Cobra Village and Mud Mee Silk

Well they say travel will make you a calmer more patient person. Perhaps but not in this case! I decided to, after arriving and looking around Khon Kean, to visit the Mud Mee Silk Village. Apparently the best silk in the world and boasting a great Museum on the process of silk and many artifacts. Well I arrived after an hour long dusty and hot bus trip, to be dropped off on the side of nowhere and the people had no English speaking ability which was as good as my Thai. After a moment of searching I found a small sign that said "Thai Silk Exhibition" and an arrow. So off I went in that general direction. After approximately 2klm walk in 40* heat I arrived to what seemed to be the "site". It was a room full off silk merchandise and a video on Mud Mee Silk in Chinglish so bad I had to strain to understand it. So that was a big fat waste of effort!! So back on the bus after another hot walk back to the side of the road! Great..I was just so pissed off you wouldn't have believed it!! This was a tourist attraction??
On the way back from Chanobot there was a huge storm and trucks were being turned over and sing going whizzing past and all. So I guess I got some kind of exiting thing to look at!
The next day I was determined to go to the King Cobra Village to make up for the uneventful event the previous day. So yet again, on another hour long bus journey, on to the side of the freeway, to be ferried on by a hostile Tuk Tuk driver. Finally I reached the King Cobra Village where there was promise of displays of breeding techniques, snake boxing, and snake dancing. Well all I got was 5 King Cobras in cages and all the displays were in Thai! Fabulous, yet another eventful and fulfilling day! I was really appreciating the amount of tim it took to get to these places of amazement! I was at the King Cobra Village for all of 5 mins!
That afternoon I decided to move on to Khon Kai where I've been staying at a great, and very sociable, place next to the Mekong River. I've met some really funny people and today Alex and I decided to cross the boarder to Laos together to do our "Visa Run". The only way you can get a visa extention for Thailand is to leave and re-enter and get a whole new month.
Now the running joke is that Alex and I crossed the border to get married and buy children to exploit..15 actually! These people are Mad but great fun. Wish I could stay longer but am going back to Bangkok tonight to meet up with my Mum....

On a serious note

To anyone that visits Thailand, particularly Chiangmai, and decides they want an Elephant experience than I have a suggestion.......
The Elephants are very exploited here and are treated rather poorly and I feel rather ashamed to say that I was one of the millions of tourist that helped this along.
There is an Elephant sanctuary just out of Chiangmai that you can spend a day at and help care for the elephants. A Thai lady has dedicated her time and money to buying Elephants, of all ages, who are badly treated and injured and placed them in her sanctuary to recover and live a good life. She has escaped many death threats but unfortunately a few of her elephants have not. Angry locals have killed one or two of her elephants as she threatens to stop the poor treatment and exploitation of the elephants.
The day you spend at the sanctuary involves you helping feed, bath and play with the 35 or so Elephants. It's more costly than a ride on one but the money is put back into maintaining the sanctuary. I wish I had spent my money better!! There is no riding these creatures but my friends Mel and Andy said the experience they had far outweighs a ride on the back of one.
I will definitely return to Chiangmai to do a day with the Elephants.
Andy and Mel have decided as a 40th birthday present to each other they will buy an elephant for the sanctuary and save a big life!! They have a few years to start saving!!
The sanctuary also has the tallest Elephant in Thailand and he's funny to look at... Big skinny legged male who is cared for by none other than an Aussie.

Just a thought!

The train, the bus and on to Phimai

Well I was up nice and early to catch the train to Korat to get a bus to Phimai....The train has three classes...I st, obviously the best class..2 nd, the usual tourist hang out or better to do locals, and third...My choice!! Nothing better than being in with the local people, windows down getting covered in soot and dirt from the tracks...Also the cheapest option available.
I love to see peoples reaction when they see me on the carriage with them. It's like they've never seen a westerner before and there's much fuss and chatting to be had. I drew the plus card and got seated next to a old fella who was missing many teeth and wanted to tell me all his ailments. Thank god I don't speak Thai!! I was polite enough to fain sleep and ignore him as he hocked up phlegm and constantly spat out the window. Gladly he moved on to someone who could empathise with him about what ever it was that was killing him slowly and loudly!
Being foreign is a plus, people constantly offer you food to sample and drinks to try but refusal seems so rude but a plus for my health I think.

