Siem Reap; First Impressions

I have to admit, leaving Thailand this morning was a little bit harder than I expected. I arrived back in my local town of Surin after a 15 hour bus journey from Chiang Mai to find the familiar again. I know this city so well from living nearby for the past 6 months, and even the bus drivers in the station knew me and helped me find my bus. Sitting there at 5am eating chicken on a stick and sticky rice (one of my favourites) I realised how comfortable I had become, and suddenly I was struck with fear at leaving and heading somewhere new. But before I thought about simple things like ordering food and getting around, I had to get over the border. I have to say, the thought alone terrified me. I have heard some really bad horror stories about the guards holding your passport until you pay them a bribe of a colossal amount of money to get it back. Not to mention the scamming taxi drivers who grab your bags from you to get you to pay them huge fares. I was trying to mentally prepare myself for all of these possibilities, but I still found the nerves creeping in as I approached the border this morning.

I need not have feared. A lovely man who works in a resort just beside the border gate was on hand to help me figure out what booth I was to go to to fill out my forms and he translated everything for me. He even organised for a shared taxi for me with other locals so I wouldn't have to pay a lot of money to get to Siem Reap. So there I was, happy to be through the visa ordeal, and sitting in a taxi with a local business man. Little did I know that taxis here like to make the most of the space in the car. About 10 minutes later I found myself squished in the back seat with the business man, a local 50 something mammy who kept smiling at me, and a young smartly dressed man with a briefcase in one hand and a live clucking chicken in a box in the other hand.

Driving the two hours to Siem Reap, I instantly saw the difference between Thailand and Cambodia. This country is noticeably poorer. The people in Thailand live in basic accommodation, but majority have a concrete house and a car. In Cambodia, outside the city everything is communities of wooden shacks, bicycles and old motorbikes as the mode of transport, and near naked children running around with stray dogs. It is clear from the amount of people sitting outside their houses that employment is quite low here, and many are disfigured as a result of land mines left over from the war in this country only a few decades ago. Like Thailand, people with a disability don't seem to get much help, and many rely on begging to survive. In Thailand his has improved slightly compared to Cambodia, as many blind people have found jobs in the massage business, and people with physical disabilities find work on stalls in markets or selling bus tickets. Although I have noticed one thing about Cambodia that has surprised me. Their English is really good compared to Thailand. Thailand's education is questionable I have to say after working in the sector, but the difference between Thailand and Cambodia's standard of English is shocking. I want to know their secret!! My classes would be such a success.

I am heading off to the world famous Angkor Wat temple complex tomorrow, so there will be pictures galore in tomorrow's blog along with a bit of a history lesson, and maybe a reference to 'Tomb Raider' once or twice (google it if I sound mad).

Sawatdiikha.

Ticking Tigers off the Bucket List

When I arrived in Thailand 6.5 months ago, I had no idea what was awaiting me. I never could have imagined the amazing places I would see, or the food I would eat (some dishes I would happily forget) or the things I would do. When I arrived in Bangkok all scared and thinking I had lost my mind coming here, the teaching agency I was with asked me to write down three things that I wanted to do in Thailand. Other than eat and teach, I only had one other major one, and that was see tigers. Since I was a child toddling around Dublin zoo holding onto the buggy, I was in love with the tigers. To me they are so beautiful and elegant, and jut their sheer size amazed me. So when I arrived in Chiang Mai, I couldnt pass up the opportunity to go to the Tiger Kingdom.

Personally I am quite fussy about animals and places like this, and I have to say in Thailand there are very little laws regarding animal treatment and prevention of cruelty. I saw a lot of disturbing situations at the elephant festival in Surin last November, and I was cautious going to the tiger kingdom despite all the great reviews I had heard. I need not have feared. The enclosures were quite large and equipped with pools for the tigers, and the keepers were really gentle and allowed the tigers to basically do as they pleased. There was none of this training them to stay in certain positions for photos or stopping them from moving around. I was worried about the tigers being drugged to keep them tame, but it was clear from the caution of the keepers and the constant movement of the tigers that they were not drugged at all, and therefore a very dangerous animal if not approached with caution. There were signs everywhere urging people to report any action by the keepers that they consider to be even like animal cruelty (another thing I have never seen in Thailand).

