So we made it to the station in the evening and boarded our train to Agra. Ben and I were in a separate coach to the girls which wad probably for the best as ours was one class lower and full of cockroaches. By the time we went to sleep we had established something of a cemetery on the floor of the carriage! On the whole the train was ok though and I got a reasonable night's sleep. When we arrived in Agra we signed into our hotel - which took forever as they hadn't invested in a photocopier and so had to write out all our information including our passport and visa numbers twice! After a quick nap we head out to see Agra Fort - a red stone Mughal fort (much like at Delhi) with a great view if the Taj Mahal at sunset! It was very tranquil experience which was great after a hectic day of travel. We went for a quick meal before heading to bed ready for our early start.
Getting up at 5am ready to get to the Taj for opening time at 6 we got to see the monument bathed in the early morning light - and all the more enjoyable for having missed the crowds! The intricacy of the carvings were amazing as was the simple beauty if the architecture in general. It was definitely something of a dream-come-true for me having wanted to visit the sight for years and a major tick checked from my travel wish-list! I also got my 'Diana' picture - another coup haha! - the bench where she sat making up part of someone's tour of the Taj I noticed! The only downside was the security. It's quite tight generally in India but it took a long time (with the guards having limited English) and they wouldn't let Alice take in her soft-toy puffin or another guy his pack of cards which seemed pretty ridiculous! However none if thus detracted from the majesty of the sight and experience as we approached the mausoleum! Afterwards we went for breakfast at a cafe near our hotel and spent the rest of the day relaxing having planned a full day of sight-seeing the next day.
That morning we got up for 9 and headed for a view of the Taj from the back on the river. We then went to visit the tomb of the Taj Mahal's architect and hid brother who was the Mughal Shah's first minister, decorated with a mixture of Chinese, Mongol and Islamic styles and painted with silver paint. We then headed for the 'Baby Taj', built 30 years before it's full-size counterpart it housed the mother of the Taj architect's family tombs. The symmetrical design and north-east-south-west gates mirrored the Taj and was quiet even in the middle of the day. We then visited a few shops specialising on Mughal handicrafts (something you have to go through to get the driver for the day) before going for lunch in a beautiful garden restaurant. That night we experienced a few power cuts - which are perennial in India due to the fact that there isn't enough electricity to go round!
The next day we didn't get up to much. We had planned to sleep in asking the night before if we could have the room until 5pm (which we had agreed to pay for) but were woken up at 10 and told they needed the room for some other quests. After some 'negotiations' we settled on a basement room which we got for free! We left the hotel in the evening to get our train Jaipur, arriving after 11pm and checking in.
Our first day in Jaipur saw us do nothing cultural whatsoever, I uploaded 3 countries worth of photos and did some research on South Africa until the evening where we enjoyed a huge meal at the mall round the corner!
We started our tour of the city via Auto-Rickshaw at 9am heading straight for city palace. The seat of the Maharajas in Rajasthan it was a very beautiful complex brightly decorated and including a museum about Maharajas - who were seemingly compliant with the British, having been inducted into the imperial Order of India. We the made our way to the same Maharaja's mausoleum, built next to a Bilva devotional tree (the same Shiva is said to have sat under) the white marble architecture and carvings were stunning in the late morning sun and even more sombre as the cremation of Bahwani Singh had been held here so recently after his death in April. We then went to visit the Amber Fort (Dilaram Bagh) and though it was too hot to climb all the way up we got to see amazing views of the surrounding mountains and of the majestic fort itself. Afterwards we visited a textile workshop and saw printing of silk and beadwork before visiting the Floating Palace and then heading back to the hotel in an effort to leave a few things until we returned after Pushkar.
As it turned out Ben had a pretty rough night, suffering from what we thought might be street-food induced sickness. We decided to rearrange Pushkar for the next day and Charlotte not feeling great either Alice and I went out to visit the Bapu Bazaar within the Pink City and then to the Albert Museum.
We got up and Ben feeling better we decided to go to Pushkar. Unfortunately Charlotte wasn't feeling up to it so she stayed behind and Alice to keep her company. The drive took about three hours and passing so many trucks - brightly decorated - and roadside motels and hotels the evidence of India's emerging industrial prowess was all about to see. We drove through some of the most dramatic landscapes we have encountered thus far and arrived in Pushkar through arid desert hills late in the afternoon. Our hotel was very nice so we chilled for the evening and I enjoyed an amazing macaroni and cheese - fulfilling a desire born of a falsely advertised dish of the same name in Agra!
