Jan 08

Since I've been back in Taiwan for over a week now I suppose I ought to write something about it. "Wet" is the obvious thing to write - it's rained pretty much continuously since we got here, with no prospect for clear blue skies any time soon! It's tempting to say "cold" too, and after 2 months in Thailand it certainly seems that way, but it's at least in double figures (Centigrade) even at night, so it's not really that cold. Definitely need to dress warmer here than anywhere in Thailand though (and more waterproof).

"Expensive" would be another adjective that comes to mind, though we haven't ventured far from Taipei and the prices are comparable to those in Bangkok, so in an apples to apples comparison it's maybe not so different. Although we're probably spending more on food, we save a lot on accommodation and transport - I do anyway, and Mickey at least gets to take some benefit from her fixed expenses such as rent and car payments :-p If the apartment had a proper kitchen we could probably be saving on food too.

We haven't done too much since we got back - not that we did all that much when we were in Thailand, but it's been nice to have a fixed address and an empty schedule for the first time in a while. With Chinese New Year starting in just a few days we might have an empty schedule forced on us for longer than we'd like though - most of the country closes for anywhere from a day to a week, and the places that aren't closed are impossibly busy (Mickey did try to warn me of this) - calling around more than a week ahead we couldn't find anywhere serving vegetarian food that was open on the 6th and not already full. It looked like we were going to end up celebrating New Year with microwave noodles and toast, but Mickey's friend managed to find seats for us at her sister's place, where there'll be at least some food I can eat. Not sure how we'll get there though, as for a week around New Year you are only allowed to drive on the freeways in Taiwan if you have 3 or more people in the car (and even then they're expected to be packed solid)! That pretty much precluded us from going away for New Year, even if every hotel in the country wasn't full (and asking double their usual price).

It sounds like the New Year should at least be a massive party here, but I'm told that all this chaos and inconvenience only results in people getting together at the family home and playing mahjong for several days - possibly without rest. Not an option for us, so to help fill in the time when we're stranded at home (and as a late birthday present for Mickey) I bought a Nintendo Wii yesterday. We could only get a Japanese import though (since Taiwan has such a 'liberal' attitude to copyright there's little incentive for Nintendo to release an official Taiwanese model) so we're probably going to spend most of our time trying to recall enough Japanese to get the games to run! Not sure what my hands are going to make of the Wii... it could be much better for them than the PlayStation controller, since it uses larger gestures and less finger movement... or it could be much worse! Guess I'll know soon enough :-)

I suppose we should try and get away for a few days before it gets too busy...

Added a lot more photos to my gallery (since Travellerspoint is a bit crap I have to tell you this myself):

http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/size/M/users/mrsdbooth/

New ones back to about Phuket, including a lot from Ayutthaya and Sukhothai (finally got around to sorting through them)

Back in Taiwan, trying to get used to the cold weather (I actually have to wear a jacket!) Should be here until after Chinese New Year at least, then not quite sure what... maybe need to go back to the US and kick my lawyer until my workers compensation case starts moving forward (or kick him off it and deal directly with the insurance company/doctors... I'm not sure he's actually done any work since I left).

Nice to have an apartment to be based from again, even if it's not my own. Will try to get my head together enough to post some thoughts & summaries about the Thailand experience before too long.

We came back to Bangkok to end the trip where we started it, in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok, to see how it looked through new eyes... overcrowded, overpriced, noisy and dirty, it turns out!