So I chose to meet and greet the smallest baby tigers (2-3 months), the medium ones (5 months) and the large ones (too big to care about their age. Just tried to not shake with fear). The little ones were soooooo cute. They were curious about everything and wandered around looking at everything and taking the odd swipe at each other. I also got to feed them a bottle of hot milk as I happened to arrive at their feeding time, and upon putting the bottle in the cub's mouth, he dropped to the floor on his back and wrapped his paws around my hand and the bottle like a baby.

Next was the medium ones who were the most active. Getting a picture with them was quite difficult as they were intent on swimming together and squabbling over a piece of log that one had claimed and another wanted. It was great to see them acting so natural though. They pawed at each other and crept up at each other like they would in the wild. 

Finally, I went into the enclosure with the big daddys. These are fully grown male tigers, and I have to say they are a little nerve wrecking. They seemed quite tired when I went in, but they just randomly got up and moved around, and seeing them do this only reminded me how massive they are and how small I am. These really are capable of ripping me apart into little pieces, and knowing that made me a little nervous. But, despite that, I got to touch them and give them a scratch, and feel how strong they are. It really was incredible.

Overall, it was the most incredible way to end my time in Thailand, and knowing that I am leaving this beautiful country with all my hopes ticked off on my list only reminds me of how fantastic my time here has been. I have learnt so much about myself and so much about alternative ways of living and I really think that I am coming out of my 6 months here a more well rounded, calm and wise person. Thailand has taught me to not take life so seriously, and to always apply a bit of Mai Pen Rai to everything life throws at you. In short, I have learnt how to be as chilled as these tigers.

Next stop, Siem Reap Cambodia.

Sawatdiikha.

Soaking for Songkran; Chiang Mai.

We left Chiang Rai yesterday full of anticipation as to what was to come in Chiang Mai. The Songkran New Year Water Festival in the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai is internationally famous and we were really eager to get there and see all that Chiang Mai has to offer. For some reason, we didnt seem to click the slight problem of arriving off a bus with bags in the middle of a city of festivities. After getting on a taxi after the bus arrived, we found ourselves at the walls of the old city where the taxi said he could go no further and we had to walk from here. We lugged our bags off and took in our surroundings and found our jaws on the floor. The place was insane. Everywhere people were throwing buckets of water, traffic was at a standstill, people were running around with huge water pistols and everyone was dripping wet. Not the most ideal place to find yourself with a suitcase that holds all of your worldly belongings and another bag full of your valuable electronics. Putting all the electronics into the case, we ploughed on through, with comments being thrown at us from passers by such as 'you arrived at the wrong time' and 'you are walking into the belly of the beast'. But, three buckets of water over our heads and a sympathetic tuk tuk driver later we arrived in our hostel.

We soon came to realise that if we spent an hour dry in this city for the next three days we would be doing well. All of last night and all of today we have been drenched, and you cannot walk ten feet without a bucket of water on your head or a hose pointed in your direction. We soon armed ourselves with pathetic little pistols and a water proof bag for our money and phone, though I havent been brave enough to bring my camera out, so no pics so far I am afraid. We are hoping to go and see the tiger sanctuary while we are here, but we are doubtful how good it will be since the entire city is packed out and I imagine the tourist attractions will be the same.

But despite that, the atmosphere is incredible. Thai families are all sitting with picnics enjoying the party and water, people are happy and rediscovering their inner child soaking everyone around them, and since most of the city is an alcohol free zone in line with Thai morals, its not a drunken brawl. Its definitely one of the greatest experiences I have had in Thailand, and I genuinely think its one of the greatest festivals in the world.

Sawatdiikha.

