So it’s taken us some time to figure out this whole YouTube thing… Somehow being techno-savvy while travelling is a little harder than I thought!
Still, I think we’ve got it now.
We’ve been recording all these great videos, you see – short 20 to 30 second cell phone videos of the Best Moment of the Day that give you a taste of what we’re seeing as we travel around the world. And we want to share them with you in an easy-to-get-to way. Which we’ve now found!
Koi Pond at entrance leading up to Chang Dao caves
Hua Lamphong Railway station
Absolutely in heaven!
We left the craziness of Bangkok behind, and took the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, which was totally fun. We were in a second-class sleeper, which meant that after an hour or two on the train, an attendant came around and turned our chairs into beds (bunk beds – Mark was on top because I was afraid I’d fall out!) complete with fresh sheets, blankets and pillows. And curtains that you could pull across the front of your bed so that you had your own private compartment. So cool! We woke to the most incredible views of forest and fields of rice with small villages along the way, and we knew… We’d hit the North.
Row of convenient Tuk Tuk taxis
The North of Thailand, it must be said, is incredibly beautiful. Only, most tourists get off the train in Chiang Mai and miss out on the real wilderness. Not us! We’d been told a secret (by the wonderful Vanoodle – check out her blog here) about a little place called Chiang Dao Nest, a short taxi ride and an hour and a half bus ride from Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city.
What an amazing place! The bus ride hinted that it was going to be beautiful, with sweeping views out over the mountains and forests, but when we actually arrived here at Chiang Dao Nest (our home for the next 5 nights) we were blown away. The bungalows are set in the midst of a lush tropical garden, and they’re made entirely from bamboo (with wooden floors) and home to an enormous bed. Stunning. There’s a great pool with views of the mountain all around, and a gourmet restaurant on the premises (ooh la la!)
Buddha sculptures inside Chang Dao Caves
This morning we walked about 15 minutes down the road to the famous Chiang Dao Caves, which totally blew us away. We had no idea what to expect… We had just heard that the caves were pretty cool. They were incredible! A series of interlinked caves high off the ground, in the middle of the mountain I suppose, with amazing stalactites and stalagmites, and a walking path lit up to a reclining Buddha statue. For a small fee we could hire a guide who took us through the back route, with some hair-raising climbing through small tunnels and even smaller holes, to these enormous caverns… Mind-blowing, I’m telling you! There were loads of rocks that looked like other things, too – an elephant, a papaya, a lion, and it was so dark (the guide’s oil lamp was the only light) that it felt as if we were virgin explorers seeing the caves for the first time. Wow.
Tomorrow we’re going to the temple 10 minutes down the road (the other way), which sounds pretty amazing too.
So all in all, we’re feeling a lot more settled and more traveler-savvy. We even have the rest of our time in Thailand sorted out, which is rather exciting!
That said, food has been a bit tricky, I must say. We don’t quite have the budget to eat at the gourmet restaurant three times a day, so we’ve been stocking up on food to eat for breakfast and lunch. Only, most of the supermarkets (obviously) only sell Thai food, and they’re not much for snacking-without-cooking. So most of the portable snacks we could find (for the train and for lunches these days) are either highly processed white breadstuffs, or biscuits. Not ideal!
Still, there is loads of fruit for sale (I bought a kilogram of Thai lychees for about R2.50 today!) and for our one cooked meal a day we’re eating lots of veggies. I seem to be striking it lucky with the insulin to exercise ratio – we’re still walking around a lot but I think I’ve figured out how much less insulin to take to balance out the exercise.
And so far – one week in – I haven’t had a bad health day, or a bad diabetes day! Hooray!
Real Bangkok is exhausting, let me tell you! Mark and I made the mistake of being tourists today, and ended up hot, exhausted and with raging headaches… No fun! We realised a few things today – that it’s way too hot to be out and about during the hottest time of the day, that traveling between places often takes longer than the actual activity you’re traveling towards and, most importantly, that there is a vast difference between tourists and travelers, and that we can’t be tourists or we’ll wear ourselves out…
I was sitting, this evening, on the verandah of the place we’re staying at, which is right in the heart of traveler city – the Khao San district in Bangkok. I must have sat there for over an hour, closer to two, while Mark was working on the computer, and as I sat I watched all the hundreds of different types of people walking past. There were locals selling things, locals buying things, locals driving tuk tuks and scooters and taxis, foreigners from every country you could imagine, hippies, hobos, smartly dressed Westerners and everything in between. I also saw a couple of dogs and a few kids playing… It was fascinating. Because as I sat there I could differentiate immediately between those who were tourists and those who were travelers. The tourists walked really quickly, looking around in a dazed kind of way, and were usually dressed in the clothing and jewellery for sale on the side of the road. They have a frenzied air about them, as if there’s not enough time to fit in everything (usually, I suppose, because there isn’t enough time to take everything in!)