We got up early to start a tour of Pushkar first visiting the Brahma Temple and two others which annoyingly we weren't allowed in, according to our guide because tourists had in the past taken concealed cameras into them. They were nevertheless very beautiful and the Brahma one particularly so being one of a few in the world. We were then taken to the holy lake and had a blessing said for us by our guide, who was apparently also a priest, and asked us to repeat a prayer. It was a little awkward in all honesty but a great experience all the same and the second time I've been bindhi'd in India! We returned to our hotel to wait out the heat of the day before getting picked up at half five for the camel safari we had booked earlier in the day! We were confronted with one very placid and one not so placid camel both of which stood up with little warning after we had mounted them! We toured the countryside of Pushkar for a good two hours, with amazing views of the desert at sunset and taken past herb gardens and traditional Indian farming communities. We got some great photos - it was an amazing little excursion but I didn't enjoy cantering (which felt like my internal organs were bashing against one another) or dismounting which saw me almost fall over the camel's head - ever glamourous!
The next day we headed back to Jaipur and reunited with the girls. We checked back into our room and headed to one of the malls in India for dinner and to watch Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - our second film watched in India, really absorbing the culture lol! - which was quite enjoyable and nice to escape the 'real India' for a moment.
The next two days were pretty lazy, sleeping in and waiting out the heat of the day before returning to Bapu Bazaar on the first and the second (the day of writing) seeing us trapped in the room whilst a sandstorm raged outside - turning the midday sky darker than dusk and cutting off our power! It cleared up later and we headed out for a nice meal to celebrate Alice's 22nd - she's old now like the rest of us.
We fly to Mumbai tomorrow and our last destination in India! Looking forward to a new city!
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Sunday, 15 May 2011
There are actually cows on the street ma!
We arrived in Delhi after a very enjoyable flight from Bangkok at about 11pm. A host of demanding flyers near me meant that the flight attendant kept being called over to my part of the plane - which I took full advantage of ordering a fair few drinks and more than my fair share of peanuts! We met up with our airport pick-up and made our way to our hotel. The streets and roads around the airport had the same beige haze as Beijing, noticeable even at midnight and probably reflective of the two emerging industrial powers. Anyway we got to our hotel and everyone went silent. We had booked a room costing the equivalent of £2 a night and the Spartan accommodation reflected this. No A/C and a squat toilet. We decided to grin and bear the first night and see if we could upgrade in the morning. All the A/C rooms being taken we relocated next door - and for only £1 extra a night got air conditioning, a western toilet and a TV with Anerican shows - the latter proved to be a boon as I'll explain.
We spent the greater part of the day sleeping and then sitting out our travel around India. Other than trying to sell us a trip to the mountains in the north to 'relax' (generally code for Kashmir in Delhi) and then a complete tour of Rajasthan we didn't want we managed to settle on the actual connections we had planned in the first place (Amritsar, Agra, Jaipur) and added in Pushkar as we had a lot of spare time. The guys seemed really nice and genuine (I say 'seemed' as at the time of writing I am sitting on a sleeper train to Delhi where we're supposed to change to Agra except one of our seats on the connection is not yet confirmed - a fact they neglected to mention and have since assured us they will organise other transport if the worst comes to the worst) and directed us to a nice restaurant where I had my first 'Thali' (a selection of curried and curd dips with chapatti and in thus case rice) as well as providing us with a driver to take us round Delhi and see the sights the following day.
So rising and getting ready for 9am we joined our driver who took us around Delhi we started with the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid. The former a huge complex of buildings from the Mughal period - where a couple of local teenagers asked for a photo with me (the first of what has proved to be many of such occurrences) and the latter the largest mosque in India, impressively built more like a fortress than a place of worship! It's situated, like a lot of things in India in a less than glorious location amongst a very ramshackle cotton Market and proved to be a money hole - attempting to charge me for using my camera and looking after my shoes when I'd already paid to get in. The architecture for both was beautiful however, and they are in my opinion well worth the entry fees, which work out at about £4 each roughly speaking. We also visited the Lotus Temple, which ministers to the Baha'is in Delhi. It wads great contrast an incredibly modern building and very simple on the inside - quiet, peaceful and mostly without ornament. The only criticism was that we had to take our shoes off and in the heat of the day the stone outside practically scorched my feet. The dance-walk I developed to try to avoid burning amused the Indian visitors! We then went to see India Gate - a memorial to Indian soldiers and got driven around the president's palace complex as you're not permitted to stop and look around. Despite having planned to see more the heat had got the better of us.
I'd expected India to be something of a culture shock but I don't think anything could have prepared me for Delhi. The whole experience is very in your face, it's hot, smelly, crowded and noisy and so we were glad of a retreat to the hotel and some western TV to take the edge off. That evening we set out to battle the other pedestrians, guys in Tuk-Tuks and Rickshaws offering us rides and the odd cow (which though obviously I should have expected still proved a bizarre experience) to get some dinner. There's some terrible poverty in the city and passing so many beggars, even merely on the way to get something to eat - especially the children - really makes you feel guilty for everyone you refuse.
