11/06/13

Technically, my journey to Bangkok begins now. I checked out of the lovely hostel at 11am, Jake, the owner was heading into town and asked if I want my stuff dropped in, I didn't want to leave my stuff somewhere where I am not, so I jumped on the bike for a lift in too. These people were incredibly nice and so laid back they were basically lying down. I enjoyed my time there, time to relax, reflect and recuperate. Now I head back to the hustle and bustle of Bangkok for a couple of days.

I'm on the second bus, it's 10pm and I'm watching Django unchained. The first bus was disgusting. I don't often suffer from motion sickness, but the road from Chiang Mai to Pai is hideous. I tried to sleep through it, maybe getting about 30minutes, but I couldn't shake the nauseating feeling I was getting from the road. The second bus is fine, a giant double decker, air con, and films playing constantly. Although before getting on, my nightmare came true. I was late. I'm never late! I was told 6:30, at 6:25 I was walking back from the shop and some Thai guy came up to me in a panicky voice saying "BANGKOK? YOU GO BANGKOK?!" b******s were leaving early. But it's good that they were looking for me.

12/06/13

I stepped off the bus into a sticky air, it must be Bangkok. Almost slipping over with the s***ty grip my flip flops offer me, I decided to sit down and put my converse on. This made me a target for the taxi drivers. Having just seen me get off the bus and now sitting down, they approached. This was fine, I do need a taxi, but they always assume you're a tourist with no idea what the price should be. Which I didn't. So I started by asking how much to the train station, a place I had gotten a good price from Koh San Road before. This gave me an idea. He said 300B which isn't too bad, but I got it for 150B before. I then confused him by saying Rama IX Station. He said 500B. 500?! No way. I just kept saying no until he got to 300B. At this point, I knew it would be easier to get cheaper so I walked away, to the nearest Tuk Tuk driver and asked him how much. He said 300B and wouldn't budge, even when I said the taxi driver said 250B. I walked away. As I was doing so, the taxi driver pulled up and said 200B. That's more like it. However, it's 5:42, I'm sat at Rama IX station and I'm not... oh yeh! I haven't mentioned; I'm couch surfing tonight! I'm meeting Mari, a Japanese woman, 23, here at 8am. So that's my problem, I'm at the station 2 hours and 15 minutes before I'm meeting her. It's dark, although the sky has gotten a shade lighter in the last 10 minutes, and I look forward to the pool her apartment block owns.

The one thing I fear when Haggling with taxi drivers came true. I haggled a price so low, that he wanted to teach me a lesson. But he must think I'm a bloody mug. That wasn't Rama IX Station, it was the one before! It's not like I'm short for time, so it's just a bit of an annoyance that I had to walk 1 station down the road, 500m maybe? But that's not the worst bit. I got to Rama IX and obviously still have just over an hour and a half to wait, so I go across the road to get some food. Open up my wallet and the bloody taxi driver has given me an obviously fake 500. What an ass. I used it. Straight away at a coffee place, I saw her look at it funny, and rightly so. It's so thick, and even a different colour. Screw you taxi driver! Tuk Tuks all the way!

13/06/13

I moved over from the coffee place 30 minutes before I had to meet Mari, prepared to sit under the shelter and read my book, however, as I put my bag down I heard my name. Well, what a nice surprise! We went to a coffee place on the way to hers to grab some breakfast, and because I had already eaten, I opted for a tea. How stereotypical. That's when I started to learn about Japan. I love this, I rock up somewhere, meet a stranger and an adventure begins, but I'll get to that, for now, it's just cool learning something about a culture of which I have no idea about. We went to drop my bags off, I had a well needed shower and we went to the pool. Oh the pool. It's a really decent sized pool with a Jacuzzi bench and when we got there, not a single soul was present. The water was so still you could lie on it. Well, not really. I don't even know if that's an expression, but you get the jist, the water was still. We got to know each other in the pool and after a nice long dip; we went back up to the apartment. We showered off, watched Little Britain, played my Ukulele and went out to get lunch. It was only 12pm, but it felt like 6pm. I had a standard pork in noodle soup; the pork was Japanese style and was quite different to normal, good though! It was then time to go to the floating markets, the floating markets which took about 2.5 hours to get to. This was a slight lapse of judgement, but we got there, to find out it's only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The town was pretty dead, and the food scarce. We walked around a bit, found a Maui Thai training centre with 2 teenage lads being taught in the ring. I taught Mari how to punch properly on one of the punch bags and we walked to the river. The special thing about this floating market compared to the other ones is you can take short boat ride and see millions of fire flies. Apparently. We got the boat trip and we did see a ton of fire flies, but I wouldn't say millions. It was quite a sight, seeing them light up the trees like Christmas Trees. By this time it was dark, only 8pm but we decided to head back. What an effort this was, having hardly slept on the coach, and wearing my contacts for most of the day, my eyes were irritated. There were no busses. This town had nothing to offer and there were no busses until tomorrow. I saw two white people, the only white people I had seen since the bus trip to Bangkok, they were from Exeter and had been there for 2 days. It sounds like they were stuck there, but they were staying there. They gave me the number of a tuk tuk driver and said he will help us. And he did! He took us to an underpass where busses frequently drop people off on their way to Bangkok. A couple of busses pulled up and I thought our luck was out, but he managed to convince a bus to take us for 50B each. We got back to Bangkok, got a taxi and a couple of trains, going the wrong way a few times by the time we got back, I needed a beer. I bought a couple of Changs from 7Eleven and Mari bought a can and a bottle of alcohol. Jesus Christ, that was more than enough! She was drunk after the can! We watched Little Britain again and hit the hay at about 1am. What a god damn long day, good fun though!

14/06/13

Last night I finished my time in Thailand with a beer at the highest bar in the world. Dressed in a shirt, trousers and shoes, I ended in Bangkok in a lot more style than I came in. Who knew Bangkok could be so classy?! The hostel I stayed in was pretty standard, but it had 1 thing that put it miles above any other hostel I have ever stayed in: Free Ice Cream. I bet you can't guess what I had for breakfast this morning? It was ice cream.

Thailand has been just incredible. I have had classy times, scummy times, I've got ripped off and bagged bargains, I've experienced the beauty of the southern islands and the grimeiness of the cities. It truly is a diverse country, and to say I've enjoyed it would be an understatement. I had a crazy night in Bangkok, ate a scorpion, got a Thai Massage, ate street food, rode in Tuk tuks, drank bucket loads of cocktails at the Full Moon Party, rode an Elephant, slept in floating bungalows, played with monkeys, dived a ship wreck, hugged a tiger, rode a *motorbike around rural Thai farmland, bathed in waterfalls and most importantly; Met some amazing people. The one thing Thailand has had in common with the rest of my travels is that I have met great people along the way.

*By motorbike I do mean moped, but motorbike sounds better.