finally I arrived and caught a Tuk Tuk to the bus station, but not without the usual inquiring
questions from the driver...How old, where from, only one, why alone, why not married, why am I not being loved by some one, why traveling for so long????
I want to say "I'm not married because my bastard of a husband ran of for greener grass, my age is none of your bloody business and it's rude to ask, I'm traveling for as long as a bloody like because I'm richer than you and I bloody well can, No, Australia has more than two states (Melbourne and Sydney) and no Sydney is not the capitol, I don't know why I'm not loved but probably cause you bastards keep telling me I'm fat and my ego is as small as a pea thanks to you.....WHY DON"T YOU MIND YOU OWN BUSINESS!!!! AND JUST DRIVE YOU LUNATIC!!!
But I don't I just polity smile and answer his stupid questions. Obviously I lie in answer to most of them.
I arrived finally in Phimai and found a room at the Old Phimai Guest house. It's pretty rickety
but plenty of character and it's cheap.....(soon I'm going to splash out and get a room with air con!!) Nothing really goes on in this place at night so I decided to try my hand at the post office...I know I know..Malaysia kinda did for me in the post office department but I felt strong and up for a challenge. It wasn't too bad I actually got to send off 6 parcels in the space of an hour and there were no tears!!! Yes it's true... Not a word spoken in English, and I'm sure he was picking on me most of the time, but it was sent. I do thank some lovely lady who helped me pack my box and fill out the forms all with a charade of sign language and pointing. And don't worry I did get my own back with the fella in the post office by telling him very fast in English that he's a wanker and he may think I'm a stupid tourist but I'm not!!! All with a smile and a whay,(hands in a praying position and up near your face) which he thinks I was saying thank you. haha. Yeah, lets just see if my parcels arrive!
Today I went for a walk to the ceremony gate in the historical area...It was a long walk for little reward but the Wat was amazing!! It's in the Khmer period and pre dates Angkor Wat in Cambodia by at least a hundred years. It's believed that this temple was what Angkor Wat was designed from. They restored much of this temple in the late 60's and it's just beautiful. I got many photo's with monks walking through the temple and it's such a beautiful contrast of bright orange robes against the old rocks.
I was also accosted by a group of Chicky monks in stark white robes. They all hugged me and took photos and we walk arm in arm, hand in hand, and draping off me around the temple. I was really funny because we were trying to talk to each other but none of us could understand one another. We just laughed and laughed. The male monks thought i was so funny taking photos of them considering they can't touch me they just took photos too.
I feel rather "blessed" and it was a really lovely if not strange experience.
So tomorrow I am off again.......On yet another adventure

City of the rabid Dog!!

