Team Thailand : Adventures in the Far East

It's the last day and depressingly, our countdown clock is into single figures for hours!! We've just been spending the last two days pottering around the Khao San, trying to buy presents for various people, which is a lot more difficult than I was expecting it to be. Also just been doing lots of socialising, meeting as many new people in two days as possible, which probably would've been a much higher number if the Khao San hadn't seemed to have shut down for the last two days.

I can't really begin to sum up the whole trip. The five weeks have flown, though at times it feels like we've been here all our lives. It's been amazing and enthralling to visit a country and experience a culture that is so different and so similar to our own. There are loads of stories and anecdotes that haven't made it on to the blog, mainly because I'm lazy but I'm sure they'll all come out whenever we see all of ye again. (I may even re-enact the Full Moon up in Fanad!!)

We'll be leaving here in just under two hours (with probably grossly overweight bags!!) and then the adventure will have finished, but I want to thank everyone who has been following our progress and adding their comments and sending us emails. There have been 5222 hits from 396 visits, which is not to shabby at all.

Hope to see you all soon

Sawasdee Khlap

Niall

In 48 hours we'll be making our way to the airport! Can't believe that 5 weeks have alomst passed already, but I guess they have.

The remaining members of teamthailand have regrouped in Bangkok, I bumped into T and Ross on Khao San when I got back there yesterday evening. Journey from Siam Reap seem to be worse than the one to Siam Reap, though I think all drivers involved are responsible for that! It wasn't helped by a two-hour delay at Araynaprathet on the Thai side of the border while waiting for a bus to come! Got back to Bangkok 'round 7 and found the lads within an hour, so was able to get settled in quickly enough. A night on the town followed (for a change).

Today was spent trawling throught the weekend market here, getting some of the last few gifts and souvenirs. It was impossibly hot which made manoeuvering between the stalls very uncomfrtable, though it didn't deter spending!! Tomorrow is going to be something similar and I'd say Tuesday will be a chill out day, may try to get pool on top of the D+D, though we're not staying there this time (In a place called Kawin Place)

I'll give a farewell post on Tuesday afternoon.

Niall

Well, I'm quite happy that I decided to come to Cambodia. Just finished a day going around some of the temples near here in Siam Reap. Made it up for sunrise this morning at Angkor Wat (or rather, stayed up for sunrise!), a nap was had and then spent the afternoon going around the temples in Angkor Thom. Unfortunately, we had to cut the day short before sunset as the heavens have opened here and the temples aren't the same if you can't get out and walk around them.

I'm here with three Germans, 2 brothers and a sister( Philip, Justus and Francesca[hope they're spelt right]), that I'd met on the Khao San. Took us just short of 11 hours to get here, bout 5 from Bangkok to the Border, another 2 to actually get through the border and then we hired a taxi to bring us to Siam Reap which took another 3 and a half hours on some of the worst roads I've ever been on (A large section of the trip was on a dirttrack!!) We'll probably stay here until Saturday, though if the rain gets any worse, we may go tomorrow.

I'm still wrecked so I'm going to cut this post short. I'll fill in any gaps tomorrow.

Slan

Niall

Well, back on my lonesome again. The lads left for the airport 'bout 2 hours ago, hopefully got their okay. Lads : Have a good flight and I'll see you for a FMP re-enactment!!

Yesterday, we went on a trip to Khanchanaburi, bout 2 hours west of Bangkok and is the site of the bridge over the River Kwai and the Death Railway, where thousands of POWs, mainly Thai, Commonwealth and Dutch people, were put to slave labour to build it and where thousands of them died doing so. First stop was at a war cemetery, which I found incredibly tough. Over a thousand people are buried there, most in named graves though there were a few unnamed graves, all with very simple headstones wih just their name, age, rank, force and date of death, and a few had a little inscription on them also. I can't really go into too much more as it's really something that kinda needs to be seen.


Next stop was the JEATH War Museum and the actual bridge itself. The JEATH Museum was a bit of a disappointment and was in a very bad state of disrepair, maybe it's better when they're not building in it. The bridge was okay and still in everyday use, we even had to get out of the way of a train that was about to cross over it!


