Saturday, November 25, 2006
Relief, blessed relief, in enchanting Kanchanaburi and Ayutthaya
I have totally recovered from my day from hell. On my first day in Kanchanaburi, I woke up and arrived at breakfast all ready to join one of the tours which takes guests to the major sites only to be told that all of the tours started an hour before. I was beside myself and thought 'will my bad luck not end any time soon'?
So I hired a driver by the name of Wisut, a former Thai police officer turned tour guide, who spoke great English with a wicked sense of humour and some great stories and had the best day ever! We visited the famous Erwan waterfalls which are located in a national park and comprise seven levels. We only hiked to the fifth level as it was 36 degrees and way too hot! Next, we visited the very moving Hellfire Pass Museum which chronicles the building of the Thai-Burma railroad by Asians as well as Australian, English and Dutch POWs who were forced to by the Japanese army during World War II. It was horrible. These people worked under slave conditions in jungle conditions first clearing jungle and then solid rock for the rail tracks. About 60,000 POWs and 100,.000 Asians died while building the railway, especially after the Japanese, who had missed three deadlines for completion, implemented "speedo", a fast-tracking of the building process. The museum itself is very moving and includes testimonies from some of the POWs who survived. Apparently, the Thai government initially charged visitors an entrance fee but the Australian government protested and now the museum is free.
Later, I took the famous Death Railway train from Nam Tok to Kanchanaburi over the River Kwai. It was so beautiful and scenic although the bridge over the River Kwai was a huge letdown. Wisut dropped me off at No Name Bar, a local backpackers hangout owned by an Australian where I held forth with a variety of characters for several hours: Patrick, the Australian rock climber surfer dude who lived in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada for a time, Jimmy, a retired guy from Birmingham who tried to convince me that Burma is the "shit-hole" of southeast Asia and that I should never, ever even think of going there, Nick, the brother of the Bar's owner who teaches English part-time while running the bar.
This morning, Wisut picked me up and dropped me off at the bus station where I took two local buses to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. I thoroughly enjoyed the four and a half hour journey on buses that only the locals use - meaning no frills such as air conditioning. Everyone sits jam-packed together and all of the bags, boxes, etc. are thrown in the very back in front of a single row of seats reserved for Buddhist monks. I boarded at the back of the bus and thinking that I should keep an eye on my bag, I plopped down on the back seat beside two monks. At which point, Wisut gasped "don't touch the monks". Which really threw me because I had no intention of touching the monks. I was only planning to sit beside them. I did notice that when I sat down, they squished off to the side. Wisut then suggested I sit in the row in front of them. It was really weird because two men got on the bus and sat down beside them and there was no reaction whatsoever. I will have to ask what's up with that. Later on, I was confused as to where we were and the young monk leaned over to try and explain to me that we hadn't reached my destination yet. The bus journey went smoothly until a guy boarded with a cage full of squawking chickens and for the next 40 kilometres, I kept praying "please lord, please do not let me catch Avian flu on this bus!"
Ayutthaya is an amazing city full of ruins from Thailand's golden period. The ancient temples are really impressive as are the preserved Buddha statutues and chedis. One temple stood out most of all. Unlike the others which were red brick, this one was white. Apparently its base was built by the Burmese army as a victory over the Thai people but they were kicked out and the Thai proceeded to built their own temple on top. So the temple is a mix of Burmese and Thai building styles.
Right now, I'm sitting in an Internet cafe and just chilling. In a few minutes, I will hail a tuk tuk and head to the train station where I'm taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai.
About Wisut - Guardian Angel #2 on this trip. He was born and raised in Kanchanaburi. After 12 years as a police officer in Pattaya, he retired and set himself up in Kanchanaburi's tourist industry. He runs a motorcycle rental agency and gives private tours in his sports utility vehicle. I told him that I felt sorry to see all of these beautiful Thai women with ugly, fat and old foreign men. He laughed and told me not to be sad. According to him, these women have much better lives with foreign men who give them a home, clothes, food and support for their extended families. Plus, he said with a wink, we are getting our money back in one way or another from our British and American colonizers.He also told me that Thai women are exceptionally shy in public but not when it comes to sex. He's the first Thai person to mention anything taboo to me on this trip. If you are even in Kanchanaburi or Bangkok, I highly-recommend hiring Wisut.
Gotta dash. More to come...
