The Return Home

(written 07/09/09, posted 14/10/09)

My flight home is early. It’s an irony that the place I’m going on my VSO placement, India, is the place I have a stopover. Getting off in Mumbai is an experience in itself and the airport feels pretty chaotic even though we are pretty much herded through the airport as we’re all on the connecting flight to Heathrow. Seeing people asleep on airport benches and the cacophony of mobile ringtones gives me a brief insight into the Indian culture I’ll be living in for a year come November.

The flight is pretty uneventful and I pass time catching up on my journal and watching a cheesy movie I thought would be a waste of two hours of my life but turns out to be strangely enjoyable.

On the tube from Heathrow I see strange phenomena a few metres below me as I go over a bridge. Namely, a red London bus and a black taxi cab moving slowly in traffic. They appear tiny from my train where I am watching the world go by below. After 9 weeks away I am surprised at how odd they both look. People kept telling me that by going to Asia I would find myself. I don’t think this happened as I was never lost. What it did give me was a different perspective that time away does. It turns out it was also a practice run for what is going to be my new life for the next year as a VSO volunteer in New Delhi. And after my brief insight at the airport, this is something I can’t wait to now get started.

One Last Buddha

(written 06/09/09, posted 14/10/09)

Get to Bangkok feeling frazzled and tired. I get on the internet to pass the time as it’s so early. I haven’t booked a hotel too so need to sort that out. I get a call from the hotel I’ve just booked online and they tell me the airport has moved. I was getting a bit suspicious as all the local buses were going to an airport with a different name. I recommend that the Rough Guide updates their last Thailand Edition as it is grossly out of date!

I end up booking a hotel on Khao San Road so at least I get a proper experience of Bangkok as I have been avoiding staying here throughout my travels in Thailand. I go for a walk and decide to jump the river boat down to Wat Pho to see the massive reclining Buddha. It was another tourist thing to do but it felt right to see one last temple and Buddha. Within two hours of being out and about I’m tired. The night bus trip last night is not conducive to being in a good mood and I find I want to swear at the tuk-tuk driver who tries to rip me off. In fact, I do and head off to have a nap in what feels like a bit of childish strop. In fact, it is. After bed I’m much better and go for a swim and shopping. The afternoon is about reflection and relaxation before tomorrow’s journey home.

Ao Nang Horseriding

(written on 05/09/09, posted on 13/10/09)

As I walk through town I wave goodbye to my landlady, the shop keepers I’ve ended up talking to, people at the dive shop. I feel almost like a local. The ferry across to Ao Nang is choppy. I must be tired as I pass out for the two hour journey. I get to Ao Nang and shopping and bad weather pretty much sums it up. Haggling with shopkeepers over the cost of rip-off designers handbags has become my entertainment. Everything is so much more touristy here compared to the island and I’m wondering whether this was a good idea. I end up having a couple of beers to unwind and watching TV and reading papers in my hotel room. These are actually luxuries seeing as I haven’t had access to either in a long time. Not that I’m particularly bothered. I’m left with the NY Times international edition which means I read stories slagging off China and strange reality TV shows. Humph.

The horse riding the next morning is much better. This is conducted on my own as the other people have all bottled out due to the weather. I would have done the same were I not going to Bangkok at 3pm. Horse riding is something I wanted to do whilst away so I’m determined. The stables owner humours me and send someone out to Spar to buy a disposable anorak so he can carry on with the ride.

I’m given Dollar who turns out to be a firecracker. I do a good job of controlling her. The best thing is as she is so lively I hardly need to do anything to get her into canter. This we do a lot over my rain drenched three hours on the beach and through rubber tree filled forests. I get given a lovely stir fry at the end and a lift back. The only thing I can do is use the hotel lobby shower after I’ve been out to get new clothes. Everything I’ve worn for horse riding has to be tied in a smell-proof bag and shoved in my rucksack to fester.

I get another night bus at 3pm. It’s tiring but I’m looking forward to a night in Bangkok perhaps in a hotel with a swimming pool if I can get one. I’m actually looking forward to going back home although it’s going to feel quite weird.

Dive Photography 101

(written on 03/09/09, posted on 13/10/09)

So I’m onto my fifth day of diving in a row. I’ve been assigned A as he’s the only one I’ve not been diving with so far. I’m doing the deep dives again today as I need (of course) to test out the new dive computer. For extra fun, well this is the end of my travels and we’re strictly into fun time now I know I have a VSO placement, I hire a camera.

