Bangkok - final stop

"One Night in Bangkok and the World's Your Oyster..."

as the song says and we definitely feel as polished as pearls. Amazing what staying in a clean hotel with all sorts of amenties does.

To get here we had a choice - travel by taxi (expensive) or by minibus with other travellers (cramped and chaotic) or by local bus (cheap). We went for the local bus, which was on time (the train was another option, always cheap, but also always late). So instead of $60US (taxi) we paid $4, and got here in good time to see what all the fuss was about.

Yeah traffic is snarly, but not impossible (we still have muscle memory from living and driving in London, by which everything else is compared). Yeah, it's a big, noisy, smelly, dirty city, but it works (on its own terms) and we like it.

We went to Chatachak market - a wild array of stalls that goes on for several miles, where we got the last of our shopping done - and the best bit about everywhere in Thailand - there are massage stalls! We got our tired feet and shoulders worked on for 45 minutes for 200Baht (about $6US). Why doesn't Granville Island have something like that?

We saw the big malls, but weren't really in the mood, although we wereready for a bit of bling shopping! Chinese New Year meant madness but lots of fun too - as shoppers went crazy for the sales and special events and big lavish meals were on offere everywhere. Bangkok's Chinatown could be the world's biggest, and is certainly one of the most intriguing with smoky dark lanes leading to food stalls and shops filled with all sorts of brightly coloured, glittery drek, lanterns and banners and bits of spent fireworks everywhere. Down by the river, you could imagine a not too distant history of opium dens and gangs.

Wat Pho with its enormous reclining buddha and the Grand Palace with its Emerald buddha are suitably impressive, and just walking the streets by the amulet market, and notorious Khaosan road (whuich was really rather tame and fun - a representative of countless backpackers' haunts we have encountered to now). On the other side of the scale was Jim Thompson's House. Perhaps it was his training in architecture, but the guy sure had taste - it was a beautiful collection of several old Thai houses brought to this site by the khlong (canal) and tranformed into one sprawling house. He is most famous for reinvigorating the Thai silk industry pretty well singlehandedly, and for his mysterious disappearance in Malaysia in 1967.

But we will most fondly remember Bangkok for the time we had in the hotel, 5 nights being a huge length of time. We'd start the day with a swim in the gorgeous pool surrounded by flowers snd trees and birsong - 10 floors up - or a run around the local park in order to take full advantage of a marvelous breakfast buffet which became our one meal of the day. We'd be back from wherever at about 4 or 5 to take another dip in the pool, or visit the fitness room, and veg out in front of the news eating fruit and drinking from the hordes of bottled water that were replaced throughout the day. Complimentary cocktails began at 6, and we would choose not only the cocktail du jour but also the outfit we'd parade and the forum in which to imbibe, as there were four locations: the pool deck, the lobby bar, the library and the nightclub.

Martin at the library

Jenny in the nightclub

At 8 or so, we'd go into the business centre to check on email, update the blog, or check on how the world is doing without us (terribly it would appear - time for us to rejoin it I suppose!). Then reading or a movie before bed.

There is a certain rhythm in this sort of travel that is different than the rhythm of our other travel, and it's been a very pleasant and welcome change.

We learned there is a term for people like us - flashpackers. Flashpackers are those who backpack becuase they choose to, but who are able to move up at will or opportunity. We like to think we put the 'flash' in the word 'flashpacker', but suspect we are pretty much of a type and are ok with that.

Heading out to the airport soon, and our 18 hours of air travel to go. The blog is not finished - we'll contemplate the trip and add a codicil from home - that source of perspective on the outside world, just as travelling in the outside world provides perspective on home.

So, to end with another favourite song (of Jennifer's - Martin professes never to have heard of it because it's "before his time", but Jennifer suspects he just hasn't been listening): "The two of us wearing raincoats, standing so low, in the sun...on our way back home,

We're on our way home,

We're going home..."

Regularity Report: Bangkok Bonanza

The days are winding down before we hit home and we have said goodbye to backpacker grot and hello to fancypants hotels. The best things about the fancypants hotels: the breakfast buffet.