Then we drove off for a bit to another train station and acually got to travel along the Death Railway for bout an hour. We were sharing our carriage with quite a large group of Thai youths, who must have finished school or something, because the smell of whiskey was overpowering and the songs were coming at a ferocious pace! And it was before midday!! Thankfully, they left the train 'bout halfway along our journey so the last bit was quieter. A bit of lunch was had then and it was off to a waterfall, which looked more like someone had left the tap on! There was only a tiny bit of water coming down it, but the guide said that in the rainy season, it can be quite full.

We only spent a few minutes at the waterfall and then we went off to the Tiger Temple, where there are tigers that are so docile that you can go up and have your picture taken with them, and even have their paws on you!! It was pretty cool, spent bout an hour there, then it was back to Bangkok, which took bout 2 and a half hours.


Most of the time since was spent by the lads gettin their last bits and pieces before going home. I'm off to Cambodia tomorrow morning for probably two nights, going to try and get as much of Angkor Wat done in one day as possible and then back to Bangkok, where hopefully T and Ross may be. Heading out with a group of Germans that we met last night, so should be able to spread the costs around a bit. Last few bits of shopping and sight-seeing and then it'll be time for the Team Thailand adventure to end. But that's not 'til next week so I'll post a few more times before then.

Oh, by the way, "War of the Worlds", the new remake, is possibly one of the worst films ever! Don't go to it!! We went to see it on Sunday night at the cinema in MBK (a big shopping centre near Siam Square) Got to take the Skytrain from the market down which was very cool, as we got to see a lot of downtown Bangkok lit up at night. We also popped into another shopping centre, the Siam Discovery Centre, which was rather upmarket, it had an Armani shop, Lacoste, Habitat, North Face, Diesel, Sony, Hewlett Packard, CK, amd loads more. Needless to say, backpackers were very scarce on the ground there!! The trip to the cinema was cool, and so much cheaper than home! Only 120 BHT and less than 100 BHT for large popcorn and drink! And we didn't even notice the Thai subtitles which was very fortunate, or would've been had the film been any good! But it was a cool experience all the same.

I'm getting tired now, so I'll leave it at that.

Slan

Niall!!

Well, I'm back in Bangkok now, got here on Friday night after I realised that Ranong was not much of a happening place. Only stayed the one night there, then got up early, ventured to Kaw Thung (formerly Victoria Point), the most southern tip of Burma/Myanmar. Wasn't all that much to see, was just like a busier, noisier, more compact Thai town, so I only spent an hour there, guided along by my "bodyguards" (though I didn't see any real need for them) Got back to Ranong and went straight to the bus station, hoping to get the first bus out of there, preferably to Bangkok.

Luckily, one was leaving within 5 minutes of me arriving so I hopped on that and there I sat for the next TEN hours all the way along the 550+ km to Bangkok! Wasn't too bad of a journey at all, if a little cold as they kep th air-con on quite low! Got to Bangkok just before midnight and went straight to the Khao San, 'cause I knew Shane and Paul had arrived here from Cambodia earlier that day. Couldn't actually find them themselves as I wandered up and down the Khao San,which was absolutely buzzing, even for the Khao San, but found where they were staying so I got the staff to let me in. They arrived in a little while later but I was pretty much out for the count as the bus journey took a fair bit out of me!

Got up on Sat and checked out of the place (I think it was called the Kawsin Inn, or something to that effect) and checked into the D & D again. Went off to watch the Lions match, James Glesson showed up for a while too (he's in Thailand volunteering with Madventure), and afterwards went went off to the Weekend Market. The market is massive!! There are over 2000 different stalls, so many in fact, and so much cheaper than the Khao San, that we're going to go there again today, in bout an hour or so. After the market last night we came back to the hotel, where I suffered my first Thai Massage! (How is something so painful supposed to be good for you!!) Dinner and a few drinks followed but an early night was had, as we had great plans for going to the market early today. However, the sun was blazing so we've just spent the last two hours sitting in and by the pook here. Though we are heading to the market in a bit......

Shane and Paul are down to their last two days, then they'll be heading back homeward, though before that we're going to try and get to Khanchanaburi, the site of the Death Railway. On Tuesday, the day the lads go back, I think I'm going to head towards Cambodia to se Angkor Wat, though if the sun stays here I could be tempted not to move. Hopefully I'll meet up with Tomas and Ross a some stage near the weekend back here in Bangkok.