A camera was a good move as on the first dive A takes a picture of me hovering above the sunken ship’s toilets. Well, it had to be done. I’m disappointed I didn’t catch the Cleaner fish who nibbled one side then the other. It looked like the fish had gone in one side then out the other when he turned his head. Throughout the day he seemed to have an uncanny ability to draw fish towards him so we named him the Mr Magoo of the fish world. On the second dive, we see a rare Bamboo Shark. A had to hang on to my tank so I could get close enough to get a great picture of it asleep inside a reef. It was only the third time he’d seen one in two years of diving here so it was a great spot. On the third dive we saw a weird slug thing, he’d also never seen before. I got more pics of the old common-by-now Leopard Shark and pretty fish. Then the end dive of the three was pretty hairy due to a very strong current. As I coped and erm...coped well I felt pretty proud of myself.

Another great day and I decide to go out on a high. I settle my dive bill which nearly makes me faint and grab my CD of diving pics. I go to the viewpoint to watch the sunset. There is a photo of the island from the same viewpoint just after the tsunami and it’s shocking to see the difference. After a bit of contemplation I head back to the guesthouse and book a ferry to Ao Nang for tomorrow and a horse riding trip for the day after. That’ll take me up nicely to the time I need to be back in Bangkok for my flight home.

Touche Turtle

(written on 02/09/09, posted on 13/10/09)

No-one else signed up for the wreck and they needed a minimum of 3 people. So I was stuck on local dives with the others. Well I say stuck but I actually prefer the local fun dives as you always see stuff and you can still see Sharks. This point is proved as on the first dive B, the instructor points out about 3 within the first 20 minutes. He said after the first half of the dive he stopped using the sign for Shark and just kept pointing so people could look if they were interested. Shark fatigue, I love it. One actually swam directly over my head too enabling me to watch its gills. I was in touching distance not that you’d actually reach out and touch unless you’d lost your sensible gene.

We see loads of other stuff too and as I’m not so focused on Shark spotting I see loads of other things of the smaller variety. This includes: Shrimps, Oriental Sweetlips, a Titan Triggerfish and a banded Sea Snake.

The second dive I’m told is going to be a Turtle dive. They aren’t wrong. We get some amazing views. The first Turtle is swimming alongside us a little way in front. The second is nibbling at rocks so the three of us grab a piece of dead rock to steady ourselves in the current and watch for a few minutes. It then proceeded to let go, circle back and swim directly over my head. The second thing to do that today too. If I didn’t have a regulator in my mouth and taking it out to speech would have made drowning an imminent prospect, I would have been rendered speechless.

I may have to leave soon as if I don’t someone will sign me up to do a Divemaster internship and I’ll never leave the island!

More Shark Fun

(written on 01/09/09, posted on 13/10/09)

Wake up late, well...later than my recent 6am forays out of bed. I’d planned to have a day off and go up to the viewpoint. But it’s cloudy. The weather hasn’t been great since I got here. Everyday people tell me not to go to Koh Tao as the diving is better here. Some of the bigger dive sites are closed due to the season but it does seem great here and I’ve loved every day. Other divers tell me Koh Tao is dull. Apparently there is lots of sand and not a lot of coral or variety in the sites. If I want to leave it has to be soon although I’m being kept here by great diving and I can’t say I mind!

As it’s cloudy and I ordered a dive computer I go and book more dives in for this afternoon. I go back later and I’m rewarded. A new instructor, another B, tells us that if we find a Leopard Shark on the sea bed we’ll creep around behind it and do an army crawl slowly to get closer to its side. This is exactly what happens and we as we do this, we’re maybe 1m within touching distance. I can see everyone grinning. On our second dive, B points out a Black Tip. As I’m at the back this time I miss it. I keep turning around in case it heads back round the opposite reef. It does and I’m rewarded by a 6 foot Shark swimming past. I’m now beyond chuffed.

As I have my dive computer and don’t seem to be going anywhere fast, I stick myself down for the three deep dives tomorrow. As they say in this part of the world, ‘Why not?!’

3 out of 3 ain’t bad

(written 31/08/09, posted 13/10/09)

After 2 days diving with C and various other Divemasters along for our dives, I’m put with B ‘for a change around’. After our first dive the instructor with the newbies tells us he’s spotted a Black Tip Reef Shark. He adds the newbies didn’t notice anything he was pointing out as they were playing around with their masks and trying to get their buoyancy right. I tell B I’ve only seen a Leopard Shark so far here and can he find me a Black Tip and an Octopus. He promises me he will and I’m sceptical.

