeeze 5 dives in over 2 days (including a night dive) and saw reasonable amount including barracuda (on the night dive and wreck dive), a fairly big turtle and other bits and bobs.  I also managed to squeeze in about 15 green curries, a massage, and a bit of sunbathing in the few days I was there, before catching another boat to Koh Phangan where I met up with a fair few of the group for the much anticipated "beach week".

Beach in Koh Tao

Koh Tao

Beach Week was our chance to pick for ourselves where we wanted to go (never mind I'd picked where I wanted to go with Shanghai, Beijing, Hue and Koh Tao anyway!).  A fair few of us followed Zoe & Susan like sheep and booked in at the same resort which turned out to be lovely.  I spent the week mooching by the pool, eating, drinking, learning to drive Jim's moped (and almost killing Jim - sorry!), watching some of the rugby (thankfully not Scotland - far too depressing).  Jim and I did manage to squeeze in a day's diving out at Sail Rock, supposedly (and correctly) regarded as the premier dive site in the Gulf of Thailand.  The place was absolutely teeming with life and we were swimming through vast schools of Barracuda, Spanish Mackerel, Travellys and all sorts of other things I can't identify. 

Beach Week was absolutely glorious and was over far too soon.  And I took no photos - sorry.


We then drove down to Malaysia, via the Khao Sok National Park (jungle) where it rained and we got bitten by a thousand bugs (also no photos).