Back to Bangkok

My time travelling had been fun, but sadly all good things must come to an end and I came back to Bangkok with a day or two to kill before I flew back to Britain. I had previously decided to pace myself in terms of sight seeing in Bangkok and had been in two minds about seeing the (very expensive) Bangkok royal palace.

It turned out to be well worth the asking price however, as the temples within it were truly stunning. The complex itself turned out to be pretty big as well and I spent most of the afternoon exploring every nook and cranny of it only to find out that I hadn't even reached the royal palace portion of it.

The current king of Thailand Rama IX, is extremely respected and revered in Thailand (as I found out halfway through buying tickets on a subway only for all the Thais around me to stop dead for a minute as the national anthem played for him). And this was reflected in the grandness and beauty of his throne room.

 I spent that evening chilling out, drinking beer and eating with my fellow travellers at the fabulous U-Baan Guesthouse (yes its shameless hostel promotion time, but to be fair Joy is a awesome if slightly sardonic host and this is my blog so nahhh). My only hick up was in mixing up my flight times, so I arrived bleary eyed to the airport that morning only to find out I could have had a whole extra few hour lie in.

Still overall my time travelling had been a fun, beautiful and eye opening experience and I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Thailand: Chang Mai

I flew back into Bangkok before taking the very first night bus I could find up to Chang Mai. The city itself proved to be a charming mixture of modern city, ancient temples, bustling night markets and happening night spots, all surrounded by the spectacular nature imaginable.

After arriving early into the very heart of the city, I took my first day there as a chance to relax and recuperate before doing some light sight seeing. Even this proved to unearth a whole treasure trove of wonders, as I past (and then got tempted into) glowing golden temple, after glowing golden temple.

The best was saved for the next day however, as I took a shared taxi up to the hill top temple of Doi Suthep. This complex sat like a jewel overlooking the city of Chang Mai; a rich tapestry of brightly coloured statues, shining buddhas, intricately inlayed doors and walls and in the very centre a spire covered in purest gold. It was a wonderful way to spend my afternoon.

The sun was setting as I arrived back in the city and I decided to join one of my companions in exploring the night markets of Chang Mai. We browsed the market, examined glowing laterns, past rows sequined bags and purses and sampled the wonderful street food on display, before flopping down on the ground to eat. Afterwards I parted ways with my companion and had a rather delightful evening after deciding to pull up a pew with another fellow traveller.

The next day I decided it was time to do something fun, so I decided zip lining was the way forward. As I got picked up we drove through the beautifully pristine forest through which the zip lines had been build. And after a sharp ascent through several flights of steps, I was soon flying through the trees at a rather exhilarating rate of knots. Having slid, tandemed, supermaned and just plain bombed down a zig zag of intercrossing wires, I finally found myself absailing my way down to the forest floor. We topped all this excitement off with an amazing lunch and a walk up to a nearby waterfall.

By the time I arrived back in Chang Mai, I was ready for the return trip back to Bangkok and my final flight home.

Thailand: Sangkhlaburi

 Sangkhlaburi managed I think to be one of the best places I visited in Thailand. Quiet and remote, its right on the edge of the border next to Burma and as such has a large number of refugees from the people of the Mon tribe (fleeing Burma's oppressive regieme). Unfortunately they are barely given any rights in Thailand and as such have to subsist on extremely low wages with very little rights to travel. Fortunately it has become home to a large number of NGOs and so is a great place to come and volunteer.

After arriving I spent the first day canoeing with friends on the beautiful lake by which my hostel was located. We drifted past sunken villages, golden temples and the far off mountain ranges of Burma and Thailand. and afterwards we swam in the warm waters of the lake. The evening we headed out to the amazing food market that got held daily around Sangkhlaburi, with so much delicious food to choose from I was beginning to wonder if I might start getting fat.

The following day I rented a bicycle and spent the day cycling around the temples in the village. After crossing a huge bridge made of bamboo on the lake me and my fellow traveller wandered past houses that floated suspended on the water. The temples were even more amazing, appearing as they were to be made of sold gold and after wandering past the many buddhas in its halls, I follows some children's examples and spent at least half an hour trying to throw coins into the pyramid creveses within which the smaller buddhas sat.

For the rest of the day we cycled around the hills surrounding the village and came at last to rest back by the lake, ready that evening to head out for even more delicious food.

Kanchanaburi

 Kanchanaburi was one of my favourite places in Thailand. Its a place that is both immensely beautiful and profoundly sad, home as it is to the infamous death railway. On my first day there I walked up to and over the bridge over the river Kwai. Build by the japanise using slave labour, thousands of Asians, US, Australians and British died in the in its construction (as I learned on my visit to the powerful railway musemum). The bridge and the settings around it almost seemed too beautiful to be the site of such horrific brutality but the large graveyard in the centre of town confirmed the cities' brutal history.

After visiting the bridge itself I walked over to a beautiful Chinese temple that lay over the other side of the river. It was filled with dragons pillars, massive gold statues and the most indescribly lovely pictures carved into the stone of the temple. That evening I met some of my fellow britains who led me to a Reggie bar where they reveled a talent for singing and playing Jazz. The bar became an instant favourite hangout and many a night I would lazy around a beer in hand chatting and watching my friends perform.