Team Thailand's advenures are unfortunately coming to an end, but not just yet....

Niall

Oh, by the way, Louise (I presume McLoughlin) added her own account of her holidays at the very bottom of the page, possibly to hide it from everyone else, but I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention. Click here for it!!!

It's now around 7.30 here, which means that it's been nearly 9 hours since I've seen another white skinned person!!

I'm in Ranong now, having spent the best part of 7 hours travelling up the west coast. I'l probably only stay tonight as there seems to be not much of a backpacker vibe here and my Thai is not nearly good enough to stay around too long. So the plan is this : Get up early tomorrow and go to Kaw Thung, which is the southernmost tip of Burma. I'll only stay for a few hours, as whatever visa thing I get doesn't allow me to go beyond the town limits. Then it's back here to Ranong and getting the first bus to Bangkok. It's a roughly 8 hours journey so I'll end up arriving in the wee hours of the morn so lads, if ye're in Bangkok, can ye let me know where y'all are staying so I know where to crash!

No real other story, as my last post was less than 24 hours ago and most of the time between has been spent on a bus or sleeping (and in some cases both simultaneously!!) Oh, one little tit-bit from the bus journey, we ended up going through 3 military checkpoints in the last two hours of the journey, which was kinda worrying. Maybe it has something to do with the man-hunt for a serial-killer that is happening in the south of the country these days........

Niall

Right, Patong is a hell hole! It's just like one big market, there's always someboday trying to sell something, and if I get asked by one more tailor to come in and have a look, I may have to get violent! I don't care anymore if it's slow business for them!! The place may as well be called Khao-San-On-Sea! Prices are a little cheaper though probably because it is low season but it's the same stuff that can be found all over Thailand!! It's just one big resort, wouldn't be put of place on the Costa del Sol or some other of those places! And it's so damn expensive!!!! I will give it one thing though, the beach is nice!

I know that whole paragraph sounds a little angsty, but things are not all bad. Went to Kata-Karon today and it was a much more pleasent experience. The Karon beach was empty, 'cause the seas were too rough there for swimming. I have a feeling that Karon must have be annihilated during the tsunami as there was little if anything, along the sea front in terms of buildings! Kata's waters were calmer......and surfable!!!! At the southern end was a place were boards could be rented and there must have been 'bout 20 or so guys in the water, so I felt obliged to join in! It was bloody hard work! The seas were quite strong but I did get standing a few times so I was very happy!! It'll probably one of the only times I'll surf without wearing a wet-suit!!! I have photos of the two beaches that I'll post up whenever I find a computer that'll let me!

I think I'm getting pretty good at this whole traveling solo thingy, made my way to the main street with all the bars and managed to get talking to a group of people, including a Welshman, a South African, an Ozzie and believe it or not, a guy from Gweedore!!

Heading up to Ranong tomorrow morning, should get there around 5 or so and the main aim of going there is to try and get into Burma/Myamar for the day after (Friday). Hopefully it'll all work out.

To the lads:
I take it then the 3 who stayed on in Ko Tao are going Siam Reap first? That's cool, i'll head out there myself from Bangkok. I'm hoping to leave Ranong some time on Saturday but I don't know when I'll get to Bangkok. I'll try for an early bus so it's not too late when I get in. I'll let ye know as soon as I find out.

Oh, I put the countdown clock back up as I've realised I've got less than two weeks here, so the clock is to remind y'all at home how much time ye have to plan my "Welcome Home" party !!!;)!!

Sin e

Niall

So I'm here in Phuket, and don't be offended by the title, it's on a t-shirt sold all around here!

Yesterday was spent travelling around the Krabi area on motorbikes, myself, Chloe from England, Jo Paolo from Italy and Ellie from Norway, (Quite an international bunch!) trying to find a number of beaches on the map, only to find that they were inaccessible from the roads or blocked off by the police for some reason. Slightly disappointed but it was still very cool to be out on a bike, I could get very used to it!! Just chilled around Ao Nang in the afternoon and evening after, didn't really get up to too much. I said my goodbyes at the end of the night, as I was up early this morning to go to Phuket!