We caught an overnight bus from Chiang Mai and arrived at 5am extremely tired and without much of a plan. We didn't book a hotel because most of what's available online in Sukhumvit is expensive, and I remembered thinking "it's a much better idea to just turn up and find somewhere". Somehow that didn't work though... we dragged our bags around a bit, but everywhere we checked was full or expensive (or both). We checked at the Unico Leela, for the ultimate 'back to the start' experience, but the room they showed us was disgusting - the carpets stained and burnt, the fixtures broken, the bedding old and dirty... and 1500 baht per night. Mickey was so tired of dragging the suitcase around she wanted to take it anyway, but I refused to pay so much for a room so disgusting. We ended up in "Mike's Place" hotel a little further up the road, which I remembered looking nice and being not too expensive. The only room they had left was a 'deluxe' though, which is by far the biggest room we've stayed in (two beds, a sofa, table and chairs etc)... and also by far the most expensive (B1960 per night). Since either Mickey or my hands would have killed me if we had to drag the suitcases much further, and it's only 2 nights, I decided to take it anyway. I regretted the decision almost immediately though - we would still have paid less if we'd taken a taxi to Khao San Road and checked into the smaller but much nicer rooms at New Siam Riverside. We wouldn't have saved time though, and we needed to get to the Taiwanese Embassy (sorry, Taipei Economic and Cultural Development Office) to get me a visa. We managed to be too late anyway, as is our style, so I've had to pay 50% extra for rush processing today. All in all the choice to come back to Sukhumvit was an expensive one - prices for accommodation and food/drinks around here are double those around Khao San Road,and the quality of both is generally lower. The advantage is the better transport links thanks to the SkyTrain, and the arguably more interesting (certainly more salubrious) nightlife. Not really a worthwhile trade-off though.

The imminent expiry of Mickey's visa (and the cold, cold mornings) forced us to move on from Pai, though we spent one more night there than we planned and decided to skip Mae Hong Son, backtracking through Chiang Mai instead (cuts out quite a lot of travel time).

We're staying in the very new and quite fancy Lanna House hotel on Tha Pae Road, which we saw last time we were here and I really wanted to move to, even though it was double the price of Nice Apartments. The price is not so bad though - B700 for a nicely decorated twin room that's large and has aircon, cable TV, refrigerator and the first really good shower we've had in weeks. We were just going to spend one night before heading to Bangkok, but have decided to stay for two instead. Seems like we have to stay one more day in Thailand than we should, since Mickey managed to book her return flight for the day after her visa expired, and bought a ticket which can't be changed. It costs a lot more to buy a new plane ticket than to pay the fine for overstaying the visa one day (in fact the fine is apparently waived for a single day overstay, but it will be noted in her passport). My ticket is flexible so I bumped it to Jan 23rd.

Our extra day in Chiang Mai may not be much fun though, as it seems we ate something yesterday that disagreed with us (a banana pancake is prime suspect). Mickey seems to have puked it all out in the middle of the night, but I'm 'tethered to the toilet' instead :-( Luckily we have free wifi in Lanna House, though only in the lobby/cafe.

I guess we've only got a few days left in Thailand, so I should be having some thoughts about that... not so much so far though. I've gotten so used to being here it probably won't sink in until we're actually at the airport (or back in Taiwan). I'll try to write some sort of summary of the experience then!

I owe Chiang Mai a little apology – after spending some more time there and looking further around, it is not as spoilt by tourism as a cursory glance suggested, and there are still plenty of cheap places – prices fall off rapidly as you move away from the “Night Bazaar”, evidently the biggest tourist trap of the place (and where the most upmarket hotels are located). The further from there you get, the more reasonably priced places there are (tracking the price of Banana Pancakes from roadside stalls was what clued me in to the pattern), and the more Thai people you see actually eating and shopping. The culmination of this was on Sunday evening, when Thanon Ratchadamnoen and its side-streets were pedestrianised and turned into what must have been the world's biggest night market – the streets lined with stalls selling clothes and handicrafts, and the temples turned into food courts (there are really a lot of temples in Thailand – Thanon Ratchadamnoen alone has at least 3). I think everyone in Chiang Mai must have been there, either selling or shopping – thousands and thousands of people! The prices here were generally much lower than at the Night Bazaar, and Mickey in particular got bitten by the shopping bug - and with so much interesting and cheap food on sale we ended up eating far too much.

We wound up staying in Nice Apartments the whole time we were in Chiang Mai (4 nights) – we saw some much nicer places, but would have had to pay more than double for any that were worth the trouble of moving. We didn't really see that much of the city, or do that much – the usual pattern of waking up late, prevaricating too long and generally doing everything too slowly. The one thing we did manage was a trip out to the hot springs at Samkanpaeng – though we arrived so late we only had enough time for a brief herbal sauna and a 1 hour massage (just ok).