Here's a sample of what I managed to imbibe this morning which managed to integrate, Japan, China, Pacific NW, England and Newfoundland:

Course #1: Mango and yoghourt (started slow to ease in to the big guns)
Course #2: Japanese Grilled Fish aka Salmon
Course #3: Smoked salmon, cream cheese and wheat croissant
Course #4: Grilled to order steak, fried potatoes, lettuce for garnish
Course #5: bacon, baked beans and fried bologna
Course #6: Shrimp dim sum, grilled halibut, marinated mushrooms and tomatoes
Course #7: Fruit and cheese

YUM - the plan is to eat a huge meal in the morning that sets us up for the day and gets us to cocktail hour which start flowing at 6pm.

Given all this you would expect us to have put on 100lbs but no we have both lost at least 10 lbs. I now have ribcage again and everything is riding very low due to lack of belly fat (yay scummy backpacking, walking everywhere and eating only when hungry not to mention the fantastic asian healthy diet that eliminates dairy and downplays the meat and fat. Desserts and puddings are fairly non existent too.)

Almost the last regularity report of the trip. Still potty about the potty. Already planning what to have for breakfast tomorrow

Bridge On the River Kwai

Three hours west of Bangkok, close to the border with Myanmar, is the Thailand-Burma railway built by the Japanese during their occupation of Thailand during the 1940s. Built to eliminate the need for resources to travel by ship from Burma to Thailand, the railway is better known as the Death Railway due to the vast numbers of Thai, British, Australian, Dutch and US prisoners of war who died building it.

The famous David Lean film (The Bridge on the River Kwai) depicts the horrors of building one of the bridges. Although it was bombed during the war, the bridge was rebuilt soon after and now is a major tourist attraction near the town of Kanchanaburi.

We spent a couple of days visiting the bridge - travelling for 2 hours along the only remaining part of the railway along with several hundred Thai school children. A good local museum filled in all the blanks and the war cemetary proved a fitting tribute to the thousands that died.

One night we ate on a floating restaurant and watched with both amusement and horror as other restaurants went by towed rather quickly by small boats. The restaurants are like small houses and the speed with which they whipped by us and turned corners was staggering.

Beach Time #3 - Hua Hin

Resort - Sofitel Centara Hua Hin

Included - Breakfast, three pools, petanque, classes, gardens, large bathroom, balcony, bottled water

A boat, a minibus and an overnight train (a sleeper - very "Some Like it Hot") were all required to return northwards to the original Thai beach resort town of Hua Hin. We really splashed out here to stay in the 1920s Railway resort (now owned by Sofitel), which is a series of long two storeyed buildings of rooms that face onto lovely gardens and pools. We walked onto the ground with our backpacks at 6:30am, but were lucky that there is an worldwide economic crisis as there was a room ready for us, so we could have showers, a cup of coffee on our balcony and tour the grounds all before a massive buffet breakfast was served.

We swam, lounged, read, ate breakfast that consisted of all things from dim sum to french toast, congee to meusli, and omelet to sushi, then had high tea (which looked wonderful but which really wasn't all that satisfying, - I have to say I'm a damned fine baker), walked the beach, took a yoga class and a thai massage class, and danced the night away in the resident nightclub where we were the main core of audience. Needless to say the band (a really tight group from the Phillipines who would perform practically everything) thought we were great and took our photos and dedicated songs to us - we felt like VIPs.

Beach time #2 - Koh Lipe

Resort - Bundhaya

Bungalow, breakfast buffet included, complimentary bottled water

Koh Lipe, part of the Tarutao National Marine park and as far south as you can get without becoming Malaysia, is one of the most beautiful islands on the planet. It's small - one can walk it in a day via sandy paths that criss cross between beaches and headlands. It's also discovered - there are lots of resorts on all levels, as well as bars and restaurants and shops. Our place was medium on the price and amentity scale, and down at the end, but it was large with little alpine-styled chalet bungalows lined on "streets" cheek by jowl, and it catered to grouops, so it's wasn't all that quiet. Again no mosquito net - glad we brought our own, even though ity's a challenge to figure out how to set it up - this time we attqached it to the curtain rail - which was fine when the curtains were closed.