We get the opportunity to swim over to Phi Phi Lei (see pic) and walk to Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed. It’s stunning but sadly filled with tourists. On the second dive of the day, not long in, B points out a Leopard Shark lying on the sandy sea bed. They don’t seem to be bothered at all by divers. We’re later told it’s only if you get in front of them that they spot you and will swim away. They are much more frightened of us than we are of them. Another ten minutes or so into the dive and a Black Tip Reef Shark swims past just off the reef in the distance. It’s a great spot as they are so quick they’ve usually gone by the time someone spots one. I can see why the one I saw last year was a baby Reef Shark now as this one is much bigger and the colouring different.

So with about 20 minutes to go I’m thinking 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, according to Meatloaf anyway. I’m willing an Octopus to appear from the rocks but I haven’t seen one yet so I’m sceptical. I enjoy the surge that we’re diving in as it pulls us in one direction towards the reef under the cliff and pushes us out again with each surge. It’s a different experience to any I’ve had diving before although the girlfriend of an experienced diver with us is not liking it at all. As a consequence of struggling to fight the current she runs out of air much quicker and the couple are told to surface by B. Once he’s checked they’re on the boat safely he comes to join me and my buddy who have been waiting for him about 8m underwater watching the reefs intently for signs of anything unusual. The third group of five divers doing their Rescue Diver qualification are near us too and we have about ten minutes until the end of our dive. Suddenly we hear a tank-rapper from one of them and we swim over. And there it is...a beautiful big Octopus, undulating and twisting its way over the rocks on the sea bed and investigating the sea bed with its tentacles. I clap B and signal my excitement to him and my buddy. All 8 of us do our safety stop at 5m watching the Octopus slowly move away. It’s definitely the best finish to a dive I’ve had so far.

After a brilliant day, I’m back to the dive shop again at 6pm for my first night dive. I’m nervous but hold it together. It’s a completely different experience and really enjoyable. There is much more light than I’m expecting, perhaps because there are four of us and we’re not very deep. My favourite bit is when we find a sandy patch on the sea bed, empty our vests of air so we kneel on the sand. I swam in phosphorescence algae in Vietnam a few times but nothing that compares to this. Torches against our thighs so they don’t give off light we wave our other hands through the water and everything around us sparkles. It’s brilliant and I can feel my mask leak as I’m grinning so much. What an amazing end to another great day diving.

Shark Talk

(written 30/08/09, posted on 13/10/09)

Up at 6am, again. On the boat out there are only five of us. The beauty of diving off season and the advantage over the Red Sea as it’s much quieter. I’ve been discussing with the staff on the boats my next move which I’ve been thinking will be Koh Tao. Everyone on the boat who has been there tells me Phi Phi is better as it’s quieter and as it’s the ‘wrong’ time to be here weather wise, all the learners will be at Koh Tao splashing about in the water and annoying everyone else.

There’s a lot of Shark Talk on the boat too and I haven’t seen one so far so I’m not going anywhere just yet. The first dive is a cool 29m down to the side of the wreck. We’re only out of the water for just over an hour before it’s time for the next one, Shark Point. I’m expecting good things.

I’m the first in. A giant stride, put my face in the water in and there’s a Leopard Shark swimming about below me. I take out my snorkel and shout, ‘Shark!’ I’m even waving my hand against the top of my head using the sign for Shark. Everyone else is too busy doing jumping in or faffing around with their masks so I happily put my snorkel back in and put my face back under to watch the Leopard Shark slink around and off. A fellow diver, J, can’t believe I’ve seen one and neither can C, our instructor. By the end of the dive we’ve spotted one swimming around (it could have been the same one) and one asleep on the sandy seabed which is often where they are. It could have been the same shark each time but seeing them/it in three different ways is amazing.

The third dive at Anenome Reef doesn’t disappoint either as we see Box fish, Lion fish, lots of Golden Spotted and Giant Moray eels, Clown fish and banded Shrimp. By the end of the three dives I’m no longer holding a small disappointment at the different visibility. It is just as good here as in the Red Sea, just some different species and in fact in some ways it’s better as it’s so quiet.