We could easily have stayed longer in Chiang Mai, but I wanted to spend a few days in Pai and we are getting close to the end of our visas. I had never heard of Pai before coming to Thailand, but a random Canadian we met in Bangkok told us it was the place he'd liked most in his month in Thailand, and he'd met many other people there who said the same. It's a small town 3 hours through absurdly windy roads through the mountains from Chiang Mai that has become a sort of haven for the hippy travellers and more bohemian Thais – too small and remote for package tours and large scale property development. We just about managed to get it together long enough to catch a minibus here, and checked into the 'Breeze of Pai' Guest House (based on online reviews). The 500 baht bungalows were already full, so we're in a 300 baht room that is actually rather nice – no A/C (don't need it), refrigerator or TV but nicely decorated. The only problems are that it only has twin beds, and that it's really cold in the mornings (no heater either, and this far North and high the temperature really drops at night). We looked around a lot more places after dumping our bags there – there are some really pretty bungalow developments on the river banks, but they're either expensive or small, and it looked like everywhere would have the same problem with cold - so on balance we decided we had a pretty good deal and stayed where we were.

Pai itself is really small – we walked around the entire town in just a few hours - and it really is shamelessly New Age. There are a lot of Western tourists about – the town really only grew as a stopover for backpackers between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, so its development was very strongly influenced by the backpacker culture, and only drew in Thais later – thankfully attracting those who liked the vibe rather than those who saw tourists as an opportunity for cons and exploitation (it seems). It's all very rustic (the minibus had to stop for cows on the road multiple times as we drew close), and there's not really a lot to do here, but the scenery is very beautiful and everyone seems friendly and happy. It's really cheap too, at least for food and accommodation – probably how Chiang Mai was before the upmarket hotels and more wealthy tourists arrived. I can see why a lot of people end up staying here longer than they planned.

We left Bangkok on the 8th, heading North this time (our previous travels were all South of Bangkok). Chiang Mai is the major destination in the North, but we decided to spread the journey over a few days and visit the 'ancient capitals' - Ayutthaya and Sukhothai. Sukhothai was the first capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya the 2nd and Bangkok the 3rd - each time the Thais were chased South by the Burmese, only recovering the Northern lands centuries later.

Ayutthaya has a number of more or less ruined temples and parts of the grand palace, with the modern town built around the remains of the old. Restoration has been pretty limited, but some of the temples are still in good shape. We only had a few hours to look around so we borrowed a bicycle from our Guest House (Baan Lotus, nice but a little over-priced) and cycled to the closest ruins. We got to see the famous 'Buddha's head in a Bodhi Tree', which is Ayutthaya's most famous image.

Sukhothai is a different beast - the older capital has been more extensively restored (at least the central parts) and is set in a national park area which is immaculately landscaped and maintained. The ruins are undeniably more impressive here, and the setting is beautiful. The modern town, "New Sukhothai", is abour 12km away from the old city, and is charmingly 'local'. We stayed at 'J&J Guest House', which is a nice compound of Bungalows with charming rooms at a reasonable price (though on the higher end for Sukhothai). We took a bus out to the Old City and rented a bicycle to tour the ruins - 4 hours is plenty of time to see the most interesting ruins (and take a few hundred pictures).

I do like staying in the small, provincial towns like New Sukhothai and Phuket Town... the locals are generally friendlier, they are free of annoying touts pitching suits, massages etc (though pushy Taxi and Tuk-Tuk drivers are ubiquitous) and everything is cheaper - usually a lot. It's a lot closer to the original 'vision' I had of travelling in Thailand, such as it was and minus the beaches. There's not generally much to do in the small towns though, so a few days is enough for each one - though moving on so frequently would be easier if we were travelling lighter (we both have big suitcases, and far too much stuff to go 'backpacker'). Another nice touch of the small towns is meeting other tourists since we keep bumping into the same people everywhere - we can swap advice and recommendations.

We reached Chiang Mai yesterday, and checked in to the cheapest place we've stayed yet - 'Nice Apartments', only 350 baht per night for a room with A/C, Refrigerator and Hot Shower. It's a rather plain, sterile room with white walls and flourescent lighting, but it's functional. I wanted to move to somewhere a bit swankier for a few days since today is Mickey's birthday, but she insisted we needed to save money and she quite likes the place.