The sand on Koh lipe is powder fine and white - it's like walking on bread-flour - and the water is toothgel green. We were on the largest beach, where most of the action took place - great at night when we could pick and choose where to eat - great in the morning too as we went for a pre-breakfast jog and could pace the length of the beach - about 1km each direction.

After our run we'd eat a leisurely breakfast and watch all the action of boats going out and boats coming in. Speedboats, which act as ferries, stay out in the bay as the beach is so shallow. You must walk out into the water to put yourself and your luggage into a long-tailed boat which then takes you out to the ferry, so there's lots too-ing and fro-ing for the half hour or so before each trip. There are also day trips - the place is a snorkelling, diving and fishing centre.

Then we'd prepare for our day on the beach and would set off across the island, stopping for a latte or espresso (the resort had lousy coffee) on the way. We'd pick a beach and set up on mats and hammocks, set to read and swim and lounge until the setting sun called us home - washing the salt off and putting on proper clothes. The food is a little spicier in the south and we'd need a mango lassi or Chang beer to cool our throats. We'd watch the stars come out and commune with a few of the hundreds of soulful cats and dogs that haunt the island and that hover around tables hoping for handouts but having to settle for a little bit of loving from us instead (petting only the un-mangey ones).

Every night we'd pass the same small boy who'd be on the beach practicing his fire dancing - twirling a long baton lit at both ends. He was pretty good, able to twirl behind his back and under his legs, but his only audience was two or three similarly aged friends and the odd dog - and us. He deserved more.

Beach time #1 - Koh Lanta

Resort - AndaLanta

Garden villa, breakfast included, complimentary bottled water, small swimming pool, spa, DVDs, library, beach loungers.

A grown-up resort. Quiet. Our bungalow was a lovely large room (but no mosquito nets - we had to rig up our own) and a proper bathroom, with a flush toilet, and a separete area for the shower. Our porch looked through two other villas to the sea. It was at the end of a quiet beach at the south end of the island, with three other resorts (more "rustic" than ours) with their own restauranta and bars, as well as another bar at the far end. We ate in all over the course of our 4 nights there, watching the sunset from a slightly different angle due to each location on the beach. Soft, beige sand full of tiny, translucent crabs that scittered into their holes as our feet fell. A few rocks at low tide. Warm, clear water. Tiny fish that swarmed our ankles and arms as we waded and swam.

We spent 2 full days lounging on the beach, reading, swimming and having massages in an open hut before dinner.

The 3rd full day we spent on our AGM. We normally do our annual planning meeting on January 1, but while on holiday it's more location- and attitude-sensitive than date-sensitive and this was the right place to sit down and plot the year ahead. We knew this year would entail some changes in our work focus, and we are quite excited about some of the ideas we have.

At the drop-out hippy bar we shared a bucket of blue cocktail, and at our upscale place we had langoustine thermadore. Our favourite place was the one next door, where we sat at tables on the sand lit with candles in old plastic water bottles and ate tom yam soup and pad thai and prawns the size of cats.

Beaches

Beach No 1: Koh Lanta

White sand: check
Warm sea: check
Swimming pool: check
Quiet bungalow within spitting distance of beach: check
Breakfast included: check
Internet access: check
Decent library: check
Hippydippy bar down the beach: check
Cocktails in a bucket: check
Prawns on the BBQ: check
Major issue of the day: where to read

Beach No 2: Koh Lipe
White sand: check 3 beaches to choose from
Warm sea: check
Swimming pool: none too undeveloped
Quiet bungalow within spitting distance of beach: not quite as much more basic resort style place
Breakfast included: check
Internet access: none , island too remote
Decent library: none, too hippy dippy
Hippydippy bar down the beach: check check check
Cocktails in a bucket: check
Prawns on the BBQ: check
Major issue of the day: 10 minute walk to favourite beach of the trip