Ayuttaya is a beautiful place full of ruined Wat's and historical parks...But I tell you the rabid rabies infested Mutt rules this city!
The joy of the night bus hadn't rubbed off on me yet when we were accosted by a taxi driver at 3am in the morning, on the side of the freeway! I was ecstatic to be sitting next to the Thailand Snoring Champion on the bus, yet alone to be approached by the most exuberantly expensive taxi driver in the north as well...After much bartering and no budging from the taxi driver we decided it was really the only choice we had at such a early hour of the morning.
Well to my delight we were dropped, not were we wanted and asked to be, but a good kilometer away..This normally would be fine but for the fact that I have 20kgs strapped to my back, in the dark, and a million dogs surrounding us!!
Sebastian, Silver, Marnie and I decided that we should walk closer to the hostel area and try to find somewhere to sleep till the hostels open. We took our lives into our own hands! The Mutts here have a go at you at ever opportunity, gnashing their teeth and generally scaring the beejuesus out of you. Generally thing are fine and the territorial mongrels settle back to sleep and your free to walk onwards....We'll not for my poor mate Sebastian!
We finally arrived at a hostel that had some good benches to sleep on till opening hours. At sun rise Sebastian and I decided to check out our sleeping options and see if anyone was awake. I was glad I took the side road option and let Sebastian go the main road route. He entered guest house only to be chased down by the owners Mutt and bitten badly on the back of the calve....Needless to say by this stage I picked another guest house and was pretty happy with my choice...Sebastian and Co on the other hand had a lovely visit to the local hospital for an onslaught of injections...But he did get his accommodation for free!! Some people have all the luck!!
I hired a bicycle and peddled my way around the historical sights which involved a few kilometers and some fast peddling away from unhappy mutts, but it was a beautiful sight. I had the opportunity to go inside one of the Chedi's which still had paintings and murals in gold leaf on the walls deep inside the Chedi's center...I was a little panicky being inside skinny walkways deep inside all on my own but my fears were fruitless. There were no tourist robbing locals at the bottom and angry youths. Thank goodness.
In the evening I took a long boat up the river and stopped at a few more historical sights and waved frantically at the locals swimming in the river...Alongside the dead floating dog!!!! Yuck!!
All in all, Ayuttaya is a lovely place to visit but the anxiety walking the streets can out do the beauty of the sights.....Suhkothai still wins hands down!!!

To one and all

HAPPY EASTER !!

Sukothai.....The Historical City

After surviving the down pour in Chiangmai I've headed down south 5 hours, by the suicide bus, to Sukhothai. (The bus drivers here make our bus drivers at home look like they driving a Hurst)

Sokhothai is a beautiful city that houses some of Thailand's oldest Wat's..I am staying just across the road from the Historical world heritage park that has some of the most dramatic sights i have seen. Some of the Buddha images are over 40ft tall and are as old as the 1300's , if not older.
Today, I decided to do the sights in a nice relaxed way and hired myself a bicycle..you should have seen it...it had a seat on the back with foot pedals for easy dinking of a pillion passenger and the seat was as big as a dinner plate. I hooked up with two French Canadian girls and we rode all day. It's so peaceful and serene, in the ruins of the Wat's, i could have sat at a few for hours but there were so many to see in one day.
So, may I let you know that my butt is so sore i feel like I've ridden a donkey for a week.. not to mention my knee's...you see I had a bike change half way because my first ones seat was so low i practically had my knees up near my ears!! And constantly I had people jumping on the back for a dink to the next Wat...mind you they were always wee little Thai boys who weigh next to nothing!! but I'm sure that didn't help.
Last night for the end of the Songkran festival they had a night market and a festival in the Historical park which was great because i actually got to see my first Mauy Thai Boxing championship battle and it wasn't all gussied up for the tourists, it was they real deal!!
It was spectacular. I sat on the back of a truck with some local men and cheered and jeered from the sides. There were little tykes from around 8 fighting right up to adults....and even women!! I was impressed. The chicks fight harder than the men!! I even saw a knockout which is rare for Thai boxing.
A contrast to the landscape it was set in!!!
Anyway tomorrow I'm off to Ayuttaya...Another historical city....If I can get someone who bothers to speak english to tell me about the bus.....There lays the problem :) oh well maybe I'm going to die here!!

Happy Songkran

Hi guys, just wanted to wish you all a happy Songkran...Happy Thai New Year....Now all you have to do is go outside and pour a bucket of water over yourself and anyone that you see.
Well my! it was enough to make you cry...The water wastage was enough to keep Bris-vegas in water for a year!!! But it was so much fun!!
It all started a day early and walking in the streets got you wet...not just a little but absolutely drenched...especially if you are a tourist..and you get anywhere near an innocent looking Monk!!
On the actually official day, in Chiangmai, they open the festival with fire crackers and a parade of each Buddha from each Wat (there are hundreds here) and you "splash" water over each one to bring good luck, as well as pouring water over each others shoulder to bring luck and happiness.
Well after the parade of fun & dancing (which i did much of) with the locals, it was on for young and old!!
There was so much water, people in the back of utes, on the side of the main roads with buckets,water pistols (anything that holds water really) Tuk Tuk's. You name it it had water coming from it!! I was with two fellas from Wales and we were getting into the spirit I tell you. I got home at 11pm still wet to the bone and I had so much fun...so the next day i teamed up with Mel and Andy, my two Pommy mates. We stood at the side of the road at a water station and got anything that moved. Mel can get very "spirited" about these things. She now known as the water queen! The Thai's take great pleasure in seeing us getting involved...but i tell you they are mean spirited...they fill their big buckets with ice and throw freezing water at us!!! and each other!
All in all it was great fun but after two days, and trying to get to a new city with all you own the whole water throwing, drenching get really thin!!

