Thailand - chapter I

3 weeks and I forgot already that winters are cold and your best escape is a thick layer of cloth. My body forgot too and the shock was terrible when I arrived this morning on Heathrow, a bone chilling -3 degrees at ground, in stark contrast with the 35-38 degrees that spoilt us for the last days in Thailand. I was carrying a ravaging flu too, breaking the silence every 5 minutes with a cough. Air-con was my sworn enemy.
But what a trip it was. 3 weeks and couple of days in Thailand, seeing Bangkok, Chang Mai, Pai, Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi, travelling by airplane, train, bus, car, jeep, open back vans, tuk-tuk, boat, speed boat, kayak, inflatable boat with twists that weren't in the plan and fighting the european flu that followed us all the way. Bugger!
First a "thank you" to Carmen and Ake, our hosts and co-travellers. Thailand was friendlier and less confusing with them. Kopunkap guys!
The other participants were:
Lucia - ex-university colleague, living in Austria, stayed with us for 2 weeks only
Roberto - italian friend of mine, living in London, stayed all the way, he was in charge of safe keeping the european virus and carrying it around :-)

We arrived in Bangkok on the 4th of december. It was hot and we liked it. We didn't like that everywhere there was aircon and it was set to Freezing-cold. Thais love aircon, the colder it is, the better. We couldn't understand it as it was all we were trying to avoid by running away from Europe. Well, it wasn't the only thing we couldn't understand. We couldn't understand where Roberto was too!!
He was coming with Kuwait Airways via Kuwait and I was thinking maybe he decided to stop and enrol in some holy jihad movement and wave goodbye to a life of office slavery.
We finally met him after 3 hours and he told us Kuwait Airways lost his luggage. After getting some compensation from the airline and with the promise that the luggage will be shipped to Bangkok soon, we left. We left by car as Ake and Carmen were waiting for us. We even managed to do some shopping, changing our trainers for sandals and Roberto buying all his other necessities that were in Kuwait.
It was a huge market, very busy, I forgot the name now, but apparently it's a hardcore experience even for thais to shop in there. We did it while jet lagged. Too bad we can't put it on the CV.
We flew to Chang Mai the second day at 6 o'clock, no rest for the wicked, especially if jet lagged. Chang Mai is in the northwest part of Thailand, in a mountainous area, quite close to the border with Myanmar (Burma), which was quite evident after a while from the number of military checkpoints on the roads. Which roads I must say are very good, surprisingly good, I was expecting mayhem, maybe same level with India. Yes, my acknowledgement of my ignorance skyrocketed those days and even now, writing this, I still feel a bit embarrassed.
In Chang Mai we rented a Ford 4WD and we set off north, even closer to Burma, to a place called Pai. It's a nice place, where backpackers and adventurers hang out. You can do a lot of stuff around Pai.
But before reaching Pai, I said ... let's bunjee jump. I was the one pushing for the idea, not knowing it's going to be my nemesis. We went for it, Roberto was in too and the bugger jumped. From the ground level it all looks so simple, a walk (pardon, jump) in the park. However, once I was up there, I knew I was made for office life. It was absolutely terrifying, my pulse racing, my knees shaking. My body suddenly remembered I am afraid of heights. And I didn't jump.
The jokes that followed for a week were well deserved. But it was a lesson in self-knowing. It's amazing how you reshape yourself depending on the perspective.
A word of advice ... whatever you do, however high you climb, don't look down.

In Pai we found a very nice and clean guesthouse, charging us 7 pounds per night, for all 5 of us. We couldn't believe it. We called it our headquarters for 3 days.
The most interesting thing we did in Pai was white water rafting. That's rafting in an inflatable rubber boat on a river, all day long, paddling for 40 or 45 km. The price was outrageously cheap for that. It was great, the river was crossing the mountain, the jungle, at places it was quite turbulent, pumping some adrenaline in our blood. We even did a bit of swimming in the river, where it was quiet; we did some mini climbing on a waterfall, ate in some jungle huts and all in all had great fun all the way. A very nice experience, highly recommended.
We learned that the our guide was making 150 baht a day (or was it 250?!), that's roughly 2(3.5) pounds a day. We left a tip and the guy was very happy about it. Happy happy how thais would put it! The superlative in Thai is formed by repeating the adjective. So "happy happy", "cute cute", "good good", you got the idea!
We also visited a cave near Pai, on bamboo rafts. Interesting experience. On the way back we had rain and the mountainous road became really muddy, a hazardous driving experience. And I was driving! And then there was fog too and we were moving with the speed of a slug. The fun part of course was that I was driving without a driving license, I had forgot it in Bangkok. Ah, what the heck, it's Thailand!
And then in a treacherous slope it all came to a halt. The road was blocked by cars that got stuck in the mud and couldn't move. We contemplated a night spent in the jeep, not a pleasant prospect at all.
It was fun to see all the thais in the street, trying to find solutions, trying to work together but lacking a decision maker. Until someone in a military uniform showed up and they all obeyed. Ake confirmed that this is the thai way, they all expect someone in a uniform, be it military or police to solve the problem of decision making.
Finally, there was a small gap in the blockade and I had to drive the jeep without sliding it into a truck. We did it and we slept in our beds at the guesthouse that night. It was fun though!
Carmen and Ake flew back to Bangkok and me, Lucia and Robert took the train back to Bangkok, it took all night but we wanted to try it. But Bangkok is a different chapter all together.
Below some pics to illustrate the story...

From left to right: Carmen, Roberto, moi, Lucia

At the bunjee jumping place ... Carmen, Ake, Roberto, moi

This was our porch at the guesthouse, next to the river, we used to go there and have a chat in the evening or in the early morning, planning the day ahead while having a tea and bananas, provided for free, by our hosts

On the rubber boat, at the end, after 40 km of paddling

This guy was our rafting guide, quite a cool and funny guy, too bad he wasn't speaking english, although he pretended to understand some. We left a tip, mostly coz we were outraged that he made so little a day.

Me and Roberto playing table tennis at a guesthouse/restaurant where we stopped to have lunch. As you notice, we're both professional players and moving so fast around the table that the camera barely could catch us, those traces of colour are us.