Bus was supposed to leave at 10.30, or so I was told. Turns out, the minibus to bring me to Krabi left at half ten, the actual bus to Phuket wasn't leaving til 11. Needless to say I was expecting a nice big coach for the journey, but alas, it was the same little minibus that brought us on the two-and-a-half hour journey to Phuket! Wasn't as bad as I was expecting, as the journey seemed to go quick enough. Was then put on to a public local bus in Phuket City to bring me to Patong, the main beach here in Phuket.

Now, it's supposed to be low season here, and if it is, I really don't want to see high season!! The place is crawling with people!!! Though in hindsight, I had been told by a Swedish tour operator that this was a particularly high low season for Phuket, as loads of Swedes are coming over in some bizarre form of.....i don't know...forgiveness..sympathy..something like that as they were the nation that lost the most people in the tsunami (after the Thai, I presume). The work of the wave can really be seen here, all along the sea front is scaffolding and boarding, some with predicted dates of reopening, others just surrounding empty spaces where it can be presumed that buildings used to stand. Whole streets are closed off and shops, even bout 100 metres from the beach are empty. Tis kinda humbling. Though, that said, there are still plenty of hotels and shops open for business!

Speaking of hotels, booked into the Sweet Apartments. A but pricier than what I'd like to pay (BHT500 a night), but it's just around from the beach and it's a helluva lot cheaper than some of the other places I asked in and is actually quite a good room, double bed, hot shower, air-con, tv. It's more than I need but it's only for two nights and still is only a tenner a night.

Just wandered around the town for a bit, tried renting another bike over here, but appears I need a license here (maybe I did in Krabi, I presumed not when the renter didn't ask for one) so I'll have to give it a skip, unfortunately. Going to try and get to Kata-Karon tomorrow for a bit, there's supposed to be good swells there over the summer so here's hoping for some surf!!





Shane:
If you're still planning on going to Khanchanubri before you go home, can you put it off till Sunday? I should be in Bangkok by then so I'll tag along. Give me an e-mail if it suits.

Anyway, I think that's all the news for now.

Again, happy birthday Daire!!

Niall

Just a quick note to thank you all for visiting the site over the last month. It just passed 5000 hits from 259 different visitors!

It kinda makes it feel more worth while when I know people are actually reading what I write!

Thanks again!

(And Happy Birthday Daire!!)

Yesterday I went on a tour of the Phi Phi Islands and words will be unable to express what it was like, so I'm going to put up a few pictures. I can't remember the exact route we took, but we went to Billet Bay, Maya Bay (scene of "The Beach", we couldn't actually stop there because of high tide), Loh Moo Dee Beach and swung in through the beach of Phi Phi Don. Plenty of snorkelling and swimming, with loads of different types of fish swimming all around us, very cool. Only bad thing of the whole day was that, with all the jumping in and out of the water, I got burned to a crisp and am as red as a beetroot!

Loh Moo Dee Beach




Chicken Island




Bamboo Island





I've decided to stay in Ao Nang for another night as I met up with some of the people that were on the tour yesterday and we're all going to go for a ramble around the area today. I'll probably move on to Phuket tomorrow morning. As y'all can read in the comments on the last post, the other lads seem to be getting on (relatively) okay.

Actually, just a quick message to them : Guys! Let me know if any of ye will be in Bangkok on Saturday/Sunday, I'm hoping to be up in that area by then!

And another note, I've started to add photos and stuff to older posts, including the video of Shane and the hoop!

By for now

Niall

Team Thailand have taken on a new plan of action! We've decided that we'll take over the country quicker if we separate, with me taking over the West Coast and the other Lads taking on the Islands and the road from Bangkok to Cambodia!

What that army talk actually means is, as I'd briefly mentioned in the last post, that Team Thailand as a fivesome is no more! We all left Koh Phagnan yesterday morning, with Shane, Paul, Ross, Tomas, and Hetty heading further north to Koh Tao, where they were all hoping to get some diving done and the myself, Niamh and Emer Cread, and Niamh's friend Jade all headed westward to Surat Thani on the Mainland.

