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…

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.

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.

Holding back the tears...

(written on 10/08/09, posted 01/10/09)

Time to say our goodbyes...we said goodbye to a load of people who'd been with us all week and now it was time to say goodbye to the legendary Hoa himself and a couple more of the guests.

We were due to get the plane south to Saigon (no more buses for T and the flights were £31 each so L and myself thought it was a bargain - so much for my personal environmental pledge to only go overland whilst in Asia). Just that morning, I discovered my Vietnamese visa was 3 days out of date and I wasn't planning to leave the country for another few days after Saigon. Big Ooops. This could spell a bit of a disaster. We had our passports checked but not the visa stamps luckily. There were a couple if times I got a bit of the old clammy hands syndrome. Nothing to worry about then until getting to the border although I guess I could sort it out at the embassy in Saigon.

We didn't get to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City (it's modern name) until 6pm so it was a case of a taxi and find some accommodation. The taxi ride was fun and there were even more motos than Hanoi so it seemed even more chaotic on first impressions.

We ended up in the backpacker district so it was all clubs and bars. T, L and myself went up for a good nosh up and a couple of G&Ts. We were trying to plan what to do over the next three days, but it's always fun not knowing what you'll end up doing but just discussing all the possibilities.