Cultural Must-Sees in Bangkok

I arrived back in BKK sometime during the morning - the bus ride had been ok, but still I felt tired and it was already hot again. With my heavy backpack I sat down at the bus station in between other tired looking Thais, mostly men, looking at me puzzled and probably wondering what I was doing here. Well - this was the only empty seat I had found. About every other minute I was asked, whether I needed a taxi ... no, I just wanted to sit here. Until I decided someone looked nicely enough to get into a car with ... Luckily I had booked a hotel in advance and when I got there, I could rest a bit, before meeting up with Martin and discovering the cultural highlights of Bangkok.

Which proofed not to be the easiest thing in the world:
- First no TukTuk wanted to take us to the Great Palace - Wat Phra Kaeo.
- Second every TukTuk driver told us, the palace was closed today.
- Third a guide took my travel guide and showed us on the map, where we should go instead (lucky buddha) - he took my pen as well and drew it into the map. But he would not lead us the way to the palace.
- Fourth the entrance we got to was closed, i.e. protected by some armed men.

Finally we got in and could enjoy all the beauty and the tons of gold:

Wat Arun

Wat Pho

Enjoying delicious street food in between

Discovering Pai

This day started rather slowly. Ruth and I enjoyed a nice healthy breakfast at the Witch Cafe and made a plan for the day. Since we experienced biking in high temperatures and high humidity yesterday already, today we got us a driver. We decided to go to Pai Canyon first. In some travel guides Pai Canyon is very optimistically and picturesque described as the answer to the Grand Canyon - whereas it is not as large as one would expect. But the small red earth path with steep-sided valleys on each side is quite exciting and one really has to watch ones step.

Afterwards we drove over the WWII Memorial Bridge which was meant to be a comparison to the Bridge over the River Kwai. We did not feel a need to stop though. Instead headed right to the Tha Pai Hot Spring. This area was used during WWII as a Japanese military camp. Nowadays it has two hot springs - but as time goes by new springs pop up and run dry again all the time. In the hottest pools one can even boil eggs.

On our way back, we stopped at a nice cafe with wonderful views to the surrounding mountains. It was just perfect to get into one of the swings and just relax and enjoy the beauty of the world. Finally we headed back into town, walked along the river and strolled through the shops. One the streets we met some guy from the Netherlands who I had met before in Sukhothai - small world - he joined us for some delicious food, before I had to head back to Chiang Mai and then catch the night bus there to Bangkok. So off I was again in a small mini van with 10 other backpacksers who where heading south towards the isles for a full-moon party.

762 kurves till Pai

Oh my dear, I am feeling so sick. I have no idea whether it was too much beer last night, something I should not have eaten or the absence of a proper breakfast since Ruth and I made the spontaneous decision to go up to Pai today. We met some three guys yesterday who were just over-enthusiastic about that place... So we met this morning around 7.30 at Tapae Gate and got into one of the red auto taxis. Which was a mildly large mistake... there were already two other people on the benches in the back - who were dropped off before us of course... which meant we were cruising about 45 minutes through the streets of Chiang Mai before finally heading out to the main bus station. Once there we had no problems getting our tickets for the next bus and I also made arrangements for my trip back to Bangkok. But oh my... the feeling in my tummy just did not get any better... I had the constant need to have a restroom somewhere really close and I also felt really sorry for Ruth to have to put up with my complaining and for postponing our trip for one hour..., but I needed something salty and sweet to eat, some coke and a decent restroom. And luckily - the only decent company I could rely on now was also there - McDonalds. This might have been the one and only time I felt grateful for being able to rely on some standardized service from a huge american food chain. But it did help.

On the bus (like a small VW bus) we were the only tourists among 9 other locals or so plus the driver. The bags were strapped to the roof, which made me a bit anxious, but I reckoned they know what they are doing. At first we did sleep a bit - but as soon as we reached the first switchbacks I was awake and smiling towards the mountains. It looked all so untouched and peaceful. After a roadblock where we had to show our passports we finally reached Pai. Surrounded by mountains. Everything green and blossoming. 2000 inhabitants. 2 main roads. That´s it. Amazing.

We soon found a place to spend the night, had a delicious lunch and rented some bikes to explore the surrounding area. We wanted to go to a well-known waterfall, which has stones underneath that serve as a slide. About 12 km away. 32 degrees Celsius. High humidity. And once again: while I know what I would be able to put myself through, I am always suspicious when others claim it was not a problem for them at all... It was always going a bit uphill - not very steep though, but it didn´t take long and Ruth was well behind me. Oh well... some more time to enjoy the beautiful views over the valley and the surrounding mountains. And I have to say... Thais are masters of motivation: there were so so so many signs stating "Waterfall 2km" it was amazing. The signs were approximately 10 minutes apart from each other... so it just kept you going... And finally reached the place... when it started raining!! Oh no! Maybe it was just one of those really short rain showers, one get´s every now and then... but no, it just kept on raining. After about 45 minutes we figured we would just have to accept to get wet. And rode back to town. Which was kind of fun in the rain. Had not done that in ages and it felt so good.

Back in town, we took a hot shower and went straight to a Thai Massage Center. They gave us some clothes to wear for the procedure and then we enjoyed an hour of pure relaxation... it was soooo nice. After that we did go to the night street market and had amazing food and drinks out of bamboo wood. Like.