So its day 7 now. One week since we fly out of Brisbane. One week til we fly home again.
We just arrived in Pattaya after 3 wonderful, relaxing days in Chiang Rai.

Day 6 (in Chiang Rai)- It was raining before breakfast which didn't look like a good sign, since we had booked a long boat at 9am to take us to the elephant camp and Karen village. But it cleared up as we ate, and we set off about 9.30am. The river isn't very deep so the boats are very shallow but very long (to keep afloat). The boat ride was 45 minutes, and we rode through all the northern thailand countryside. It was really beautiful.

We arrived and sadly it turned out to be a DIFFERENT Karen Village - NOT the long neck one I had thought it would be. We got out of the boat and were greeted with these HUGE snakes in cages. I'm talking 2-3 metres long, and about as thick as my thigh! Mum and I both squealed like girls as the guy tried to convince us to take photos with the snakes wrapped around us. He had dozens of photos posted up everywhere of all sorts of Farangs (foreigners) with snakes wrapped around them. But there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to have one of those things wrapped around me, no way jose!

So we scuttled off and booked our elephant ride. A large group of americans had arrived before us so there was a 20 minute wait but we checked out all the markets and local stalls. Chatted to a few other foreigners and took photos of the elephants going by, of the elephant poo lying in big heaps on the road.

20 minutes later it was our turn and we climbed up the bamboo structure so we could climb aboard of noble steed. We were on one of the smaller elephants but it was still absolutely huge. Our driver was a little boy no more than 9 years old. An older guy followed us the whole time so the boy was obviously "in training".

If you haven't ridden on an elephant before, let me tell you - its not that pleasant. they move fairly slowly but sitting in the little cane basket on top of their back, you sway back and forth, side to side/forward and back with every step it takes. I have a bit of a bruise on my lower spine today from being knocked around, but its pretty fun!!!

We had been told by a fellow farang that the ride was 20 minutes but ours was close to an hour! We wandered up the mountains through the beautiful green countryside (rainy season remember - its been a long time since i've seen such green grass!!!)

Mum kept saying "what goes up, must come down" but it wasn't until we started going downwards that I really realized what she meant. We were both gripping on for dear life, especially as we went along some pathways that had quite a drop on one side.
I know the elephant knows what its doing, and its probably more sturdy on its feet then humans ever could be, but it was still so scary when the elephant would walk so close to the edge. And then it would decide to lean half way over the edge to reach some delicious, tasty bamboo to eat - OMG We were both freaking out so badly as the basket we were in didn't exactly have a front rail. You just had to gripe onto the sides and gripe on tight with your legs/thighs.

But we finally made it back to land (sweet land), and took lots of photos feeding the elephants. Then it was back to our boat (side stepping AROUND the big snakes in cages) and back to the Legend resort.

We went back to town that afternoon and got caught in another huge rain storm, so we hid in the net cafe for an hour til it passed. Then we walked, shopped, ate and got a Tuk Tuk home again. A nice quiet night, which included dinner at the resort and then we were off to bed early as we had an early flight this morning.


Day 7 - up at 5.30am to shower and be out to breakfast by 6am. We finished packing and got the hotel car out to the airport. This time I was NOT hungover so the plane ride was quite enjoyable and we had a driver booked and waiting for us at the bangkok airport. He drove us 90 minutes to Pattaya and we checked into our hotel.

First thing we noticed was the amount of old, wrinkley white men with relatively young and attractive thai girls.... in the hotel, in the pool, out on the streets. We went for a bit of a wander to find some lunch and we were just blown away. We found a little restaurant and sat and stared at all the ugly Farang men all around us. Barely any of them were alone. Most had a thai girl decorated their arm. The ones that didn't, looked like they were definitely on the prowl. We were surrounded by so much horribly sunburnt white skin - guys without shirts with potbellies and wrinkleys and flab everywhere we looked!

Occasionally I'd see an old white woman with an old white man, and I've seen one white man with two teenage daughters, but that's about it! the rest - old white men with thai young women.

We went back to our hotel as it was stinking hot and we lazed by the pool in the shade for a few hours. Then headed out again and had an hour foot massage (for less than $10 AUD oh yeah!!!!).
We spoke to the girls massaging us and asked what they thought we should do in Pattaya. She said there isn't much to do for us - the shopping isn't as good as bangkok, there's just lots of bars and lots for "men". oh well, at least we can enjoy the cheap beer I guess heheheh. And its nice to just laze by the pool, eat good food. We're hopefully going to check out the beach tonight or tomorrow morning. Its just a bit too hot during the day.

So that's about it for now. 3 days in Pattaya. its mum's birthday on tuesday and on tuesday night we're going to an Alcazar show - a 'lady boy' caberet show. The best transvestites in all of thailand and perhaps in the world are here in Pattaya. Its not dirty or wrong. its just these amazingly convincing drag quens in costumes, singing and dancing. hehehe should be interesting at least.