In typical fashion, it started to bucket down the moment we landed arrived at the pier in Surat Thani, after a pretty harmless 4 hour boat journey. A quick scramble to town followed where the next plans of action were formulated. Found a tourist office that was able to get the three girls train tickets to Bangkok and one that was able to get me a bus ticket to Krabi, on the West Coast. My bus left ten minutes after i bought the ticket so I didn't even have time to change out of my soaking wet clothes and air-con and wetness are not a good combination! I was near frozen by the time I arrived in Krabi two-and-a-half hours later. Thankfully, it wasn't raining heavily there. The bus pulled in at a tourist office so I was able to sort out accomodation pretty quickly. Got to the K.R. Guesthouse on Thanon Chao Fa bout half 8, tis a pretty nice place considering I'm paid four euro for the night! Krabi, however, seemed to be as dead as a doornail. I saw bout 10 people on my wander round and everywhere seemed to be shut, even the Irish Pub was emtpy! Went back to my room for an early night and plenty of reading up on the area, which resulted in me deciding to move on from Krabi this morning to Ao Nang.

Got to Ao Nang this morning bout 11 and booked in to the Seaworld GH, seems nice enough, got 3 beds all to myself as well as a fridge and a t.v. Decided I'm going to actually do something in this area, rather that just sit on my arse, so during half-time in the Lions match, I booked a one-day trip to Ko Phi Phi, leaving at 8.30 tomorrow morning ( which meant I'd to go and buy an alarm clock) Ao Nang seems considerably livlier than Krabi, suppose çause it's a beachside whereas Krabi wasn't, but they're still way quieter than the Samui Islands.

I think that's all for now, trying to find a way to Phuket for tomorrow night after I come back from Phi Phi, but no success so far. I'll try make a post tomorrow evening, with perhaps even pictures from the boat trip.

Slan!

By thw way, feel free to entertain me with random e-mails: niall.p.k@gmail.com

Success!!

I've finally found how to get my photos up! At the mo, they're not on the blog page but follow this link:

http://www.compsoc.nuigalway.ie/~hisdudeness/pix/

and you'll see the first 50 or so photos that I took in Bangkok. I'll add the rest in time, and name the best of them, and if i've space, I'll add the lads photos too.

Enjoy!

Oh, by the way, all the pictures are currently massive so allow a bit of time for them to load!

It's late on Wednesday evening and the whole island seems to have a hangover!

Last night was the Full Moon Party, a huge rave on Haad Rin Sunrise, with well over 6000 people in attendance and which only finished late this morning! It was just absolute madness!

The madness on the beach is not limited to the Full Moon night either, it seems to happen every night! We went down there for our first trip to the beach on Monday night and ended up jumping through a hoop that had been lit on fire! I have a little video of Shane going through that I'm going to try put up!

EDIT: Here's Shane's video! He's the first one going through Warm Up Madness

We're coming to the end of our "chill out" time and it'll soon be time for teamthailand to begin our adventure again! However, there is quite a likelihood that we'll end up splitting up because people want to see different things. Shane is heading up to Angkor Wat in Cambodia with Niamh and Eimear Cread, who we met up with again here in Koh Phagnan. Tomas and Ross will also be heading up that way, but maybe going at a slower pace. Paul isn't sure who he's going to head with, but he may go with Shane as they'll be flying home together. Which all means that I may be travelling over to the West Coast on my lonesome, though I'll try meet up with the others (Ross and T) before we head home. But we're not moving on until Friday so maybe someone will hav decided to come with me or else I might find some one else heading that way.

Oh, I know i only briefly mentioned that we were staying in the Sandy Bungalows in my last post, but I think it needs to be reiterated! The place is absolutely fantastic and the staff, especially Lick are brilliant!

Hope all is going well at home for all reading this!

Slan!

Hey All!

First and foremost, a happy father's day to all the Dads

Writing to you from Koh Phagnan, one of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. Arrived here yesterday by ferry from Koh Samui, where we'd spent the previous two nights. We flew from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui on Thursday morning. The airport in Samui is one of the funniest things I've seen, there doesn't seem to be a proper terminal, just a collection of shelters!

We went to Chaweng, on the east coast of the island and checked out for places to stay and ended up in Charlies Huts, literally just a collection of huts beside the sea, no air-con, two-to-a-bed, real thailand stuff!! Chilled out there for two days, lazing on the beach only bout 50 metres away. Went out each night, though the night-life was very resort-like. Ended up bumping into a few people we'd met along the way, which was pretty cool.