The third day we left late into the afternoon to explore Connaught Place the main and very western shopping complex. We were taken off course twice by Indians who I imagine must have been on commission for a shop well out of our price range as backpackers before we made it to our destination. The problem is they appear to be so nice and helpful even when they're trying to con you - and sometimes they frankly just don't listen to where you're trying to get to - knowing better where to go than some sheepish tourists! Haha! Nevertheless how they make money I don't know as it was clearly not the underground clothing bazaar that we were looking for (which turned out to be in the centre of Connaught Place as we'd initially believed - and was not merely an electric goods Market as two separate men had told us) so we left immediately. After a day of being harassed by rickshaw drivers none of us felt much like buying anything and so headed back to pick up our train tickets ready for our first to Amritsar the following morning.
An early rise saw us board our train with limited trouble. We had been told we might be beset by locals telling us our train had gone already and trying to sell us nee and fake tickets. The event was relatively smooth and we enjoyed our trip in first class including a complimentary breakfast - accompanied by a cup of 'chai' (strong sweet tea which I've been converted too - but probably won't drink at home given the four sugars per cup!). We arrived at our hotel and spent the better part of the day there planning out our four days - which in hindsight was probably an error as there isn't so much to do but allowed us to see all we wanted at a slow pace, which was nice given the heat.
The next day Ben and I headed out into Amritsar with the intention of exploring a little. We found our way to Ram Bagh Company Gardens which houses
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's summer palace. The gardens were very nice but somewhat 'under-construction' (at least I hope they were as the plans seemed to indicate that it would be lovely when it was finished). After seeing Gandhi's monument and the statue of the Maharaja (honoured for uniting the Punjab) we attempted to make our way to one of temples scattered around the city. Unfortunately the heat of the day got the better of us and the roads which made no sense and less than useless map with which we'd been provided didn't help, so we retreated to the hotel to rest before going out to are the Golden Temple that evening. The Temple was beautiful all lit up at night and the atmosphere was amazing as we arrived amongst many pilgrims and locals amidst the services (which I think go on all day but are attended in great numbers in the evening). After a good look round and several conversations and pictures taken with some of the Indian visitors (who were endlessly fascinated by our presence - one boy telling us it made him happy to see us there) we returned to the hotel.
We had a late start the second day and decided to take in the Wagha Border ceremony. Leaving our hotel at half 3 we made it to the Indian-Pakistan border about half 4 and joined the crush to get to the bleachers where the audience sits. After a good half an hour making it through security we were ushered to the foreigner's gallery - the closest set of seats to the gate. The ceremony itself was like a huge party with music playing (including Jai-Ho which the locals found amusing that we new the words to, at least to the Pussycat Dolls' version anyway!) and people racing with Indian flags and dancing for the entertainment of the crowd. The Pakistan side seemed less full and quieter at first but it soon filled up and after a while gave the Indians a run for their money chanting as MCs on burg sides lead calls for 'Hindustan' and 'Pakistan' respectively. The regimented display of the soldiers was also impressive - grown men able to kick their legs to an inhuman height! All in all it was a very enjoyable experience - with a beautiful sunset background.
Our third day in Amritsar saw us take in a couple of the Hindu temples. The first was the Shiwalla Mandir, a very peaceful temple set out in the middle of s lake, we were given a bindhi and some crackers to feed to the fish and then posed for a photo with a whole extended Indian family! The second temple wad much more lively - we arrived on the middle of a sung service with lots of devotees of all ages milling around. We ended the day in the Celebration Mall' where we ate in the food court and watched 'Thor' in 3D. It was a bit of a crap film - but the only one besides the 'Fast and the Furious 5' that was in English and it was quite amusing how funny the locals found it when mistaken for a terrorist Thor was questioned as to whether he trained in Pakistan and when Thor and Natalie Portman's character snogged! The experience itself was a little bizarre as I almost forgot I was in India - so far the India I have experienced has been just like Aravind Adiga chronicled in his novel 'The White Tiger', including the difference between the craziness of the street compared to the quiet privilege of the westernised malls.
Our last day in Amritsar saw us go back to the Golden Temple - which is totally different during the day as for one it's a lot less busy, meaning we were able to go inside the Temple itself and looks different bathed in sunlight. Then we went to see the Jallianwala Bagh - memorial gardens to honour the site of and those Indians shot by the British for attending a meeting on Indian independence in 1919.
We then headed back to our hotel to get our transfer to the railway station and our sleeper to Agra.
P.S. This particular blog bring written over the course of a few days you, happy reader, will be glad to know that we made it to Agra fine and our waiting list sat was confirmed upon arriving at our connecting station in Delhi.
