Chapter 2: Thailand apparantly
Right so, the summer after my European runaround saw me working as a security guard after repeating my final exams at school (between repeats I'd squeezed in a year at animation college) It had been a lonely old year, and working nights had made the summer just as lonely. But, like the Cylons, I had a plan. Greece. Greek island hopping with my friends, before inter railing back. All seemed set to go, when, the day we were meeting in town to buy tickets, ALL my friends pulled out, at literally the last moment. Distraught I emailed a friend.. What should I do? "Go to Thailand" she said. "Alright", I said and two weeks later I was sitting in a Jumbo Jet descending towards Bangkok airport paging through a guidebook belatedly trying to find a place to stay. I found a place, but couldn't for the life of me remember its name long enough to get to the taxi rank, so just barged through the waiting besuited touts, leapt into a taxi, and once again started paging through my lonely planet.
The weeks that followed were crazy. At first I was clueless at how to save money, my first dazed wander through the rickshaw and tuk tuk crowded streets saw me being ripped off by some tuk tuk driver and being ferried to a very expensive Thai Boxing match (expensive boring tourist seats that is), it wasn't until meeting a scottish lass and her spanish boyfriend in Ayuthaya that I had everything explained to me. The dos and don'ts of off the beaten track adventure travel. What to say, where to go, where to eat. The stress melted away, and the adventure flowed in.
A day on a train, third class with the locals, not a westerner in sight. People with corn on a stick and wierd satay chicken things in plastic liquid filled bags passing down the carriage at every station. Sitting with my shows up on hard wooden seats, yet it being the most relaxing journey of my life.
Forgetting to take my shoes off as I wander into a wood pannelled victorian looking hotel, a wat(temple) steaming with incense across the muddy brown river. Tramping in, fedora on head, as I walk up the steps it starts to clang, look down, somehow I've managed to get the 'remover your shoes' sign nailed to my booted feet
Getting carried away by independence, ignoring the offer of lifts (fearing touts) at some bus station, instead following my map and instincts to walk into town. Both proved flawed as since the map had been made the bus station had been moved to the other side of town. Also, the town being strangely symmetrical didn't help much. A friendly shop keeper drove me to a hotel for free.
Staying up alnight chatting to a british writer, traveling the world for a year now. The geckos scrambling around us.
Hiring a bicycle, the first I'd ridden in years, and spending a day cycling around the Ayuthaya ruined temple complex as it starts to rain. Avoiding someone someone aggressively selling postcards by climbing over the back wall, the snake I almost landed on was as scared and surprised as me as we both ran/slithered in opposite directions.
Best of all, signing up for a trek in Chaing mai the moment I arrived in the city, whisked off for final preparations with 6 germans, and then the next morning off we go in the back of a Saweng Chewang, or pickup truck jungle bound. Stop in an ancient abandoned monastery that made use of an extensive cave system, stunning my companions as I climb vertically down a narrow shaft in an antechamber, then dissapear into a labyrintine set of tunnels. As we drove through the jungle I hung out the side, "You are like Indiana Jones, Yes?" I could only laugh, as I grabbed at passing vines. One had thorns, I made no noise, just sat back inside, hiding the cuts on my hands. No German Will know of this...
We stopped off and walked through the jungle for hours, stopping in the village of a Karen hill tribe, most amazing dinner I've ever had was prepared for us, I went off playing with the kids, amusing them with my Irish ways, amazing night of chat and music. Next morning up early to bathe in a nearby river and meet our Elephant mounts. Once I got my chance to sit on the elephants neck, away from the bamboo sofas strapped haphazardly to their backs, I was in my element. I listened to the guides as they commanded the elephants, picked up what I could, and used it, my elephants sped away from the rest, and the rest of the trek became a race. Fantastic!
About this time it started to rain. It was Monsoon season. I encouraged everyone to join me in "I'm singing in the rain"
Soon we left our elephants behind and continued into the jungle, at one point there was a commotion up ahead and our party came to a halt with a mixture of gasps, ooos, and aah, I went to take a look, there on a nearby bush was a long green snake, like some thin vine with a bulbous head, it looked, wavered, then drew back like an archer drawing a shaft - our guide dived in, dashing against a tree with his stick. Killing it with a second blow across the head. It had been a green mamba, if it had bitten one of us, we'd have never gotten help in time.
That night we stayed in a hut by a river, for the next morning some locals had built us a couple of crude rafts, sticks of bamboo strung together with a triangular structure jutting up on which to hang our bags. The river was rough from the rain the day before (at times we'd been climbing through a veritable waterfall of mud) so it was advised we remained seated on our rafts, I was having none of that, so stood, surfer like and rode the rafts which didn't so much surmout the water as became one with it. At one point one of our guides behind me was twaked off by a low lying branch, they were standing too, me and a Chris, one of the Germans, quickly scrabbled to help him and grabbed him just in time.
Eventually it was back to dry land where, after an attack by army ants (I chose exactly the wrong place to fix my pack) and a shoe malfunction we were reunited with our pick ups. They took us to a waterfall where we showered, and the highest spot in thailand, obscured totally by the rainclouds sitting on top of it, in which we stood.
Then it was back on my own again. And I sorely missed the company. I diverted down south, as I felt I owed it my time, but beaches have never been for me so I stayed only two nights. One night I ran the miles long beach with a skinny white bearded guru character and tried to sneak onto a 5 star hotels private beach by climbing along the underside of a bridge. Simply cos I had nothing to do. Next day I was about to get a taxi, but the man claimed his piece of laminated card was a meter so I jumped out of his taxi, out ran him protesting behind me and slung myself over the side of a pickup truck full of locals. The local way to travel was dirt cheap, and the wind was in my face.
Back in Bangkok after numerous other adventures everything was easier. I played games with the Tuk Tuk drivers, who knew I was onto them and laughed along with me, I took a detour over a random bridge, hopped on a ferry full of orange clad buddhist monks and sailed down river to a local shopping district, where a westerner was a surprise, and friends were easy to make. Then it was back home.
It had only been three weeks. But what a three weeks it was.
Nobody but nobody will have read that