I also explored the beauty of the Erawan waterfalls, a seven tiered fall where I swan, slide down natural waterslides and attempted to avoid the hundreds of fishes that would swim and tickle your feet in the pools. Returning that night I sat by the river and was greeted with a spectaular sunset that turned the water a deep purple.

Thailand: Koh Sok national park

I decided to head somewhere slightly less touristy, so I headed to Koh Sok and a guest set right by the national park. Almost as soon as I arrived however I was already heading out the door as I booked a trip to a raft house set right on a lagoon deep in the park. The setting was beautiful, surrounded as it was by limestone cliffs covered in lush jungle. We arrived by boat and spent the morning swimming in a lake that was as warm as a heated bathtub.

After settling in our guide took on a trek right through the jungle, we past rocks shaped like daggers and crossed a stream multiple times to get to the mouth of the cave from where the water flowed. The treking through the cave was interesting as we had to wade through water, sometimes deep enough to be up to our necks. However we were rewarded with some spectacular rock formations and water cascading down the walls of the caves. 

After being led out of the cave I bonded with my fellow travellers by playing party games, eating fish caught fresh from underneath our huts, drinking beer and going on an exciting night time boat safari where we saw Civits, Bitulong and a strange kiwi like bird. After all this excitement the next day we finished our tour by doing one final trek through the jungle.

Arriving back in Koh Sok park I decided to extend my stay and in doing so got to trek through the park, seeing a snake chasing a frog that gave me the scare of my life and cheeky monkeys who had come down from the trees to steal coke and beer from the rangers huts (I even got woken up by one opening my window to break and enter into my hut).

I was now ready to move on by bus to the famous Kanchanburi.

Koh Phangan

I arrived in Koh Phangan after a boat ride from hell, where the first boat we took to Koh Tao had be large, fast and spacious this one was small, cramped and slow. The weather had turned by this point and so the ship was lined with backpackers all throwing up over the side of the boat. We arrived safety though and that day i spent relaxing and preparing myself for Koh Phangan's biggest event, the full moon party.

After coating myself in copious amounts of UV paint and downing a bucket of rum and coke I set off to the party. The beach was full of revelers all dancing, swaying and partying and as I walked down the beach I passed wave after wave of reggie, techno and trace. Eventually I decided to head up to the appropriately named mushroom mountain, where I enjoyed one of their finest milkshakes and a dance at the night club overlooking the sea. After this I spent the next few hours shooting the breeze with random people, being bemused by people having rather public sex in the sea (with multiple people taking pictures to put on facebook), having my hat stolen, debating the nature of God with a random party-goer while staring at the waves and dancing like a loon to random trace music. After all this activity I fell asleep on a bench and woke just as the sun broke over the island.

The next day was one for a serious chill out and I spent it relaxing by the sea, swimming or snoozing in a random hammock surrounded by friends.

I also took the opportunity to explore the island on foot and after following signs for a Buddhist temple was rewarded by the sounds of bells, chanting and a beautiful collection of Buddhist statues and art.

After all this partying and relaxing I decided it was time to head on to pastures new. So I decided upon the jungle.

Koh tao

After a long overnight journey from bangkok i finally arrived on the island of koh tao. After setting up my hotel i took a walk over to the beach and sat to admire the azure blue waters that greeted me there. The beach was quiet with lovely white sand and i took the day to relax and swim in the waters there.

That afternoon i decided to explore the island and after walking up the main beach i headed up the steep roads towards the summit of a nearby hill. The way was extremely heavy going going and i ran out of water about halfway. Luckily some local builders took pity on me and offered me a bottle of iced water. Energized i attacked the slope with renewed vigor and made it to the top of a nearby view point. The spot was stunning with a great view across the island and i chilled out with the backpackers at the top. Afterwards one of them offered me a motorbike ride back down and i arrived back in town victorious. The sun was just setting as i arrived back in town and i walked down the beach and relaxed on a swing as the sun sunk into the sea.

The next day i booked a snorkeling tour around the island, the boat stopping at several sites throughout the day. The fish were beautiful, all greens, yellows, blues and reds. Some were stripped, some were multicoloured and some were just purely one bright colour, I even saw a (small) shark. What struck me though was just how bleached and faded the coral was. A few years ago I had taken a trip to Hawaii and there I had found the coral to be the brightest most vibrant colours, here was just broken brown and dead coral. I heard that diving on the island was better but the sight of all these beautiful creatures decayed and dead just made me sad.

That night I chilled out at the local beach huts, had a few drinks and enjoyed the spectacular fire displays that were put on by the local Thais.


As a note coral bleaching as it is known has been occurring more and more frequently in recent years. Its caused by the coral ejecting the photosynthetic plant that they co-exist, which in turn causes the coral to die. It is caused by a a number of factors such as global warming, disease, pollution and people standing on or taking pieces of coral back with them. I even had to tell a group of people not to stand on the coral as they were killing it. Please remember if you go to these places that coral is a living and very delicate creature and that by littering and standing on the reefs that you are killing them.