There maybe other things i add to this list later:
Thai-Time is relative - relative to what though?? (ie after being told i have to leave at 10 O'c [it's 9:54 now] i apparently still have time to shower and pack!! then there is a sudden hurry to catch a share taxi truck thingy at 10:42.... it's caught, apparently on time at 10:45....)
Taxi's are not impervious to all other vehicles no matter how badly they may behave when they think they're in a rush.... but there's no stopping to exchange insurance when you hit someone you're trying to push in front of. (oh and the meter stays on in fuel stations)
A third is the absolute maximum you should pay a walking street hawker compared to his opening price (if you actually want something they're selling - a rarity in itself).
Driving is an art not a science.
Shops of a feather flock together - including giant-rock shops on the way to Erawan
That's it for now...
very PS... I have now survived reversing down the first lane of a motorway(/freeway) when a taxi driver missed the turn.... So i don't need to do that again any time soon!!
Monday, 28 June 2010
Friday, 25 June 2010
Thailand Rnd 1
Having promised a few updates I thought i better get around to at least the first so you know I'm still vertical; so here's the first of those few - yes it will be more than a few by the time all is said and done but I'm still not planning to inundate everyone.... anyway... here's the first months' worth :-)
Selected {though not vary carefully i admit} photos of various things can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JeremyJLeigh/ThailandJuneBlogSelection?authkey=Gv1sRgCMGQ472V_t3SCQ&feat=directlink or click the picture
Some of you will know that i delayed coming out by a week as the place i was going in my first week hit the governments "don't go there" list (i was a little behind with organisation of house stuff too so it all worked out well for me to fly with the other brits heading to my friend kev's wedding a week later) while we were a lounging on a beach in the first few days all the travelrestrictions got lifted anyway - but it's quite nice with everywhere being a bit quieter anyway).
Allegedly the wet season started pretty much on arrival, but I've only seen about 4 evenings with rain so far and even they haven't been full nights' worth or anything.
Having written that it naturally bucketed down for the night!
Kev's Wedding was in the midst of a 2 week whistle stop tour of many spots with a few of friends and family from blighty Those of you who know Kev will know he and Duen actually married last year in the New Forrest, so this was more a blessing than a wedding....
I'm learning that Thailand is a somewhat "flexible" country - be that time keeping or anything else - so i guess it was suitable that during the "wedding" few people seemed to know what would happen next or when - that didn't stop things going well and it seemed that everyone had a good time and enough of the right things got done at the right times that it was a success.
The first 2 weeks included: Kho Samet (the island 2hrs away the Bangkok uses as it's local getaway) with perfect beaches that were suitably empty considering the various government warnings in place at the time.
Bit's and pieces in Bangkok (that included me buying over-priced suits [by local prices anyway]), visits to the Grand Palace, Reclining Buda,
A trip to the old capital [Ayuthaya] which was almost completely destroyed when it was sacked by the Burmese in the latter half of the 18th century).
The Bridge over the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi, where a Thai busker that could do the most perfect plum brit accent while singing the "alternative" Colonel Bogey March. I had no idea how many Asian peoples where used by the Japanese, and died, in the building of the railway in WWII, a sobering day.
And finally a visit to Erawan Falls, which included climbing up to the 7th tier [unfortunately i was the only one mad enough to race off to the top, so you'll have to take it from me: one of the pictures of a waterfall is #7!!] with a natural fish massage/foot clean on the way back down.
Then I was left on my own!!! I thought I was "Thailanded out" for now, knowing that I'll be back after Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam anyway so was beginning to make plans to go to Angkor and generally figuring out what i was "doing here". I immediately abandoned my plan to "go without tech" and decided to buy myself a net-book [boys will be boys, gadgets must be bought, i decided that I'd probably end up spending money at internet cafes anyway - so some of the cost can be offset over the year as i now just use free wi-fi. I know i didn't need to justify it for you all really ;-) ] so I found my way to what is best described as a "canal-bus" that took me where i needed go in the centre of BKK to find what can only be described as a computer-only shopping mall.... five floors of everything you can think of to do with computers with only one problem - everyone sells exactly the same thing as the guy a few doors/floors down.... at exactly the same price!!
I managed to leave with the intended netbook and a plan to meet a few new friends, who took pitty on me while i was looking a bit bamboozled and lost i think, for some drinks later.... all good fun..... during the night i was invited to leave the next day to spend the next week in a small farming village [Wichian Buri] about 4-5 hrs north of Bangkok i thought to myself "well this is why i have no plans" and promptly said yes, checked out of the hostel early and off i went with a friends I'd met less than 24hrs earlier!
This is the land that seems to look after the world's electric fan mountain - not all in one place, but spread among the population in readiness for when any "fa-lang" [foreigner (but without connotations)] appears they appear and are positioned to ensure a nice breeze then there's the immediate offer of a coke or water while most people seem to be drinking nothing followed by someone scuttling off only to come back with another fan or 2 which are duely positioned around. During this introductory ritual someone would ask if I was hot..... Of course I'm hot, you're hot aren't you and you're used to this temperature, we are in Thailand you know!
I was obviously an unusual sight in the village itself, but everyone i met still shared a smile with me, their's seeming to say "you don't have a clue what you're doing here do you?" and mine saying "you're so right!".
I learned why so many people seem to laze around doing nothing - because it's too damn hot to do anything and the most sensible thing you can do is sit back and relax. Local knowledge is great - i know it's cooler in the shade but i probably wouldn't be making the efforts i do now to cross the street to find it for the next 500yds.
