Train - Bangkok to Chiang Mai

We're in Chiamg Mai. It's the capital of Northern Thailand, quite close to the border with Burma.
We got the train here from Bangkok. It takes twelve hours, but, wait for it, it's in an air-con carriage and included a nice bit of lunch. Never has second class felt so good !
The first bit of the journey was a bit dull. We travelled across lowland rural plains of paddy fields, coconut groves and banana plantations for about seven hours. You could see why food is cheap and plentiful in Thailand.

Things got a bit more interesting after a town called Uttaradit ( which I will have just spelt very badly ). The train started to climb and weave as we entered a continuous tunnel of dense green jungle and forest that only broke occasionally to reveal rivers and lush mountains. It was all very picturesque, but only lasted for a few hours before the sunset.

We arrived in Chiang Mai at about 9pm, hopped into the back of a pickup and got dropped to a hotel with an ELVIS PUB SINGER !!!. And Thai Elvis rocks, uh huh.. Anyway, a quick bowl of spicy fish soup and vast shrimp and to bed. We need to sort out the next few days of action from here.

Bangkok

We've been in Bangkok for the last few days. It's a pretty intense city, especially after a long flight and especially if you're too tight to pay for a direct flight and spend an extra few hours touring the airports of the Gulf...
I have some rather mixed memories of Bangkok from my last trip hear 12 years ago. The squallor of the Khao San Road flop house we stayed in was a bit much in such a hot city. Happy to say we're staying in a place with air-con and a shower and we've had a fabulous time. Flash huh ?
The sights in Bangkok are pretty special. We've seen reclining 30ft Bhuddas, 20ft standing Bhuddas and even the elusive emerald Bhudda. The Royal Palace and adjacent Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho are an amazing combination of religious architecture and ancient Thai art. The city is littered with hundreds of amazing Wats, but to be honest, you get used to them very quickly and having seen the best few, you start to just take them for granted and bearly notice some of them. Crazy.
So, what else have we seen and done ? Well, we've manged to avoid the 30 baht tuk-tuk scam on numerous occasions. We travelled the rivers and survived the loony-tunes boats with engines mounted on the stern with long prop-shafts and whirling propellors flapping about. We've gawped at the Royal Barges ( big Thai style ceremonial canoes ), failed to find China town, travelled the subway ( very good ), tussled with 'lost' taxi-drivers, stuffed our faces with fantastic food from night markets, happened upon China town by accident, been invited to 'ping-pong' shows ( didn't know table-tennis was so popular here... ), enjoyed a Thai Ska band and dancers ( ! ? ! ), got confused with the tonal subleties of the language ( no matter how many times it's explained to me, I can't hear the difference between the words for dog and horse ), toured the 19th century teak mansion built by King Rama V after his tour of Europe and been amazed by the collections of ornate Thai arts contained within.
Last night we treated ourselves by heading out to a Thai Boxing match ( how much ?!!! ). It appears to be an 'anything goes' type of fighting. Punches, kicks, elbows and knees are all used and it's pretty brutal stuff. We saw one fella stretchered off uncouncious... Here's a little bit of video for the blood-thirsty. We're off for some tea and a beer. We've an early train Chang Mai to catch tomorrow morning.

Off Again

The weather is definitely starting to turn nasty in Blighty and the clocks are about to change, so we're off somewhere warmer and shinier before my shorts freeze up. First stop will be Bangkok. Stand by for more as soon as something interesting happens.

Final Word

Well folks, we've been back in England for a month now. Loads of people have been asking us, "Did you enjoy the trip ?" and "Are you happy to be back ?". Short answers to the questions are, " Yes, it was fantastic. " and " No, of course not. It's miserable."
After six months travelling around doing and seeing exciting things on a daily basis, coming back to the drudge of work has hit us hard. We have to get up early every morning ! We have to drive to work with hundreds of other people on crowded roads ! When we get to work, people are stressed and we're expected to be stressed too ! Bah ! It's a mug's game alright.
At least Honda F1 do seem to be starting to get their act together which makes everybody's hard work a little less pointless.. Oh, and Athena seems to have found a short term job printing money for some mugs in Swindon, or at least that seems to be the practical outcome of the exercise.
On the plus side, it's been great to see all our mates and Oxford is as lovely as ever. We woke up this morning to find that it had snowed overnight, so we look a stroll through the University Parks, through into the city centre. Here are some photos.

Here's a view from our house over St Hugh's College on the left and of the house on the right.












Here's a compare and contrast of the River Cherwell as it runs through the park. The shot on the left was taken today and the shot on the right was taken in May last year.

On the left below is a photo taken across the University Parks with Keble College in the distant backgroun. In the middle is a view of Merton College taken from Christ Church Meadows. On the right is Saint Mary's church.Very pretty.

The pubs are open now, so it's time to indulge in a snifter of the beer I was hankering so much for whilst on the other side of the planet. Perhaps we can start planning our next trip over a pint or two of Scrutock's Old Dirigable ! Maybe things aren't so bad after all....