We spent the greater part of the day sleeping and then sitting out our travel around India. Other than trying to sell us a trip to the mountains in the north to 'relax' (generally code for Kashmir in Delhi) and then a complete tour of Rajasthan we didn't want we managed to settle on the actual connections we had planned in the first place (Amritsar, Agra, Jaipur) and added in Pushkar as we had a lot of spare time. The guys seemed really nice and genuine (I say 'seemed' as at the time of writing I am sitting on a sleeper train to Delhi where we're supposed to change to Agra except one of our seats on the connection is not yet confirmed - a fact they neglected to mention and have since assured us they will organise other transport if the worst comes to the worst) and directed us to a nice restaurant where I had my first 'Thali' (a selection of curried and curd dips with chapatti and in thus case rice) as well as providing us with a driver to take us round Delhi and see the sights the following day.
So rising and getting ready for 9am we joined our driver who took us around Delhi we started with the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid. The former a huge complex of buildings from the Mughal period - where a couple of local teenagers asked for a photo with me (the first of what has proved to be many of such occurrences) and the latter the largest mosque in India, impressively built more like a fortress than a place of worship! It's situated, like a lot of things in India in a less than glorious location amongst a very ramshackle cotton Market and proved to be a money hole - attempting to charge me for using my camera and looking after my shoes when I'd already paid to get in. The architecture for both was beautiful however, and they are in my opinion well worth the entry fees, which work out at about £4 each roughly speaking. We also visited the Lotus Temple, which ministers to the Baha'is in Delhi. It wads great contrast an incredibly modern building and very simple on the inside - quiet, peaceful and mostly without ornament. The only criticism was that we had to take our shoes off and in the heat of the day the stone outside practically scorched my feet. The dance-walk I developed to try to avoid burning amused the Indian visitors! We then went to see India Gate - a memorial to Indian soldiers and got driven around the president's palace complex as you're not permitted to stop and look around. Despite having planned to see more the heat had got the better of us.
I'd expected India to be something of a culture shock but I don't think anything could have prepared me for Delhi. The whole experience is very in your face, it's hot, smelly, crowded and noisy and so we were glad of a retreat to the hotel and some western TV to take the edge off. That evening we set out to battle the other pedestrians, guys in Tuk-Tuks and Rickshaws offering us rides and the odd cow (which though obviously I should have expected still proved a bizarre experience) to get some dinner. There's some terrible poverty in the city and passing so many beggars, even merely on the way to get something to eat - especially the children - really makes you feel guilty for everyone you refuse.
The third day we left late into the afternoon to explore Connaught Place the main and very western shopping complex. We were taken off course twice by Indians who I imagine must have been on commission for a shop well out of our price range as backpackers before we made it to our destination. The problem is they appear to be so nice and helpful even when they're trying to con you - and sometimes they frankly just don't listen to where you're trying to get to - knowing better where to go than some sheepish tourists! Haha! Nevertheless how they make money I don't know as it was clearly not the underground clothing bazaar that we were looking for (which turned out to be in the centre of Connaught Place as we'd initially believed - and was not merely an electric goods Market as two separate men had told us) so we left immediately. After a day of being harassed by rickshaw drivers none of us felt much like buying anything and so headed back to pick up our train tickets ready for our first to Amritsar the following morning.
An early rise saw us board our train with limited trouble. We had been told we might be beset by locals telling us our train had gone already and trying to sell us nee and fake tickets. The event was relatively smooth and we enjoyed our trip in first class including a complimentary breakfast - accompanied by a cup of 'chai' (strong sweet tea which I've been converted too - but probably won't drink at home given the four sugars per cup!). We arrived at our hotel and spent the better part of the day there planning out our four days - which in hindsight was probably an error as there isn't so much to do but allowed us to see all we wanted at a slow pace, which was nice given the heat.
The next day Ben and I headed out into Amritsar with the intention of exploring a little. We found our way to Ram Bagh Company Gardens which houses
Maharaja Ranjit Singh's summer palace. The gardens were very nice but somewhat 'under-construction' (at least I hope they were as the plans seemed to indicate that it would be lovely when it was finished). After seeing Gandhi's monument and the statue of the Maharaja (honoured for uniting the Punjab) we attempted to make our way to one of temples scattered around the city. Unfortunately the heat of the day got the better of us and the roads which made no sense and less than useless map with which we'd been provided didn't help, so we retreated to the hotel to rest before going out to are the Golden Temple that evening. The Temple was beautiful all lit up at night and the atmosphere was amazing as we arrived amongst many pilgrims and locals amidst the services (which I think go on all day but are attended in great numbers in the evening). After a good look round and several conversations and pictures taken with some of the Indian visitors (who were endlessly fascinated by our presence - one boy telling us it made him happy to see us there) we returned to the hotel.
