Taking in Thailand

In late August / early September, my friend Emma and I went to Thailand for 2 weeks holiday, coinciding with the end of Ramadan and the week of Lebaron. (Yes, I know - that was almost 2 months ago and I'm VERY delinquent at keeping up my blog. But hush and don't distract me! I'll try to add some posts soon about some of the other things I've done while I wasn't posting much.)

We arrived in Bangkok and spent the evening enjoying a change of food and some street shopping in the touristy area where we stayed. The following day, we did a bit of sightseeing including a truly huge Buddha statue, a gemstone workshop, and the Grand Palace. We used a "tuk-tuk" for our sightseeing - a small 3-wheeled vehicle with a motorcycle engine. The tuk-tuk driver got rewards for taking us to some tourist shopping spots - that was okay for the first spot but by the 3rd place which wasn't of real interest we were getting fed up. Our final destination, the Palace, was incredible and well worth visiting so it was all worthwhile.

That evening, we jumped onto an overnight bus to the north. The bus journey was quite an adventure in itself. We began by hiking several blocks, collecting people from different hotels and tourist agencies along the way. When we arrived at a very muddy park, we then waited for about 45 minutes. The bus finally got there and we all piled on board and took off, only to be stopped in traffic for about an hour. Eventually we got through the traffic and thought we were making fine progress. Emma and I had both fallen asleep when we were awoken by a loud bang, and then the bus pulled over. We had blown a tire. After quite a bit of negotiation on the phone and no updates in English for the confused and concerned tourists on board, we resumed our drive - apparently they decided that the double-wheels provided enough support and we didn't need to replace the tire. Okay - back to sleep. As we pulled into the outskirts of Chiang Mai, our intermediate destination, the bus stalled! Fortunately, the driver was able to restart it after a few minutes and we arrived safely at the bus terminal. We got a connection to our minibus and settled into another ride through mountains and beautiful forests, winding up in Pai around mid-day.

Pai is a lovely little town in the mountains, and it's filled with charming restaurants and shops. We met an American friend of a friend there who's opening an admirable school and we were fascinated to learn about her efforts. She steered us to the lovely Ing Doi Guesthouse which was friendly, clean and picturesque, and she joined us the following day for an elephant riding adventure at Thom's Elephant Camp.

After a couple of days in Pai, we went back to Chiang Mai. Emma had previously spent several months there so she was a good tour guide. We continued to enjoy lots of great food and shopping and massage there. We also toured some temples and took a class in cooking Thai food. The temples were lovely, serene and filled with reminders of peace and beauty. Well, except for the throngs of tourists like us, of course. But even with tourists, somehow they managed to leave space for quiet little experiences of meditation and wonder. The cooking class was both delicious and fun, and we left with our own copies of recipe books featuring the dishes we'd made. We stayed in Pai through Sunday so that we could experience the Sunday Market - a street market full of clothing, jewelry, knickknacks, food, performances, and more. Of course, attending a market is just asking to spend money and we both spent more than we'd intended but did manage to keep it in check enough to cram it all into our small traveling bags.

We caught the bus back to Bangkok again and amusingly rode on the exact bus which had stalled and had the flat tire! We were positive because not only did it have the same paintings on the outside, we rode in the same seats with the same broken tray table and other signs. Other than another slow start, we had no problems this time and successfully transferred to a mini-bus to head down south toward the coast. Just 3 hours out of Bangkok, we reached a ferry to the island Koh Samet.

Koh Samet was lovely. The beaches were clean and the water was warm. There were fire shows on the beaches in the evenings, good and affordable massages available in the shade, and a minimum of vendors hawking tourist junk along the sand. We were able to find very good food and drink right on the beach, and could choose between quieter spots and loud music. Our guesthouse, TubTim was in a nice, quiet area. We didn't do a lot of tourist activities but we did take some short walks and also a half-day boat trip with snorkeling and a visit to a fish farm. The snorkeling was nice but not as good as we've done in Indonesia. Perhaps another time we'll try windsurfing or other sports but this time we were lazy.

Overall, I recommend Thailand for anyone wanting to travel. Here are some of the reasons:

• There are a lot of foreign tourists so it's pretty easy to find English-speakers.
  
• It's generally quite a cheap place to travel. It was affordable for Emma and I on our Indonesian salaries, and (aside from the air travel to get there of course) would be very cheap for anyone from America or Europe. For example, a nice meal there might cost about 60-200 baht which is about $2-$7 and our rooms ranged from 300-1000 baht per night which is about $10-$32.
  
• Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the culture is very accepting and easy-going, so the people are respectful and tolerant of tourists with different ways. They appreciate your respect for their traditions but don't wish to impose their views on you.
  
• There are a great variety of activities for all tastes. In addition to the beautiful scenery and the other things I described, there are museums, rafting and trekking, traditional dancing, Thai boxing, and much more.
  
• The food is delicious! There are a lot of curries and spicy-hot salads, but they also have stir-fries and mild dishes, and like Indonesia there are lots of wonderful fresh fruits. Plus it's easy to find decent western food - burgers and sandwiches, pasta, etc. We enjoyed the availability of some of our favorites that we can't find in Sidoarjo!
  
• Good massages are cheap and readily available also. I tried out a variety of massages (Thai, Oil, Foot, Back & Shoulder) as well as using the Doctor Fish a couple of times. There was just one place which was too hard and left me a bit bruised - the rest were all lovely!

Some travel tips if you do go to Thailand:

• Don't drink the water. Like many other places in the world, tap water isn't necessarily safe, especially if your stomach isn't adjusted to the local bacteria.
  
• If you're not from SE Asia, carry some pocket tissues or toilet paper and remember to throw your paper in the bin. Don't flush it.
  
• Wear sunscreen and/or a hat. I've been living near the equator for over a year but I still got a bit burnt on the beach.
  
• Carry a sarong. You'll need to cover your legs and shoulders before going into temples if you're wearing shorts or a camisole top.
  
• Enjoy it and send me a photo!