Sunday 31 August 2014

Thailand Part 2

Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Sukhothai

After arriving in Chiang Mai, Chon's uncle was there to greet us and then drive us 3 hours to Chiang Rai. We spent 2 nights in Chiang Rai and with Chon's uncle being a tour guide driver, we visited all the best places Chiang Rai has to offer. He showed us the modern White Temple that has a mural in it with images from star wars, an image of batman, superman and many more modern day movie characters, which is the strangest thing we have seen in any temple thus far.

Another interesting site is the black house (Baan Si Dum) that was created by another prominent artist in the area. The black house has a lot of animal skins and bones arranged in a manner that reminds us of art work in the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart. We also dropped into a tea plantation called Choui Fong, visited the golden triangle and explored the walking street market and night bazaar.

We had a nice meal with Chon's Uncle, Aunty and Cousin back in Chiang Mai before driving an 8 hour return trip to Sukhothai Historical Park and Si Satchanalai Historical Park that were 50km apart (more ruined temples like Ayutthaya and Angkor Archaeological Park). Both parks were just as spectacular as previous sites we had seen on our travels but they seemed to be looked after better. The rest of our time in Chiang Mai was spent frequenting more walking night markets and night bazaars. We were both nominated for the Ice Bucket Challange here so rather than covering ourselves in ice water (a relief in the tropics) we changed the rules and ate bugs instead. I had it easier as I ate crunchy crickets and some kind of larva which wasn't that bad in the end. The next night we found these huge bugs that looked like cock roaches. Chon struggled and I was so grateful that we didn't find them when it was my turn (videos available on our Facebook pages).

Koh Phangang, Koh Tao and Koh Samui

Our first destination was the island Koh Phangang where we had missed the famous full moon party by approximately 2 weeks either side. However, the half moon party was in full swing on night one. This party was in the jungle, it had two stage areas with international DJ's and lots of glowing jewellery and body paint. We made friends with a group of German's and it was a fun night but stopped us from doing any site seeing the following day.

We only had one night on Koh Tao but we used the time for some diving and snorkeling prior to having to ride out the rest of winter and spring before braving the waters back home. Whilst walking around the small streets near Sairee Beach, we bumped into two of the four German friends that we met at the half moon party (Svenja and Diane). None of us recall whether or not we had talked about going to the same area in Koh Tao so it may have been lost in translation or just too many drinks. We ended up hanging out with them that night and the following lunch before catching a rough scary ferry ride to Koh Samui.

In Koh Samui we walked a nice street market in the fisherman's village where we ate lots of little snacks at almost every second food store. Being our last coastal destination and having such a beautiful hotel to stay at (Akaryn), we spent a fair bit of time hanging around the private beach and the private pool attached to the room. We also checked out the busy beach area of Chaweng sampling food and checking out local shops. 

On our last night, there were fireworks at the beach for a wedding next door. The fireworks started just after we had a shower. So only in bathrobes, we went out to our balcony to watch but Chon closed the door to stop mosquitoes entering the room and the key card was still inside. After a few akward minutes a staff member walked past and let us back into the room.

Kanchanaburi and Bangkok

Our last destinations before returning home included catching up with friends (Note) and family in Bangkok as well as visiting the river Kwai in Kanchanaburi. It was a fantastic place to visit yet very sad when thinking about all the lives lost whilst working on the railway during WWII. We watched "The Railway Man" in preperation for our visit, which is a great movie whether or not you are planning on visiting (or have visited) this area. 

We dragged Chon's Aunties on a tour where we visited Erawan National Park, Hellfire Pass, Wooden bridge and Kra Sae Cave topped off with an half hour train ride on the Death Railway. This is our last blog post before returning home. Thank you for showing interest, we hope you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed living it.

White Temple, Chiang Rai
More of the White Temple
Some of the weird art at the White Temple
The Black House, Chiang Rai
Choui Fong tea plantation
The Golden Triangle made more exciting by my awesome graphics. The lack of gold was most dissapointing.
Chon with her beautiful family
Sukhothai Historical Park (Wat Si Chum)
Giant budha's at Sukhothai (Wat Si Chum)
Elephant temple Sukhothai (Wat Chang Lom)
Huge budha at Sukhothai (Wat Si Chum)
Beautiful temple at Si Satchanalai (Wat Chedi Thaeo)
Budha at Wat Si Chum
Hill top temple Wat Khao Suwankhiri at Si Sachanalai Park
The view from our hotel on Koh Phangang
Half moon party with our new German friends
Koh Tao, Sairee Beach
Evening drinks with Svenja and Diane after bumping into them on Koh Tao
Sunset drinks on Koh Tao (I call this look von Steel)
Making friends with some local dogs on Koh Samui
Our breakfast view at Akaryn Resort on Koh Samui
Seeing Diane and Svenja off
Chon and Note at a fake 60's cafe within a weird museum, Bangkok
Enjoying the view with two beautiful girls in front of Wat Arun, Bangkok
Wat Arun at dusk
Bridge over the River Kwai at Kanchanaburi
Chon and her Aunties in front of the bridge over the River Kwai
Allied cemetry in Kanchanaburi for nearly 7,000 people who died working on the railway
Chon and her Aunties at Erawan National Park
Hellfire Pass
A wooden bridge on the Burmese railway built during WWII, which we walked over then caught a train over.
The train we caught