The weather is still pants so I can’t resist booking another set of dives tomorrow with my first night dive in the evening. Just for a bit of variety! Doesn’t look like I’ll be heading to Koh Tao just yet if at all.

Diving through Hoops

(written 29/08/09, posted 13/10/09)

My first day of diving. Woke up, well that’s not the correct word. It was more like gave up trying to sleep. The beach parties finished at 5.30am and I spent the night trying to avoid getting mozzied to death.

I was lucky to get a really good instructor, C, who took me through the review step by step so understood exactly what I’d have to do underwater. By the time I actually descended, the review was easy as I had it all embedded in my brain. In less than ten minutes I’d done the skills review and was enjoying my first dive in over a year.

I completed my PADI in Egypt last year after a failed attempt at doing the open water dives in a chilly quarry near Heathrow the year before. I had still passed two of the four dives and therefore the Scuba Diver qualification but trying to navigate in water of 1m visibility in freezing temperatures was never going to get me the full Open Water. Put me in the Red Sea however and I’d finished the dives and managed the Advanced Open Water too in that week. In comparison I was a little disappointed to start with the sea around Phi Phi.

On reflection, I was spoiled in the Red Sea with visibility of 25-30 metres. Here it is 15-20 most of the time. The two dives I did on the first day still produced a Sea Horse hiding in a rock, Bat Fish, giant Sea Cucumbers and a sleeping Sea Turtle which for me, topped the lot.

With a recommendation of a better guesthouse from C and having booked three dives for the next dive including my first wreck I headed off all excited. Next job: move to Mozzie/Noise free guesthouse and the bank.

I grab my things of sneak out of the bungalow. I can hear the woman behind saying come back as it’s 1pm and I probably should be paying for another night but I can’t stay there! I dump my rucksack off at the new place and the owner is lovely. She says take my time and she’ll hold the room. I get refused cash at the ATM and think it’s to do with the type of bank as in Chiang Mai I could only go to the green banks. Here they are purple and yellow. I go to every bank on the island and am denied. I call my bank and the fraud department have blocked my card. They promise to sort it in ten minutes and an hour later I still can’t access cash. I end up wasting the afternoon trying to get money, then getting some after a few calls. By this time I have to nap so waste my evening sleeping and going to the internet cafe. I manage to have a lovely Papaya Salad and a few beers to finish the day off. It’s a bit odd having dinner on your own when this place is clearly a beach party paradise and everyone here is in groups but I actually love it.

Naked Expats and moving swiftly on...

(written 28/08/09, posted 06/10/09)

R gets up at 6.30am due to spending the whole day yesterday asleep on the bus. She tells me one of the other guests has been wondering around unashamedly naked. I go cautiously to the showers and see a man now in a loincloth. It’s M from Somerset, who’s been in early retirement in Thailand forever. We get chatting to him and he’s lovely and enjoying being aimless. May move on soon, may not.

For some reason I’m excited this morning. I think it’s the prospect of my last two weeks on a beach and I’m hankering after some time alone too. R goes off to buy shoes and I need to back up photos. Again. On the net I find out another reason to be excited, my VSO placement in Delhi has been confirmed! After a failed placement, an semi-offer that wasn’t suitable, one delay due to visas in what is essentially a run of bad luck, I now have a bona-fide confirmation with leaving date. Woohoo!

R and I have beers over lunch to celebrate before we part ways. I’m sad to leave her as I reckon we’d have lots of fun. Time to go though…ferry it is. Raining out on the sea which comes as no surprise. Phi Phi looks great when the ferry docks. A tiny set of alleys where the locals and tourists mi together. I find a bungalow which has been my little dream so I head off down the narrow, car-less streets in search of one. I reach the beach on the other side in a few minutes which confirms for me how small this island is. Bungalow sorted, I unpack and within two hours have eaten, had beers and booked diving for tomorrow. I couldn't walk past all these diving shops without stopping. I'm very excited so go to bed early to prepare for my first dive in over a year.

