Tuesday 20th Monks, Temples and The Hotel California

Over dinner last night Nok had asked if any of us would like to go with her to give food to the monks at 6.30. Sounded like a good idea at the time, so I crept out of bed so as to not wake Kerrie and got dressed by the light of my mobile.

Found Nok outside with Tom and she led us into the village. Light was just breaking and people were starting their days, farmers having a gossip before they start work, puppies fighting over a t-shirt.

Went to a sort of takeaway curry house and ordered the Thai equivalent of a McBreakfast-Monk special. For 28Baht your lucky monk gets curry, rice water and sweets! the curry and rice are just put in plastic bags and fastened with a rubber band! (You see loads of people carrying food, and even drinks like this.. if it's a drink they just pop a straw in the top! neat!).

Anyway, we wandered onto the main road and started looking for a monk. After a couple of minutes we spotted one and Nok effectively flagged him down with a little bow. He came over, so, following Nok's instructions we took our shoes off and knelt down. Then we got up again and put our monk meals in his bowl, then we knelt down again whilst the monk gave us a blessing. All by the main road!

After that we went for a walk round the farmer's village and watched the sun come up over the tobacco plants. Back to the guesthouse for breakfast and then into the songthaew for the drive into the Historic Park.





We picked up bicycles.. all quite sensible apart from Kerrie's pink "fairy" bike.. though mine was lacking a little in the brakes department!

Felt so good to be cycling in the breeze between these amazing ruined temples. Took far more pictures than I'd intended, though I really wished I had my "proper" camera with me!






We stopped for lunch not far from the giant Buddha and Naa (who helped Nok out whilst we were in Sukothai) came out to meet us with a fantastic picnic and sorted out who wanted a massage. Very funny listening to us reel off our assorted ailments and injuries!



We cycled back via the elephant temple. The chedi sits on the back of 24 stone elephants - each of which had been given a bunch of fresh bananas! Apparently it's a traditional way of giving thanks for good luck!





Quick swim at the hotel round the corner and then back to No4 for our massages. Tiny Thai lady turned up and pummelled me from here to kingdom come. I didn't fall asleep (which is more than can be said for Kerrie!) but I kept drifting off and having really random thoughts, and then coming back when she cut off the circulation to one of my limbs!



All suitably massaged and chilled we went to the street market for dinner, and watched the bats flying from under the bridge. Popped into the internet cafe and then onto the Chopper Bar again, where our ladyboy barman was back on duty. Also, the houseband worked their way through their entire English repertoire.. Welcome to the Hotel California!

Monday 19th, No 4 Guesthouse

Sitting on the verandah of my bamboo hut in what looks like a set from Pirates of the Caribbean! It's so gorgeous.. what Thailand should look like!

Spent 5 hours on the train to get here. "Delicious" meal of curry, rice and cold dry fishcakes en route! mmm..

An hour in the back of a songthaew to get here.. enough to build a thirst, so straight off to the Chopper bar in town (the barmaid is a chap with beautiful hair and immaculate make-up!), Then a semi open air shower watching geckos climb the wall.

Great meal in the upstairs "treehouse" dining room, then sat up drinking and chatting to Nok, our guide ( scarily good mimic! ) and the rest of the guys.

Sunday 18th, Grasshopper anyone?

Slept really well and woke up at a normal time! Hurrah! No jet lag for this hamster!

Quick breakfast at the hotel, and was just about to leave for the Grand Palace when reception rang to say my room-mate was on her way up. Johanna arrived a couple of minutes later; turned out she was planning on going to the Palace too, so we headed off together.


10 minute walk that would have taken 5 if we hadn't had to cross a 6 lane highway, or been stopped at least 4 times by tuktuk touts telling us it was shut! Luckily I'd read my faithful Lonely Planet so I was wise to them! Ha! Good job too; it's astonishing, blazing with gilt and mirrors.. it makes the Pavilion look like a 50s semi! The temple of the Emerald Buddha is just breath-taking.. so beautiful.. crowds and crowds of worshippers and tourists all jostling together.

I overheard a guide telling her group it was like Buckingham Palace in London.. it's really really not!

From there we took the riverboat to Chinatown.. the river's so busy.. ferries zooming across and up and down, with longtails haring in between and then improbably delicate looking tugs pulling football pitch sized barges three at a time.



Chinatown was like a film set, I was half-expecting Jackie Chan to appear at any moment! and it was Chinese New Year so it was even busier than usual.. everyone in red..

Back on the boat, quick bite on the Khao San and just made it back to the hotel in time to meet the rest of the group. Had a quick swim before dinner and got chatting to an Aussie called Spike.. as luck would have it he'd just got back from Krabi, so I have hotel recommendations now!



