Notes from a Pom

After my adventures in Bangkok, I got in a bus back up to Chang Mai that evening.

I really enjoyed myself in Chang Mai before and was determined to do so again, and see some more of the city. The main reason for the trip was for self improvement, I was going to learn a little about Thai Cookery, and a fair amount of Thai Massage. It was the festival of ‘Yee Peng’ when I arrived, and all day and all night the sound of fire works breaks the air. During the day, it is relatively quiet with a stray firework being lit on average once a minute, usually by one of the monks. In the evening however all hell breaks loose, with informal recreations of battles raging round you constantly. You head home after getting caught in the thick of it with a case of shell shock. Your ears are ringing, the smell of gun powder clogs the nose and you can't quite remember the way home as you are now feeling quite dazed and confused. The festival lasted 3 days and to tell you the truth it was a relief when it was all over.

I decided that I had better brush up on my culinary skills as I have not cooked for myself since leaving on this trip. There is little point in me trying as it is more expensive and wasteful, if it is even possible, for for me to cook than it is to go to a restaurant or eat in the hotels here. The cooking course was a lot of fun, as we learnt to whip up six good dishes. The real question is if I am still able to make spring rolls, and Pad Thai, as They would be very useful.

The Massage course was really rewarding and I was given one to one tuition eight hours a day for three days. By the end of it my hands were hurting and I needed a massage myself. I learnt a lot in a short period of time and completed round about 25 hours of massages before being let out to try this in the real world. And just a few days later I had a few victims to try out my skills on.

My last day in Chang Mai I visited Doi Sutep which is on a hill 16 km from town. I though that this would make a nice stroll for the morning.

It was quite a bit harder than I had imagined and by the end of it was simply dripping in sweat in the hot and humid air. As card and trucks passed my you could see the drivers and passengers shake their heads at me with pity, while others laughed. I think they thought I was mad, and three hours, a blister and three litres of water later I was inclined to agree with them. The temple itself was a glittering golden structure that shines on the top of the hill overlooking Chang Mai with friendly monks who seem to enjoy talking to stupid tourists who know very little about Buddhism.

After my educational experience in Chang Mai I decided it was defiantly time to see a beach or two. Krabi on the Andaman Sea is in the South West of Thailand and at this time of year is one of the driest places. I met up with wolf again here, and headed off down to Riley Beach where all the climbers show off their stuff on some of the most stunning sea cliffs I have ever seen. I was not feeling the need to be humiliated at that point and, so just wondered around and did my own thing. One of the best things was if you found the scrabbling route up behind one of the cliffs on East Riley you could make you way fairly easily up to the top of the cliff which was around 4 times higher than the climbers were getting up to. You got some fantastic views across all three beaches, and up the coast either side as well. After a few nights in my little bungalow. I was time to move on, so I went just a little bit round the coast to Ton Sai Beach.

Here the rocks were no longer vertical but curled right overhead. The good climbers from the previous beach here was replaces by trainee spidermen. Clinging to surfaces that were parallel to the ground in a manner that seemed to defy gravity. I could not even manage to make one move up the cliff before I realised that I just was not cut out for that kind of sport. At least for the time being.

I left wolf again, happy as Larry and headed across to Ko Phi Phi. The island where the fill the Beach was filmed. It was however a disappointment and was far from being the tropical utopia that was portrayed. It had more of the feeling of Benidorm, and the accommodation was all very expensive. After just a single night there, I was on the move again on to Ko Lanta, which was for me at any rate a utopia. Wide open and empty beaches, relaxed evenings and I had a beautiful bamboo bungalow all to myself.

Time just seemed to flow effortlessly there and before I knew it I had to make my way down to Singapore to catch a flight to Australia.

I headed out to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, ad arrive in the middle of a big festival. With just 12 hours there I knew that I had to move on to Singapore as all the trains, and busses were booked up for the following day which was my last full day in Asia. So the same evening I arrived I was back on a bus. Having spent the previous 24 hours on the bus I was not that happy to be on the move again, but needs must.

Singapore was quite a change to the rest of Asia, in that it was possible for me to drink the water and every where was clean. But at the end of the day it is just another city, albite hot and humid, and only 100km north of the equator.

So not a very good tale today, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.