Got up for the 1 o clock ferry yesterday, arrived here in time for the Lions match. While everyone was watching the match, myself and Paul, and the Ross and Paul ended up having to check out nearly every place here in Had Rinn for somewhere to stay, nearly everywhere is booked out 'cause the FMP (Full Moon Party) is only a few days away. Finally found a goldmine in the Sandy Bungalows, where we've two 4-person bungalows for 300BHT per person, right beside the beach and air-con rooms. Only bout 10 mins from Sunrise Beach too, where the FMP happens.

Not too much other news with us, that I've noticed anyway.

Happy fathers day again!!

Just a quick good luck from all the teamthailand lads to all getting results at the mo!

Well, it's our last night in Chiang Mai and it's been a good two days. Tuesday was just a total chill-out day, late mornings had by all. Pretty much ended up all of us doing our own thing throughout the day, wandering throughout the city, exploring. Shane and I ended up bumping into one of Shane and Tomas's neighbours from Sligo, Niamh Cread and her sister. We'd known they'd arrived in Chiang Mai that morning but it was still strange to bump into them randomly on the street! Further wandering ensued and met up with the Creads and one of the guys who had been volunteering with Niamh for din-dins later on. Actually, I've just remembered that I haven't spoken bout our tag-along! Her name is Hetty, a German and needless to say, it was Paul who was talking to her first! He met her on Khao San one night and it turned out she was on our train from Bangkok. We've all been hanging out together for the last few days. Anyway, we all went out for a few drinks after dinner in the coolest pub I've ever been in. It's a rooftop bar, where black lights are in abundance, no roof over most of it and eveyone sits on the ground on cushions! T'was a pretty good night!

Today, as i said in the last post, we had a tour organinsed for us by the Tourist Office that we'd been dealing with. Though it was supposed to leave at 10, in typically lazy student fashion, we held it up till 12. First stop was a snake farm outside the city. Not a pleasent experience. Shane, for all his roaring bout a fear of snakes, managed pretty okay. I however, came out more afraid of them than ever. Paul on the otherhand took quite an active role in the show, even "saving" the Snakeman when he had a snake around his neck. A monkey show followed and which was almost sad, all the monkeys chained up, though still with plenty of movement room. Stopped off at a handicraft village for a bit where we got some food and then went up to Doi Suthep, which is a huge temple in the hills around Chiang Mai. I suppose all the Temples are different, but i can't really tell, but the best part of this one was that there was a huge panoramic view of Chiang Mai city from one side of it which was really cool. Went back to the hotel afterwards and just in time too, 'cause as we went in to out rooms, the heavens opened! Didn't really matter, because I think naps were had all round, (i'd a great one anyway)

That's pretty much all the news right up 'til now. We're heading south tomorrw, flying out just before 10, should get there bout two hours after. Everyone is getting kinda bored of the urban scenery, though the jungle was great and Chiang Mai is miles better than Bangkok. I'll write again at the weekend and may even have found somewhere to put up pictures!

Slan!

Hello all!

Well, it's now Monday evening and we're up North. We're actually only back in Chiang Mai as we've just been on a trek in the Jungle! But I'll talk bout that later, else i'll get confused 'bout what I have and haven't said.



Last I was talking to y'all was on Friday when we were still in Bangkok, just waiting 'round for the train, hanging around at the pool in the D&D. We left Khao San bout two hours before the train was about to leave, expecting to be brought on a round the world tour of Bangkok, when in actual fact we were brought straight there! Just hung round the station and at half-nine boarded the train for a 14-hour trip to Chiang Mai! Our carriage was actually really good, though I suppose it was the most expensive on the types on offer. It was a second-class sleeper with air-con, which makes a helluva difference! We meet up with some people that we'd met the night previous and they had a second class with fans, and it was really uncomfortably hot! The beds were great, well, sleepable-on and the journey went pretty okay. Everyone got a pretty good sleep out of it, and I even took a few pictures of the jungle as we passed through a bit of it!

