Almost two months have passed since we left London and while there are many things we miss, we certainly don’t miss the inane dealings which are par for the course with utility companies and banks. So while a 60 minute phone call with Sky using a dodgy internet connection from Cambodia to chase an outstanding refund didn’t provide too much of a headache, HSBCs decision to cancel our bank cards on us has caused some issues. After a painful and drawn out phone call with HSBC to explain our predicament (travelling for 5 months, need cards to access cash) a plan was hatched that new cards would be sent to Bangkok and all we had to do was make an appearance during the restricted business hours of the sole HSBC branch to collect.
With our schedule already tight, this necessitated a flight from Luang Prabang (Laos) back to Bangkok to save ourselves 35 hours in travelling time. A bit of a hit to the travel budget, but this unexpected series of events meant our paths now squarely crossed with Bandy (Simon Gullery - last seen giving the best man’s speech at our wedding) and his better looking other half, Amy. And thus after a couple of hours at the Bangkok branch of HSBC picking up new cards (and making a pre-meditated strike against a couple of banking issues on the horizon), we were on course to form an 8 legged travellers posse for a week in the north of Thailand.
Before meeting up though, a successful visit to Rajawongse tailors was made to pick up some new business shirts for work in the new-year. Mat was first introduced to Rajawongse in 2005 during a stopover on the way back from the WTO to visit Cam. Rajawongse not your run of the mill Bangkok tailor offering a 2 pant suit for US$129 but is a Bangkok institution that does a roaring trade with diplomats and Government officials based in or passing through Bangkok. The shop is littered with signed pictures and thank-you notes from high ranking US military officials (including Colin Powell), while the changing room is covered in business cards from all corners of the globe. Getting measured for your garments is done with a cool Heineken at hand, and the quality of the shirts is second to none, exemplified by the fact that of the 5 shirts Mat purchased in 2005, 3 are currently in transit back to New Zealand.
With our schedule already tight, this necessitated a flight from Luang Prabang (Laos) back to Bangkok to save ourselves 35 hours in travelling time. A bit of a hit to the travel budget, but this unexpected series of events meant our paths now squarely crossed with Bandy (Simon Gullery - last seen giving the best man’s speech at our wedding) and his better looking other half, Amy. And thus after a couple of hours at the Bangkok branch of HSBC picking up new cards (and making a pre-meditated strike against a couple of banking issues on the horizon), we were on course to form an 8 legged travellers posse for a week in the north of Thailand.
Before meeting up though, a successful visit to Rajawongse tailors was made to pick up some new business shirts for work in the new-year. Mat was first introduced to Rajawongse in 2005 during a stopover on the way back from the WTO to visit Cam. Rajawongse not your run of the mill Bangkok tailor offering a 2 pant suit for US$129 but is a Bangkok institution that does a roaring trade with diplomats and Government officials based in or passing through Bangkok. The shop is littered with signed pictures and thank-you notes from high ranking US military officials (including Colin Powell), while the changing room is covered in business cards from all corners of the globe. Getting measured for your garments is done with a cool Heineken at hand, and the quality of the shirts is second to none, exemplified by the fact that of the 5 shirts Mat purchased in 2005, 3 are currently in transit back to New Zealand.
Cam - you'll be happy to know you're remembered and your measurements are still on file. Apparently you owe Bobby some cash...
So with new bank cards in the wallet and business shirts in the pack, we met up with Bandy and Amy and plotted our short tour of duty to the north, with Chiang Mai the first stop. Chiang Mai gets a glowing appraisal by Lonely Planet and to be fair, it is a lovely place, but we’re not sure we’d sell it as hard as the Lonely Planet does. There is plenty of tourist friendly attractions in the vicinity (tigers, snakes, elephants, monkeys, butterflies and insects all have an individual ‘Kingdom’, ‘Land’ or ‘World’ in their honour) while every man and his dog is selling some trekking option. Our time was short and budget restrained so we weren’t able to get amongst the various outdoor activities on offer so this no doubt limits the value of our opinion.