A new place and another new friend

(written on 27/08/09, posted on 06/10/09)

I get to the famous Khao San Road at 4.45am. How am I going to get a bus now? The travel agent confirms the next bus to Krabi where I can get a ferry to Phi Phi is at 6pm. With no safe place to leave luggage and not wanting to stay she recommends the bus terminal. A proper government bus! That should be ok. I try and get a bus. Nothing arrives. My Rough Guide is two years out of date so it is possible that the bus number is wrong. A hundred taxis have already been stopping to offer me a ride. Now I want one, I can’t find one! I manage to get to the bus station in time and get a ticket for the 7.30am day bus that gets to Krabi at 8pm so I’ll have to stay there one night. At the bus stand I see another woman there and we smile at each other. On the bus I realise it’s all locals and much nicer than the night buses. We have several food stops and at one of them I get talking to the woman, R, and we agree we’ll look for a hostel later together as it’s much nicer having someone to go around a new place hunting together.

Many moons, or so it feels, later we’re in Krabi (see pic). We get a tuk-tuk easily. R and I find a clean enough hostel and its 150 Baht for a twin so we share. We go for beers and share a few stories. R is off tomorrow on a different boat to a different beach but she fills me in on Phi Phi where I’ve now bought my ticket too. Decision made, brilliant.

Burma Visa Run

(written on 26/08/09, posted on 06/10/09)

I’m so early this morning that the woman who does breakfast in the morning is still praying to the spirit house. Every house has a smaller spirit house which they offer food to and pray to every morning before 12. This is to appease the spirits that have no where to live now there is a new house or building there. The mini-houses look a bit like elaborate and colourful bird tables and some have cars and furniture in them like dolls houses. I wanted to get a picture of one but didn’t want to offend any of the locals. Or the spirits.

Anyway, today? Dullsville. A seven hour trip to Burma and back means going across the border, getting my passport stamped, waiting an hour and coming back into Thailand just to get seven more days on my visa. If I’d have come in by plane my visa would have been 30 days but as I came overland it’s 15. Seven days too short to get me through to the 7th September when I fly home. There are only three of us on the run, the two others are older white gentlemen. Turns out the Geordie bloke is brilliant and here for a year. And not looking for a wife. Well not specifically anyway. He tells me how it works at this border and recommends the market.

Several purchases made, we all meet back up on the Thailand side and our driver picks us up. Back to Chiang Mai for 3pm it’s a waste of a day but I have three hours in which to go to the post office, get some more books and eat. The night bus is predictably bad again but it’s so cheap it really doesn’t matter. It’s all about journal catching up and sleeping today. I’m still not sure where I’m off to next. I don’t want to stay in Bangkok and would rather do this at the end of my trip as I fly from here. Everyone recommends Koh Phi Phi even though it was my aim to go to the Gulf coast (Eastern side) as the weather is better at this time of year and Koh Tao has good diving. I’ll make a decision at 5am tomorrow when I get there…

Flip-Flop-a-rama

(written on 25/08/09, posted 06/10/09)

I make the effort to go to Wat Soi Duthep today up the mountain as many people say it’s the one thing you have to do in Chiang Mai. As all my clothes are being laundered at the hostel after trekking, I’m in a highly inappropriate strapless dress and flip flops. I walk to the edge of town to get the songthaew up. The driver explains he has to drive a bit further to drop me off at the right stop. As I get out my left flip-flop breaks. The two songthaew drivers at the bus stop laugh at me. And the other driver is saying something to them in Thai. One says you can’t go up a mountain like that and hands me his shoes whilst pointing at the row of shops further down the street. Lucky Thai men have small feet. I give him my shoes and he sits down at the bus stop with my pretty flip flops on. It’s hilarious. We’re all laughing and I promise to be back in five minutes. After two shops someone points me to the 7-11 and I get a sturdy pair of lovely red plastic ones and go back to swap shoes. A woman has appeared and keeps grinning at me and doing thumbs up. I do love this place. Thai people are so friendly and kind. And I love the generosity of strangers when you’re travelling and you’re in a bit of a mess.

The temple is great and I spend the rest of the day reading a book I’ve picked up called ‘Karma for Travellers’ recommended by my VSO colleagues. I wish they’d write one called ‘Karma for Commuters’.

I treat myself to a long awaited pedicure and Thai massage. I get beaten up for the next 90 minutes and it feels great. I’m planning to post another package back to the UK so I spend the rest of today shopping at the night markets and picking up some lovely bargains: kimonos, table ware and pretty fairy lights. Still can’t find a decent hammock though. Ridiculous as I haven’t got anyway to put one but I feel this unnecessary urge to buy one in Asia. I have a fight with the tuk-tuk driver who is driving up the street after me haggling to try and get more than the 40 I’m willing to pay, and that’s generous. The other tourists are looking at us like we’re mad but I’m not paying his proposed, stupidly inflated 60 Baht on principle.

