CHANGMAI
We thought we were being clever avoiding Bangkok and going to Changmai, the second city. We were wrong!
The worst things.....
Heat and dirt (Should be used to that by now!)
Awful hairdressers! (Apparently, everyone thinks that they can cut hair in Thailand and they do not need a qualification to set up!) We both look like lunatics!!! Caused a row!!! Don't want to talk about it!!!!
Men who look like women
Women who look like men
Adults with a child in tow!!!!
Old English men with beer gut and ponytails with young bored Thai girls in tow!!! (Sad or what?)
Postcards of naked young boys (Why?????)
Awful food unless you have a long time to find the good places.
Rats on draining boards, among the 'clean' dishes!
soul-less rooms with no chairs or table
The bill often has extra on it. You need to check it out-always!
Good things....
Popeye and Rugrats on tv-to stop me going mad!
Internet down Moon-Amung and the sweet little socks on the legs of the chairs to stop them squeaking!
The cafe opposite here that made a great cuppa.
The dogs with tee-shirts on (But why???It is 33 degrees????)
PAI
After 3 days we left by mini-bus for Pai, on the northern border with Burma. This involved a 3 hr journey hurtling around hair-pin bends up into the mountains. The scenery was wonderful and the town itself was attractive in the sense that it consisted of stalls selling local goods, foods and ethnic crafts, travel shops, restaurants, supermarkets and Internet services.
We soon found a room at a very respectable rate of 350 baht a night, (5.50p) It was a hut in a tropical garden and we were the only ones staying there.
After putting some of our basic stuff out we heard rain, in the bathroom, At first we thought it was a leak as water was pouring from the ceiling. However, Lee opened the outside door and it was raining in the garden too. A close look at the ceiling revealed slats of wood so that is why the rain came in. We quickly retrieved the towels and the toilet roll! Fortunately, the bedroom had a proper ceiling. In 20 minutes the rain stopped. We explored a local bar, the Buffalo Bar, where musicians were having a jam session. It was very good.
We were to stay here for 10 days because of Christmas, and, although we went to a local pop concert, billed as Pai's 'Woodstock' and had a reasonable time we grew increasingly bored. We could not find decent food or fresh milk, we tried a bar with a pool that was owned by a rather rough looking Scotsman who was an 'almost' pool star. When Lee gave him a game and won, he would not play again!! We did not find people of our own age to talk to, the only youngsters seemed to be Thai, who were all very quiet and well-behaved, or young girls with Rasta hairstyles hanging out with the locals. I could not work out what the Caribbean influence was about. Christmas came and we had no company, missed our families and fell out, which is very rare, so it was all a bit of a mess. There was nothing to do with Christmas only the Thai elections, which were on that weekend so alcohol was banned. We were later told that this was to do with buying votes from people. It made for a pretty dismal time. Probably my worst ever 'Christmas'. Only tv was BBC World News which seemed to be random items, and sometimes the sound went off!!!!Ah well.....Bit of travel fatigue setting in too I think. We are a bit Asia-ed out! We set off on the 26th for Ko Samui, an exotic holiday island in the south of Thailand. This involved hurtling back down the mountains for 3 and a half hours with the driver from hell. It was hard not to be travel sick. I did manage to stay in my seat by holding on. He managed to knock a girl off her motorbike by squeezing in too narrow a gap. He did not even stop!!
We got a room for the night in a room that would not pass muster in a prison or a doss-house. There was a rat gnawing at the skirting board during the night!!! How low can you go???
The next day we got up at six, left at seven and got a taxi to the airport. The first flight was only one and a half hours, but we had a three hour wait at the airport. I began to feel ill too. The next flight was one and three quarter hours. I was clutching my sick bag all the time. We transferred to the coach and I did manage to be sick then. We transferred to the ferry for a three hour journey to the island. It was so pretty but I was too ill to appreciate any of it.
Ko Samui
We got to the Pier and got a taxi to Fisherman's cove. The second hotel was an absolute dream of pretentiousness with a dramatic theme of Chinese red, gold and black. The sea lapped outside the patio-door. I crawled into bed! Lee went out to get a meal. He was propositioned by a Thai girl, who hung around for some time waiting to be bought a drink. She needs to know that you can never distract an Englishman from his sport! The guy he was talking football with told her to go, that Lee was not interested, though he had his Thai girl sitting nearby and ignored her the whole time he was talking to Lee. Strange world here, and quite sad.
Big Buddha Beach
Unfortunately our wonderful Chinese,'Red House' hotel only had two nights so we had to move again. We spent the second morning looking for somewhere to be for New Year-Don't ask! I did not get time to enjoy the red room as I was too ill and we were sorting out our move and packing up-so near and yet so far. The resort itself seemed to contain a lot of rough looking Englishmen who owned bars, but we found one or two good places to go. Ah well.
Ayranburi Boutique Resort!!!!!!
Another disaster. We have ended up at a very posh resort, with a room the size of our shed. It is out on an idyllic headland with the bay, beach and pool. It is empty and the few people who are there do not talk to anyone else!!! Everything is ridiculously expensive and, as we know the true prices in this area, just damned annoying. It is all so jumped up and plastic, it is awful. We cannot wait to leave in two days time but, in the meantime have to suffer a GALA dinner which has cost 40 pounds each.
What an absolute nightmare. I would rather have had lobster for two in a restaurant in Fisherman's cove, instead I am going quietly mad here. It is a bit like that program, The Prisoner, from the 60's.
Chaeweng Beach
We got the mini-bus here this morning as there is nothing where we are. We have stocked up on drink and food as we do not want to pay their prices. We are doing our blogs as we will not pay the extortionate prices at the hotel. We walked down the High Street and were stopped 5 times by motorcyclists doing the time-share scam in 10 minutes. Nightmare. We looked at the beach and were immediately accosted by a sun-glass seller!!!! Blackpool-Costa Nightmare. We leave in two days but I do wonder will Langkawi, in Malaysia be any better. I sure-as-hell hope so!!!!!
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