Beach No 3: Hua Hin
White sand: check but as this is a mainland resort town and the beach is busy we focus on the fantasttic Sofitel resort refurbished from the 1920s
Warm sea: check
Swimming pool: 3 to choose from
Quiet room within spitting distance of beach: yep
Breakfast included: check mmm 2 kinds of sausage, spare rubs, baked beans and dim sum
Internet access: ridiculously expensive as resort is tres fancy
Decent library: yes
Hippydippy bar down the beach: check but didnt bother to visit as we were in colonial splendour
Cocktails in a bucket: nope
Prawns on the BBQ: nope
Major issue of the day: eating too much at breakfast

flotsam and jetsam

Incidentally, can anyone out there enlighten me as to the difference between flotsam and jetsam? Is one on an incoming tide and the other on an outgoing tide? Does one float on the sea's surface and the other just below? Is one composed of natural elements and the other manmade? It's a question I've yet to resolve and any illumination is welcome.


Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. At home, when meeting someone at, say, a cocktail party, the first question is usually "what is your name?" followed by "what do you do?" and then pethaps "did you dress in the dark?", whereas when meeting someone whilst travelling the first question is invariably "where are you from?" (to be polite becuase it's usually pretty obvious where they are from - more on that later) and then "where have you been/are you going?" and "how long have you been travelling?" A long, in depth conversation can be enjoyed without ever finding out the person's name or occupation or marital status - what seems to be of primary importance is whatt someone's is doing at this exact time.


But then I guess that's travel in general. Day-to-day issues are paramount - where to sleep, where to eat, how to get where you want to go - with big, visionary issues such as why are we here and how is this culture similar and/or different to that one and how some truths are universal being slightly below the surface, while all the other issues that seem to be of such importance at home in reality are unnecessary and unimportant and irrelevant once away from that home. World news, when one comes upon it, is often as if from another planet. Politicians and economists and leaders almost look like ants seem from some great height, scurrying around on some activity that seems of great importance to them, but not at all to the eye looking upon them.


We know we will be back in the thick of our old lives before long, but this removal of concern, this change of perspective is actually quite refreshing and not to be dismissed as irresponsible.


For someone who hates making generalities of people based on stereotypes, it is shocking to me how easy it is to guess someone's nationality purely by how they act or what they say, even regardless of their accent. At a beach resort and seeing a large blond family or group of boisterous couples drinking and having a good time? They must be Swedes. A beautiful couple with a smooth-talking male and a distracted female? French. An older couple badly dressed but witty? Brits. A group of young lads drunk and loud? also Brits. Maybe Australians. A group of gals drunk and loud? Australians. A group of gals drunk and quiet? Brits. A really friendly couple that look unusually young? Dutch. Hearing a North American accent - if someone lights up a cigarette they are probably American rather than Canadian. Canadians all have Mountain Equipment Co-op gear. If someone asks you a question about yourself or your own trip - they are definitely Canadian. If they talk exclusively about their own city they must be American . There are never very many Americans travelling actually - the few there are travel in well-heeled family packs or because they work nearby. Swedes travel in packs as do Chinese. Germans used to, but the ones we've seen here travel in couples. Same with Spanish, French, Dutch, Danish, Swiss, Austrian, Malaysian, Singaporian, Brits. Except young Brits who travel in small packs (3 seems the preferred number). Austrailians travel in small packs too. Norwegians travel alone. Of courst this is rubbish - not reality at all - just an observation based on a tiny proportion of subjectively met travellers in 30-odd years of travel.


But things are slightly different based on where you see them. One of the most prominent things about all travellers to this part of the world is the tattoo. It seems everyone has at least one prominent tattoo, and most have many, or a full torso-full of them. It doesn't seem to matter if they are male or female nor where they are from (although practically all the males that sport them seem to be hairless - by choice I'm guessing) and all seem to be in the 20-40 age range, but every single nationally is well represented. I like that you can't guess where someone is from by how they look, but only by their mannerisms (or their voice, but that's too easy).

Reading on the Beach

Through the various book exchanges at the guesthouses throughout the trip we have amassed a sparkling collection of books to read on the beach.....