So I hired a driver by the name of Wisut, a former Thai police officer turned tour guide, who spoke great English with a wicked sense of humour and some great stories and had the best day ever! We visited the famous Erwan waterfalls which are located in a national park and comprise seven levels. We only hiked to the fifth level as it was 36 degrees and way too hot! Next, we visited the very moving Hellfire Pass Museum which chronicles the building of the Thai-Burma railroad by Asians as well as Australian, English and Dutch POWs who were forced to by the Japanese army during World War II. It was horrible. These people worked under slave conditions in jungle conditions first clearing jungle and then solid rock for the rail tracks. About 60,000 POWs and 100,.000 Asians died while building the railway, especially after the Japanese, who had missed three deadlines for completion, implemented "speedo", a fast-tracking of the building process. The museum itself is very moving and includes testimonies from some of the POWs who survived. Apparently, the Thai government initially charged visitors an entrance fee but the Australian government protested and now the museum is free.
Later, I took the famous Death Railway train from Nam Tok to Kanchanaburi over the River Kwai. It was so beautiful and scenic although the bridge over the River Kwai was a huge letdown. Wisut dropped me off at No Name Bar, a local backpackers hangout owned by an Australian where I held forth with a variety of characters for several hours: Patrick, the Australian rock climber surfer dude who lived in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada for a time, Jimmy, a retired guy from Birmingham who tried to convince me that Burma is the "shit-hole" of southeast Asia and that I should never, ever even think of going there, Nick, the brother of the Bar's owner who teaches English part-time while running the bar.
This morning, Wisut picked me up and dropped me off at the bus station where I took two local buses to Ayutthaya, the ancient capital of Thailand. I thoroughly enjoyed the four and a half hour journey on buses that only the locals use - meaning no frills such as air conditioning. Everyone sits jam-packed together and all of the bags, boxes, etc. are thrown in the very back in front of a single row of seats reserved for Buddhist monks. I boarded at the back of the bus and thinking that I should keep an eye on my bag, I plopped down on the back seat beside two monks. At which point, Wisut gasped "don't touch the monks". Which really threw me because I had no intention of touching the monks. I was only planning to sit beside them. I did notice that when I sat down, they squished off to the side. Wisut then suggested I sit in the row in front of them. It was really weird because two men got on the bus and sat down beside them and there was no reaction whatsoever. I will have to ask what's up with that. Later on, I was confused as to where we were and the young monk leaned over to try and explain to me that we hadn't reached my destination yet. The bus journey went smoothly until a guy boarded with a cage full of squawking chickens and for the next 40 kilometres, I kept praying "please lord, please do not let me catch Avian flu on this bus!"
Ayutthaya is an amazing city full of ruins from Thailand's golden period. The ancient temples are really impressive as are the preserved Buddha statutues and chedis. One temple stood out most of all. Unlike the others which were red brick, this one was white. Apparently its base was built by the Burmese army as a victory over the Thai people but they were kicked out and the Thai proceeded to built their own temple on top. So the temple is a mix of Burmese and Thai building styles.
Right now, I'm sitting in an Internet cafe and just chilling. In a few minutes, I will hail a tuk tuk and head to the train station where I'm taking the overnight train to Chiang Mai.
About Wisut - Guardian Angel #2 on this trip. He was born and raised in Kanchanaburi. After 12 years as a police officer in Pattaya, he retired and set himself up in Kanchanaburi's tourist industry. He runs a motorcycle rental agency and gives private tours in his sports utility vehicle. I told him that I felt sorry to see all of these beautiful Thai women with ugly, fat and old foreign men. He laughed and told me not to be sad. According to him, these women have much better lives with foreign men who give them a home, clothes, food and support for their extended families. Plus, he said with a wink, we are getting our money back in one way or another from our British and American colonizers.He also told me that Thai women are exceptionally shy in public but not when it comes to sex. He's the first Thai person to mention anything taboo to me on this trip. If you are even in Kanchanaburi or Bangkok, I highly-recommend hiring Wisut.
Gotta dash. More to come...
I have been to hell and back! Getting to Kanchanaburi
Okay. Two days ago was my first rough patch during this trip so far. I left southern Thailand - Krabi - flying back to Bangkok on a relatively new discount airline called Air Asia. I arrived two hours early at 10 a.m. to be informed that the flight was delayed until 2:30 p.m. This royally ticked me off since I could have slept in or had one more fabulous Thai massage or lain on the beach but was stuck in a small airport with no diversions such as book shops, restaurants, etc. The bright side was that I met up with Matt, a British guy who had bee living in Bangkok with his partner for the past year and working as an intern at the UN. He gave me great travel tips for Cambodia and Vietnam and we chatted about his work in HIV prevention. We finally landed in Bangkok in late afternoon as the sun was setting and just in time for....RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC.
