Hong Kong and Northern Thailand

Hello everyone.

Well another border Approaches. I am in the north of Thailand in Chiang Mai at the moment having just returned from Pai, near the Burmese border. My visa for Thailand started to get close to running out on my return to Bangkok after Krabi so rather than rushing through Thailand I decided to get a cheap flight to Hong Kong. I packed light and took the warmest clothes I had having that Hong Kong would be chilly. The flight was with Dragonair, a Hong Kong/Chinese airline and was very good and very empty. On landing in Hong Kong it was sunny but fresh like London but as the evening wore on it became very cold and everyone was wearing ski jackets. The old airport is not in use and I guess will be reclaimed or high rise and so the entry into Hong Kong is ot very exciting. In fact on arrival the whole landscape apart from the container port is pretty underwhelming.

In the evening I go out to try and find some good Chinese food, but it's so cold I go and buy a scarf first. I go to 'Peking Restaurant' which is in the guide book and get sat at a table with other people very much like Wong Kee in London. The food is great, bit big though. this is not a town to eat on your own. After dinner I go walking and the place feels, well to be honest, grumpy and unfriendly especially after Bangkok. Over 2 days I walked a lot of Hong Kong. I had Dim Sum at Sweet Dynasty and walked around the Pok Fu Lam country park for 2 hours. Went to Soho, Boho and Kowloon but just couldn't find a lot to like about the place. Even the food was dissapointing although eating in places where only Chinese eat is good fun. The camera shops were a big let down too. I think if I had gone to Hong Kong first before seeing Singapore, Hanoi, Bangkok etc, I would have liked it but after Bangkok it is a big let down. Bangkok is busy, funny, noisey, sunny and very alive. The food and shopping are both better that Hong Kong. I also much prefered Singaore to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is far too grumpy.

Anyway back to Bangkok and sunshine. What a relief! I spent a few days hanging out with the family in Bangkok and doing shopping for bits and pieces. Many of my clothes have fallen apart and everything is so cheap in Thailand. I start making plans for northern Thailand and Laos. I will need to travel lighter there so I buy one of the excellent copy Lowe Alpine backpacks on Koa San Rd for 20 quid. They copy everything! I'm all set and go to the train station to buy my ticket for Chiang Mai on the sleeper train. I also book a trek in the hilltribes having been told that Chiang Mai is busy and I should book accomodation and activities. The next evening I go to the train station and we set off. The train is good and notyet full but when we reach Ayutaya, the old capital about 1 hour from Bangkok, a group of 10 Dutch trekkers boards the train. They are next to me and instantly get cans of beer out and make lots of noise. The 2 Thai ladies in the 70's are not impressed and despite efforts by their tour leader to keep them quiet, they continue to whhhoooopp and drink all evening. I quickly go to bed when a particularly unattractive and especially drunk member of their group shows an unhealthy interest in me.

The next morning we pull into Chiang Mai and get off the train. I am greeted by the Tuk Tuk driver I have already paid for and he takes me to my guest house where I am met by a very friendly and amusing lady who owns the place. She sent me to my room which is very basic but clean and only 150 BAHT a night, 2 quid! I went straight into the town to explore and walk for hours. Chiang Mai is lovely. It's relaxed and friendly and everyone is very happy here. There are a lot of expats and the place is very cool with old Vespa's and VW Beetle's. There are coffee shops and veggie restaurantes and the food is excellent. On returning to the guest house I am greeted by the landlady who explains to myself and a german girl that we are trhe only people on the trek and we will have to wait till more people arrive the day after. I'm ok with that and go out to find some night life. Everything shuts early in Chinag Mai but I find a couple of well known places with live music. One 'Brasserie' is empty apart from a lot of mosquitos and the other 'Riverside' is packed with pissed teenagers. The music is excellent but being on my own I go home to sleep and somehow I don't feel secure walking.

I walk around town the next day, more good food, more relaxing and then in the evening we meet our trekking guide Mr.Ton. He is very funny. Next morning we make a start and drive to the elephant sanctuary where we go elephant riding. Myself and Anett from Germany are the only long term solo travellers and so we pair up for the trip. After the elephants we have lunch at a waterfall and then trek fro 2 hours to the local Karen tribes. Much like in Vietnam the tribes live in stillted houses and are farming communities. There are many pigs other animals running around as well as small children. In the evening we have an excellent meal prepared by Mr Ton and then we are entertained by the local children. Once they all go to bed Mr Ton entertains us round the fire with hillarious and very rude jungle songs. He is very good fun and makes the trip very amusing.