Sue Townsend: Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (honking, snorting, giggling and laughter from me)

Enid Blyton: Five go off to Camp (much more readable than I was fearing)

Agatha Christie: the Mystery of the Blue Train (J in middle of this right now)

Dick Francis: horsey mystery but name escapes me right now

Josephine Tey: something horrific featuring Miss Pym that Jenny said was unreadable

Ellis Peters: a mystery involving murder at the opera that was better than Josephine Tey

Regularity Report

Still regular though did have a thai red curry that my body rejected as unfit for human consumption by digesting it in under an hour.

Highlight meals from the last couple of weeks have been:
-Bananas in coconut milk made in thai cooking class
-Deep fried liver wrapped in bacon on the riverboat in Chiang Mai (had these all to myself)
-Deep fried belly pork from the new year market in Chiang Mai (is there no transfat that is not good deep fried?)






-Deep fried prawns everywhere - the Thais have a really light touch with the batter- honest - even Jennifer says so!
-Fantastic carp (from Vietnam!) served on the Laos boat, one of the best fish we've tasted ever
-A serious daily addiction to Thai green, red and yellow chicken curry (love coconut milk)






-Mango shakes/watermelon shakes
-The turkey carved with machete in Laos for xmas (must try this at the next Butler/Robson Xmas dinner)
-Laos/Cambodian barbecue - communal broth and table top cooking over coals - untra cheap, delish and fun to do (thanks to Alex and Kathrin for the best place for this in Luang Prabang)


Keep regular everybody (as regular as elephants putting us all to shame) and enjoy your time on the potty

Touchwood in the snow

To see pix of how Touchwood is fairing under 2 feet of snow, go to Adrienne and Eric's blog at
http://www.adriennejenkins.blogspot.com/

Krabi - Southern Thailand

The final 3 weeks of the trip focus on beaches, islands, wildlife and Bangkok.

We decide to fly to Krabi from Chiang Mai to save time, and to avoid doubling up on Bangkok . Although Phuket is vacation central in the south we picked Krabi as it is less Blackpool-like and our priority is to figure out what islands and beaches to go to and how best to get there. Krabi itself is near the cave where huge ancient skulls were found, changing the view that human life arrived here later in time, a fact Krabians are proud of - witness their traffic lights!
Our travels south went well helped by us traveling on Royal Thai Airlines who recognize my Aeroplan Elite status and send us into the business lounge so we can feast at the buffet which we do until stuffed. Backpackers love their free food! All the internet weather reports focus on the thunderstorms and rain in the south so we expect to land in Krabi in bad weather. Cloudless blue skies greet us and we've now been here 3 days without any rain so are happy that the weather information was so wrong.

A priority for me is to visit the island where "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed. On day one we got on a tour to James Bond island (originally named Koh Phing Kan) which involves a 2 hour minibus ride from Krabi and then an hour longboat ride in the Andaman Sea. The Andaman sea is filled with bizarre shaped karst limestone islands, some small, some huge, similar to those in Halong Bay in Vietnam except that these are accompanied (along the coast at least) with miles of mangrove swamps. James Bond Island is fun and crowded with tourist tack and doesn't disappoint. The rest of the day included caves, cocktails, and reclining buddhas and monkeys - jsut a like a regular Thursday.

The next day we head off on a speed boat to the beach where "The Beach" was filmed. Yes, our tour of film locations continues. Crowded but fun. We also snorkel amongst schools of neon blue and yellow sergeant major fish and hit 3 more islands for more snorkeling, beach lounging, lunch and monkey viewing. Life's tough.

Today we're having a useful things days, researching the next stage and updating the blog. We have decided to head to Koh Lanta tomorrow to complete our beach hammock time. From there we will head further south to the island of Koh Lipe in the Turatao National Marine Park which is on the border with Malaysia. After that we'll wend our way north for our final chunk of time in Bangkok.

We heard a marathon described as a 30 km race with a 10km race added on the end, and we've decided that this trip will be a 2 1/2 month backpacking trip with a 2 week holiday on the end. Tomorrow is the full moon (thailand is known for its full moon island parties) so thus begins our holiday!