Now for those of you who aren't familiar with Bangkok traffic jams, they are absolutely evil. Gridlock for miles. Overpowering pollution and aggressive drivers constantly honking their horns. So Matt and are sat in a metered taxi for more than an hour before dropping us off at the train station where the plan was for me to hop on a train to Kanchanaburi, near the River Kwai, which was my next destination. By this time, Matt has left to run some errands before flying home to London. Now keep in mind I'm about six hours behind in planning. I arrive at the platform to be informed that the last train for the day left an hour before. By this time, it's night and there are only a few taxis around. I hail one down but he refuses to turn his meter on as he wants to charge me an outrageous fare price. So I tell him to go stuff it and walk to the main road. By this time, I'm so distraught, I find another taxi driver and ask him how much to drive me to Kanchanaburi which is two hours away. He quotes some outrageous amount - 10 times the normal price - and after some negotiation, we agree on a price. I show the taxi driver where Kanchanaburi is on the map and the spelling of the city's name. He nods and off we go. I had this nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that this was just too easy so I kept alert. After about 45-minutes in the taxi, I look up and see a sign which reads "CHONBURI" and I realise, oh my gosh, he is going to the wrong place. Chonburi is in the exact opposite direction to where I'm going. Keep in mind it's still rush hour and I have been in the taxi for about two and a half hours. I'm so tired and distraught and stressed at this point that I call the hotel where I stayed in Bangkok where I know the reservation manager speaks English. She then talks to the Thai taxi driver and arranges for him to drop me off at the bus station where I can catch a local bus to Kanchanaburi. Which he does. So at 10 p.m., I finally leave Bangkok jam-packed in, thank goodness, an air-conditioned bus full of friendly Thai people smiling at me, the only foreigner onboard. I wanted to hug and kiss each and every one of them and then cry on their shoulders about Bangkok taxi drivers. I tell my guide in Kanchanaburi the story and he informs me that most taxi drivers can't read and don't know how to read a map so they most likely nodded so as not to lose face with me.
When I arrive in Kanchanaburi, about 7 hours late, the bus station is deserted except for two tuk tuk drivers who quote an outrageous price since I don't have many options and my hotel is out of the way. I agree since I'm so exhausted at this point. Luckily, three Israeli guys get on and I have company for the 15-minute journey in almost complete darkness. A day I would like to forget!
Now for those of you who aren't familiar with Bangkok traffic jams, they are absolutely evil. Gridlock for miles. Overpowering pollution and aggressive drivers constantly honking their horns. So Matt and are sat in a metered taxi for more than an hour before dropping us off at the train station where the plan was for me to hop on a train to Kanchanaburi, near the River Kwai, which was my next destination. By this time, Matt has left to run some errands before flying home to London. Now keep in mind I'm about six hours behind in planning. I arrive at the platform to be informed that the last train for the day left an hour before. By this time, it's night and there are only a few taxis around. I hail one down but he refuses to turn his meter on as he wants to charge me an outrageous fare price. So I tell him to go stuff it and walk to the main road. By this time, I'm so distraught, I find another taxi driver and ask him how much to drive me to Kanchanaburi which is two hours away. He quotes some outrageous amount - 10 times the normal price - and after some negotiation, we agree on a price. I show the taxi driver where Kanchanaburi is on the map and the spelling of the city's name. He nods and off we go. I had this nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that this was just too easy so I kept alert. After about 45-minutes in the taxi, I look up and see a sign which reads "CHONBURI" and I realise, oh my gosh, he is going to the wrong place. Chonburi is in the exact opposite direction to where I'm going. Keep in mind it's still rush hour and I have been in the taxi for about two and a half hours. I'm so tired and distraught and stressed at this point that I call the hotel where I stayed in Bangkok where I know the reservation manager speaks English. She then talks to the Thai taxi driver and arranges for him to drop me off at the bus station where I can catch a local bus to Kanchanaburi. Which he does. So at 10 p.m., I finally leave Bangkok jam-packed in, thank goodness, an air-conditioned bus full of friendly Thai people smiling at me, the only foreigner onboard. I wanted to hug and kiss each and every one of them and then cry on their shoulders about Bangkok taxi drivers. I tell my guide in Kanchanaburi the story and he informs me that most taxi drivers can't read and don't know how to read a map so they most likely nodded so as not to lose face with me.
