Sawadee everyone! Sorry it’s been a while but we’ve just been too busy to update the journal! These are sad times, with less than a month to go of our freedom(!), so we’ve been packing in everything we can…here’s what we’ve been up to;
Singapore
We thought this was a great place – contrary to what we’ve read and heard about it being a bit dull – Our hostel was bang in the center, beside an amazing building that looked like it had been lifted straight from the set of Ghostbusters, but was actually just the Austrian embassy – how’s that irony. We had a full day walking round the sights of the City, including Raffles Hotel and the museum there. They had great newspaper articles from the beginning of the 1900s about the time a Bengal tiger creeped into the hotel undetected and fell asleep under the Billiards table. Alas, someone spotted it later in the day (bet they needed as tiff drink afterwards) and the bravest guest had to be called up on to shoot it. We had a Singapore Sling in the infamous Long Bar – the drink itself was pre mixed (we had hoped for a charade of cocktail shakers and the like), but yummy, and best of all they provide huge bowls of monkey nuts and you are encouraged to tip the discarded shells on the floor so the place s a right mess – just the kind of bar we like. We also checked out Little India (highlights are big Indian community, amazing Hindu temples, and a curry eaten without hands from a banana leaf), and Chinatown who were revving up for Chinese New Year (February 9th) with packed street markets.
Bangkok
The two hour bus journey from airport to Khao San Road was well worth it. The backpackers mecca is a great mix of tack, sleaze, food stalls, fake Gucci sunglasses and hippies. We both Loved it and can see why you could end up spending all your Thailand time there and having to sell your shoes to get back to the airport (as apparently happens judging by the number of stalls that offer to buy 2nd hand shoes, books, rucksacks and the like). Not only is there tons to see and do and buy it’s all so ridiculously cheap and practically every meal and beer we have is marveled over as it only cost us 27p or something like that. Well, it is our last month after all! We managed to tear ourselves away from Khao San Road and tuk tuk (aggghhhh, watch that bus! No, THAT bus!!!) to the Grand Palace. What an incredible sight – it’s not even worth describing to you as words don’t really do it justice. I can tell you though that we were there on the same days as Venus Williams who swept through surrounded by bodyguards and a very nice Chanel jacket (she must have been sweating like a Russian housewife) and I bet she was just as gobsmacked as us by the fantastic art, colours and just downright loveliness of it all. Anyhoo. We also got our travels for the next months sorted – week in Thailand, week in Cambodia, then a week back in Thailand on the islands getting sunburnt, yay!
Kanchanburi
This is the site of the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Death Railway. We hired bikes from our hostel which was right on the river and cycled down to the JEATH museum. This is the initials of countries involved in the building of the railway (Japan, England, America, Thailand, Holland) although other nationalities also suffered. The museum is set in a replica bamboo hut such as the POWs lived in…their story is told through stark black and white photos, letters and newspaper clippings. It is all very moving and made more so when we cycled up to the Kanchanburi War cemetery. The toughest part of this was the section of graves set out for soldiers unidentified, but the grounds are very well kept and it seemed a fitting tribute. WE finished up at the Bridge itself late in the afternoon. The River is lovely and it is such a pretty setting it seems at odds with its history. You can walk across the bridge, but I am ashamed to say that the big gaps in the tracks brought out my fear of heights and I had to give up halfway and scamper back whimpering – Paul managed it though!
Ayutthaya
This was the capital of Thailand from the 1400s to 1700s, but was sacked by the Burmese (those rotters) and seems to have steadily declined since. The fantastic temples were built in the Khmer style such as those in Cambodia, but when the Burmese took over they removed the heads of the Buddha statues which makes for some strange sights. We visited four in total, the first two of which were in ruins but were impressive to see nonetheless – one site had a large Buddhas head place in the roots of a Bodhi tree which was good to see. We then cycled on (yep, back on hired bikes in the controlled chaos of Thai roads) to find the grand palace, but got lost and found something much better. A working temple where a large number of Thais were praying outside to small Buddhas and inside a giant gold Buddha – properly huge it was, and actually a bit scary – I certainly wouldn’t be doing wrong by my fellow man if I had visions of that when I was praying on a regular basis. We then ploughed on to a vast white chedi outside the town which we could climb to get a great view of the surrounding countryside. By that stage we were templed out and rushed back for a shower and cold beer (Chang, Thai beer, yum).
Chang Mai
So, this is where we are now – needless to say the train journey took much longer than it was meant to, but we got up bright and early today for a tour of the hills and an elephant trek. I’ve got to be honest, the elephants made me sad….I was worried they weren’t looked after properly and also we had to sit VERY high up on them, but the surrounding countryside and stunning views made up for this. We went on to visit a hill tribe originally from Burma called the Karin tribe. One of the sections of this tribe are well known for their women who wear layers of gold bands round their necks, extending their heads above their bodies – a National Geographic fave. The group we saw were a bit tamer and just wanted to sell us some weavings. Later we visited Ewang Waterfall and swam in the refreshingly cold pool (and under the waterfall in Paul’s case) then finally took a trip down a river on a bamboo raft. Paul bravely helped to steer – bit like punting on the River Avon really, except a lot more balance required due to the raft being held together with torn bits of bicycle tyres! We realize we won’t have a lot of resources for meals out when we get back to the UK, so we’ve signed up for a Thai cookery class tomorrow, then a day to explore Chang Mai, an overnight back to Bangkok and then a flight to Cambodia which we’re both really looking forwards to.
Phew. That’s about all for now – hope you’re all really well, and we’ll update you more as soon as we get the chance,
Bye for now
|
