Northern Thailand

We arrived in Chiang Mai on our “private jet” and quickly got back into the Thai way of life. We stayed here for five days to visit the town, the various bazaars and shopping centres as some clothes shopping was in order and to celebrate my birthday.
We arrived on a Sunday which was lucky as we were able to go to the Sunday Walking Street Night Bazaar. Basically the main roads in the Old city are closed off and all the usual hawkers selling everything and anything lined up their stalls. It seems that most of the town turns up and it was very busy with locals and tourists. We didn’t buy anything save some street food but we did bump into Ismail and Holly (we’d met in Myanmar) again as we thought we would.
The next couple of days were spent shopping and seeing some of the amazing temples of Chiang Mai, the nights were spent at the Night Bazaar as the food is cheap and tasty, we also enjoyed an amazing frozen desert (a rolled ice cream) made from whatever ice cream flavour and toppings you wanted, really delicious. If you’re interested, someone has uploaded a video so you can see how it is made (sorry about the abysmal singing in the background) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjgGlTCobPs
The next day was my birthday, so I decided we would eat some French delights from a Patisserie that had just recently been opened by a real French Patissier with 40 years experience, he was an ex-pat or I guess not (sorry couldn’t resist the bad pun) who’d opened up other businesses in SE Asia, including one in Hanoi so we look forward to going to that one when we get there:-). The Mille-feuille and Tarte aux Fraises were perfect, if we didn’t know any better, we would have thought we were in France.
Next we went to the Illusion Art (or 3D) museum. What a silly place this was, we had great fun posing with the art to make our own photos. That night, we enjoyed some nice cocktails etc. not only to celebrate my birthday but also 14 years together. It was a fun night and we also had a dance. The next day wasn’t quite as much fun as we were a little hungover, we are not used to drinking cocktails anymore!

With Songkran (Thai New Year) just days away, we wanted to get out of Chiang Mai as it is notorious for being where the madness happens (basically a huge water fight) which sounds like fun for 1 day but can be overwhelming for 3 or 4 days, so we moved on to Pai.

After a 3 hour journey in a minivan up the mountain and back down again in and out of 700+ curves and chicanes, we arrived in Pai. Somehow managed to not vomit on the way which was a minor miracle.
Pai was great, we really enjoyed our time here, so much so the initial 5 days we had planned to stay there turned into 11. It wasn’t so much that there was so much to do and see but just a really nice place to relax. We stayed in a cute little hut that also came with a hammock. The hut was set in this lovely garden area which was in a peaceful location and gave us some nice mountain views. During our time here, we hired some Scooters for the first time in our trip which was really essential as the various sites to see where quite far away from this little town. We visited a WWII memorial bridge, a canyon, some waterfalls (although being the dry season these were somewhat underwhelming). We also went up to some awesome viewpoints and even spent one day fishing at a catch and release lake (I caught two but Wend and Ludwig let theirs get away).
We met a really nice couple from the UK, Tom and Sam, on their way to Australia to work via Thailand and Cambodia and spent many days with them. We met lots of other people that we would stop and chat to everyday, it wasn’t difficult to start becoming one of the locals after a few days as it is quite a small place.
Of course we did get caught up in the New Year festivities and spent one day with our water guns being big kids and having a great water fight. The locals didn’t really use pistols, moreover they threw buckets of water. After walking around Pai and getting soaked through in about 5 minutes we set up camp with some locals and basically soaked passers by. Pai has become a very popular tourist place not only with backpackers but with the Chinese in recent years so being stationed quite near to the bus station as we were, we had plenty of dry tourists to ambush, such fun! In addition, the locals would drive around in the town in their pick-up trucks with a truck full of kids and adults alike chucking water at anyone. It really was a silly day and we laughed like kids all day long.
One of the main reasons we decided to stay longer was an upcoming music festival that we thought would be great to go to. There wasn’t anyone famous playing (we think) as most of the bands were Thai playing western rock covers and some playing reggae covers but they were good. The setting was really nice, next to a lake with mountain views and of course we met some really nice people at the festival and drunk far to much Chang than is good for us, we would pay for that the following day…