Labels: alcazar, chiang rai, elephant, farang, lady boy, massage, pattaya, pool, swimming, thai, thailand, village

Day 3 continued - After the net we had another beer and some food at a place near where I stayed last time. So many of the crappy little bars selling cheap beer, had been replaced with shops which was really sad to see. We wandered back to Khao San road and had another cheapie foot massage (120 baht for half an hour = $4.28 AUD).
We continued on and would stop in a bar and have a drink, then continue shopping.
Then stop in another bar and have another drink.
Then keep wandering and shopping.
Repeat too many times.

We ended up at one bar and saw this young guy sitting all alone at a table. Being the dags that we are, with a few too many drinks under the belt, mum and I both went over and invited him over to our table. His name was Willie and he was 20 and from Germany. it was his last night in Bangkok, and it was ours as well, so the Beer Chang kept flowing.

I'm sure you can all piece together the rest of the evening.

Fast forward to Thursday morning (day 4) and we both woke up feeling rather seedy. The kick of the elephant was strong indeed!
I couldn't quite muster up the effort to go downstairs for breakfast so we just finished off what fruit we had in our bar fridge and very slowly made our way downstairs to check out. We left some baggage (mostly full of gifts and wintery clothes we bought) at the Arnoma Hotel since we will be returning there for our final night before flying home. And we were worried that we would be over the 15kg baggage limit of the internal airlines.

We almost had a disaster when the girl at the hotel told us that Air Asia flew out of the OLD airport. I kept insisting she ring and check and when she finally did, it turned out that Air Asia did fly out of the NEW airport. Thank god we didn't go all the way out there. The airports are both about 30 km from the city IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS!!!

We checked into the flight super early, found some awesome food, and then slept like babies on the hour flight to Chiang Rai.

The resort we are staying in is about 5-10 minutes drive from the town center, but its right on the river and absolutely divine. Its called the Legend Spa and Resort and its the most ritzy place I've ever stayed in. We have a bungalow room and a double bed and a single bed. The shower is the whole bathroom. You just stand in the middle of the room and shower. The toilet is obviously seperate!!

We've got a balcony with a swing seat. Mosquito nets over the beds on bamboo frames, which looks so beautiful, plus aircon, all the fancy stuff.
The whole resort has been landscaped with beautiful gardens. Mum is going crazy checking out all the differnent types of plants. They have a pool that overlooks the river, fitness room, restaurant with great views, beauty center. With the package, we had a dinner included as well as an 1.5 hour thai massage each. Buffet breakfast every morning too.

We had the free dinner last night and went to bed super early last night. This morning we had breakfast, had a swim, had our massage, did some exercise in the fitness room, had another swim, walked down the road and found a noodle shop for lunch.
We then just sat around watching tv in the room while a massive storm went by. Thunder, lightning and buckets of rain. It is definitely the rainy season here!!!! It finally broke about 5pm and we got a driver to take us to town at 6pm. But the night markets are a bit slow at setting up because of the rain so we're just killing time in the net cafe.

Tomorrow the plan is to get a long neck boat from the hotel pier down to the Karen village. Right next to the village is the elephant camp where you can go for an elephant ride. Then in the afternoon we're booked in for some more spa/massage treatments.
Oh yeah, we're really living the hard life!!!!

Is eveyone jealous yet? hehehe

Labels: Bangkok, beer, chiang rai, cocktail, drinks, elephant, holiday, khao san road, markets, shopping, thai, thailand, travel, trip, vacation, village

Not heaps to report about. We're currently taking a breather and cooling down in a net cafe right outside of Khao San Road.

We had a HUGE sleep in this morning (9am!!!!) and no gym, but had breakfast and lazed around the hotel room while getting ready and didn't actually get out of there til 11.30am or so. The last few days had been quite overcast and hazy and weren't too hot, so we thought we might try and walk to Khao San road, knowing it would take at least 2 hours, but at least we would see heaps of the local sights on the way.

but today its full on sunny and HOT HOT HOT! so after about half an hour we gave up and jumped in a cab. Mum had worn jeans and sneakers and was dying of heat, so we bought her a trendy cheesecloth skirt and some straw thongs with bells on them (whole outfit not costing more than $15- which was still quite a rip off for here) so now she's coping with the heat alot better.

A found a stall selling shirts with funky designs, half of the designs were total rip offs of threadless.com designs or other shirts designs i have seen selling in the valley markets for $30 or more! I also found some girls tank tops with intricate material/lace etc sewn into the back of them - which I've also seen in the valley markets and stores selling for quite a price. I picked one up from this stall for $6!!
I totally thought those shirts were handmade in australia, but lo and behold they're thai!