We had a late start the second day and decided to take in the Wagha Border ceremony. Leaving our hotel at half 3 we made it to the Indian-Pakistan border about half 4 and joined the crush to get to the bleachers where the audience sits. After a good half an hour making it through security we were ushered to the foreigner's gallery - the closest set of seats to the gate. The ceremony itself was like a huge party with music playing (including Jai-Ho which the locals found amusing that we new the words to, at least to the Pussycat Dolls' version anyway!) and people racing with Indian flags and dancing for the entertainment of the crowd. The Pakistan side seemed less full and quieter at first but it soon filled up and after a while gave the Indians a run for their money chanting as MCs on burg sides lead calls for 'Hindustan' and 'Pakistan' respectively. The regimented display of the soldiers was also impressive - grown men able to kick their legs to an inhuman height! All in all it was a very enjoyable experience - with a beautiful sunset background.
Our third day in Amritsar saw us take in a couple of the Hindu temples. The first was the Shiwalla Mandir, a very peaceful temple set out in the middle of s lake, we were given a bindhi and some crackers to feed to the fish and then posed for a photo with a whole extended Indian family! The second temple wad much more lively - we arrived on the middle of a sung service with lots of devotees of all ages milling around. We ended the day in the Celebration Mall' where we ate in the food court and watched 'Thor' in 3D. It was a bit of a crap film - but the only one besides the 'Fast and the Furious 5' that was in English and it was quite amusing how funny the locals found it when mistaken for a terrorist Thor was questioned as to whether he trained in Pakistan and when Thor and Natalie Portman's character snogged! The experience itself was a little bizarre as I almost forgot I was in India - so far the India I have experienced has been just like Aravind Adiga chronicled in his novel 'The White Tiger', including the difference between the craziness of the street compared to the quiet privilege of the westernised malls.
Our last day in Amritsar saw us go back to the Golden Temple - which is totally different during the day as for one it's a lot less busy, meaning we were able to go inside the Temple itself and looks different bathed in sunlight. Then we went to see the Jallianwala Bagh - memorial gardens to honour the site of and those Indians shot by the British for attending a meeting on Indian independence in 1919.
We then headed back to our hotel to get our transfer to the railway station and our sleeper to Agra.
P.S. This particular blog bring written over the course of a few days you, happy reader, will be glad to know that we made it to Agra fine and our waiting list sat was confirmed upon arriving at our connecting station in Delhi.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Phi Phis and Ping-Pongs, Temples and Tuk-Tuks
After a day relaxing at the hotel, our second day was spent aboard a boat on a day trip to the Phi Phi Islands. I was pretty excited to walk in Leonardo Di Caprio's footsteps (and in a kind of geeky way Tilda Swinton's!) on the islands that featured in the film 'The Beach'! We stopped at a number of beaches with about 30 minutes on each, seeing the one from which the characters began their swim to the island and the straight of water where Leo's character freaked out about a potential shark attack. Our last stop before our buffet lunch was 'The Beach' beach itself Maya Bay. An absolutely beautiful corner of the world only slightly marred by the fact that we were on of about 20 tour trips and thus 4 of about 400 people enjoying the bay. Not that I expected anything less from what is now a major tourist attraction for the country and remains a beautiful group of islands. We also enjoyed several snorkelling opportunities in the crystal clear waters of the Phi Phis. All in all it was an amazing experience and one of the major ticks of my trip checked!
Our last day in Krabi was spent by the pool until we got our connection to Hua Hin in the evening. After something like 8 hours we arrived into the city at about 2am and it must have been another hour before we got to our hotel - a resort a little out if town - that our taxi driver had never heard of! After a few phone calls to the owner he very kindly came to the top of the main road and took us the rest of the way. The next day we spent by the pool and playing mini golf before a meal at the hotel and a film which I missed completely - falling asleep about 2 minutes in! I think the early start for Phi Phi and late night to Hua Hin caught up on this old codger! The next day we hired mopeds to explore the city where the king lives, and although we were unable to see the main, Klongkanwon palace we did get to see the beautiful Marukhathaiyawan 'summer' palace - where my shorts were too short for the second time in Asia and I was dressed like a Thai to explore the palace and its grounds - as well as the apparently famous railway station which was inspired by a European style, a little piece of 'The Railway Children' in Thailand (although it was never actually colonised). After a failed attempt to get the night coach to Chiang Mai we stayed and extra night on Hua Hin and took a look around the Night Market that evening - enjoying some very cheap Pad Thai (cliche but my absolute favourite dish in Thailand and all the better when served at the side of the road I feel!) as well as pork kebabs and banana pancakes with chocolate sauce - in a nod to the fact it was Easter Sunday!