We arrived in Chiang Mai just after 12 on Saturday, to be hounded by people at the train station trying to bring us to their guesthouse! We ended up being brought to Lanna Guesthouse, which is probably the biggest mistake we've made so far! While is seemed reasonable enough, and by far the cheapest place we've seen (1.20 a night!), a catch was inevitable, and we actually got two! Terrible rooms, complete with geckos and insects, and a crazy owner,Julie , who kept trying to sell us a trek which we didn't really want but did feign interest in! We checked in anyway and went off to watch the Lions match in an Irish pub. Wandered round the city for a while and passed a tourist office, where we went in and ended up buying a two-day-one-night trek, leaving the next morn, and a flight down from Chiang Mai to Ko Samui (Only because of the time constraints involved in gettin down there for the full moon!) We had to keep the fact that we bought a trek from the office from our guesthouse owner, because we had begun to suspect that she was a lil crazy, especially since she kept offering bags of Bob Marley! We managed to keep it quiet anyway and went out to the night market, then came back and slept in fear of insects or reprisals from Julie!

The trek was leaving at half nine so we were up early and down at the office in plenty of time. Crazy Julie even followed us down and threw a bit of a wobbly when she discovered that we weren't going to Chiang Rai, which was our cover story for not taking one of her treks! Left Chiang Mai anyway bout 10, having stored our rucksacks in the tourist office's storage place and drove north. Stopped at a market for a bit to pick up some supplies and then finished our journey to the jungle, which took bout an hour in total. After a bit of munch, the trek began. Now, 5 kilometres is not a whole lot of a distance to walk, but when it's pretty much 5 km straight up the side of a mountain, it's a different story! Though it was exciting all the same, especially when paranoia over snakes and mosquitos was thrown in. Whole journey took bout 3 hours, though there were plenty of stops and falls along the way, even got to see a waterfall! The scenery was far too much for words so I'm working on trying to get photos up. We got to the village of the Lahu (i think that's how it's spelt) bout fourish and were greeted with a sight of a community still living in huts made of bamboo with no electricity and only recently having got running water. The 9 of us on the trek, Team Thailand and 4 Mexican lads, had a hut to ourselves in the middle of the village. After a bit of a rest, and a massive downpour of rain, we were given dinner there and afterwards, some of the children of the village put on a little song-and-dance show for us which was really cool and then we were given the "option" of having a Lahu massage, which are seemingly not as great as the thai massages. Just stayed up chatting for a while then by candlelight, as it was pitch black by eight thirty. (It seems to get dark very early in this country)

After a pretty restless night had by all, (bamboo floors turned out to be a lot less comfortable than the seemed at first) we were off trekking again, this time only two hours but downhill on a very slippery slope, made much worse by the rain the night before! Wasn't nearly as tough as the one the day before but a challenge all tha same. Made it to the Elephant Camp all in one piece, and were brought on a trek on the elephants for bout a half-hour. Pretty harmless, except when Ross' and mine elephant began to slip down the side of a slope! After the elephant trekking, we did a bit of white-water rafting down part of the river and finished the trek off on bamboo rafts. A bit of lunch was then had and it was back to Chiang Mai!

In Chiang Mai, just after we got back to the tourist office to pick up our bags, it began to bucket down harder than any rain I've been in before. This put a severe dampener (pardon the pun) on our efforts to go off and find a new place to stay so we ended up resorting to the closest place that the tourist office place reccommended. Luckily, it's a really nice place called the Safe Guest House and it's a million times better than the Lanna GH we were in. BTW, I should put a note that the people in the tourist office we went to were all really nice and helpful, and even organised for us to have a car and driver on Wednesday to bring us around some of the sights. After the rain had stopped, we all went down to the night market and had a bit of a pig-out in a pizza place, kinda figured that we needed to replace all the weight that we lost on the trek! A little wander after and then back to bed.

Hey all!

So it'd our fourth day and we're going to leave Bangkok tonight, getting a sleeper train up to Chiang Mai at 9.30. The marvel of Bangkok has worn off now, too many bad experiences with dodgy tuk-tuks and taxis. One guy even faked having no petrol because we wouldn't go where he wanted to bring us! (Though a wheely in a tuk-tuk is very cool!!)

Didn't make it for the Muay Thai or Lions match on Wednesday night, in fact Wednesday turned out to be a kinda waste of a day! A tuk tuk guy brought us to a tailor where we ended up spending nearly two hours between picking colours and negoiating prices then it was off to the Pantip Plaza, a massive electronics shopping centre where another few hours were spent looking at cameras (btw, they're not really all that cheap out!) Walked down to Saim Square then, which isn't a square at all and is really hard to find but at this stage we'd managed to get split into two groups and couldn't find each other so we just went back to the hotel and managed to meet there. Day felt bad because didn't really get much done!