Once home I marvel at the sheer amount I’ve managed to amass on my own and go to sleep. An early one tomorrow for Burma.

Tribe trekking

(written 24/08/09, posted 06/10/09)

I haven’t been able to write in my journal for the last day or so as I went on a Hill Tribe trek. An elephant tour to start with, then a trek up through the mountains, a dip in a waterfall, hiking clothes back on for the next trek up to our village camp. In the mountains it rains constantly so all of us in my group of seven were totally soaked when we got to camp. I rinsed out my clothes and had a ‘shower’ which was a strip wash in brown water! Even getting from the toilet to my bamboo hut, which had woodworm, was a nightmare as the steps were made from eroded mud. All of us were sliding around. No electricity here either so come dark it was all candles and games of cards. The two different groups of girls were all on three day treks and were trying to convince me to stay an extra night. With not enough dry clothes with me and no entertainment by the next morning it was a great big fat ‘no’.

Today was fun. I was in a different group, having left everyone else to a full day’s trek. The morning was heavy going like it was yesterday. I thought we’d do an afternoon trek too after another waterfall but this mini-trek only lasted an hour before we jumped in a truck and were taken to lunch. As my new group and I sat in our hut, it started to bucket down but I knew a hot shower was nearly in sight. Two Spanish boys got a lift back to Chiang Mai as they’d done three days and were tired. Mistake. With five of us left, we went bamboo rafting. It was brilliant fun! Trying to stand up and not fall off as the raft was rolling over the river surges was pretty tough and I’d recommend it for anyone wanting a core body work out.

In the songthaew on the way back we munch on my left over Oreos and cashews before I nod off. Meet M later for yet more local beers, well why would you not go to a local shop that’s a lot more fun? And more street food, so much better and cheaper than the restaurants. It’s the last night for beers as he’s got training and I have a visa run to Burma followed by my night bus to Bangkok. No clue what I’m doing after that but that decision will be made later, as I’ve become accustomed too. More VSO chat and we cover the deeper subject of length of placements and what has happened to a few ex-volunteers here who have stayed. I see M staying here, I know he’s spent time in Thailand before but it is different. Sometimes you see someone in their environment and it’s clear that this is just where they belong.

Rain, rain, go away...

(written 22/08/09, posted 06/10/09)

It’s bucketing it down. Thirty minute rainstorms in Cambodia had turned to an hour or two since being here but today it starts off rainy and never stops. So much for moto hire to see Wat Doi Suthep up the mountain with M. Moto + my moto skills + rain = potential disaster. We drink coffee and do the crossword instead. When it’s clear the rain isn’t going to stop we jump into a tuk-tuk and visit the Waroros market for locals as M needs some supplies for his homestay next week. Namely a man’s sarong for washing and getting changed under so he doesn’t give the villagers a surprise. I end up with more fisherman’s pants and some great material.

Lunch in the market is brilliant. We feast on my first Som Tam (Papaya salad) which I’ve now decided is the best thing since sliced bread. Still raining so it’s more shopping and more coffee. After a shopping respite, M and I meet up again later with S, the other volunteer here from VSO who was also on my course back in Birmingham. Catching up and listening to them chat reconfirms my absolute desire to do this. I still haven’t heard from the placement I accepted but that’s no surprise as it hasn’t been that long since I hastily filled out the application in Cambodia. I’m so keen it’s funny. More beers at the local bar with our favourite bar shop lady who can’t get anything I say in Thai. It’s really no surprise as I’m not getting on so well with this tonal language. S and I rely on M to order away, which he does and it ends up being another lovely night of beers, food and great company. What a shame, eh?

The Other SIde of Thailand

(written on 21/08/09, posted on 06/10/09)

Today has been a bit of a nothing day. A few temples, chat to a Buddhist monk for a while about the Karen hill tribes north of Chiang Mai and the work that VSO is doing with Burmese refugees at the border. I try and get a massage at the Disabled Centre but no-one is there. I order a juice and some spring rolls at a bar opposite. A chain-smoking 60-something man from Birmingham shouts through the order to his baby-carrying Thai wife. The spring rolls arrive cold in the middle and I make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there. Is this the other side of Thailand I’m seeing?

I spend a few hours on the internet backing up pictures and emailing until it’s time to meet M. M is on his VSO language training today as part of his two month long in country orientation.

