Monday, January 9, 2012

Making friends with travellers and lady boys (and their assets)


Place: Chiang Mai
Date: 16th August - 20th August

I had an amazing day to start me off in Chiang Mai. It started shitty because I was on a bus for 12 hours, with the roof leaking rain water. But sitting at the top of a mountain, with that view, I'd say it got considerably better.

We started at 9.30am. This was when I met my group. It consisted of Laura and Javier and Spanish couple, Chris - A Scottish guy, 2 Korean guys, whose names I cannot spell, Demetri and Mikyoung - another couple. Our guide was called Wat.

It was one of the hardest up hill treks I've ever had to do but it was so worth my buckets of sweat! We finally arrived at our camp and the view was simply breath taking. Wat cooked us up a Thai feast and we drank beer whilst watching the sunset. Later, after eating and drinking more the moon rose and bought with it a lightning storm. We definitely had the best seats in the house.

Coming down the mountain the next day was just as strenuous but a gorgeous waterfall awaited us at the bottom, it was so refreshing! We definitely needed that the day before! We continued down the second half of the mountain to partake in some riding of elephants and white water rafting. Such an awesome, action packed day! I LOVED IT!

The rest of my time in Chiang Mai was pretty chilled out. I hired a bicycle and found my way around the town. I visited a few temples, but to be honest I was starting to feel a little templed out. That night I met up with Chris and partied the night away with Lady Boys! We turned up at some bar next to a boxing ring where the girls were blatantly boys. We played Connect 4 and Jenga quite happily with them until suddenly YMCA blared from the speakers. The 'ladies' equip with their massive fake boobies, broke out into a dance routine. The added bonus was their enormous breasts popping out of their clothes every 2 seconds. And they loved playing with them...I suppose any man would if they suddenly had boobs.

After that experience I decided to jump on a bus to Pai....possibly the best decision EVER.

Welcome to Magaluf, oh I mean Bangkok! :/


Place: Bangkok
Date: 13th August - 15th August

After an epic journey (and I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last), I arrived in Bangkok. I set off at 8.30am and reached Khao San Road (the main backpacker road in Bangkok) around 5pm. The backpacker area is filled with crazy little shops and bars and the distinct smell of shit lingers in the air like a vulture lingers around a dead carcass.

As it stood, I wasn't really in the state of mind to be hanging out alone in busy bars filled with annihilated teenage drunks. I did feel like I had maybe taken the wrong mini bus and actually arrived onto a Brits Abroad TV set in the Mediterranean!!

I decided to head to Chang Mai ASAP for some soul searching and trekking. Going alone it is very hard but I felt it was going to get easier.

(14th August)

Whilst I had time to kill I thought I'd better do a bit of site seeing around Bangkok, would have been stupid not to.

Anyway - good call!!! It was an awesome day! So many things to tell. So firstly I set off with my city map to walk to the Great Palace and Emerald Buddha. I had to cover up with a beautiful pastel blue workman's shirt. Made me look like an absolute DIV! Found out the Emerald Buddha isn't actually emerald, made of Jade the little liar! Still stunning though.

I took a lot of pictures of the gods because they're shiny and I love shiny things! Also watched the royal guards do their little marchy thing, which was cool . After seeing the palace sights I decided to hunt for food. Because I was on my own and very aware of the money I was spending, I was all for public transport. 7 Baht is a trip on the bus. By tuk tuk that would have been multiplied by about 15! Plus the drivers are mental which is always fun! They don't really stop...you just have to jump on. And the buses themselves are basically tin cans with 4 wheels stuck on with a noise like a tank.

I arrived at Siam Square and stumbled upon the most wonderful little cafe named 'And it happened to be a closet'. Such a lovely little place filled with THINGS! I sat, ate Italian food and watched Iron Man 2. I literally had to tear myself away because it was too good! I wandered over to Bangkok Culture and Arts Centre. One of the most amazing exhibitions I have ever been to - and I've been to a lot!

Got back to Khao San Road, not before some old man decided to show me some bullet holes scarily close to the tourist district!

All in all a productive day!