Chiang Mai has exploded in popularity in recent years as a place to go to get a more 'authentic' Thai experience, away from the commercialism and pandering to tourists... except the influx of tourists has already had exactly the same effect on Chiang Mai as elsewhere in Thailand. In the central Tha Pae gate area there are already far more tourists wandering the streets than Thai - in fact I don't recall seeing any Thai people who weren't trying to sell something to tourists. The surge of tourist money has driven up prices, so that eating and drink is as expensive here as in Bangkok - maybe even more so. Only accommodation is cheaper here, though mid to high-priced places are becoming more numerous. I suspect we'll move on again in a few days, as Chiang Mai doesn't have all that much to offer once 'cheap' is crossed off the menu.

We finally made it to Wat Pho Temple on Friday - actually I went briefly in December, but only had a quick look around and took a few photos. This time we went specifically to seek out a massage there. The temple is renowned as the centre of Thai massage teaching - originally established as such by royal decree in the 19th century, and most masseuses in Bangkok will claim to have learnt there (some may even have done so) - the actual teaching is done in neighbouring buildings these days, as is most of the massage - though you can get one on the temple grounds if you don't mind waiting.

The massage at the school is a little more expensive than most - 360 baht for 1 hour, double the local norm - but at least you have the assurance that the person giving the massage has had some training. We got assigned 2 men for our massage, which was the first time since Taiwan - the vast majority of places only have female masseuses - and it was clear from the start that they were more professional than anyone we'd seen in Thailand before. The routine was broadly similar to the norm - everyone follows a basic pattern starting at the feet and working up to the head, and apart from minor details and embellishments the routine is the same everywhere. The Wat Pho massage seemed somehow different though - the way the tissue and limbs were worked, perhaps. One particularly big difference was when a spot elicited a wince of pain... most masseuses say 'sorry' and then avoid the spot or work on it so gently they might as well not bother, but these guys said 'sorry' then worked twice as hard and long on the spot :-p It is of course those areas that are in most need of attention, so that is the right approach (as long as you know what you're doing).

We left the session feeling more satisfied than we had anywhere else in Thailand, and decided to stay in Bangkok a little longer so we could go again. I finished the draft on Thai Massage I'd had in the works for weeks to lay the ground for this one :-p

The next day we ended up walking around a lot in Chinatown, with the intent of going to the train station to plan & book our next journey. We never made it there though, as my feet and legs were really painful - yet another pair of cheap shoes were on the verge of falling apart, and clearly not supporting my feet well. We hopped on a boat and headed back to Wat Pho for another massage. This time we were assigned female masseuses, and sad to say they were not a patch on the guys from the day before. They used far less pressure for a start (just physically less strong?), but also seemed to be just going through the routine like so many much cheaper places had before (whilst talking and joking amongst themselves). At the end we both agreed they really hadn't justified the higher price tag or the Wat Pho reputation. Walking back home my feet were less painful at first, but really bad again by the time we got back to the hotel, so perhaps it was just lying down for an hour that relieved them.

So, we're still not much wiser on the 'finding a good massage in Thailand' front, except perhaps to look for a male masseur (though Mickey really disliked one in Pattaya). Clearly some are better than others, but even having it done at the most prestigious place in the country it's still pot luck...

Well, due to our chronic lethargy we were too late to get a room in the hotels we wanted again today - it seems you really need to be out & about before 12pm to get the decent rooms. This time we swung the other way and splashed out on a room in the New Siam Riverside, which is really quite nice but more money than we wanted to spend. Oh well, if we average over the 2 nights we get a reasonable hotel at a reasonable rate :-p We checked in too late to really appreciate the swimming pool though - I took a dip for 5 minutes. Our hotel-hunting meant we didn't get to go anywhere else in Bangkok too... changing hotels every day really isn't the best way to spend a vacation!

Due to the difficulty finding decent value accommodation in Pattaya at the moment we decided as spontaneously as we could manage to come back to Bangkok - I thought Mickey would like to experience Khao San Road, and we would get cheaper eats and sleeps here. Unfortunately we arrived too late to get into any of the nice/cheap places (or to spend much time looking) so we spent one night in the cheap but really not nice 'At Home Guesthouse', and will try to find somewhere better today! Not sure where we'll head next - maybe Chiang Mai?