I get heckled on the way back by four ex-pats calling me into their bar for a beer. As I’m early and it’s 4pm on a Friday I go in. ‘Why not?!’ as they say here. Text M to tell him where I am. The bar is empty and they are rattling. We chat and I joke is this Chiang Mai on a Friday: lots of beers with the men, sitting around arguing which is what they mostly do. The depressing answer is everyday is like this in Chiang Mai. For you maybe I think. After I’ve been bought a couple of beers I escape as this lunatic with a fascination for taking photos of his penis turns up. He has on Thai silk pyjamas unbuttoned, a headband, receding curly hair and John Lennon glasses. In summary, he looks like he dropped out at Woodstock and never regained a sense of reality. All of them have been in Thailand for about eight years and some have children.

I meet M back at the hostel and we discuss the whole thing over beers. Yesterday with L we went to the night market on the way for food and went down a whole street of bars with young Thai girls and seedy looking older men. I’m not that naïve but I really don’t get it that this still happens. Even more intriguing is the fact one man was accused earlier as being a bit of a crim by one of his cronies when they were arguing. He admitted he couldn’t return to the UK to see his daughters. M tells me in 2006 when the tsunami struck, a lot of people used it to ‘disappear’. We nod at each other with knowing looks and finish another beer.

Cooking up a storm

(written 20/08/09, posted 06/10/09)

Whilst I was wondering around yesterday I booked a Thai Cookery school for today. Chiang Mai is the place for courses: meditation, Buddhism, cooking and massage mostly. I’d like to have done more but only have 6 or 7 days here.

Bus picks us up earlier than I’d like and we go to the market for a bit of a tour. I’ve never seen so many different types of rice and chillies. Everything else feels a bit like the Chinese supermarket back home. Well…that’s apart from the live fish in a tank all peering out at us.

We get to the organic farm in our songthaew. After a tour of the rows of vegetables and banana trees, I make sure I’m near the fun German couple and the other single woman from Italy. The four of us behave like naughty schoolchildren and are way behind everyone else pounding chillies into green curry paste. Lunch is amazing, if I do say so myself. My Tom Yam soup is delicious and better than I’ve had in one Thai restaurant in London. I must be going to the wrong one. The green curry is delicious although mine wasn’t hot enough so I added a couple of small green chillis whole at the end, on the advice of our rather tasty teacher. At lunch I proceed to eat one whole then cry. Luckily my equally as delicious chicken and cashew nut stir fry does the trick of washing it down.

After lunch we’re all standing around stuffed and sleepy in the heat. We make mango sticky rice for dessert though no-one can eat it apart from the German woman who had two spoonfuls of lunch, presumably so she could eat dessert. Some people make bananas in coconut milk. This looks like grey baby food to me but I bet its comfort manna from heaven. Spring rolls to finish off and we head outside to be fed juicy slices of mango. Everyone snoozes in the back on the return journey clutching their bags of food.

Back at the hostel I grab a coffee and L comes over to chat. I explain I’m waiting for M a VSO bod and invite her for a drink. She’s on her own after her friend went home. The three of us go back to the local bar for beers and then some street food. I surprisingly manage to eat even after L and I scoffed the remaining spring rolls at the hostel café. I have two weeks left in Thailand and that will be the end of my trip. I get the feeling I will be the size of a house after all these enjoyable beers and eats with lovely company.

Travels into Thailand

(written 19/08/09, posted 03/10/09)

L and I parted yesterday as she was going back to Phnom Penh and I'm continuing my travels. I have 3 weeks left to do Thailand and it doesn't feel like very long. I wanted to go straight to Chiang Mai but at a cost of $45 compared to $8.50 to get to Bangkok the latter option was the only one.

I left the hotel at 07.30am yesterday by couch, travelled through the Cambodian border, was herded onto a mini-bus with 10 others and all of our luggage and driven at speed into Thailand. Six hours later after a very bumpy ride we arrived in Bangkok at 4pm. I knew on sight I didn't want to be there so booked a night bus for 6pm to Chiang Mai. The bus was horrible and there was a different feeling with the travellers. I think it was because most people were in groups and it almost felt like if you were on your own that was a bit weird. I hadn't felt like that since China and that was from the locals not fellow travellers.

Once in Chiang Mai we were dumped outside of town and persuaded to book hotels. I'd read about these scams in my guidebook so luckily got a lift into town on the Songthaew (open backed shared mini-van taxi) with all the others who had the foresight to book somewhere.