I came back to Bangkok, still travelding with a friend, a few days now, so I've spent time both in parts tourists don't bother with and others that are becoming more homely and familiar (We even went to the local safari park - i was supprised by how many foriegners were there, and also how many school trips all wearing colour-coded uniforms too!).... still i have only 2 days on my visa so that pushes me on. I'm off to sort out a bus ticket for tomorrow - about 9hrs to Angkor where i plan to be for about a week, but that's as far as the plan goes :-)
Selected {though not vary carefully i admit} photos of various things can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/JeremyJLeigh/ThailandJuneBlogSelection?authkey=Gv1sRgCMGQ472V_t3SCQ&feat=directlink or click the picture
 |
| ThailandJuneBlogSelection |
Some of you will know that i delayed coming out by a week as the place i was going in my first week hit the governments "don't go there" list (i was a little behind with organisation of house stuff too so it all worked out well for me to fly with the other brits heading to my friend kev's wedding a week later) while we were a lounging on a beach in the first few days all the travelrestrictions got lifted anyway - but it's quite nice with everywhere being a bit quieter anyway).
Allegedly the wet season started pretty much on arrival, but I've only seen about 4 evenings with rain so far and even they haven't been full nights' worth or anything.
Having written that it naturally bucketed down for the night!
Kev's Wedding was in the midst of a 2 week whistle stop tour of many spots with a few of friends and family from blighty Those of you who know Kev will know he and Duen actually married last year in the New Forrest, so this was more a blessing than a wedding....
I'm learning that Thailand is a somewhat "flexible" country - be that time keeping or anything else - so i guess it was suitable that during the "wedding" few people seemed to know what would happen next or when - that didn't stop things going well and it seemed that everyone had a good time and enough of the right things got done at the right times that it was a success.
The first 2 weeks included: Kho Samet (the island 2hrs away the Bangkok uses as it's local getaway) with perfect beaches that were suitably empty considering the various government warnings in place at the time.
Bit's and pieces in Bangkok (that included me buying over-priced suits [by local prices anyway]), visits to the Grand Palace, Reclining Buda,
A trip to the old capital [Ayuthaya] which was almost completely destroyed when it was sacked by the Burmese in the latter half of the 18th century).
The Bridge over the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi, where a Thai busker that could do the most perfect plum brit accent while singing the "alternative" Colonel Bogey March. I had no idea how many Asian peoples where used by the Japanese, and died, in the building of the railway in WWII, a sobering day.
And finally a visit to Erawan Falls, which included climbing up to the 7th tier [unfortunately i was the only one mad enough to race off to the top, so you'll have to take it from me: one of the pictures of a waterfall is #7!!] with a natural fish massage/foot clean on the way back down.
Then I was left on my own!!! I thought I was "Thailanded out" for now, knowing that I'll be back after Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam anyway so was beginning to make plans to go to Angkor and generally figuring out what i was "doing here". I immediately abandoned my plan to "go without tech" and decided to buy myself a net-book [boys will be boys, gadgets must be bought, i decided that I'd probably end up spending money at internet cafes anyway - so some of the cost can be offset over the year as i now just use free wi-fi. I know i didn't need to justify it for you all really ;-) ] so I found my way to what is best described as a "canal-bus" that took me where i needed go in the centre of BKK to find what can only be described as a computer-only shopping mall.... five floors of everything you can think of to do with computers with only one problem - everyone sells exactly the same thing as the guy a few doors/floors down.... at exactly the same price!!
I managed to leave with the intended netbook and a plan to meet a few new friends, who took pitty on me while i was looking a bit bamboozled and lost i think, for some drinks later.... all good fun..... during the night i was invited to leave the next day to spend the next week in a small farming village [Wichian Buri] about 4-5 hrs north of Bangkok i thought to myself "well this is why i have no plans" and promptly said yes, checked out of the hostel early and off i went with a friends I'd met less than 24hrs earlier!
This is the land that seems to look after the world's electric fan mountain - not all in one place, but spread among the population in readiness for when any "fa-lang" [foreigner (but without connotations)] appears they appear and are positioned to ensure a nice breeze then there's the immediate offer of a coke or water while most people seem to be drinking nothing followed by someone scuttling off only to come back with another fan or 2 which are duely positioned around. During this introductory ritual someone would ask if I was hot..... Of course I'm hot, you're hot aren't you and you're used to this temperature, we are in Thailand you know!
I was obviously an unusual sight in the village itself, but everyone i met still shared a smile with me, their's seeming to say "you don't have a clue what you're doing here do you?" and mine saying "you're so right!".
I learned why so many people seem to laze around doing nothing - because it's too damn hot to do anything and the most sensible thing you can do is sit back and relax. Local knowledge is great - i know it's cooler in the shade but i probably wouldn't be making the efforts i do now to cross the street to find it for the next 500yds.
I came back to Bangkok, still travelding with a friend, a few days now, so I've spent time both in parts tourists don't bother with and others that are becoming more homely and familiar (We even went to the local safari park - i was supprised by how many foriegners were there, and also how many school trips all wearing colour-coded uniforms too!).... still i have only 2 days on my visa so that pushes me on. I'm off to sort out a bus ticket for tomorrow - about 9hrs to Angkor where i plan to be for about a week, but that's as far as the plan goes :-)
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