Thursday 28 August 2014

Laos

Luang Prabang

The world heritage listed town of Luang Prabang was a chance for Chon and I to knock it back a gear and take in some of it's beautiful sites at a more leisurely pace. It is a small town with a french colonial feel but dotted with Buddhist temples and orange clad monks. The locals are very friendly and happy to help you were they can.

We utilised the free bicycles offered by the resort almost daily to explore the sleepy town. It is so laid back that most of the shops and establishments shut their doors from 11:00am to 1:30pm and then again from 3:00pm until 5:00pm with a curfew of 11:30pm for restaurants, bars and cafés. People are so relaxed here that whilst viewing a spectacular sunset on top of Phou Si Hill, a Chinese man farted loudly standing right in front of Chon. That is the second time in our travels that a Chinese man has farted in Chon's general direction whilst in a beautiful, peaceful location.

We also joined a cruise up the mighty Mekong river stopping at a rice whisky village (Xiang Hai Village) and Pak Ou caves that contained thousands of budha statues. The night market was fun for about 50 metres until I got sick of ducking under the low marquees and inhaling European second hand cigarette smoke. We opted out of the market in favour of a dark dodgy alleyway.  A highlight of our stay in Laos was a visit to the Kuang Si Waterfalls that also had a Moon Bear enclosure.  We swam in the cool water below the waterfall but the fun stopped when I dropped Chon's camera in the water (it still works though).

Young monks and their puppy
An old temple on the Mekong River
Pak Ou caves
Thousands of budha's within the Pak Ou caves
Moon bears at feeding time
Cooling off at Kuang Si waterfalls
Chon at Kuang Si waterfalls
You can't take a bad photo here
"Stop hammer time" on our way up to see the sunset over Luang Prabang on Phou Si hill
On Phou Si hill we had a rainbow behind us in the pink/orange sky
The stunning sunset in front of us that was spoilt by a loud Chinese man's fart
Chon with the monks at their daily 5:30am giving of alms
Bicycle's were our preferred method of transport

Monday 25 August 2014

Cambodia

Siem Reap

Our only stop in Cambodia was Siem Reap, the neighbouring city to the Angkor archaeological park. We were concerned that our earlier visit to Ayutthaya in Thailand would have made us sick of ruined temples but our fears proved to be unfounded. The sites in the park are impressive and seemingly endless to a point where working out which photo belongs to what temple is proving to be difficult. 

We got ourselves a 3 day pass to visit the park and to break it up a little, we also visited a small floating village called Maichrey on the Tonle Sap lake. We stopped for lunch in the village with the dodgiest crocodile enclosure we have ever seen. The local kids were swimming just outside the floating pen with several large crocodiles in it. For a thrill, I was about to join them until I went to the toilet, flushed it and heard it splashing in the water underneath. So it was the fear of escaped brown trout not crocodiles that stopped me in my tracks.

Every site we visited, we were swamped by hawkers (often very young children) trying to sell us small trinkets like fridge magnets. We read that it is not a good idea to buy from these children or give them money as it keeps them locked into a life of begging as they often quit school to do it and some even buy drugs. In saying that, it was hard saying no, so we comprimised and bought packets of lollies to hand out to the young ones. An older women trying to sell me a shawl told me that I was a rude man when I said "no thank you I don't need one". I didn't give her a lolly.

Preah Khan (I think)
Chon at Preah Khan
Sunrise at Angkor Wat
Chon inside Angkor Wat
Nope ... no idea
Ta Som maybe
Ta Prohm (tomb raider temple)
Can't remember which one this is either
South gate (entrance to the Angkor Thom complex)
South Gate again
Floating village (Maichrey)
Chon buying lollies at the shopping centre in Maichrey
Crocodiles in the poo infested water
Faces in Bayon
Having a quick break
That's a stone carving of an elephant at um ...
Waiting for the sunset at Phnom Krom
A village below Phnom Krom
The sunset at Phnom Krom