We finally left Pai behind and headed to Soppong for a couple of days to visit the Tam Lod Cave.
Soppong was only one hour up the road so as soon as we arrived and checked into a hut at Cave Lodge Guest House we went off to see the cave which had some impressive stalactites and stalagmites and we also took a boat (a bamboo raft really) through the cave and that was pretty cool.
We went back home which was only 10 mins around the corner from the cave for an hour or so but then returned for sunset to see the swifts coming in for the night. Wow what a sight, thousands and thousands of them flying back in, apparently there are as many as half a million. We had also expected to see lots of bats coming out for the night but I think we only saw about 3 of those…!
When we arrived at Cave Lodge we didn’t know what to expect, we thought we were just going to visit the cave and that would be it, we weren’t aware of the activities they offered. So, much to our surprise and delight, we booked in to a 3 cave trek for the following day which was described as “adventurous”.
Well adventurous is certainly the word, we set off in a group of 6, a canadian couple, two american girls and us along with our guide, Mr Wat at around 9.30 and trekked to the first cave. We put our helmets and head torches on and went into the darkness, walking or crouching low through the cave trying not to slip or put our hands on bat shit, there were some interesting fossilised sea shells and the usual stalactites and stalagmites. It really was so dark in there and to prove the point, Wat asked us to turn our lights off for 2 minutes and we sat in the dark, it was a little eerie but not too much so, there was absolutely no light at all for our eyes to pick up.
We then trekked to the second cave where Wat got changed into shorts only, this obviously meant we were going to get wet in this second cave, called the waterfall cave and so we did. So again, helmets and head torches on and in we went, this cave was so tight and low we had to crawl through water on our hands and knees even on our bellies to get through it at times. It was so low we may as well have been potholing. The waterfall at the end was impressive enough but the “potholing” experience was the most fun.
We stopped for lunch for an hour or so and attempted to dry off our boots a little which was pretty futile! After lunch we then hiked to the third cave, it took us around an hour or so and in the heat of the day with quite a few ups and downs, it reminded us of Nepal again.
We put our helmets and head torches on one last time and entered the third cave, we descended about 50 metres or so into this one but once in this was much easier to move around, no crawling this time. This was like a small version of the Tam Lod Cave we had seen the day before but perhaps more beautiful as it was very white, it was called the Christmas cave but Santa must have been out as he was nowhere to be seen.
Our last cave visited, we trekked back home for well needed showers and rest, What a day and great fun, we were so happy to have done it, neither of us have never done anything like this before.

After nearly two weeks in the mountains of Mae Hong Son province, we headed back to Chiang Mai for a couple of days so as to make our way to Sukhothai. We checked into a little cheap hotel and got upgraded to the best room in the place (always nice) which served to get our legs back into life after having used muscles we haven’t used for ages during our caving day. It was nice to have a duvet day and watch movies for a change.

We took a 6 hour bus journey and checked in to another nice hut just outside the old city of Sukhothai, this time with aircon (much needed as very humid here) so we could explore the old temple ruins.
We were the only people in our “resort” as it is now the off season so got offered a free upgrade to the deluxe bungalow. I do like an upgrade especially two in three days!
For the next couple of days, we hired bikes and cycled around the old city to visit the ruined temples. These are some of the most impressive ruins in Thailand and really worth seeing, they are set in a beautiful park with lakes and many old trees, it’s a very serene atmosphere especially now as not many tourists are about so you almost get the place to yourself.
After the excitement of the two weeks before and meeting lots of new people, it was nice to have some time just to ourselves.

Well we’re off to Laos now, It’s going to be three or four buses probably around 12 hours or so of journey to make our way to the border crossing at Nong Khai so we can make our way to Vientiane.

Chiang Mai

Pai

Soppong

Spot the Snake and Crocodile

Sukhothai

Myanmar

We flew into Bangkok from Colombo and spent 3 days there fixing electrical equipment and buying various things that were hard to come by in India and Sri Lanka. We didn’t really have time to be the tourist and visit any sites but we did enjoy some great cheap street food around the lively Khao San Road. I really enjoyed my first taste of Bangkok and look forward to coming back there around June time.

