(Amy)
The weather forecast wasn't looking good so we decided that trekking in the national park may not be the best idea. Instead we set off on the train to Lopburi, about 1.5 hours north of Ayutthaya. There wasn't much to do here, but the town is overrun with monkeys! They literally run all over the streets and all the ruins... It was fun to watch for a while until they started jumping on us. We wandered around the town and killed time until the 8.30pm night train to Chiang mai.In typical Thai fashion the train was about an hour late, but then we both got a pretty good nights sleep and were in Chiang Mai for about 8am Wednesday morning. We walked around all the temples, got in a taxi to the 'day market' and once again ended up in the middle of nowhere... Almost like an outlet store thing. So we had a massage and got a Tuk Tuk back to the city. That evening we met up with the guys from our Bangkok hostel and went out for a few drinks with them, but weirdly everything in Chiang mai shuts down by 12.30, clearly the effects of the military are still going on here despite the fact that the curfew is over.
On the 2nd day we did a Thai cooking course. They took us to a local market and explained about a lot of the ingredients and we each cooked 5 dishes (way too much food, we could all barely eat half of it). A great day out although I'm not sure we'll find all the ingredients at home! That evening we just had a few chilled drinks at the rooftop bar with a couple of Scottish girls we met, but again this was shut down at midnight.
On out 3rd and final day we did a one day trek. We were in a group of 6 with a couple of Irish girls and a English couple on their honeymoon! This started with a trip to the 'elephant camp' which we didn't want to do but we struggled to find a trek without this. We both decided to sit the elephant riding out as they were all chained up and clearly not particularly well treated. Next we bamboo rafted down the river, which was a lot of fun as long as you try not to think about what else mightbe in the river! After lunch at a Thai cafe we trekked through the jungle to see a waterfall (decided against swimming as the after looked pretty grim!) and then carried on to the Karen hill tribe, and saw a few of the long neck women. Felt a bit artificial and staged but still interesting. We decided to move hostels for our final night as the previous one had been dead- definately the right decision. (For Emmy/Katy we recommend Deejai hostel!) as it was much more lively with loads of people and Newly opened pool bar.
Today we got the bus to Chiang Rai this morning, with the intent of spending the afternoon there. As it turns out we only had about 2 hours but it made for a nice stop off. Following the nice air con bus from chiang mai the bus from chiang rai to chiang Khong was much more 'traditional'. But we have arrived and are in a slightly skanky guest house overlooking the Mekong, with Laos in view on the other side. Tomorrow we are intending to cross the border to Huayxai over the new friendship bridge and then board the slowboat for the 2 day journey to luang pruabang.
Monkeys in Lopburi
Loving life on the sleeper train
And with the long neck tribe
No comments:
Post a Comment