By this stage we were both hot and bothered again so we sat down in the closest beer garden and shared a tallie of Beer Chang..... I had no idea that beer chang was 6.4% alcohol!!!! No wonder they say it has the kick of an elephant the next day. hehehe

I'm going to take mum down the road after we're done on the net, and show her the backpackers place I stayed at 4 years ago, and will see if i can find my Fruit smoothie in a plastic bag stall that I went to every day. I wonder if the beer gardens around there will still have guys sitting out the front yelling "BEER CHANG 40 BAHT!" or if they will have gone up to 50 baht or more....

Yesterday after we sent our emails, we found a massage place on the street and had our second hour long foot massage - this time for only 139 baht ($4.96). again, it was pure bliss. We ventured over to Patpong last nite and spent even more money on cool shit and got hit up by so many guys wanting us to check out the girly shows. they are so not discreet about it. argh its so wrong!

I ended up really sad, because I found half a dozen stalls that were selling convincing fake bags, including a BLACK version of my Chloe bag. I had paid 2200 baht for it in a shop yesterday, but I managed to knock down a lady to under 2000 baht last night. But at the last minute I resisted buying a second one just because..... oh well! it was still a bargin.

Ok, now we're off to wander around some more and than have some more beers for our last night in Bangkok. tomorrow we fly to Chiang Rai, up north.

Labels: Bangkok, beer, chiang rai, cocktail, drinks, holiday, khao san road, markets, patpong, shoes, shopping, thai, thailand, threadless, travel, trip, tshirts, vacation

Labels: Bangkok, cocktail, drinks, holiday, khao san road, markets, patpong, shoes, shopping, thai, thailand, travel, trip, vacation

so its 3pm on monday. we've had a great first day..... mum woke me up at 6.30am (well not deliberately but she couldn't sleep and i woke up as she wandered around)so we went down to the hotel's fitness center and had an hour on the bikes/treadmills and a few weights. a nice way to start of the day, and get us both energised.

Thailand doesn't really "wake up" til 10am. Most shopping centers weren't open til then (but then they stay open til 10 or 11pm). So after we gymmed and showered, we went downstairs to have breakfast. we get complimentary breakfast at this place and i thouht it would be just western breakfast, but luckily we were wrong!!! there was all sorts of thai and japanese style foods. so we had stir fry veg, and steamed fish and rice and noodles for breakfast, as well as fruit and juice.

We then wandered to a few of the shopping centers and have been going shoe crazy!!! Like Abu Dhabi, Thailand has heaps of shoes for about $5-10!!! Mum has bought 3 pairs of shoes already, and I've got 2!!! Lucky I only brought 3 pairs of shoes with me!

We have since been back to the hotel to drop off some of our bags and then we went to the Big C shopping center right beside our hotel. We found a cheap shop taht sold really nice silver jewelery so mum bought up gifts for all her girls who work for her and I got a few extra things for gifts, plus jewelry for myself heheh. We then wandered into the supermarket and omg had such a blast!!! They have sooo much fruit here, and its all so cheap and tasty. They had a whole wall of the fresh fruit section devoted JUST to green asian veg. So many different varieties, not just good old bok choy and choy sum!Mum and I made total embarassments out of ourselves by taking photos of things. I got a photo of me under a sign that says TV Dinners but its all these pre-cut up and packed ingredients to make yummy thai stirfries and meals! So not our definition of a TV dinner.

We then stocked up on snacky food and fruit to take back to our hotel room. We wanted to get some bottles of beer and Spy (wine coolers) but it was 2:20pm and they can only sell alcohol in teh supermarket between 11-2pm and from 5-11pm!!! what the hell?!

By this stage we were starving so we ate at a restaurant in the shopping center and had a big plate of Som Tum (spicy papaya salad) and sticky rice and a Prawn & morning glory (green asian vegetable) stir fry dish. All for the equivalent of $4!!!!!

We're both now finally havnig a rest (I have shoppers legs already!!!!) and emailing everyone, and then we've booked in for an hour foot massage in our hotel at 6pm.

The flight was pretty good - with the memory of the flight to London still fresh in my memory anything less than a 10 hour flight is a breeze!!! We had paid for all the extras - food, video entertainment and the comfort pack - thank god! I really needed the blanket and socks and the neck pillow, sleeping mask and ear plugs really helped. I dozed for a few hours. The flight was quite empty so mum sat in seats behind me and we were both able to stretch out over double seats.The food was pretty average compared to the fantastic food provided by Emirates, but its better than nothing.

I had booked us a airport pick up service so as soon as we got through customs we found the hotel representative and we were straight in a car. So much easier than trying to haggle for a taxi. We were checked into our hotel by about 9pm thai time (midnght bris time) - we were greated with a welcome drink!!! hheheh the hotel is pretty ritzy - we've got bathrobes in our room and slippers and sweets on our pillows. We went down to the bar and had a drink to celebrate our arrival, before we finally decided to head to bed.
So that's it so far. More to come!!!!

Labels: Bangkok, holiday, shoes, shopping, thai, thailand, travel, trip, vacation