The next morning we headed into town to get our coach to Chiang Mai. It was an absolute revelation - after some less than comfortable rides we had experienced thus far in Thailand, a coach that included loads of snacks, complimentary (albeit soft) drinks and a canteen meal eased our passage to Thailand's northern capital quite nicely! We arrived in the evening and so had a quick tea and headed for bed ready for a day in the city. It seemed like Chiang Mai was the Thai headquarters for Liverpool FC supporters club as the badge and Liver Bird were plastered on every second car we passed - a fact my mother and a few friends at home will no doubt be happy with (not least as Man U seems to dominate otherwise in Thailand!). After a lie in we headed to the Tha Pae Gate - where the greater part of the city walls 'survive', despite the fact that they are merely reconstructions, but good to see all the same. Then we visited the many temples that fill the 'intramural' city, including the huge Wat Chedi Luang and the ancient (purportedly older than the city itself) Wat Chiang Man. They were all very beautiful and at one of the smaller ones we were told a lot about the city by a helpful Thai lady who recommended some others to visit and informed us that our elephant tour we had booked for the following day was reasonably priced! That evening we went to the Night Bazaar for food and the girls bought a few souvenirs.
The next morning was an early start for our elephant tour. Exactly how I felt about it ethically I'm not sure. During the show the animals did many things such a moving logs etc that seemed close to natural behaviours and others such as football penalties and slam-dunks which were definitely not but on the whole they seemed to enjoy the attention - as far as I could gage emotions from elephants. We enjoyed a ride on the elephant and I got up on one of the larger ones as the mahut had him stand on his hind legs - which I can't say I enjoyed too much but tipped him anyway (everyone is on the make in Thailand haha!) for his efforts! After a really good buffet lunch we went to an orchid farm, where it unfortunately started to rain but we got the jist and then were taken back to our hotel.
Our last day in Chiang Mai saw Ben and I hire another scooter to head up to Wat Doi Suthep. It was lauded as a great climb involving 300 steps but to be honest I barely noticed and refused to believe that it was actually 300 until I counted them on the way down! Disappointment at the stairs aside the temple was beautiful and had good views of the city - even though it was a bit cloudy! After a failed attempt to get to the museum and the cinema we headed back to the hotel and then had dinner before our coach to Bangkok that evening. I a beautiful Thai Phanang curry - the food generally in Thailand had been amazing and pretty cheap at around £2 a day! We were surprised again by the quality of our coach to BKK. Having only paying 500 Baht we expected very little but there was as much leg room as the last one (and more than our flights so far) and including some cake snacks and another midnight canteen meal!
Arriving in Bangkok at about 7am we made our way to the hotel - which was no mean feat as the taxi drivers hadn't heard of it again and I had to show our driver its location on the map Alice had brought with her! That afternoon being the day of the Royal Wedding we headed out to Mulligan's Irish Bar (rather ironically) to enjoy the nuptial extravaganza amongst our fellow Brits and over a couple of beers! We agreed the dress was beautiful and all felt a few pangs for good old Blighty! After eating on Khosan Road - the main backpacker destination in the city - we headed back ready for a day exploring the city.
We got up earlyish and took the boat up the river in two groups. After visiting Wat Po - where the massive golden reclining Buddha is housed (depicting the prophet at the moment of his death and Enlightenment, which towered over the visitors - despite having heard about it I wasn't quite prepared for it's magnitude or indeed the beauty and intricate design on the mother of pearl feet) and the Royal Palace, Ben and I asked a local for directions who promptly designed a tour for us and flagged down a Tuk-Tuk (another big check on the travelling experience list!) and insisted it would only cost 40 Baht for the full trip. Whether it was all a set up I'm not sure as it did genuinely seem like he'd just called on a random driver. As it transpired after taking us to a couple of temples to see a standing and a sitting Buddha our driver asked us to help him out by taking us to first a suit shop, then a souvenir shop and then a jewellery shop - saying we only had to spend 10, 1 and 5 minutes at each respectively - in an effort to get some coupons for him. We didn't do too well - myself leaving Ben to bullshit the suit makers as I had no idea what to say at one point, but I got what I thought was one at the jewellery store after I hadn't realised Ben had already left and the man escorted me into the 'gift shop'! We were called upon one last time to help our driver out after visiting the Giant Swing and the democracy monument before he would take us to out last destination the national museum. As it turned out he got a phone call on the way and dropped us off at the museum speeding away to something at home and not waiting for any payment. It was all pretty weird but we got a free day's transport around the city so it was all good! After a street-food dinner we hit the hay pretty exhausted!
