Thaila-Beck: On Culture
Current mood: good

Well, well, I need to break this habit of not checking in often as I feel this one may be another long one...

Bangkok in a bit of hurry that place is very overwhelming. The traffic and heat and humidity and pollution are a bit mental so we decided to get on the road and head out of the city south to go first to phetchaburi then to a beach of some description to test the waters. Getting out of Bangkok was easy enough as we had checked it out the day before and we just went to the train station and bought tickets. The train ride was not amazing but hyper cheap about a quid for a long way. Cheaper than an underground ticket when you think about it... We got on the train sat down with eyes on our bags. Then some old lady came with a kid and so we let her sit down later realizing that the tickets had seat numbers on them and we had nicked her seats for a bit. In the end we just sat with our bags in a corner.

The train ride took quite a while, about four hours. Then we got off. It was dark and we ended up getting a taxi to the place we were staying which charged us 250baht or 2 quid each a night for a twin room with a ceiling fan. The accommodation was great and we had a little terrace overlooking (practically overhanging) the river which was nice. We were right next to the bridge as well so that was convenient and on the other side of the bridge was a little guest house with a restaurant attached with 50p meals for a big plate etc. so we ate there and it was good.

The next day we got up and went for breakfast. So as we were sat there outside a little stall on little plastic stools drinking coffee and eating a bit of toast with really nice jam on we looked up, and there above us running along the phone lines as we ate breakfast below were 5 or 6 monkeys. No word of a lie (We've got pictures they're on face book). They were just running up and down. So we looked at them for a bit then went on our way.

We needed to do a bit of shopping in town for plug adapters a jack-to-jack lead for my I-pod speakers and that sort of boring thing so we did that very successfully with the use of a notepad, a pen and some rather vague drawings and hand movements. We then went back to the room and chilled for a bit until it was about 3 then decided to have a look around the temples. Thailand isn't like the UK there are temples all over the place and some are and some aren't worth looking at so we followed the guide book and got to the big temple just as it closed. Bummer. We ended up just going back to the guest house/ hostel and chilling for a bit until we decided to get out in the fresh air and find a nice bar and have a couple of beers. This we did and were sitting there chatting when a man walked down the road followed by… a youngish elephant. He was selling food for it too so we decided to feed the elephant. It was really cool and the trunk was very powerful. We got a good few snaps out of that which are also on face book now. Then he went and shortly after, having admired our own photos, so did we.

That night we went to the night market to get dinner. I got a lamb curry that was so spicy I nearly choked on it. Not looking cool at all. But it was really nice like the one that lady in the Deptford arms made that time those of you who were there on the Caribbean day. We then went back to the hostel.

The next day without seeing any of the sights phetchaburi had to offer we decided to go to a beach town but to come back in a few days and do phetchaburi properly, because this is a cultural trip too! But by this time we both needed a beach and more importantly the sea.

So we turned to the every helpful guidebook for inspiration. "Oh great guidebook we bequeath thee! what is the closest and cheapest beach town to go to?" We chanted whilst dancing and waving incense as wildly as possible in our small room.

We then gave up asking and looked in the index.

We found out that the cheapest looking was the somewhat touristy sounding but beachy hua hin. So we made like bananas and got on the train there from phetchaburi. It took hours, we had to stand and was unpleasant but I won't bore you with that. It's not about b****ing really, is it?

Anyway we got there and made the walk into town to what looked to be the cheapest accommodation in the guide book. We couldn't find it so asked an ex-pat ee looking woman where to find it. We were informed that we were standing about 5 meters from the entrance. So in we went.

In hua hin there are many little guest houses ranging in price and of course comfort but as we only planned to sleep in the room comfort was not important.

There are also in hua hin a number of what used to be squid peers. I think these are piers that people used to either fish for squid from or unload squid onto.

Many of the guest houses were built onto these when the piers were put out of action and we were lucky enough to be able to stay in the cheapest one, apparently they can become quite expensive, although there was a sacrifice. They only had double rooms left not twins. Ah well. Top and tail, who cares, there was a fan. And on the plus side the tide came right underneath us (like the cabin, Ruben) and waking up was like waking to the start of champagne supernova by oasis.

The first night we went into town for a couple of beers. Here we saw lots of prostitutes which pissed me off a bit. It's just a bit too weird you know? And also lady boys with are in truth quite funny looking but also weird.