So we flew to Yangon to start a 16 day visit of Myanmar.
It was with some apprehension that we went into Myanmar, certainly from my part. All the negatives that you can read about this country and the supposed hardship of acquiring visas put us a little on edge but this was totally unfounded. No sooner had we landed we were already at ease and it was just like any other country.

We stayed just one night in Yangon in the downtown area which is a concrete jungle built in a grid system. It’s not the most beautiful place but it does have a certain charm although it could do with some upkeep which is probably not forthcoming as it has lost its status as the capital to Naypyidaw.
To the north of the downtown area, we visited the remarkable Shwedagon Pagoda which could be the most astonishing monument to religion we have ever seen, even the purest of atheists would struggle not to marvel at it. I’m not even sure that the pictures will do it justice. It’s a huge complex of temples circled around the main Pagoda, there is so much gold it really is dazzling in the sunlight.
I was even made to buy a lungi as my knees were showing although i haven’t needed it for other temples we have seen since…

That evening, we made our way up north on the night bus, a 12 hour journey in a surprisingly comfortable coach with really reclining seats to Nyaungshwe, the base for Inle Lake.
We arrived just as the sun came up, walked to find a guest house we liked the look of and rested for the morning to catch up on the sleep we didn’t really get on the night bus.
The following day we got some bikes and decided to cycle towards a hot spring on the west side of the lake. The cycling was peaceful and we were treated to some nice views from a temple on top of a hill just opposite the hot springs.
The hot springs turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, we got a sneak peak at them and decided not to bother with them, they were more like little modern jacuzzis and nothing like the ones in Nepal we had enjoyed on the Poonhill Trek.
We cycled off a little further and were asked by a Czech couple if we wanted to share a boat to the east side of the lake, we agreed and once on the other side cycled back up towards Nyaungshwe stopping at a vineyard for some wine tasting, yep you read right folks, wine tasting in Myanamar. The views from the vineyard reminded us of Europe, maybe even Provence. The names of the wines were certainly French but the tastes of most weren’t ;-) There were a couple of good ones and it was nice to have some wine for the first time since Christmas day. After a pleasurable couple of hours we cycled back (hic!) safely (hic!) to our guest house.
The next day we set off early for a day on a long tail motorboat around Inle Lake to see the villages on stilts and immerse ourselves in the local culture. We saw the various fishermen, seaweed collectors and tomato farmers doing their thing, the tomato farms are actually floating gardens on the lake which is totally ingenious as tomatoes love water, which made the most delicious tomato and sesame salads. We stopped off at many handicraft shops including silversmith, embroiderers, silk weavers and black smiths to see how they made their local wares. The silk weavers not only used the traditional silk but also spun the fibres from the lotus flower stems, the end product was very expensive, around £150 for a scarf or lungi but beautiful to touch. Our journey also took us to the floating market (doesn’t float on water so not sure why it is called that..) and a couple of monasteries, one called the jumping cat monastery as the monks had trained the cats to jump through hoops, they must have been on a break when we arrived, no jumping to be seen at all. It was a really fascinating day and we also saw one of the fabled long necked women (Kayan). It’s unbelievable how heavy the rings are that a mature woman wears around her neck. They start off at a young age, i think 7 years old and gradually more rings are added till they reach 18. By that time, the weight of these rings weighs 12kgs! and of course their necks have the appearance of being stretched quite considerably but it’s actually their collar bones and ribcages which are sunk from the weight.
We hung around Nyaungshwe for another day just to relax and take it all in and enjoy some more local Shan food like the very tasty Tea Leaf Salad and Minced Pork Curry. It has a really nice backpacker vibe and it’s evident that Myanmar is going to become very popular soon so get here quick!
It’s the beginning of the 10 week school holidays in Myanmar and we witnessed a few processions through the streets. The girls and boys all dressed in their finery and some riding horses. They then move on to the monasteries or nunneries where there is a celebration and they have their heads shaved and then have a feast. Their parents then leave them at the monasteries or nunneries for the 10 weeks just so they can have fun and as one of the locals told us “for their happiness”. The Myanmar equivalent to summer camp in the US or Europe really - the kids certainly looked like they were having a great time when we saw some in the local monasteries. Some of them end up staying and becoming nuns or monks, but there certainly does’t seem to be any pressure as to what path they chose.