We did however manage to walk the city, taking in a few of the numerous Wats that are found every few hundred metres. We also managed to make regular appearances at road side food vendors, all of whom impressed with the fare on offer. One particular local fare that got Mat’s pulse racing was the bags of pork crackling on offer, a reminder of the great British pub snack of pork scratchings and continued dominance of the pig as provider of tasty treats. We also experienced an amazing lightning storm, made more amazing by the fact there was no rain or thunder associated with it (very mysterious).
We did however manage to walk the city, taking in a few of the numerous Wats that are found every few hundred metres. We also managed to make regular appearances at road side food vendors, all of whom impressed with the fare on offer. One particular local fare that got Mat’s pulse racing was the bags of pork crackling on offer, a reminder of the great British pub snack of pork scratchings and continued dominance of the pig as provider of tasty treats. We also experienced an amazing lightning storm, made more amazing by the fact there was no rain or thunder associated with it (very mysterious).
Chiang Mai is recommended as the best place to get amongst a Thai cooking course, and given how much we’ve loved the food in Thailand we didn’t hold back in participating in one. We were lucky enough to be the only participants on the day at the school we chose so had the teacher and her assistant all to ourselves. And to ensure it was a true Thai experience, the assistant whom our teacher introduced as her sister was a rather mannish looking lady-boy. The course allowed us to knock together 10 different Thai dishes over 5 courses between the two of us. Unfortunately for Mat, this didn’t mean Pad Thai with chicken, Pad Thai with prawns, Pad Thai with pork, Pad Thai with vegetables and Pad Thai with squid.
The local market where herbs, spices and ginger cat are all freely available.
The secret to a good Pad Thai is a good egg whisk, as demonstrated here.
With 5 courses of Thai cuisine under the belt by 1pm, we opted for a bit of outdoor activity for the afternoon and headed for a short walk in a national park passing by some pretty ordinary waterfalls and devoid of the swim spots we’d been told abounded. We did however manage to spy some local wildlife in the form of some large spiders which were about the size of an adult hand and the odd caterpillar.
Next stop was Pai, a small town in the north east near the border with Burma described as a bit of a hippie enclave. Upon arrival there were signs of a free spirited nature, but thankfully no indication of an overwhelming population of people smelling like cabbage with big hands for juggling. Having picked up some nice bungalow accommodation, much to the disgust of two Israeli women who wanted some secluded double bed action (we got the last 2 spots), we hired scooters and took to the countryside. And what a beautiful countryside it was, with a sprinkling of waterfalls, a wee canyon, some natural hot springs where locals were boiling eggs and elephant sanctuaries.
Last time we did this was 99 on the Otago scooters traveling from Picton to Blenheim - good to be on the road again.
Having visited the key sights, and with the sun still high in the sky, we called on an out of town resort to chill by the swimming pool for an hour or so. It is at this stage that this blog begins to link with the title, and those with weak stomachs may want to stop reading now...
After half an hour or so at the pool, we were joined by what we believe was a German man, sporting a rock-chic look consisting of a long blond Axle Rose hair do, some Anthony Kiedis inspired tattoo action on the arms, some skinny Steve Tyler pants and Tommy Lee-esque piercings. While he strutted round the pool, we focused our attention on a competition to see who could travel the furthest underwater on one breath and one push.
When we arose, Mat (the winner of this comp) was startled to find that Franz Becken-Rocker had disrobed and was assembling his togs poolside, which consisted of a piece of string and a leopard print sash. The string went round the waist and following some crotch origami, the leopard skin sash formed a front pouch and T-string up the kacker. Very rock’n’roll but also very disturbing for the 4 of us in the pool, but we tried to keep a straight face (popping the head underwater every now and then to stifle the laughter) and let him get on with his thang...
Unfortunately, his ‘thang’ was almost as outrageous as the ‘tiger t-bone’ ensemble he had on. While in the pool, one of his favourite manoeuvres was the forward and backwards roll, which I’m sure you can imagine was not tasteful pool etiquette. When exiting the pool, he generally insisted on a move similar to the ‘bend and snap’ (Legally Blonde) while getting into a sun bathing position consisted of the first part of the ‘caterpillar’ dance move. His sun-bathing positions were not for the faint-hearted, with one particularly obscene position having him on his back with the soles of his feet touching and his knees flayed wide (surely inspired by some yoga move).