The next day we hit the beach which was cool. Oh and I forgot to mention that we have a guitar now. Bargain at only a tenner split between us. So we chilled that day. The next day we decided to try and find some fishing. But hua hin being a bit ex-pat, 2 week stay ish the organized tours were expensive and us being on a budget couldn't afford 20 quid for a few hours fishing so we decided to go to cha-am a neihboring town and see if we could find a trip there. We heard there was a marina there and decided to head there hoping to find something budget. We got motorbike taxis down there who tried their damndest to get us to go on an organized trip they must have been affiliated with but we stuck to our guns and said 'no, marina, ports, boats' so they took us to the marina.

Please don't let the word marina conjure visions of yachts and luxury craft bobbing on gentle waves whilst the well off and rich saunter about in khaki shorts and shirts. It was a little fishing port that once we sent the taxis on their way we were a bit stuck in. westerners in that part of town seemed to be a bit of a novelty too so we got some funny looks but, not perturbed, we went to a little shop and asked if there were any rods to rent. The old man went out back then came back with what we later realized must have been his own rod. He rented it to us for a fair price and we spent the day fishing off the harbor whilst boats came in and out unloading fish or taking on ice and the like. It was a bit embarrassing when we got his tackle caught on the bottom and had to get the man to re- do it all but in the end a really cool day.

Some locals in the end took a shine to us and one guy employed to work the ice crusher and loader sat with us and gave us a bit of a hand. We still didn't catch anything but it was a nice day and we experience a nice, real bit of Thailand we could claim as our own. Very unique. Also I had to dive in the nasty harbor water to untangle the tackle from a rope. Nasssty.

It came to the end of the very warm day and we returned the rod gratefully minus the second set of tackle but with another set a local had given us (we made friends!) and thought about heading back to hua hin as we'd already paid for the nights accom there when we realized that we had caught taxis there and that there were none to take us back. We started walking and had not gone 300m before we managed to hitch a lift in the back of a pickup from an old couple on their way into town.

As luck would have it they were going all the way to our but stop and the bus came before we had even got there so although we had to run for it we made great time home. We got back and so ended our first week which we marked by getting a nice meal of pizza then bed.

The next day we beached and wondered around hua hin then the following day it was our leaving day so all was a bit rushed and we packed and still made it to the beach for a bit. We ended up getting a bus back to phetchaburi that evening and hitting the hay early again in the same place I described earlier in this essay of an entry. Its great accommodation though and the town has quite a European feel to it managing to seem both busy and laid back. Kinda French.

Today we got up at 7:30. I say that, I was awake by 6:30 as my jet lag won't go away but I don't really mind. And were out by 8:30 breakfasted and on the cultural road by 10:00. First we visited the 3 temples in town the guide book recommends (photos on face book) these were amazing. Gold everywhere although the majority was not gold gold so much was the color of gold. The Buddha is a really important figure in society here and because unlike in Christianity where worshipping statues and idols is not allowed, Buddhism allows its followers this and actively encourages it. This means that their temples are adorned with hundreds (literally) of Buddha figures from those 12-18ft high to those 6 inches tall. It all makes for impressive viewing.

Also in Thai culture the foot is believed to be the dirtiest part of the body (with them on that one) and the shoe adorns the foot and is even dirtier, when entering a temple building one must remove their shoes. You also have to tour a temple clockwise, cover your legs and mainly knees and women are not allowed to speak to monks or hand them any object.

One of the most interesting this we saw today at one of the temples was a scripture library. The basis of which was a large pond swarming with fish (small and mahoosive) and turtles. In the pond built on wooden stilts was a small wooden hut with a walkway that ran almost but not quite to the shore stopping about an inch short. This was done for a reason by the way.

It's done to stop bugs and insects eating the scrolls because they can't get across the gap. Clever eh?

We also went to see King Rama IVs palace on the hill top this was great and there were a couple of temples, monuments and a museum of what his house looked like back then. It all looked very Indiana Jones and jungly. Once again photos of today are on face book. Worth a look even if I do say so myself. And there were loads of monkeys there too and even more signs warning against teasing, feeding, petting or interacting with them in any way. Quite right I suppose as I don't have a rabies jab. Oops. Check out the hilariously poorly worded warning sign on the face book piccys.

After all that rather exhausted we came back to town and went for lunch in the guest house we aren't staying in. I had one of the best tasting meals I have ever tasted and that's saying a lot. Hot and sour prawn and lemon grass soup. If you ever get a chance you have to try it. One of the most refreshing palate cleansing things I've ever eaten. Fantastic. Went and chilled for a bit to let that go down;

And now I'm in an internet café having spent 2 hours telling you about traveling so I have worked up an appetite and shall soon be off to the night market for I think a chicken and coconut milk soup with chilies that I'm dying to try as well.

Love to all, take it easy.

xxxxx