Christmas in Chang Mai

Chang Mai is an all together different kind of city; cool and laid back yet humming with Thai culture. If Thailand were Sydney (a somewhat incongrouous analogy but stay with me) Bangkok would be the city, a busy buisness centre, Ko Phangnan would probably be Manly, pretty but full of British tourists. It's neighbour Ko Samui would be Bondi, a more famous and crowded tourist hot spot. Ayuthaya would be one of the colonial  settlements now absorbed into western Sydney, historiacally significant yet barren and slighty dangerous. Chang Mai would be Newtown, full of second hand book shops and Vegetarian establishments. The food here is the best so far encountered. Last night's meal for instance: Green bean, mushroom, tofu and ginger curry with brown rice. Yum! Today after a breakfast of fresh fruit from the market I caught a Sawngsaw up the nearby mountain to a temple overlooking Chang Mai city. Christmas here is strangely a big thing. Decked out in decorations, lights and a 5 story Christmas tree made from recycled CDs, carols playing and santas dancing. Unfortunately the anticipated ice rink was only artificial ice so I gave it a miss. Christmas is rapidly gaining traction in Thailand, with 10000 christmas trees reportedly sold this year in this Bhuddist nation. At night the streets are transformed into huge markets. Last night I was walking in the markets and from the throngs of people I heard a voice calling my name. To my bewilderment it was Jess Brandt, now what are the chances! It was a welcome suprise however, to hang out with someone I knew in this foreign land. To everyone in Australia (although it is already boxing day there) Merry Christmas from Chang Mai.

Photos

Photos from Thailand are now in an online gallery! You can access them by clicking here or on the SE Asia Gallery tab at the top of the page.

Hunted by Wild Dogs

In Bangkok there is every variety of preened pooch in little pink vests. Everywhere else there is only depraved, half starved dingo like street dogs. Today I had a run in with one. Walking along, it began to bark, then approach. I increased my pace but remained calm. The dog growled and barked as it trailed about a meter and a half behind. Very frightened I assessed my options, i thought it best not to run as I would not outrun it, not after walking 25kms. I considered jumping in the adjacent canal if it made a lunge. This went on for about 300 panicked meters until it finally gave up and let me walk on unscathed. This is not my only run in, on two other occasions today a dog has approached me aggressively, despite my best attempts to evade them. I don't know why they decided they had a dislike for me today, perhaps they could sense that I fear them. In hindsight I do not think they were really going to bite me, just scare me. Don't be surprised if I come home with a pathological fear of dogs. Besides the street dogs I have met with no other threats, dangers or annoyances making for pretty smooth sailing. Hopefully the mutts of Chang Mai are a little more welcoming.

The Ancient Capital

Sandy beaches have become the crumbling temples of Ayuthaya, the capital of Thai civilisation from 1350 until the Burmese destroyed it in 1767. Now all that remains are the orange brick bones of once large and sprawling temple complexes. I left Ko Phangnan yesterday with a thankfully calmer boat ride. I even slept on the upper bunk of the sleeper car this time. I woke to a flooded world on the outskirts of Bangkok. Whilst the city is dry the water out here still slowly recedes from homes and ruined croplands. These people were not so lucky. As the train enters the city, a new face of Bangkok emerges as massive motorway flyovers, metro stops and skytrains take shape, crawling with workers. Bangkok is investing heavily in infrastructure, no sooner had the first metro cars ridden the rails of the first line,  a major expansion of the network had begun. In the shadow of this construction however is the hulking shapes of motorway pylons unfinished from the last wave of construction brought to a halt by the Asian Financial Crisis. Hopefully this time it works. Investing in infrastructure now may save Bangkok from becoming another unweildly Asian megacity. On a lighter note i have observed the many humorous spelling, grammar and syntax errors of translated signs. Today as I was withdrawing money from an atm it warned me: "Caution. Beware of social engineering techniques" why it was telling me this I do not know.

A day in the life on the island

Sunrise-  the roosters crow, but none stir on the island, life is lazy and all wake late.

Breakfast- Eggs? A pancake? Juiced Tropical Fruits? (a malaria tablet)

Swim- in the warm tropical waters or walk, to a waterfall, or both.

Lunch- vegetable noodle soup or a pad thai.

Read- and then write, to chronicle events and explore thoughts.
Swim- again, as much as i please.


Walk- the beach as the sun dips low and watch as it dips below the waves.

Dinner- A fragrant curry in a restaurant on a hill amongst the tree tops.

Walk- the beach at night, lit by tiny lights. Sit and stare into the blackness of the ocean.

Sleep- In a bed that has drawn the sand from the beach into it. What will tomorrow on the island bring?