The night gets extremely cold and sleeping is difficult so after breakfast, the 3 hour walk is quite welcome. We get to our campsite after visiting several Karen villages and cool down in the waterfall. Sitting down to another excellent meal one of the guides called Buffalo Bill produces a Squirel with a sqewer up it's bum and proceeds to merrily barbeque it. A couple of the girls scream 'No No Stop' and he just looks at them as if to say 'What? I'm hungry!' He incinerates the squirel and pulls eats it tail first whilst muttering 'Lubbly Jubbly' to himself. He has been stoned out of his mind all day and smokes very strange looking cigarettes which he rolls in dried banana leaves. This is opium country! On the final day trekking we have breakfast while Buffalo Bill sits smoking hiomself out of his tree again muttering 'Lubbly Jubbly....hehehheheheheheh' and then we sprint the last hour in 40 mins and go bamboo rafting which is great fun. Back in Chiang Mai, Anett and I decide to have a days rest and then go to Pai together followed by Laos as we both have the same plans.

A day in Chiang Mai goofing around and then we are off to Pai. After 3.5 hours in a private minibus which cost 190 Baht we get to Pai which is very chilled. Pai was once a Lisu village, a tribe originating in Tibet, near the Burmese border but has now become a hippie destination for Narco tourists and expats. It's nice though so we find a cheap guesthouse and hire a couple of motorbikes. The sites mentioned in the guide books such as the natural springs amount to nothing very interesting and so we head to the bars for some beers and a chat. The bars are full of dread locked, tattoed young travelers or middle aged hippies caught in a time warp. The next day we explore the local villages on the bikes which is the best thing to do there. The scenery is lovely and the bikes are so cheap at 2 quid per day as is petrol. The mountain roads are demading but fun and we cover quite a few miles along the roads near the Burmese border.

The food in Pai is also excellent and very varied with many foreign restaurantes owned by expats. We find a swimming pool and chat to a Lisu woman who is married to a Scottsman. She looks like a Mongal and is quite stunning and very friendly and happy as are all the people in Pai. The place is full of hippies though and whilst driving around you are beconned to the side of the road with a smoking gesture and offered opium which is for sale at most of the affore mentioned crap sites. This place is really setup for the narco tourists and although very pretty you begin to realise that 3 days is enough.

It is quite hard to find fellow travellers in Thailand who are not interested in the drugs, or prostitution or the full moon parties but luckily neither myself or Anett are interested in these attractions and so travelling together proves easy. And so we head back to Chiang Mai the next day happy with our 3 days in Pai and looking foreward to the trip to Laos... even if I do have a stinking cold. so tomorrow we make our way to Laos by bus and along the Mekong River on the slow boat with an overnight stop at a guest house. Being the dry season, the small fast boats are too dangerous as the often hit rocks. Anyway the crash helmets look stupid! so we'll go the slow way.

So I hope you're all well. Miss you lots so drop me a line when you can.

Kaveh.Hello everyone.

Well another border Approaches. I am in the north of Thailand in Chiang Mai at the moment having just returned from Pai, near the Burmese border. My visa for Thailand started to get close to running out on my return to Bangkok after Krabi so rather than rushing through Thailand I decided to get a cheap flight to Hong Kong. I packed light and took the warmest clothes I had having that Hong Kong would be chilly. The flight was with Dragonair, a Hong Kong/Chinese airline and was very good and very empty. On landing in Hong Kong it was sunny but fresh like London but as the evening wore on it became very cold and everyone was wearing ski jackets. The old airport is not in use and I guess will be reclaimed or high rise and so the entry into Hong Kong is ot very exciting. In fact on arrival the whole landscape apart from the container port is pretty underwhelming.

In the evening I go out to try and find some good Chinese food, but it's so cold I go and buy a scarf first. I go to 'Peking Restaurant' which is in the guide book and get sat at a table with other people very much like Wong Kee in London. The food is great, bit big though. this is not a town to eat on your own. After dinner I go walking and the place feels, well to be honest, grumpy and unfriendly especially after Bangkok. Over 2 days I walked a lot of Hong Kong. I had Dim Sum at Sweet Dynasty and walked around the Pok Fu Lam country park for 2 hours. Went to Soho, Boho and Kowloon but just couldn't find a lot to like about the place. Even the food was dissapointing although eating in places where only Chinese eat is good fun. The camera shops were a big let down too. I think if I had gone to Hong Kong first before seeing Singapore, Hanoi, Bangkok etc, I would have liked it but after Bangkok it is a big let down. Bangkok is busy, funny, noisey, sunny and very alive. The food and shopping are both better that Hong Kong. I also much prefered Singaore to Hong Kong. Hong Kong is far too grumpy.

Anyway back to Bangkok and sunshine. What a relief! I spent a few days hanging out with the family in Bangkok and doing shopping for bits and pieces. Many of my clothes have fallen apart and everything is so cheap in Thailand. I start making plans for northern Thailand and Laos. I will need to travel lighter there so I buy one of the excellent copy Lowe Alpine backpacks on Koa San Rd for 20 quid. They copy everything! I'm all set and go to the train station to buy my ticket for Chiang Mai on the sleeper train. I also book a trek in the hilltribes having been told that Chiang Mai is busy and I should book accomodation and activities. The next evening I go to the train station and we set off. The train is good and notyet full but when we reach Ayutaya, the old capital about 1 hour from Bangkok, a group of 10 Dutch trekkers boards the train. They are next to me and instantly get cans of beer out and make lots of noise. The 2 Thai ladies in the 70's are not impressed and despite efforts by their tour leader to keep them quiet, they continue to whhhoooopp and drink all evening. I quickly go to bed when a particularly unattractive and especially drunk member of their group shows an unhealthy interest in me.