Surprise Surprise in Chiang Rai

After being in Thailand for so long now, I thought I had seen it all. I have seen more markets, temples and monuments to random people than I could ever begin to count. Every town begins to look the same, and when you take a break to the south, every beach begins to look the same. After Bangkok, where I found nothing except millions of shops, pubs and angry locals, to be honest, I was seriously considering just going home next week. ‘This bloody travelling thing isn’t worth the hassle. I am bored with Asia’. I decided to at least see Thailand out and head with Sophie north to Chiang Rai. I thought nothing about Thailand could impress me anymore. I am a fool.

Looking at the city, you think it all looks the same. We did a bike tour yesterday after arriving off the overnight bus from Bangkok, and found that the local sights were very overrated and boring. We did however find the night market to be lively with a friendly atmosphere which improved our initial impressions. We organised a tour for today which would take us out of the town to visit a few sights. We were met this morning by a minibus which we unexpectedly found empty, and the bubbly young driver told us that we were the only ones on the tour for the day, as everyone had headed to Chiang Mai 2 hours away for the Songkran Thai New Year water festival. Even the guide who was promised to us had taken off. A little apprehensive, we headed of. Turns out we had no need of the guide. Our driver and his great English gave us all the info we needed, and took us to the places we wanted to go even though they weren’t on the actual tour we booked.

First stop was the White Temple. Now, as I said before, I am very templed out here. But this was like Disney in temple form. It was a stunning and glistening white which is impressive enough to look at, but when you go in you expect the walls to be covered in the traditional Buddhist paintings, but no. This one sported massive murals containing burning twin towers with Harry Potter chasing his snitch around the buildings of New York. While he flew on, the Kracken was coming up from the sea to take Jack Sparrow, and the International Space Station was trying to dodge Jedi fighter jets while the guy from ‘Saw’ sniggered up from the depths of hell. No pictures were allowed unfortunately, but you could stand for hours and still find that you saw something new every minute.

After this we headed onto the strange and errie Black Houses. These were a massive art project undertaken by a local artist which saw him build dozens of black houses in the design of Chinese temples and fill them with art work and the skeletons of dead animals. Eerie and strange, but interesting.

Following on, we were taken up to the Tea Plantations in the mountains to sit and taste the local handpicked loose leaf teas and enjoy the views out over the plantations. Here we lost time talking to our driver Bird about his life in Singapore and Thailand. After a lovely authentic Thai buffet lunch, we finished off the day with a trip to an opium museum. This museum talked all about the history of opium production in the area and around the world, and then basically gave a step by step guide to making opium and heroin (oh Thailand). After this we drove on to enjoy the views of Burma, Laos and Thailand at their meeting point at the Golden Triangle.

Sitting in bed now after a Thai kebab, a glass of wine and fresh orange juice, I am so happy I decided to bull on. After the madness of Bangkok, I had forgotten what it was like to discover something that surprised me, and the tour today had so many not-so-typical-Thai things that I was genuinely surprised and impressed. I am heading off to Chiang Mai tomorrow to partake in the Songkran Water Festival for a few days before leaving Thailand and trotting into Cambodia as I continue my travels alone. I can only hope tomorrow will bring as many surprises and strange places as today has brought. 

Sawatdiikha.

Shopping, Dropping and Temple Trotting

Having a free day of no tours yesterday, we three decided to head off to the world famous Chatachuk weekend market. We had already been to the market when we were in Bangkok last October, but we spent the day then combating the heat and wandering around aimlessly not knowing anything about bargaining or Thai food. This time we went back acclimatised to the heat and ready to shop. This place is incredible! It is so big it could take you over an hour and a half just to walk from one end to the other, and it is split into zones and sells literally everything you can think of; homewares, food, drink, bags, pictures, clothes, souvenirs, jewellery, technology, even animals! It is a shoppers heaven ....well if you have money ..... which we spend on tours and hostel dorms and cheap cocktails .... its still a great place to hang out for an afternoon.

After this, we headed out in Bangkok city to grab some cheap Thai food and go for a drink before we planned to head back for an early night before our 7am start today with our trip to Ayuthaya. Take note of the word 'planned'. Sitting having an early cocktail, we got a text from fellow teachers (a shout to to Siobhan who reads this blog was drunkenly promised last night; Hello Siobhan :-) ) who were two roads down on the infamous Khao San Road (party central).