The travelers, on the other hand, walked slowly and seemed to absorb what was happening around them. They were a lot more chilled and seemed centered in their own space, and were mostly wearing old, comfortable clothes. Mark and I aren’t quite there yet (well, apart from the old clothes!) but we’re getting there…
So much of this first stage of the journey is about learning how to travel. It feels like we’re still traveler rookies (because we are!) and we’re definitely being charged higher prices for taxis and food than we should be, but I can sense that we’ll get it. We’ll learn the language. We have to – we’re on the road for such a long time… And if we try to be tourists the whole time, we’ll end up exhausted and frazzled, which is no fun.
So today we realised that we have to take it easy and absorb as much as we can, rather than rush to try and fit everything in. A valuable lesson, I think!
We also realised that although this is technically autumn (and the rainy season) it is HOT here in Bangkok. Crazy hot. And there isn’t a freezer in the hotel we’re staying, so I’ve entrusted my cooler bag and insulin to a fridge (I hope it’s cold enough). I tried using ice and it melted in a few hours. Did I mention that it was rather hot??
That said, Bangkok is a crazy cool place to visit. Highlights so far include:
Taking the water taxi on the river, which is ridiculously cheap and ferries you between major spots while letting you soak up some of the riverside sights
Eating delicious freshly-cooked Thai food from the street, especially the pad thai (fried noodles and egg) and fried rice with vegetables.
Getting lost in the streets and reveling in the non-stop energy that surrounds the city, no matter what time of day…
In fact, it was really rather fun. We left Cape Town on Tuesday evening, heading for Doha in Qatar, and from there to Bangkok. I wasn’t so sure about Qatar Airways, I didn’t really have any references for what they’d be like, and I actually had no idea where Doha was a few days ago! Now I can say I’ve been there, if only for a few minutes…
Our Cape Town flight left a little late, but Mark and I were so excited to be on our way (at last!) that it didn’t really matter… In fact, I was so excited that I started dancing around the airport to music on my iPod! You must understand, we’ve been planning and planning and planning for months on end, so to finally be in motion is a pretty spectacular thing!
The flight to Doha was pleasant and uneventful. It was almost full, so there wasn’t any space to stretch out (alas), but there were loads of movies to choose from, and they fed us well and often. We landed in Doha with something crazy like ten minutes to get to our next flight, and would you believe we made it? With only the slightest of rushing. Doha looked really cool, and kind of insane. A vast yellow desert stretching right from the sea, with tall buildings popping up out of the sand. I would have liked to explore it more, actually…
Then on to Bangkok! On a flight that was deliciously empty so we could stretch out over many seats and sleep. Ah, bliss! The food got better and better as the flight continued, till we were actually saying things like, “Ooh, this is yummy!” (an aeroplane first!) I must admit, I was very impressed with Qatar Airways overall. We arrived on time, disembarked with the greatest of ease, and as soon as we got through Thai Passport Control (which was super easy), our bags were waiting! All in all, a very pleasant experience. I’d definitely fly them again.
Then to navigate Bangkok, with its notorious traffic jams and numerous forms of unusual transport (including tuc tucs, songtheuws, buses, taxis and scooters!) We went for the simple choice – an airport express bus, which for the measly sum of 150 baht (about R40) took us a few blocks from our hotel. The smells and sounds that assault you while walking on Bangkok streets are an experience in themselves – pungent aromas from street stalls selling food, exhaust fumes, garbage, fresh mango, other people… It’s an attack on the senses!
But a much-appreciated one.
We’ve been in the beautiful Metropolitan Hotel since last night, so we haven’t done too much exploring (except for lunch, which was quite an adventure – more on food in later posts, I promise), we’ve just been soaking up the comfort and beauty… And recovering from jetlag. We’ll be posting a review of the Metropolitan, along with any other hotels we review for Just the Planet, under their Hidden Gems section – check it out for reviews of the South African gems we stayed at before we left.
Tomorrow we head off into the wild unknown, I’ll let you know alll about it! Also watch out for our Best Moments of the Day, we’ve started posting them and they’re really rather fun (even if I do say so myself!)
PS – Diabetically: so far, so good. My blood sugar has been behaving itself wonderfully, and the food hasn’t been too strange (yet!)