When I arrive in Kanchanaburi, about 7 hours late, the bus station is deserted except for two tuk tuk drivers who quote an outrageous price since I don't have many options and my hotel is out of the way. I agree since I'm so exhausted at this point. Luckily, three Israeli guys get on and I have company for the 15-minute journey in almost complete darkness. A day I would like to forget!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Lazing around and people-watching in Krabi, Thailand
So I ended up hanging out with the film crew and then deciding at the 11th hour NOT to go to the wrap party. I felt like I was 'crashing' it since everyone was tight with everyone else and had been working together for months. I did hang out with a group of them over cocktails. There's this whole community of mixed-race (Thai/white) actors and actresses who are never short of work since now the craze is to feature these people in TV commercial, soap operas and films. According to Tommy (the actor who plays the businessman who gets eaten by the crocodile), they've all grown up together or have been working together for years. Some of the interesting people: Pim, who is a 10-year old actress who is being managed by her British father, Amy and Maia, who are half Swedish and half Thai. They were accompanied to the party by their Swedish father who has fathered 13 (THIRTEEN) children, 11 of them with a Thai woman. They now live in southern Thailand.
So instead of the wrap party, I went to a karaoke session where I was the only non-Thai person in the room. Half the songs I couldn't follow due to them being sung in Thai but the other half I thoroughly enjoyed, singing along with hits such as "Zombie" by the Cranberries. It was a weird experience. Thais are really serious about karaoke (unlike most Westerners) and they belt out the songs like nobody's business.
Today, I went on a day-long excursion of trekking through the rainforest. Believe it or not, even I get bored of the beach at some point. About 10 of us jumped into a 4 wheel drive vehicle and headed to different locations. First, we went to an amazing hot springs deep in the rainforest which was so relaxing. The rocks were the colour of turquoise. Next, we headed to a place called Emerald Pond which turned out to be this swimming hole with clear emerald water where you could see the bottom as well as the fish swimming by. We visited a rubber plantation where we saw a demonstration of the back-breaking labour which goes into collecting rubber sap. Rubber is one of the main industries down here. The tour guide pretended to make a giant condom out of a sheet of rubber and proceeded to pass it amongst all of the guys until he came to this slightly shy British guy when the guide announced, "Oh, you probably don't use condoms anyway". I don't know who was more mortified: the guy or his girlfriend who turned five shades of red. Last, we went to a Buddhist temple in the rainforest called Tiger Cave Temple due to the fact that it used to be the home of a famous tiger.
I was surprised to find that there is a significant Muslim population down here in the south. There doesn't seem to be a lot of tension although apparently, earlier there was some unrest and military activity against Muslim activists. Apparently, this is one of the justifications for removing the military leader, Thaksin, during the coup a few months back.
So instead of the wrap party, I went to a karaoke session where I was the only non-Thai person in the room. Half the songs I couldn't follow due to them being sung in Thai but the other half I thoroughly enjoyed, singing along with hits such as "Zombie" by the Cranberries. It was a weird experience. Thais are really serious about karaoke (unlike most Westerners) and they belt out the songs like nobody's business.
Today, I went on a day-long excursion of trekking through the rainforest. Believe it or not, even I get bored of the beach at some point. About 10 of us jumped into a 4 wheel drive vehicle and headed to different locations. First, we went to an amazing hot springs deep in the rainforest which was so relaxing. The rocks were the colour of turquoise. Next, we headed to a place called Emerald Pond which turned out to be this swimming hole with clear emerald water where you could see the bottom as well as the fish swimming by. We visited a rubber plantation where we saw a demonstration of the back-breaking labour which goes into collecting rubber sap. Rubber is one of the main industries down here. The tour guide pretended to make a giant condom out of a sheet of rubber and proceeded to pass it amongst all of the guys until he came to this slightly shy British guy when the guide announced, "Oh, you probably don't use condoms anyway". I don't know who was more mortified: the guy or his girlfriend who turned five shades of red. Last, we went to a Buddhist temple in the rainforest called Tiger Cave Temple due to the fact that it used to be the home of a famous tiger.
I was surprised to find that there is a significant Muslim population down here in the south. There doesn't seem to be a lot of tension although apparently, earlier there was some unrest and military activity against Muslim activists. Apparently, this is one of the justifications for removing the military leader, Thaksin, during the coup a few months back.