I basically spend the day exploring on foot and treat myself to a big Pad Thai for lunch which is delicious and better than any I've tasted in England. I go and see a few temples as Chiang Mai has plenty and relax by the moat. There are two VSO volunteers here doing their In Country Orientation training. I met them at my last course so I call one and we meet up. It's great to see M as we got on so well when I met him. We go for local beers which entails sitting outside what feels like a newsagent on stools. I love it, it's much nicer than being in a pub. He chats to passers-by in Thai and between catching up we idly watch life on the street go by.

Do-gooders doing good

(written on 17/08/09, posted on 03/10/09)

L and I wanted to get bikes to make the 9km trip out of town to the orphanage. I spent last night shivering and not even a curry and a lassi could sort me out. I dosed myself up with tablets and conked out.

I wake up and am feeling surprisingly fine. At the bike hire shop I force a good breakfast down with some orange juice and after testing the brakes and saddles we're off. I'm not able to go as quickly as I want but seem to be making reasonable progress. About 2km out of town I realise my trousers have completely ripped and I might as well be wearing hot pants. Not a good look for teaching children. We pass a market and I decide to run in. I end up with a hideous shorts and vest combo which looks like it's straight out of Pri-marni (see top pic for the shorts). I was great entertainment for the market stall holders and the women gathered round pointing at the rip in my cargo pants!

At the orphanage we're surrounded and dragged into the classroom. We play games and teach the children, most of whom have a good level of English. None seem to go to school though. We're encouraged to go and play with the children at lunchtimes and I can't help but think anyone could sneak in. There are no checks, no safety measures. We're given lunch and I know then this is no scam. The fish tastes of stale pond weed and the chicken has no meat on it. I chat to the Director about aid agencies and L vows to raise money on her return to home. The kids are amazing and we are waved off and made to promise we'll be back. We leave some donations before heading back into town. The bag of rice we wanted to buy didn't make it as neither of us thought we could balance it on our bikes.

We finish our day by giving blood at the local children's hospital and go and have a sugary drink before we faint. Both of us feel much better after the floating village yesterday. I can see Cambodia developing more like Vietnam but after a history of brutal war it'll take so much more.

Floating VIllage at Sunset

(written 16/08/09, posted 03/10/09)


We wake late and leave a message for W to pick us up even later. L and I don't feel quite up to another round of sight-seeing just yet and it's pretty exhausting in the heat. I've been drinking what feels like about 5 litres of water a day and I feel like I'm addicted to salty foods.

We splash out $5 to use the local hotel swimming pool. All I can do is swim, read and try to recuperate. I'm still feeling a bit ropey. We're not even drinking or eating that much each evening and being out in town can be a bit depressing. Everything is cheap and the pubs and restaurants vie for business by undercutting each other. The kids swarm the streets begging and the result is a horrible clash of poverty and tourists treating themselves. I've taken to carrying around little bags of food like nuts and dried fruit to give the kids. L and I have a rule of no cash as it encourages begging. This is especially true of kids in the daytime who we suspect are kept away from school by their parents so they can go and earn money. I feel pretty naive and I'm sure we could do more but I just don't know how.


W announces it's time to go to the floating village and to see the sunset on the lake. It seems like a nice thing to do too after the madness of the earlier. We were at the temple where one of the Tomb Raider films had been shot and all we could here was people running around shouting 'Lara Croft! Lara Croft!'

As W drives us away from the temple complexes, we notice how the shacks and shops on the roadside get poorer. Pulling up at the harbour we get offered $15 each for a boat out to the village. It wasn't in our contract. We cough up anyway and get ushered onto a boat. What comes next is an astounding level of poverty. People live on boats, some with no power. A father pulls alongside and a shivering toddler jumps on to sell us cans of drink. There is a floating church, a school, villager's houses, shops and ...a crocodile farm. We get accosted into buying pens for the school and we are encouraged to visit the school to hand over the pens. The children are clearly used to this but look on bored. It all feels manufactured to try and get tourists in and neither of us want to be here, peering at people's lives where the average annual income is $500. They don't need tourism here, they need aid.

L and I get in the tuk-tuk depressed and W doesn't understand why. He spends the whole journey trying to cheer us up. We decide tomorrow is going to be a productive day and we're going to do positive stuff. That's if I can actually stand up tomorrow.