Trekkin' in Chiang Mai and Chillin' on the River Kwai

We've been really busy. We left Bangkok for Chiang Mai on Thursday, August 12i. We booked an all night bus from a private company on Khao San Rd. in Bangkok...which proved to be sub-standard like most things on that street. The bus left Bangkok at 7:00pm and arrived at 6:30am, and we slept maybe an hour because of the lack of space -- even though we were promised by the booking agent "full reclining seats with elevated foot rests," (there was still more space than a regular bus though).

So this is the scheme we unwittingly stumbled into on our Chiang Mai adventure: as you arrive early in the morning in Chiang Mai having had practically no sleep on the half-day bus ride, the bus drops you in a parking lot on the outskirts of town with an array of touts (guys with taxis ready to take you somewhere) who can get you with out a struggle because you're so wiped. We just wanted to go to the TAT office (Tourism Association of Thailand) so we could make a laid back informed decision about which company we wanted to do a "jungle trek" with. One guy there insisted that he worked for the bus company and that he would take us to the office. First off, everyone should understand that the big thing for people on the Lonely Planet circuit (as I have dubbed it, since you can't find anyone without this travelling bible!) is "Hill Tribe Trekking." Essentially, you go in a group with a guide and hike out into the hills of Northern Thailand where you see the indigenous hill tribe community who still live a traditional lifestyle. The other part of the package is that you take a run down a river on a bamboo raft and also ride elephants. So this guy drops us at a private company that is RECOMMENDED by the TAT. The ride was free, but the driver gets paid by the company based on how many farangs he drops off.

We're totally sick of this whole process and we instead sought out another place recommended by our Swedish friend Bjorn who we met in Malaysia. Although their company probably do the same thing, I was happy they didn't do it to us...despite how tired I was (I'm really sick of touts). Chiang Mai was probably the coolest town I've been in on our trip. It's Thailand's second largest city, but it is nothing like Bangkok (you can walk almost anywhere in town). People are nice and not trying to rip you off all the time - save the arrival touts. Things there are also cheaper than Bangkok. There are many Western people who live there and have for many years! The Wat on the hill (which is what everyone seems to call it because of it's very long name) is really cool. It must be seen. The restaurants are great and we could have easily spent a much longer time there.

Our Trek was a lot of fun. Three days and two nights in the Thai jungle sleeping in bamboo huts and bathing in waterfalls. We had a wonderful group of people: Frank and Amandine (our age from France), Vin and Sarah (our age from Ireland), Amy (our age from Seattle), Meredith (our age from Vancouver), Stuart (younger from New Zealand), Neil (a schoolteacher from England), and Stuart (a bit older from Scotland. Everyone got on really well and it was sort of like summer camp! Bamboo rafting turned into "King of the Raft" when Stuart the nutty Scot was the first in the river. It was fun. Riding an elephant would have been really neat, but you can't help but feel sorry for the animals who really don't seem happy...it felt like a pretty set up and touristy experience (as it was, I guess).

Tuesday night Aug. 17 we returned from the Trek and everyone showered and changed and went out as new people. We had a great dinner in a beautiful restaurant called the Riverside which seemed a humorous contrast to dirty bamboo picnic bench beside a big waterfall the night before. We took the night bus the next evening and got ripped off and the bus wasn't even half as good as the sub-standard one up to Chiang Mai. We've decided that we're only taking government busses from now on -- they're just hard to find. The private busses just aren't worth the gamble. This bus had no reading lights, ABSOLUTELY no space, I won't even mention the washroom and it seemed like the driver was constantly trying to keep himself awake! We had the front seats and had the best seats in the house to watch our impending demise (not great conditions for sleeping!).

We spent a night in Bangkok with Amy, Stuart (the Scot), and Michelle, where we took in what was to be an erotic show in Pat-Pong (the red light district). Unfortunately, the delivery was far from "erotic." The Pat-Pong sex show is essentially an X-rated magic show with naked women making things appear and disappear (you can use your own imagination).

We are now checked into a floating bamboo hut on the Kwai River (actually called "Khwae Yai River"). Yes, Kanchanaburi is the sight of the famous Bridge on the River Kwai where about 16,000 Allied POW's died in WWII. The movie with Alec Guinness movie is well worth a watch, but I've heard it was filmed in Sri Lanka instead of Thailand! It has been strange touring the museums here side by side with several Japanese tourists. It's just a strange feeling. We visited one of the Allied cemeteries and seeing the hundreds of headstones row on row (mostly British, Australian, and Dutch) so far away from home is really emotional. Back home in Canada, we don't learn much in school about the Pacific part of the war -- obviously because Canadian soldiers didn't play a major role. There was one Canadian listed as buried in the cemetery, but we couldn't find the headstone. Tomorrow we'll see more of the Death Railway and in a few days we'll head south to Phuket. Kanchanaburi has been well worth the visit although it has been REALLY hot here (40 C). We're still travelling with Amy from Seattle, and it's cool. Gotta go It's late here!

A.