He appeared to suffer badly from a case of ants in his pants (or should that be pouch) as he struggled to stay still and opted to run 5 minute circuits of the swim and sunbathe cycle over the course of the 45 minutes we were poolside with him. After numerous sickie burps, it was time for us to get back on our scooters and make a speedy exit, but not before sneaking a few photos to assist in reporting this event (the first one low res courtesy of the old iPhone sneak a photo trick)...
Always set the scene before a good yarn - here is the swimming pool in all its splendor.
After half an hour or so at the pool, we were joined by what we believe was a German man, sporting a rock-chic look consisting of a long blond Axle Rose hair do, some Anthony Kiedis inspired tattoo action on the arms, some skinny Steve Tyler pants and Tommy Lee-esque piercings. While he strutted round the pool, we focused our attention on a competition to see who could travel the furthest underwater on one breath and one push.
When we arose, Mat (the winner of this comp) was startled to find that Franz Becken-Rocker had disrobed and was assembling his togs poolside, which consisted of a piece of string and a leopard print sash. The string went round the waist and following some crotch origami, the leopard skin sash formed a front pouch and T-string up the kacker. Very rock’n’roll but also very disturbing for the 4 of us in the pool, but we tried to keep a straight face (popping the head underwater every now and then to stifle the laughter) and let him get on with his thang...
Unfortunately, his ‘thang’ was almost as outrageous as the ‘tiger t-bone’ ensemble he had on. While in the pool, one of his favourite manoeuvres was the forward and backwards roll, which I’m sure you can imagine was not tasteful pool etiquette. When exiting the pool, he generally insisted on a move similar to the ‘bend and snap’ (Legally Blonde) while getting into a sun bathing position consisted of the first part of the ‘caterpillar’ dance move. His sun-bathing positions were not for the faint-hearted, with one particularly obscene position having him on his back with the soles of his feet touching and his knees flayed wide (surely inspired by some yoga move).
He appeared to suffer badly from a case of ants in his pants (or should that be pouch) as he struggled to stay still and opted to run 5 minute circuits of the swim and sunbathe cycle over the course of the 45 minutes we were poolside with him. After numerous sickie burps, it was time for us to get back on our scooters and make a speedy exit, but not before sneaking a few photos to assist in reporting this event (the first one low res courtesy of the old iPhone sneak a photo trick)...
Giving it what we called the 'Horizontal Buddha' poolside.
We've literally just thrown up on the computer keyboard having seen this photo again. Find a happy place, find a happy place...
On our second day in Pai, the 4 of us were still frightened by the previous day’s events, so we split up to implement different strategies to rid the memories of Joachim van Cockle Sock. While Bandy and Amy hit the local coffee blend, Caroline and Mat opted for another outing on the scooter and headed to a fishing pond populated with piranha. A great morning was had landing and releasing some piranha.
Caroline landed the biggest Piranha for the day, though technically Mat baited and cast the line, hooked the fish and reeled it in 80% of the way.
From here, it was an overnight bus back to Bangkok so we could make our south-east Asian exit while Bandy and Amy moved towards Cambodia at the outset of their adventures. Our final day was spent at the Chatuchak Market, picking up a few things for the three months ahead and getting our last fix of Thai roadside snacks. It was also here we caught up on some recent news of a series of minor bombings in Bangkok and Chiang Mai over the previous days in the lead up to the 4 year anniversary of the ousting of Thaksin Shinawatra from power. Clearly there is still a fair amount of tension in Thailand.
So the first leg of the long trip home is now behind us, with the second leg in Nepal and India ahead of us. It has been a whirl-wind 7 weeks traveling from Beijing to Bangkok via 5 countries and while it has been a bit of a whistle stop trip, we’re quite glad we took on the advice to include China and Laos in the mix. Would have loved more time to see more, but as those who have traveled with us before will know, this wouldn’t have meant more time at the places we visited but more places in the extra time we had. Still, Asia is handy to New Zealand so no reason not to return again soon!
Next stop, Dog-Woman-Don't (a cryptic clue which Caroline does not find funny at all about our next destination).
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