'Ah sure we will go for one drink to say hi'.

4 hours, 2 buckets of cocktails and a cheese burger later we fell in the door. This morning was not fun.

But, despite all that, at 7am this morning we headed off with our bottles of water to Ayutthaya, the ancient city outside Bangkok. 700 years ago this city was the original capital of this area until it was captured, burned and ransacked when the Burmese arrived about 300 years ago. Now the old city is simply ruins, but what amazing ruins they are. There is still enough intact so that it doesnt take much for the mind's eye to build the temples around you. Spending so long now surrounded by the Buddhist religion, I could nearly hear the chanting and smell the incense. Many of the buddhas that are still sitting where they were placed 600 years ago now are now headless, as the heads were mad of sandstone and were robbed and sold after the fall of the city. The scale of the temple complexes are incredible, and at times you can still see where the world recaptured the fallen city back into nature.  Over the centuries the jungle grew back in over the buildings, and although much of it has been cleared away over the decades, some parts of the temple simply can't be taken back from nature.

Off on a full day 8 dish Thai cookery course tomorrow. I keep having flashbacks to when I set the grill on fire in University just cooking three sausages .... I presume they have fire extinguishers .....

Sawatdiikha.

Back To Where It All Began; Bangkok Take Two

Following the two consistent days of facing death and war, we decided that something different was needed for our last day in Kanchanaburi. So yesterday we rang up the songtow (taxi/truck) driver who had offered his services when we arrived in Kanchanburi, and for the small fee of €12 each we had ourselves a driver for the day. We decided to head up to a waterfall in a national park about 65 kms from where we were staying. The driver told us when we arrive that we should take about 3-4 hours here. Considering that the sign said that the waterfall was 500 meters from the carpark, we thought 'silly man. We will probably be done in an hour'.  Silly us more like. Turns out, the bottom tier of the 7 tier waterfall was 500m from the carpark. The 7th tier and most impressive was about 1.2 kms up a mountain. Let me tell you, climbing up rocks and wading through rocky streams in flip flops is not easy or fun. We were thankful for the drivers insistence on the early start though, as arriving at half 8 in the morning meant we had the place practically to ourselves and we beat the heat. If it had been 11am, we would have had a repeat of the Tiger Temple 'I think I am going to die' situation.

We really were rewarded at the top. We found a stunning high waterfall that fell into a crystal clear blue pool on the side of the mountain. We stripped off to the bikinis and stepped in, dreaming of the beautiful pictures we could take beside the crashing water. What we found was lots and lots of horrible squishy moss (I hate the feel of moss) and massive fish that nibbled the dead skin off your legs and arms and anywhere else on your body you happened to dip into the water. Considering that people pay lots of money to sit in shopping centres with their feet in pools of these fish, you would think we would be glad to dip in .... No. These were bloody big fish! I felt like that giraffe from that kids movie 'Madagasgar' where he has a freak attack shouting 'the nature! The nature! Get it off me! Get it off me!'. We quickly retreated to a safe little pool void of fish, took some nice photos and started our descent, stopping to take pictures and marvel at the locals who did not seem perturbed by the fish. We took our 4 hours, and finished our day off with a slight death related trip to a railway museum which told the story of the men who cut into the mountains surrounding Kanchanaburi to build the Japanese railway I mentioned in the previous blog. We found this to be much different to the Kwai bridge. For one, we were one of the few people there. It is located up in the mountains away from any people, and the quiet eerieness of the whole place was kind of disturbing. Neither myself nor Sophie could put our finger on it, but the place definitely had a creepy feel about it. Needless to say, we didnt stay long here. We soon headed back to wine and dine the evening away with Thai food, beer and Brad Pitt.