The next morning the girls and I got up early to see the weekend Market just outside Chatuchack Park on the recommendation of Alice's guide book. It was nice to be there early to miss the most of the crowds and the heat of the day (something we may have to get used to doing in India our next destination given its 40• days!). The girls got yet more souvenirs (they have bottomless pockets!) and I got a new shirt. The stalls were all really cool and sort of a Thai version of vintage stores in Manchester's Northern Quarter or Sheffield's Forum and on and around Division Street. We also enjoyed a breakfast there and I got a Thai style ice coffee made with condensed milk to which I've in the last two days become addicted to! After a chilled afternoon spent in the Benjakiti Park and the hotel we headed out to Phat Pong Road for an infamous 'ping pong show'.
It was quite the experience, and I have never been so uncomfortable in my life, in a sleazy bar watching ping pong balls be 'projected' at us! :-S To be honest I started to feel really guilty - worried that I was funding near- sex-slavery especially as we had been told the show was free and the beers only 100 baht each. In hindsight we shouldn't have been so naive as after the show we were accosted by 'Madame' and her 'heavies' (other female pimps) for an amount of money we didn't have. We gave them all we had to placate them and got the hell out of there! Alice and I were terrified and handed over the meagre sums we had straight away - though Ben and Chatlotte negotiated a little! In the end we paid the equivalent of about 500 Baht each which - according to Ben who had made some prior enquirers haha - was about average! The experience actually shook me up a little - which is probably as much as I deserved for being such a foolish and in this case potentially morally suspect tourist - never again, definitely not my scene haha! ;)
Thailand has been a whole lot of fun - despite the fact that it was more inconvenient to travel around than Malaysia it has been such a beautiful country and provided such great food (I feel I'm eating my way round Asia)! Even Bangkok was a beautiful city - although there are such extremes of wealth and poverty within it I was expecting it to be a lot more seedy and sketchy than it was - our final night excluded obviously! Hopefully it will have prepared us for India a little where at least we have more time to move around!
Our last day in Krabi was spent by the pool until we got our connection to Hua Hin in the evening. After something like 8 hours we arrived into the city at about 2am and it must have been another hour before we got to our hotel - a resort a little out if town - that our taxi driver had never heard of! After a few phone calls to the owner he very kindly came to the top of the main road and took us the rest of the way. The next day we spent by the pool and playing mini golf before a meal at the hotel and a film which I missed completely - falling asleep about 2 minutes in! I think the early start for Phi Phi and late night to Hua Hin caught up on this old codger! The next day we hired mopeds to explore the city where the king lives, and although we were unable to see the main, Klongkanwon palace we did get to see the beautiful Marukhathaiyawan 'summer' palace - where my shorts were too short for the second time in Asia and I was dressed like a Thai to explore the palace and its grounds - as well as the apparently famous railway station which was inspired by a European style, a little piece of 'The Railway Children' in Thailand (although it was never actually colonised). After a failed attempt to get the night coach to Chiang Mai we stayed and extra night on Hua Hin and took a look around the Night Market that evening - enjoying some very cheap Pad Thai (cliche but my absolute favourite dish in Thailand and all the better when served at the side of the road I feel!) as well as pork kebabs and banana pancakes with chocolate sauce - in a nod to the fact it was Easter Sunday!
The next morning we headed into town to get our coach to Chiang Mai. It was an absolute revelation - after some less than comfortable rides we had experienced thus far in Thailand, a coach that included loads of snacks, complimentary (albeit soft) drinks and a canteen meal eased our passage to Thailand's northern capital quite nicely! We arrived in the evening and so had a quick tea and headed for bed ready for a day in the city. It seemed like Chiang Mai was the Thai headquarters for Liverpool FC supporters club as the badge and Liver Bird were plastered on every second car we passed - a fact my mother and a few friends at home will no doubt be happy with (not least as Man U seems to dominate otherwise in Thailand!). After a lie in we headed to the Tha Pae Gate - where the greater part of the city walls 'survive', despite the fact that they are merely reconstructions, but good to see all the same. Then we visited the many temples that fill the 'intramural' city, including the huge Wat Chedi Luang and the ancient (purportedly older than the city itself) Wat Chiang Man. They were all very beautiful and at one of the smaller ones we were told a lot about the city by a helpful Thai lady who recommended some others to visit and informed us that our elephant tour we had booked for the following day was reasonably priced! That evening we went to the Night Bazaar for food and the girls bought a few souvenirs.
The next morning was an early start for our elephant tour. Exactly how I felt about it ethically I'm not sure. During the show the animals did many things such a moving logs etc that seemed close to natural behaviours and others such as football penalties and slam-dunks which were definitely not but on the whole they seemed to enjoy the attention - as far as I could gage emotions from elephants. We enjoyed a ride on the elephant and I got up on one of the larger ones as the mahut had him stand on his hind legs - which I can't say I enjoyed too much but tipped him anyway (everyone is on the make in Thailand haha!) for his efforts! After a really good buffet lunch we went to an orchid farm, where it unfortunately started to rain but we got the jist and then were taken back to our hotel.