The next morning we pull into Chiang Mai and get off the train. I am greeted by the Tuk Tuk driver I have already paid for and he takes me to my guest house where I am met by a very friendly and amusing lady who owns the place. She sent me to my room which is very basic but clean and only 150 BAHT a night, 2 quid! I went straight into the town to explore and walk for hours. Chiang Mai is lovely. It's relaxed and friendly and everyone is very happy here. There are a lot of expats and the place is very cool with old Vespa's and VW Beetle's. There are coffee shops and veggie restaurantes and the food is excellent. On returning to the guest house I am greeted by the landlady who explains to myself and a german girl that we are trhe only people on the trek and we will have to wait till more people arrive the day after. I'm ok with that and go out to find some night life. Everything shuts early in Chinag Mai but I find a couple of well known places with live music. One 'Brasserie' is empty apart from a lot of mosquitos and the other 'Riverside' is packed with pissed teenagers. The music is excellent but being on my own I go home to sleep and somehow I don't feel secure walking.

I walk around town the next day, more good food, more relaxing and then in the evening we meet our trekking guide Mr.Ton. He is very funny. Next morning we make a start and drive to the elephant sanctuary where we go elephant riding. Myself and Anett from Germany are the only long term solo travellers and so we pair up for the trip. After the elephants we have lunch at a waterfall and then trek fro 2 hours to the local Karen tribes. Much like in Vietnam the tribes live in stillted houses and are farming communities. There are many pigs other animals running around as well as small children. In the evening we have an excellent meal prepared by Mr Ton and then we are entertained by the local children. Once they all go to bed Mr Ton entertains us round the fire with hillarious and very rude jungle songs. He is very good fun and makes the trip very amusing.

The night gets extremely cold and sleeping is difficult so after breakfast, the 3 hour walk is quite welcome. We get to our campsite after visiting several Karen villages and cool down in the waterfall. Sitting down to another excellent meal one of the guides called Buffalo Bill produces a Squirel with a sqewer up it's bum and proceeds to merrily barbeque it. A couple of the girls scream 'No No Stop' and he just looks at them as if to say 'What? I'm hungry!' He incinerates the squirel and pulls eats it tail first whilst muttering 'Lubbly Jubbly' to himself. He has been stoned out of his mind all day and smokes very strange looking cigarettes which he rolls in dried banana leaves. This is opium country! On the final day trekking we have breakfast while Buffalo Bill sits smoking hiomself out of his tree again muttering 'Lubbly Jubbly....hehehheheheheheh' and then we sprint the last hour in 40 mins and go bamboo rafting which is great fun. Back in Chiang Mai, Anett and I decide to have a days rest and then go to Pai together followed by Laos as we both have the same plans.

A day in Chiang Mai goofing around and then we are off to Pai. After 3.5 hours in a private minibus which cost 190 Baht we get to Pai which is very chilled. Pai was once a Lisu village, a tribe originating in Tibet, near the Burmese border but has now become a hippie destination for Narco tourists and expats. It's nice though so we find a cheap guesthouse and hire a couple of motorbikes. The sites mentioned in the guide books such as the natural springs amount to nothing very interesting and so we head to the bars for some beers and a chat. The bars are full of dread locked, tattoed young travelers or middle aged hippies caught in a time warp. The next day we explore the local villages on the bikes which is the best thing to do there. The scenery is lovely and the bikes are so cheap at 2 quid per day as is petrol. The mountain roads are demading but fun and we cover quite a few miles along the roads near the Burmese border.

The food in Pai is also excellent and very varied with many foreign restaurantes owned by expats. We find a swimming pool and chat to a Lisu woman who is married to a Scottsman. She looks like a Mongal and is quite stunning and very friendly and happy as are all the people in Pai. The place is full of hippies though and whilst driving around you are beconned to the side of the road with a smoking gesture and offered opium which is for sale at most of the affore mentioned crap sites. This place is really setup for the narco tourists and although very pretty you begin to realise that 3 days is enough.

It is quite hard to find fellow travellers in Thailand who are not interested in the drugs, or prostitution or the full moon parties but luckily neither myself or Anett are interested in these attractions and so travelling together proves easy. And so we head back to Chiang Mai the next day happy with our 3 days in Pai and looking foreward to the trip to Laos... even if I do have a stinking cold. so tomorrow we make our way to Laos by bus and along the Mekong River on the slow boat with an overnight stop at a guest house. Being the dry season, the small fast boats are too dangerous as the often hit rocks. Anyway the crash helmets look stupid! so we'll go the slow way.

So I hope you're all well. Miss you lots so drop me a line when you can.

Kaveh.