Today I rode an Elephant!!!! I went on a day safari and rode an elephant and was lucky enough to move from basket to neck...Mind you the neck ain't so comfy when his huge shoulder blades are poking you in the ass. Also when you have nothing to hold onto except for a giant pair of ears, one does get a fright when going 90" down a hill.
I loved it though it was FANTASTIC!!
Afterwards we went bamboo rafting down the river and the aim of the game was to get as wet as possible...and I did especially when the other boat team tipped ours over and i fell into the river...much to the joy of on lookers.
We headed for lunch at a local haunt and it was fantastic and Delicious!!
We than went to a local village and checked out their Handy craft and fabric making...which is " please buy our stuff cause we were nice enough to show you our village" So we did!!
We than went swimming in a cold cold cold waterfall which I just loved.....the Poms complained it was a little cold...go figure.. and than off to another local village....but no joy.. there was no money for us to spend and their hospitality was a little more hostility anyway.
In a few days the Songkran festival starts and it a free for all to throw water at each other in the hopes to cleanse ones soul for the new year!!
today I was definitely cleansed!!

The overnight train to......&..... Chiangmai

Well Ladies and Gentleman I actually left the building....Believe it or not I was well enough to put myself on the night train and head towards Changmai.
The night train was an experience....Firstly.... the train has no numbers to verify which one it is, so I sat at the station wondering if i was actually going to get on. Secondly...Even tho Thailand has million of tourists coming to visit, absolutely nothing is in English even the announcements for the train. I was lucky enough to find someone who was not jaded by the tourist industry to tell me which train to catch. Thank you Ta, you are a Gem. I got board the train and found my seat on the second class sleeper section....I was the only Westerner!! All the locals are heading home for the Songkran New Year Festival. The train was amazing. At 8.30 the little train man came along and pulled down and made the top and bottom sleeper up. The experience I thought was great and the locals found much amusement in me taking photos...So it was all good for both sides.
We eventually arrived in Changmai a little over schedule...but hey we got there. And Surprising enough I actually slept all the way...except for when I got up to use the loo and pressed the emergency alarm instead of the flush button. No fret tho, I didn't actually stop the train, I just had to wait for someone to come turn it off. Whoops!! A least I was able to go to the loo without too many incidents like the jungle railway!!!
The city itself is hot hot hot....I just happened to arrive in Thailand in the hottest time.....And smoggy to boot. Sometimes you feel like your swimming in humidity and pollution but the place does have some alluring features. On every night at every chance there is somewhere to depart with ones money at the many and various markets. And I tell you have done a bit of that the last few days..... Oh well it has to be done...I will have to marry a millionaire next time to buy a house big enough for me to store all the shivolla i collect.

THAILAND Bangkok

Well I've been in Bangkok for 4 days and I've bravely left my guest house....once. You see I have come down with the dreaded runs and the Flu to boot. No, it wasn't enough for me to be vomiting like a baby with reflux. I also had to get Bali Belly in the wrong country!! I have also become very acquainted with snot!. Mind you it's close to 40*c here and you practically swim in the humidity. Being the smug Brisbane tourist I opted for the room Without Air con and am far too proud to beg to change. I've at least got to watch all the DVDs I bought in Sabah and had very intimate relationship with the back of my eyelids. Tomorrow is the big day and I head north to Changmai for the water festival which celebrates New Year. I was extremely lucky to get a ticket to get there. So I am going to make the most of the 5 days I have there..Mind you the whole time I will be drenched, as it's the things to pound people with water the second you step onto the street!! Thus the water festival....Well wish me luck..
Love lizzy