We met a nice young couple from Bristol, Ismail and Holly and chatted to them for a few hours. They were heading off to a place we would go to soon so we promised to hook up again.

The next stop was not initially planned when we looked at what was on offer in Myanmar (although we didn’t do much planning in truth!) but as it was only a couple of hours away on the bus, we decided to stop in Kalaw for a couple of nights so we could go off on a day trek around the mountains there.
We arranged a trek with our guest house and the following morning, “Mr Johnny” our guide took us off on an 8 hour loop around Kalaw to see some of the local villages, tea and orange plantations stopping off for lunch at a great viewpoint (enjoying a delicious avocado and tomato salad with chapatis) and after coming back through forests and a cave (man made) which housed a myriad of Buddha images or statuettes.
It was quite dry and many trees were not in leaf so it was a little barren in places but i guess that’s what happens when it’s over 35c. There wasn’t as much nature as we would have liked to see either, don’t think we spotted any birds of prey.

Early the next morning, we got the bus to Bagan, the must see place in Myanmar and a place we really wanted to visit.
For our 6 month anniversary on the road treat, we checked in to a posh hotel for a week with an amazing infinity swimming pool - a bargain at £40 a night :-0
We met up with our friends from Inle that night, Ismail and Holly, and ate at a bar called Weather Spoons! Had the most amazing beef burger since we left the UK (haven’t had many in fairness if any actually..) but it was so nice to eat something different. I may have said this before but the choice of rice or noodles everyday does get a bit boring some days.
We divided our days into either visiting temples on bikes in the morning and relaxing by the pool in the afternoons as it really is too hot to visit sites this time of year after midday, the temperature being close to 40c, or we just relaxed at the pool all day.
Bagan really is an extraordinary place. There are thousands of temples scattered around a 25sq mile area in all shapes and sizes, some are vast and very popular which must be seen and some are just little (like a chapel in a Cathedral).
We probably visited 15 or so and that’s more than enough. Some temples have amazing frescos from the 12th century still visible, some temples have enormous golden Buddhas, some temples offer not much more than height and viewing platforms, these were some of our favourites as once you get up high enough to see the panorama, it really is an amazing site, temples as far as the eye can see, 360 degrees around, again i’m not sure the photos will do it justice.
We finally got a chance to try the national dish Mohinga which is traditionally eaten at breakfast. This is a clarified fish soup with curried chicken and noodles with other bits added such as chickpea powder, boiled eggs and coriander or spring onions for example. It’s really delicious and although it seems a little weird to have it for breakfast for us westerners it was too good to turn down.

We enjoyed our two week stay in Myanmar and it was good to come here before the tourist boom happens in the next couple of years. There were many French here strangely, more than any other nationalities… must be an offer on!

So off to Mandalay Airport this morning to fly back into Thailand - Chiang Mai, via pick up truck, minibus and motorbike taxis.
The flight was great, a little 70 seat propeller plane with only 8 of us inside, us two, two monks, two nuns and their two aids!

Our lasting memories:
Buddha Buddha Buddha, never seen so many temples, on top of hills, in the middle of nowhere, just everywhere!
Most of the Ladies having a clay like substance on their cheeks and foreheads called Thanakha (a traditional make up).
Tea leaf salad.
Most of the men chew beetle, their teeth and gums are awful.
Very smiley and laid back people.
Pick up trucks with hoards of locals in the back and on top.
Workers trucks without bonnets or exhaust pipes so you can see the engine and black smoke coming out.
Lots of cycling.
£1 bottles of Rum (actually quite good too)
Pork! (we missed it after 6 months of not getting any at all in Nepal, India or Sri Lanka)

Yangon

Inle Lake

Gecko fell from the roof and landed on my screen (another fell on my chest about 15 mins later!)

Locals getting the 'bus' to work

Tea Leaf salad

Come on jump! 

Kalaw

Tea flower

Lunch stop on the way to Bagan

Bagan

Our private jet to Chiang Mai!