Paradise Found

 I was told the overnight train would gently rock me to sleep...more like a violent shaking than a gentle rocking. It was exciting, but I barely slept, alas not all of Thailand's rail system is as well maintained as the skytrain. It arrived at 7 in the morning for a bus ride that mysteriously unloaded everyone at a depot in the middle of a swamp before piling everyone back on the same bus to continue the journey to the dock. The two and a half hour boat ride to Ko Phangnan crossed very rough seas, causing the contents of many of it's passengers stomaches to be emptied into small plastic bags. I had taken a travel sickness tablet and a pre-emptive anti nausia tablet and so was spared such a fate. On the island I got on the back of a motorbike and was wizzed to the other side to where the Lonley Planet had promised $5 a night bungaloes on the best swimming beach on the island. They were right about the best beach on the island... but the place seemed to have gone up in price 5 times. Cursing the authors that tricked me so, I trudged up the road in search of cheeper digs. It was hot, and I was tired, and eventually I resigned myself to the fact there was no $5 bungalos. I settled instead for a room close to the beach. I was set. The beach is beautiful, palm tree fringed with powder white sand that decends gently into the lapping clean blue Gulf of Thailand. It is the classical tropical paradise, and there is hardly anyone here! After hours of waiting I finally got into an internet cafe (they dont open early) and recieved my HSC results, which have made me very happy indeed. ATAR comes out tommorow! Im wondering how everyone in my year went, im sure everyone went swimmingly. After this I am going for another swim to celebrate.

Skytrains and Seafood

Day two in Bangkok began with a lecture on 'the spiritual awakening of 2012' from a nice, but slighty mad new age bhudhist hybrid canadian as I sat eating sipping my ice tea at the train station this morning. I decided to take a real step into the future and catch the skytrain into the Bladerunneresque centre of town dominated by skyscrapers, mega malls and skytrain flyovers. A place quite different to the low sprawling district of China Town im staying in. I was there for the best of Thai contempoary art at the gugenheim like Bangkok cultural centre. If I thought I had seen enough images of the King, I was wrong, showing was a whole exhibition of artworks to celebrate his 84th birthday, and thats right, all were of him. Viewing the range of depictions of his majesty however, it was hard not to feel the love the Thais feel for their 'benevolent king'. Well at least amongst yellow shirt monarchists. Also of note was a photography exhibit on the recent Thai floods. It was somewhat shocking to see places I had visted just yesterday beneath torrents of water just a moth ago. Whilst the flood waters have receded there are still sandbags everywhere. For lunch I went into one of the huge mega malls for a slightly disasterous meal. What I thought was vegetarian was in fact a highly confronting collection of sea creatures that had me squirming in my seat and then runing to wash the memory out of my mouth with ice tea. It's not like im not an adventurous eater, but that was just a compleley unplesent seafood experience. The guidebook lies when it says vegetarian food is easy to find, unless they count sea sponge as a vegitable. Tomorow I will be on my way south to paradise to swim with sea creatures in the sea where they belong.

Touchdown

o here I am in Bangkok at the start of my journey. The flights went smoothly, if not a little mind numbing spending 3 and a half hours in melbourne airport. Of course Jetstar give you screens but charge if you want to watch anything on them. I stuck to my book and the food I had brought from home. Touchdown was at 8pm and after a train and a metro ride I was at my hostel. This morning I made my first forey into Bangkok, catching a boat up the river and going on a walk arround the city before being educated on the history of thailand in the dimly lit National Museum. By now it was getting hot, so the best place to beat the heat was annother ferry ride down the river. Later this evening I plan to buy a train ticket south to the islands, I could realy do with a swim.

Last Night

Sydney is cold and drizzly, the coldest start to summer in 50 years. The real summer starts tomorrow as I board a plane for the hot, steamy tropics. In just over 24 hours I will be a world away. It all seems not real, that tonight is my last night at home, that I will not return for so long to this room I've been so pent up in during the HSC. Of course I am excited, if not slightly nervous, of the months that lie ahead but still I think the brunt of the emotions will hit tomorrow when it is actually happening. My first flight to Melbourne leaves at 9.35 in the morning with a 3 and a half hour stop over at Tullamarine Airport. Oh the joys of flying Jetstar, somehow it is cheeper to fly an hour and a half south to go north. Another joy of flying Jetstar will be the absence of food, so I have packed my own lunch and dinner. I get to Bangkok at 8pm tomorrow night, and the real adventure begins!

Seven Days

This time next week I will be on my way, speeding towards SE Asia at 870km per hour, 11000m above the Java Sea. I spent the last week in the bush for a final taste of the landscape im sure to miss while abroad. The scent of eucalypts, the dry crunch of it underfoot, the soft blue haze that shrouds ancient hills and the golden light that shines upon sandstone escarpments. Whilst I am sure to find many beautiful and majestic landscapes while abroad, they will also be alien landscapes, their steamy jungles and high mountain ranges far removed from the landscape I grew up with. It was a good week just to relax, to take a deep breath (of eucalyptus scented air) before the plunge. My bag has managed to unpack itself and needs repacking, there are a few final things to get around to, and of course the task of saying goodbye. It is hard to imagine really, in seven days I will be gone from this place.