The day Atfer the Climb

The day after the climb I was bitterly ill. Signe and I were like two old ladies hardly able to move our poor hurting and broken bodies when mine decided this was a fantastic opporunity for a good old dose of food poisoning!!
A whole 7 weeks in Malaysia and this is the time my body chooses to reject anything that resembles anything nurtious. I could hardly make it down the stairs to the loo to vommit my poor body was rejecting me...Do you blame it tho after all the mean things i've done to it.
What made things worse was the fact that we had to move that day to Sepilok and it was the most awful thing I've had to do. Thanks to Morten tho if it wasn't for him carring all my bags, and practically me, I'd still be laying face down in that dirty bus stop. (Whole different strory that)
We took a 4 hour bus trip through winding mountains, just to top it all off, to sepilok where they have the famous Urang Utan rehabilition Center.
On the way we passed the POW mamorial for the 2600 Australian's who lost their life walking from Sandakan to Ranau. 6 men survived because they escaped along the death march. I'm sorry to say I didn't stop in because I was so sick> Perhaps next time I visit Sabah.
We spent a few days in Sepilok and went to the Orangutan (Man of the Jungle) Center and saw at least 6 young ans feeding at the feed station. They are so beautiful i still want to take one home......
We went back for the afternoon feed and were running a little late.....along the path were some little monkeys.....I hate these little buggers... The dominant male decided to turn on Morten Signe and I and chase us along the boardwalk. I screamed so loud the Orangutans got a fright!! I know your meant to be quiet!!
Eventually the keepers decided to come see what all the fuss was about and scared the bloody mongrel bastard away...I was all tears and really embarrassed considering there were oodles of tourists everywhere....I really hate monkeys now thanks my mate Archie!! I think they should all be castrated so they can't breed like...well..Monkey's..
So that was the end of Sabah... we returned back to Kota Kinabalu and Signe and Morten went to Sarawak and I'm Now in Bangkok Thailand......

Sabah

Off to the beach!
We headed out to the beach for a little RnR after we decided to book a trip to Mount Kinabalu.
The fish were amazing and you could easily see them just standing on the jetty and looking into the water. I attempted to snorkel with Mortens swim goggles but realised that forgetting to breath whilst face down in a large body of water was just not natural for me. It was too much to look, breath and swim, so i floated around like a blob. It was good just to relax..............because.....
I DECIDED TO CLIMB ANOTHER MOUNTAIN!!!
Mount Kinabalu is 4089 mtr above sea level and has one of the highest peaks in South East Asia.
I think i am easily led into making decisions that require some stupid act of physical excursion. Sure I'll Climb a mountain! cause I'm a super athlete!
Day One: 7am Catch local bus to long distance bus terminal....run to bus with 20kg strapped to your back because...surprise... the bus is leaving B4 it is actually ment to. (a Miracle in itself really )
Transfer to a long distance bus by finding your backpack already stowed apon a bus and you being man handled and pushed aboard.
Sit in bus for half an hour. Move seats 4 times until driver is happy and hey presto....we're off.
Get to Park and pay 3 times more than the locals for a climb permit, insurance and park entrance.
Store luggage and meet our fantastic guide...James.
On the first day we walk 6 klms, which he say should take 6 to 7 hours, to a rest house close to the summit.
WHAT IN HELL WAS I THINKING!!
It was up up up and up. I thought my knees would cave, my lungs would burst and my body would have to be air lifted off the mountain. It rained the whole way up and was about 9*c. Poor Morten and James took it in turns to take our bags because Signe and I were going to DIE. My bag was so heavy if some one hadn't taken it i'd still be there.
The last 2 klms were the worst of my life. I was willing to spend the night there, wet cold, and broken.
James stayed with me till I draged my sorry ass to the rest house.
We were in bed by 7 pm!!
By the way 5 people died on that mountain last year!!

