En route to Chiang May

We took our time to wake up without too much stress, had breakfast on the balcony of Antonio’s apartment with a magnificent view to the city that starts a new day. 

We decided to head to North right away. We had thought to start with Ayuthaya, but as it is only 1-2 hours bus ride away from Bangkok, it seemed a good idea to leave it to the very end of our trip, when we’ll be back in Bangkok for some more days.

Finding the bus station turned out to be a little more stressful and time consuming than we had expected, based on the map on our LP guide. The search for the bus station included going through some botanical gardens, which of course is actually nice, but the heat was already turning on and we really wanted to get to station as soon as possible to get on the long way Chiang Mai.

We got to the bus station around 11, but it appeared that the next bus to Chiang Mai is only at 1. So now all of a sudden we had plenty of time to kill in the bus station, which I must say was not a nice as the botanical gardens, but at least is was not that hot there as in the gardens.

We had some chicken rice in the canteen of the bus station. Chicken rice is not really a special delicacy, but we remember this dish as a safe and not very spicy option already from good old Singapore times. I bought some pickled mango from a kiosk for a desert – well, there’s a good reason why pickled mango is not really a very wide-spread treat…

The way to Chiang Mai was expectedly long (10 hours), but the bus was comfortable – wide seat rows, not too freezing A/C, some Pepsi with ice and other treats served, a stop for meal included on the road, karaoke and movies from TV (including Thai dubbed “Avatar”). While it was still day time, the road offered some scenic and/or interesting views – rice paddies, van full of cows, rocky hills, golden stupas on hill tops, random Thai style temples…

The road also gave us time to do some read and write these blog entries. But after dark, it got kind of boring and long, but we’ve been through worse in our trips before (e.g. in Sumatra). So, it was that bad.

We arrived Chiang May by 11 pm. We managed to get a tuk-tuk to the city centre and a cheap room in guesthouse. We went out for a beer and a light night bite. So this is where we are posting these lines.

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One night in Bangkok

This time we stayed in Bangkok for just one night. We stayed at Antonio’s place.

Antonio is Felipe’s far relative. He is originally from Argentina, but has been living in Bangkok for the last 25 years. He is a truly interesting guy – he’s been an alpine ski instructor in Austria, he has built ships in Papua-New Guinea, now he works high-end jewellery industry. He’s got great stories to tell.

Antonio’s apartment is located on the right bank of the Nam Chaa Praya river, which is an important and central waterway in Bangkok. The apartment is on the 17^th floor and has big windows overlooking the river and the whole Bangkok. The view is a sight on its own.

Antonio seemed really happy to see us and he really made us feel home. It’s truly nice to travel this way, if you’ve got a sanctuary in a far away place right upon arrival.

Antonio took us out for dinner. We took a boat across the river and landed on quay the other side. We stepped down a few steps from the quay before we streets began. This means that the streets there are actually on lower level that the water in the river (and according to Antonio, the neighbourhood is sinking a bit every year). Hence, it is only the concrete wall of the quay that stops the river from flooding those streets.

We walked around some narrow streets with small huts tightly next to each other. As it was dark already, I didn’t really feel that I would like to walk these streets on my own – it was a little creepy over there. But we trusted Antonio that was actually safe there. Antonio explained that this was a Muslim neighbourhood and we cold also tell that ourselves by the loud Muslim prayer songs sounding all over the streets. But at some place the prayer music was rivalled by the disco music of an aerobics class in a courtyard – interesting combination.

We had a plentiful dinner of good Thai and Chinese food in a really local looking nice restaurant. The interior design was a little tacky, but the great food compensated it fully. The place seemed to be hit among local expats, as most of the tables were reserved for quite non-Thai looking, but knowledgeable foodies.

We called it a day around 9 already, as we were both quite tired and somewhat jetlagged. But it had been a good, warm welcome by Bangkok, thanks to Antonio.

One first rather gloomy impression of Bangkok was the thick smog. When the plane was approaching Bangkok and started landing, we were suddenly in a dark cloud. I though first that it must be some stormy thunder cloud, but once landed there was no sign of thunder or storm, not even of rain. The sun was shining, but the sky was not really light blue, but somewhat greyish. Overlooking the city from Antonio’s apartment, we could plainly see dark fog over the city. We didn’t remember that thick smog from our visit to Bangkok three years ago. It could be because of lack of rain recently, but I guess the pollution level might also have increased since then.

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Flight and arrival

The flights (Tallinn-Helsinki and Helsinki-Bangkok) passed well. Finnair is of course no Qatar Airways or not even Lufthansa with their service level, but it is ok and totally serves the purpose – getting you to where you go in Asia quickly.

 To Finnair’s praise I must say I was really impressed with the choice of movies in the personal entertainment screens. I missed “The Social Network” when it was running in the cinemas in Tallinn. I kind of hoped that they would have it the plane, but as this movie is so recent it seemed too good to be true. But there it was :), right in the middle of the in-flight entertainment screen. There were also a good bunch of other recent movies like “Love Eat Pray” and “RED”, as well as some classics. So Felipe could not get much sleep and spend most of the flight seeing movies. Although to his dismay, too often the film watching was interrupted by the all-too-important announcements about in-flight shopping, which would go for tens of minutes at a time, in 4 languages and at Finiss fast talking pace (not fast).

The procedures with the visa upon arrival went smoothly. Felipe doesn’t need any visa for Thailand, but I do. I had been a little worried, because I could not prove that we are going to fly away from Thailand within 15 days, which is the maximum period for which one can get Thai visa upon arrival; we are going to Laos by land (or, more precisely, by boat over the Mekong). But the flight ticket from Vientiane (Laos) to Kuala Lumpur and explanations that we are planning to go to Laos by bus were convincing enough. So, I needed stamps from only four different immigration officials and the visa was in my passport. Incredible efficiency :).

 Felipe figured out all the transport connections and it didn’t take too long to arrive to Antonio’s place.

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A new Asian adventure…

Tallinn, Estonia, 6 February 2011

We are starting this blog again. Kats and Pipe go on the road again to our beloved South East Asia. As we did before a little bit more than 3 years ago… And quite some things happened in those 3 years! Kats came back to Estonia and finished her PhD, Pipe went back briefly to Argentina… before finding a job in Tallinn and moving with Kats! (Wishes and prayers do come true if you believe in them!) After two years of learning each other’s language, proposing ;), accepting :), doctoral thesis, degree recognition exams, meet the family trips, buying and refurbishing our lovely apartment, friend adoptions, more traveling, etc. etc. we got married in Tallinn in a beautiful mid summer day (with Pipe’s family coming all over from Argentina, and our friends coming from all over the world!). But we did not have our honeymoon right away because we wanted to make it really special: go back that special part of the world where our story together started, see as many as possible of the things that we could not see back then, escape the Estonian dark winter, have enough time and resources to do each place justice. The results? Well… we’ll see. For now, we are packing (the whole day, which was beautifully sunny by the way!), and we are very, very excited! And ahead of us tonight a short flight to Helsinki, a long flight to Bangkok, and then…  adventure!

(Our plan is to visit Ayuthaya and Chiang Mai in Thailand; Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane in Laos; Cameron Highlands in Malaysia; Delhi, Jaipur and Agra in India; Singapore, and Yogyakarta, Borobudur, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia.)

 

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