Group dinner at the AuThong (same name as the place on Brighton seafront!).. v good.. open roof to let the palm tree out!



Then another walk down Khao San.. we went over to look at a fried bug stall, and before I knew it I was talking to another Aussie, who was offering me a grasshopper! Apparently the trick is to hold it by the spiky bit and not eat that bit! So, with a deep breath and ignoring the "oh my god you're not going to.." from the girls, I tucked in. Crunchy, oily and tasting of salt & vinegar - a bit like the crispy bits at the bottom of a bag of chips.

He also offered me a scorpion pincer..tasted like burnt chicken skin.. Not sure I'm brave enough for a whole one though!

Sat 17th February - Night One in Bangkok

Flight to Dubai was fine, pretty uneventful aside from "The World's fastest Indian" making me blub like a baby, and just the six courses for dinner - in economy! Dread to think what happens in first - presumably they eat constantly from the minute they board and are chased from the plane at their final destination by Emirates girls offering them one last "wafer thin mint"!

So, staggered off the plane at Dubai to discover a disney-style desert airport.. not only palm trees, but also desert patterned sand!

Was trying to work out what the the huge 2kg bags off stuff were and then realised they were Anchor dried milk! Well, what else would you expect to find in duty free?!!

Anyway, back on the plane at 3.00 am local time, 11 o clock GMT, WTF o'clock Hamster time - by now I really hadn't got a clue!

Met with nightmare scenario.. fat bloke neighbour, already lolling over my armrest and asleep. It only got worse when I got within sniffing distance! Pretty uncomfortable, I mean there's enough of me to fit in one of those seats without losing any of it! Suffice to say, when the lovely lady asked me if I wanted anything else with my breakfast I caved and asked for a brandy (whilst all around were sipping orange juice!). Clearly there was a note of desperation which she misinterpreted as fear of flying (it was a bit bumpy) so she kept asking if I was ok for the rest of the flight and offering more brandy! Good woman! though I declined for fear of rolling off the plane.

And so, finally! Bangkok (Oriental city! ;0) ) Hopped in a taxi, and all hell let loose! Thought I'd probably die before I got to the hotel, cos this guy was terrifying! 100 kph (despite the screaming engine and disco display of warning lights on the dash), undertaking, overtaking.. a brief but enlivening spell on the hard shoulder.. In the end I just stared very hard out of the window for fear it would be all i saw of Bangkok!

Got to the hotel, had a swim, shower and change and then out to hit the legendary Khao San Road. T-shirts and trinkets, backpackers, tourists looking at the backpackers, a fair sprinkling of souls who looked like they took a gap year sometime in the 80s and never went home! Tried my first Singha, then had another to make sure!

Went back out after dark when things really liven up. Neon everywhere, street stalls, bar girls in dresses promoting the beers; I was suerved by Chiang Light who was a poppet - Tiger Beer looked a bit mardy, but then she did have a tiger emblazoned across her arse!

Friday 16th No Sleep til Dubai!

The best laid plans of hamsters will often gang awry.. or something.

after the printer drama last night, I thought it would be plain sailing, until the last bit of washing up and my surprisingly powerful tap conspired to create a spectacular indoor water feature as the stream from the tap bounced off the bottom of a mug and straight onto the kitchen floor!

In the end I gave up, ran down to the internet cafe to print the flight confirmation and abandoned all thoughts of moving Maisie to the relative safety of Chichester. Poor thing's parked under a tree in St James' Ave.. thankfullly there aren't quite so many seagulls around this time of years, so she might still have some yellow bits by the time i get home!

Of course, when I got to check in they didn't even look at the sodding e-mail! typical!

So now, as long as I can get myself to the gate, my destiny is in the hands of Emirates. I'm somebody else's problems for the next 18 hours!

Thursday 15th.. last night at home

Gah! I'm an idiot. I've printed everything except the ticket confirmation mail. And my printer's screwed. It just doesn't want to play. At All. I've tried everything to get the sodding thing to work and, frankly, it's fucked.

So I've had a quick panic and now I've calmed down and remembered that there's an internet cafe at Gatwick!

GAH!

nagging feeling

I'm fairly sure I'm ready to roll. Which is good, cos I'll be on my way in about 60 hours (if you count driving the car over to crime free Maudlin as on my way).. and realistically what that actually means is I have tomorrow lunchtime free to sort out anything I've forgotten.

I've even done a practice pack and discovered that I've got loads of space in my bag. So I must have forgotten something, mustn't I?

Of course, I should also bear in mind that I'm not actually going to the back end of nowhere, that there are both Boots and Tesco in Bangkok, and that this is supposed to be fun.