DAY TWO: 2am we woke up to do the trip to the summit.. 2.7 klms up a rock face using rope to haul you to the top. I stayed in bed!! I've seen a sunset..
Signe attempted it but came back after the first 500mtr and said it was too difficult and the altitude was making her dizzy.
We opted for a sleep in to be fresh for the trip down. Morten made it to the top but said it was hard. I felt no guilt after that cause i thought if it was hard for an Iron Man there was no hope for me!!
The trip down was hard on the knees and hips but nowhere as hard as up. It took us just over 3 hours to reach the bottom where I kissed the flat ground like the Pope hits the tarmac after a flight.
I was so happy to see the end. I've renamed the Mountain... Mountain Thatwillkillyou.
The next day>>> OH MY GOD..... I'll leave that for my next blog!!!
This trip is seriously going to kill me.................................

MY BIRTHDAY!!!

The BIG 3...0...!!!
I started the day up early, a yummy breakfast, then Mr Eric and I were off for a massage!!!
OH MY GOD!!! The massage was given to me by a blind Lady and it was fantastic!! It was the reflexology that damn near killed me!
Okay I know he was blind but I'm sure as hell sure he wasn't deaf. And I'm pretty sure. Ahhhrrrr Heeeee OOhhhh. Owww!! is an international language for that hurts mate. Am I wrong?
He squeezed rubbed and whacked my poor feet till i almost lept off the bed...and don't even get me started on what he did to my poor knees and calves. Wooow, good for you? Well apparently the Chinese swear by it by they also bind feet into tiny little shoes and think that's beautiful..So you decide?
After that Mr Eric and I went back to the guest house for some super healthy super juice and pineapple then it was time for me to catch my plane to meet Signe and Morten in Sabah.
5 hours!!! I spent 5 hours at the airport waiting at both ends...that's not including flying my friends..Signe and Morten's plane was delayed 2 hours which in fact was quite lucky because so has it I was waiting at the wrong terminal!! Oh yeah there's two terminals here but not together...NO! over the other side of the tarmac only reachable by taxi. Eventually we met up at 9pm booked into a dodgy backpackers and found an OK meal and headed for bed!
Least it'll be memorable!!

Bako National Park....Sarawak

Bako National Park is a beautiful little part of Sarawak...Firstly we caught the bus at 7 am for an hour to reach the boat...unbeknown to me it was 40 Rm for the boat...one small detail my friend forgot to tell me..... As lovely as the trip was I was still in a little shock and was wondering how i was going to get back to the bus that arvo. Luck has it we had 4 people in the boat so things weren't so bad..Share the wealth, so to speak.
When we got to shore the tide was out so we had to wade through mud to get to the parks office. Not so bad I thought I could bottle it and sell it to overly wealthy woman as a natural anti ageing.
On arrival we met up with a Scottish couple I had met at our last guest house and we found a pit python lazing in a tree. Their highly venomous but are activated by heat, so long as you don't get too close your okay.
Oh and I did it again... I think I've been possessed by a super natural desire to go off into the jungle and trek until I'm sweating and panting like never before!!
I decided to do "Short" treks around the park as I was only there for the day. I went to the beach via the most enchanting jungle track. I felt like I was in fairyland and I did it at my pace.
I found a tree full of Proboscis Monkey's. They look like their from Who-Ville in the Cat in the Hat. they have these big noses and roundy bellies that make them all look like old men and the females have big turned up noses. Hilarious really.
On the way back I saw a rare Flying Lemur that was orange and white spot and the park ranger was there almost wetting his pants at the sight.
Near the rest house there were plenty of little monkey's just like my pal Archie and Silver leaf Monkey's with their black and silver coats and little orange babies!!
Oh and I saw the biggest, ugliest wild boars with big beards... they made me laugh they were so ugly.
After lunch Sandy decided to join me on a walk (Ha!) up to the look out. Yeah sure 500 meters....UP!!!! we called it the stairway to hell! It was all up these little steps straight up the side of a hill. I swear to god, I really don't know what has come over me?
The view from the top was fantastic!!
So that was Bako. I was really Impressed!!