Yesterday was better. Had to go to the Tailors again for a fitting at 11 so meant we had to be up early. Suits were very good and we've gotten a pretty good price on them for all that we get. Decided to walk to the the tailors, because of the aforementioned i've-got-no-petrol stunt the taxi guy pulled. The streets in Bangkok, the whole city in fact, are dirty and smelly, and are even worse when your stuck behind a tuktuk with a broken exhaust! T'was a nice walk all the same, not nearly as touristy as the Khao San is. After the fitting we decided to make something of the day and go see the Grand Palace. So we walked along a canal up to an Express Boat stop and got the Express Boat down to the Palace. It's a particularly nice way to travel, very quick, though the river is absolutely disgusting, even worse than the Liffey;)!! There's no point in me trying to descibe the palace, I'll do it no justice. I'll try put up some pictures whenever I can, not really in the mood for it now but the only way to take it all in is to see it! Spent bout 2 hours there then went back to the Khao San where we got food and went for a swim then headed up to see some Muay Thai!! Vicious stuff, mad atmosphere as the rounds go on and even saw a guy get KO'ed!! Unfortunately, it's a victim of the two-tier pricing where foreigners get charged more than Thai people! After, just came back to the Khao San, had a few drinks and a bit of a singsong with some guys on the roof of the hotel, even saw the sun rise!!!

Now, just bumming round until our train to Chiang Mai, Shane and Ross just had a massage and needless to say, Paul's off plaguing some girl!! I'll write again in a day or two from Chiang Mai.

Hope I've remembered everything.

Slainte!!

After months of planning and procrastinating, Team Thailand have finally returned to their spiritual homeland!

Flight was grand, bit of unnecessary panic in Franfurt regarding changing of the flights, but we arrived here in Bangkok around 2pm local time yesterday (it's early Wednesday here), around 5 or 6 in the morn your time! Actually, got to see the desert and the himalayas in the same hour!

It's absolutely roasting here, though not particularly sunny just really humid. Knocking back about 2 litres of water a second!!

For those heading out here soon : Khao San Road is a magical place, incredible atomosphere, interesting people! Stalls line the street, selling everything you could want, at cheaper than you would expect! (It's probably feasible to buy any- and everything that you would need, including rucksacks, out here when you arrive! [A policy that Ross is kinda following!!]) One last night was even selling "very strong cocktails" and made the promise that "we do not check for i.d."! Rather ominous!!
The paddy pub here can barely be called irish, not a white-skinned person working there in sight! Paul mastered the art of haggling in 'bout 10 seconds, managing to wrangle THREE pairs of bord shorts for 1000BHT, which is roughly 20 spondulas!

Currently staying at the D and D Inn . It's got a roof-top swimming pool with a mad view of Bangkok! Pool is great for getting out of the sweltering heat, and the bar is right beside it!!! We could see thunderstorms brewing in the distance last night too!!

That's all I can remember for now, next update will probably be just before We leave here i.e. sometime tomorrow evening! Rough plan for today is to go to Siam Square, where all the proper shops and stuff are, then it's a bit of a sporting evening tonight, Lions match followed by Thai Boxing.

By the way, food out here is fantastic!!! And oh so cheap! The five of us had dinner last night for around 6 euro and it was really really good stuff! Just be warned: It can be incredibly spicey, as Paul found out to his detriment!!

Less than 12 hours to go until we begin our travels! Proper updates will then begin to appear, and maybe even pictures (if we have a camera)

For those that don't know, we're flying from Dublin at 6 to Frankfurt and then on to Bangkok, arriving around 3 o'clock their time on Tuesday. What with the Lions match and Ireland Match on Wednesday, the first proper post prob won't be up 'til Thursday. If anybody wants to get personal emails, send your e-mail address to teamthailand@gmail.com and I'll try my best.

See y'all in July!!

The next few posts are gonna be for us to introduce ourselves, but more so for those who know us to introduce us, I'm gonna try get it so that any comments made can be added to the page!

Niall, Shane, Paul, Tomás and Ross


Less than two months to go, just exams in the way.




It's on!!