Trekking in Doi Chiang Dao

Today we did an organised tour that included an elephant ride and rafting as well as walking and visits to local hill tribes. We paid a bit more to avoid the coachloads that descend on certain tourist tribes and were also glad of this when we went past the huge elephant camp which looked like it probably had elephant 'shows'. Our ride was at a small private camp which had just a few animals that appeared well treated and we enjoyed watching them tuck into their lunch after our ride. I'd already been on elephants in Nepal, but it was a first for Szilvia and she was concerned about whether we were too heavy, though once one had seen the working elephants with tree trunks on their backs, it's clear a few humans isn't much bother. This time I was invited to ride on the elephants bareback, which was a strange experience feeling its huge shoulders moving beneath me. My stomach muscles got real workout as I clung on when going downhill.

The trekking itself was relatively short, but pleasant as we walked on a mainly gentle downward path through, bizarrely, fields of cabbages on the mountainside.

One of the villages was already set up for selling its wares, but the other was a simple affair perched on the hilltop with various squealing children and piglets.

I was slightly concerned about the white-water rafting as though I knew it wouldn't be too fast, knew about certain guides tendency to enjoying deliberately flipping boats and that this wouldn't sit too well with Szilvia who's only learnt to swim a week or so ago. Having received assurances that this wouldn't be the case by the English speaking guide, our non-English speaking helmsman (or whatever you call them) decided that he's ensure we hit virtually every rock possible. The other guys were frustrated with this by the end, but I was happy as Szilvia seemed to enjoy every minute of it, despite our near capsizing and being stranded on rocks on two occasions.

Thai Cookery School

We went on a Thai cookery course today. Named 'A lot of Thai', it is a family run affair, with Yui, the enthusiastic and humorous teacher making it a thoroughly enjoyable day and highly recommended.


The day began with a visit to the market and useful explanations about the different types of vegetables, fruits and rice available at the various stalls. My particular favourite however was the pork scratchings stall.

We cooked 6 dishes in all:

Pad Thai (pictured)

Green chicken curry

Chicken with cashew nuts

Sticky rice with mango

Tom Yum Soup

Spring Rolls

All of them were very delicious and being taught by an excellent chef gives one the confidence to say so. It really is an excellent course and although we haven;t tried any others, the properly glossy but personalised cookbook certainly looks better than the other photocopied leaflets we've seen other people with at the guesthouse.

We were also very well fed by the end of it and it was therefore a bit of bad timing that we did the course on a Sunday as we weren't hungry enough to fully participate in the Sunday Market which is also food fest. We tried our best though and tried number of different little dishes available from the various stall and motorised food bikes

Bangkok

We arrived in Krungthep mahanakhon amonratanakosin mahintara ayuthaya mahadilok popnoparat rathathani burirom udomratchaniwet mahasthan amonpiman avatansathit sakkathattiya witsanukamprasit (official name, more popularly know as Bangkok for some reason) early, having got the night train from Trang. We shared a berth with two Thais, one of them an elderly gentleman. It appears to be universal symptom of old-age that you enjoy persevering with speaking your own language at foreigners no matter how obviously they cannot understand you and this old boy was no exception, believing that increasingly vigorous gesticulation would increase comprehension to whatever he was trying to explain about our food.



After a bit of admin including collecting the suits I'd got made previously (wondering what sort of state I must have been in to order a brown pinstripe with pink trim on the lining) we visited What Benchamabophit (Wat Ben), which houses an interesting collection of Buddha statues.

Koh Lanta

We found a gorgeous guesthouse today to make up for the horrible one last night. It's called 'Best House' and has a wonderful open living room/reception area that is so comfy and relaxing. The hosts, a husband and wife team are also very friendly and kind, plus it's also less than a minute walk away from the beach and a very nice beach restaurant.

Rock Climbing

We went rock climbing today. This was both our first times so though we only did relatively simple climbs, they look quick scary when you're up there, albeit with great views. I made the mistake initially of scurrying up to quickly and making myself too tired for the tougher bits nearest the top. While I initially approached it as if the ropes were only there for safety and you had to achieve the climb without using it, on the longer climbs using the rope to take a rest became a necessity with my puny arms and it appeared that most others were approaching them in the same way. Szilvia, with her Lara Croft gear on, looked much more the part and scrambled up expertly.





We then made our way to Koh Lanta. Accommodation appeared to be at a premium and we got the last room in what turned out to be an overpriced, unfriendly and poorly maintained hotel, the only redeeming feature of which was it's good location and very nice (independently owned) beach bar. Don't go to Lanta Pavilion Hotel.

Krabie

I'm writing this blog while having my feet scrubbed and massaged. This new innovation to give you the option of having a laptop will probably perplex massage aficionados; however, it is certainly likely to increase the uptake for people like me who get restless at the thought of just sitting down for 90 minutes whether or not they're being massaged (unless at the football of course, though there's typically been a lot more jumping up than usual this season as we're currently joint top of the league while I'm not there)

So we're at the end of a relaxing day where we've done little else apart from a walk around Krabie and sampling some excellent food, Szilvia's enjoying her first taste of authentic Thai food immensely.

I also managed to sneak an hour of US primary election coverage too and listen to various Fox news presenters unconvincingly claim that they'd predicted an Obama surge in Iowa. I'd forgotten what a depressing experience watching this 'news' channel was and even though it was reporting good news, even if probably insignificant in the long term, it still managed to be patronising as well as fawning towards the latest republican deity Mike Huckerby.

Georgetown

We travelled to Georgetown today. During the bus ride we were asked to move by a Malaysian lady who had just boarded as we were sat in her allocated seat on the bus that was otherwise two-thirds empty. When I tried to persuade her that she might like to sit opposite, behind or in front, she insisted on seeing my ticket and explaining where that we needed to sit all the way at the back behind 6 rows of empty seats. She seemed quite perplexed at our reluctance to settle somewhere else and even more surprised as Szilvia, awoken from a deep slumber hurled her stuff to the seat opposite in annoyance. Malaysia is quite a rule-bound country, but the actual regulations haven't really impinged on us, apart from the populace's eagerness to follow the book.

We checked into an old colonial hotel called The Cathay, setting for numerous film sets, including Hotel Rwanda. It is quite affordable as seemingly only DIY repairs have been made to it since Independence in 1954 and no new supplies of normal hotel essentials ordered. We literally had a tea towel and a table runner for towels. However the big rooms and grand staircases give the place a wonderful old-worldly feel. It also seems the staff there are also relics from the colonial era, an one imagines they're kept on partly for the low budget, because no-one has the heart to say its time to retire after such long service and because they still love it. I enjoyed, albeit with a slight bit of discomfort, being treated like a colonial master of old, as I was bowed to and treated with phrases like 'excellent choice sir' and 'consider it done sir'.