Our last day in Chiang Mai saw Ben and I hire another scooter to head up to Wat Doi Suthep. It was lauded as a great climb involving 300 steps but to be honest I barely noticed and refused to believe that it was actually 300 until I counted them on the way down! Disappointment at the stairs aside the temple was beautiful and had good views of the city - even though it was a bit cloudy! After a failed attempt to get to the museum and the cinema we headed back to the hotel and then had dinner before our coach to Bangkok that evening. I a beautiful Thai Phanang curry - the food generally in Thailand had been amazing and pretty cheap at around £2 a day! We were surprised again by the quality of our coach to BKK. Having only paying 500 Baht we expected very little but there was as much leg room as the last one (and more than our flights so far) and including some cake snacks and another midnight canteen meal!
Arriving in Bangkok at about 7am we made our way to the hotel - which was no mean feat as the taxi drivers hadn't heard of it again and I had to show our driver its location on the map Alice had brought with her! That afternoon being the day of the Royal Wedding we headed out to Mulligan's Irish Bar (rather ironically) to enjoy the nuptial extravaganza amongst our fellow Brits and over a couple of beers! We agreed the dress was beautiful and all felt a few pangs for good old Blighty! After eating on Khosan Road - the main backpacker destination in the city - we headed back ready for a day exploring the city.
We got up earlyish and took the boat up the river in two groups. After visiting Wat Po - where the massive golden reclining Buddha is housed (depicting the prophet at the moment of his death and Enlightenment, which towered over the visitors - despite having heard about it I wasn't quite prepared for it's magnitude or indeed the beauty and intricate design on the mother of pearl feet) and the Royal Palace, Ben and I asked a local for directions who promptly designed a tour for us and flagged down a Tuk-Tuk (another big check on the travelling experience list!) and insisted it would only cost 40 Baht for the full trip. Whether it was all a set up I'm not sure as it did genuinely seem like he'd just called on a random driver. As it transpired after taking us to a couple of temples to see a standing and a sitting Buddha our driver asked us to help him out by taking us to first a suit shop, then a souvenir shop and then a jewellery shop - saying we only had to spend 10, 1 and 5 minutes at each respectively - in an effort to get some coupons for him. We didn't do too well - myself leaving Ben to bullshit the suit makers as I had no idea what to say at one point, but I got what I thought was one at the jewellery store after I hadn't realised Ben had already left and the man escorted me into the 'gift shop'! We were called upon one last time to help our driver out after visiting the Giant Swing and the democracy monument before he would take us to out last destination the national museum. As it turned out he got a phone call on the way and dropped us off at the museum speeding away to something at home and not waiting for any payment. It was all pretty weird but we got a free day's transport around the city so it was all good! After a street-food dinner we hit the hay pretty exhausted!
The next morning the girls and I got up early to see the weekend Market just outside Chatuchack Park on the recommendation of Alice's guide book. It was nice to be there early to miss the most of the crowds and the heat of the day (something we may have to get used to doing in India our next destination given its 40• days!). The girls got yet more souvenirs (they have bottomless pockets!) and I got a new shirt. The stalls were all really cool and sort of a Thai version of vintage stores in Manchester's Northern Quarter or Sheffield's Forum and on and around Division Street. We also enjoyed a breakfast there and I got a Thai style ice coffee made with condensed milk to which I've in the last two days become addicted to! After a chilled afternoon spent in the Benjakiti Park and the hotel we headed out to Phat Pong Road for an infamous 'ping pong show'.
It was quite the experience, and I have never been so uncomfortable in my life, in a sleazy bar watching ping pong balls be 'projected' at us! :-S To be honest I started to feel really guilty - worried that I was funding near- sex-slavery especially as we had been told the show was free and the beers only 100 baht each. In hindsight we shouldn't have been so naive as after the show we were accosted by 'Madame' and her 'heavies' (other female pimps) for an amount of money we didn't have. We gave them all we had to placate them and got the hell out of there! Alice and I were terrified and handed over the meagre sums we had straight away - though Ben and Chatlotte negotiated a little! In the end we paid the equivalent of about 500 Baht each which - according to Ben who had made some prior enquirers haha - was about average! The experience actually shook me up a little - which is probably as much as I deserved for being such a foolish and in this case potentially morally suspect tourist - never again, definitely not my scene haha! ;)
Thailand has been a whole lot of fun - despite the fact that it was more inconvenient to travel around than Malaysia it has been such a beautiful country and provided such great food (I feel I'm eating my way round Asia)! Even Bangkok was a beautiful city - although there are such extremes of wealth and poverty within it I was expecting it to be a lot more seedy and sketchy than it was - our final night excluded obviously! Hopefully it will have prepared us for India a little where at least we have more time to move around!
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