Today we packed our bags again and headed back to where it all began; Bangkok. Two hours on a bus saw us back near the Khao San Road in a cheap and not so cheerful hostel. I have to say, the whole city stinks, and the traffic is beyond chaotic, but knowing what to expect this time round I am liking it a lot more than I did when I arrived culture shocked and jet lagged last October. We spent the evening in the massive MBK shopping centre eating and browsing, and we ended the night with a cinema trip. Words cannot describe the excitement of a cinema trip here. Popcorn, a massive coke, the most comfortable cinema seats and an English movie, all for under €6. Loved every second, despite the lack of Channing Tatum in the new G.I Joe movie (bloody pictures are so misleading).

Sawatdiikha.

War comes to Thailand; Kanchanaburi

So much for 'I will blog every day'. How is it that you can get so used to being in a beach that you get to the point that you no longer have anything interesting to write about? The last time I wrote a blog entry, I was in Ao Nang and was island hopping and loving it all. Since then, things have gone a slight bit downhill, to no fault of my own or Thailand's. I arrived after Ao Nang in Ko Tao on the other side of the peninsula, and found that after one day of tottering around and topping up the tan on the beautiful beach, that I had acquired a vomiting bug. Not Fun. The next few days were spent recovering, and therefore Ko Tao has gone by in a mildly strange blur. Now recovered and after a looooong 17 hour journey up the country, I find myself back on the mainland in Kanchanaburi about 2 hours outside Bangkok. Finally, I am back to doing what I do best; history. Kanchanaburi is full of it.

The area was made famous by the fifties movie 'The Bridge On The River Kwai' which tells the story of British POW's in a labour camp run by Japanese during the second world war, and they were working on building a bridge over the river so that the Japanese could transport goods and soldiers into Burma. The movie is of course, as with most movies of the time, highly innacurate, but the idea is pretty stable. Basically, POWs from Britain, America, the Netherlands and Australia worked here cutting through the jungle to build the railway line, and the horrendous conditions they were subjected to saw thousands die along with about 100,000 Thai natives. The town now has a very nice war cemetery to the 7000 western people who died, along with a really detailed and well presented museum across the road. 

We also went to the War Museum beside the actual bridge, and found it to be .... how do I put this .... like a scene of a strange messed up dream where nothing makes sense. The 'museum' had aspects of nearly every war in Thailand, but decided to put them all into the same building, and talk about them in different places in the museum, and draw pictures on the roof to add to the 'explanation', and stick random prehistoric pots beside pictures of starving WWII soldiers and a statue of a Thai prince from the 1700s. They even have a picture of Hitler thrown into it all .... but the picture was of Stalin .... and the picture of 'Stalin' wasnt Stalin at all .... typical Thailand really. Considering that my school painted a map of the world into a massive wall in the school 10 years ago and named Russia as the USSR and said countries like the Ukraine and Lithuania didnt exist just shows how education and knowledge is done in most of the country. Kind of comical and kind of scary all at the same time. 

The bridge itself is surprisingly small. There is always the idea in your head that when a massive and harrowing story surrounds something, that something must be big. But no. The bridge is a metal bridge, the same as any other. Of course it was important to see it as so many people died building it, but standing there looking at it and being surrounded by tourists from all around the world posing and smiling taking photos in front of it made me feel a little strange. It felt like someone may feel if you saw someone taking a smiling happy picture at the gates of Auschwitz. You think 'what a thing to smile at'. But that's tourism right. You go, take the smiling picture and go home and show your family what a great time you had in front of the big famous bridge.

The whole thing has left a strange taste in my mouth I have to say, and seeing the rows and rows of plaques with my own eyes has posed lots of questions in my head about the reasons for war, questions I never really thought about outside of my University essays. I suppose that's the point of these places though, to get you to think. If I wanted to stay away from reality, I would have just stayed on the beach. 

After a trip to a waterfall tomorrow, its back to where it all began; Bangkok.

Sawatdiikha.

ps. Sorry for the lack of images. The computer has clapped out so no way putting my photos on it. Currently robbing time on my friend's laptop to update the blog. Will hopefully be fixed in Bangkok at the weekend.