Here we have come!

We have now been back in New Zealand for one whole week and it seems quite a long time since we were in Cornwall and Whitehaven catching up with all of Len's family. It is always so good to see them, have a bit of time sharing their lives, be amazed, yet again, at how all the teenagers have grown and be in awe of how young Wils and Esme still are at 93 and 88! And because we went over later this year than normal it's now only 7 months before we return.

We had a good flight from Bangkok to Auckland on ThaiAir and found Debussy still snug under it's cover in the corner of Jacki and Tim's garden. No apparent dampness inside at all although the Damp-rid sachets and cans we left dotted about had all absorbed plenty of moisture.
For some reason though the TV is no longer working and we are still waiting for this to be looked at. The extractor fan also only gave out a burnt smell when I turned it on and this now needs to be replaced. We're just hoping that things don't always "come in threes"! At least the bus started first time and sounded really pleased to have us back.

Our new baby!

It was good to have a night catching up with Jacki and Tim and the children before we left the next morning on a car hunt. We were looking for either a Mazda 3 or a Ford Focus, no more than 2-3 years old and quite liked a red Mazda 3, and the price they would have reduced it to, at the Auckland Ford/Mazda dealership but wanted to look further to see if we could find a Focus as we liked our last one. There were none for sale privately on Trademe so we headed south to Hamilton and Fairview Motors where we found a silver 2011 Focus Ambiente - only 1600 ccs but very zippy and economical. We thought about it overnight, parking in the quiet cul-de-sac just down the road by the Te Rapa Racecourse, before heading back to the dealership where we used all our Thailand bartering skills and managed a $1500 reduction. Then, an hour or 2 later I was enjoying being behind the wheel of a car again as we headed, separately, back over the Kaimais to Tauranga.

We spent the first night back parked on the wide grass verge in front of Colin and Carlenes and then went to The Mount Camping Ground for 3 nights, being parked for the first 2 nights next to Sandra and Matt as they had holiday tenants in their house, not that they were there much with Sandra working and Matt helping friends move house. However their friends parents, Kay and David, were in the caravan on the other side of us and our friends, Shellie and David were parked further up the row in their 5th wheeler so we were all able to get together for "Happy Hour" before dinner!

It was so windy all the time in the camp ground, especially on our first night there. I found it hard to sleep with thinking that a gust of wind might catch up and blow us right over - however all the vehicles were still upright when we looked out in the mornings!

Trish - bin laden!

Chiang Mai 5

Our brief time in Thailand is now coming to a close as we fly back to Auckland tomorrow. Yesterday and today we have spent getting more of a feel for the Thai life doing a lot of walking around the city, visiting numerous wats, or temples as we know them, sampling food, eg a whole cooked sea bass last night in a very popular local fish market, drinking Chang beer, riding in a tuk tuk and the local red truck (like a taxi), watching people fish, swimming in the hotel pool, having an hour long, oh so painful, $8 full body Thai massage in a dark upstairs room by a young, ?19 yr old Thai boy, Len having an hour long $6 foot, leg and head massage downstairs by about a 15 year old and revisting Boys Blues Bar last night.

Delicious longan fruit - $1 per kilo!

It has all been a great experience and, apart from the stall-holders in the markets initially being so pushy (but not today for some reason ?because it's Sunday!) the people are very friendly although we are constantly warned by signs to be aware of well-dressed, seemingly nice people who will offer their services and then scam you.

Negotiating a tuk tuk fare

The main things we have had to be careful of is all the traffic and motorbikes when trying to cross the street and all the hazards on the pavements - holes, wet concrete, broken concrete, unprotected manholes, low overhead signs with sharp points. Luckily we have not seen or experienced any pickpocketing although we have often been warned about this.


We have just come back from a lovely, oh-so-cheap meal at a vegetarian cafe called The Bamboo Bee which, on trip advisor, is Number 1 in the eating places. It is run by two English speaking Thai girls who are just del

ightful. The cafe is tiny - only 5 tables seating 2 at a table - and only one menu! But there was only one other couple there at the same time so it was easy to share. They are known for their smoothies and so before our meal we shared an avocado and coconut cream (calories!!!) one which was delicious. For our mains I had spicy stirfried mushrooms and cashews dish and Len had sweet chilli mushrooms, both dishes having other nice veges as well as rice. The price of the meals including the smoothie, a bottle of water and bottomless cups of free Jasmine tea came to 225 baht which is about $9. Amazing!! On our walk back to the hotel we bought some more lovely little coconut milk pancakes for pud from the street vendor in Chinatown.

Chiang Mai 4

After lunch the group decided they would do an "add-on" to the tour on the way home and stop to see the "Longnecks" in their tribal village - the longnecks are the women who gradually add an increasing number of bands to their necks to make them "long" and "more beautiful". It was an extra 600 baht for the two of us which is approximately $24 which we didn't have with us but Su, the tour leader, was keen to lend us the money until we got back to our hotel so we did this. We think she must have made quite a commission off this as really it was very expensive for a 10 minute walk in the heat between all the stalls displaying their handicrafts - bags, scarves, pillowcovers etc and past the various girls and women with their neckbands on. Long-necked Karen was the star with the most bands but I have seen much longer necks than hers in photos so we really felt that we could have stayed in the bus but then it is probably good to observe in person, as a oncer.

Long neck Karen & her wares

When we arrived back at out hotel we talked to the receptionist about thr air conditioning waterfall problem in our room, worried that we might have another sleepless night like the previous one, and she changed us to another similar room, 2 floors higher. It meant we had to pack everything up but they compensated for this by leaving a small bowl of nice fruit in our new room.

After freshening up with a shower we wandered out into the markets and down to Chinatown where we tried to recognise some of the many different fruits on the stalls, see what they were all cooking but avoiding eating anything that might be a bit suspect! We weren't hungry after our big lunch and with the heat so a bag of little pancakes made with coconut milk and corn were delicious as was the black rice and sesame seed pancake served in a banana leaf with milk and honey. No problem with our stomachs afterwards!

Boy's band with guest blues guitar maestro

On the way back to the hotel we stumbled upon some good rhythm and blues music floating down some stairs in one of the covered markets so went up to investigate. Wow what great music and talented players here at Boys Blues Bar which sits on the rooftops - it's finds like these that make a holiday! We sat ourselves down right virtually right in front of the band next to a bunch of Americans who are in Thailand teaching English so they were able to give us the craic. A Thai, named Boy, is the owner and band leader and he has an affro hairstyle like Jimmy Hendrix with the biggest happiest smile which is so infectious. The place was humming and the music great and made even better by the arrival of a muso with a long white beard and a reputation for being the most awesome guitar player. And that he was! His guitar was an extension of his soul and the sounds he got out of it just incredible. They were joined for a couple of songs by a vivacious Aussie girl with a deep raspy voice and personality plus. Such good entertainment all for the price of a few cheap beers!

Chiang Mai 3

Afeter the elephant show it was time to do the bamboo rafting so we walked down to the brown river where we were given life jackets which were totally too big for me and which would have just risen over my head if I'd fallen off the raft but despite a rapid search I couldn't find a smaller one in time so it just had to do. As it turned out the river didn't seem too deep as the guides' poles easily reached the bottom to help steer us along. The rafts are exactly as described - made of bamboo and seating 6 people. We floated down the river for at least half an hour seeing jungle and elephants belonging to the park - they have about 150 altogether - and it was a good experience, not scary at all even when the guide would jolt the raft and pretend to fall off!

Our raft guides after putting us ashore

Following the rafting we wobbled along the muddy, rutted ground in carts behind two oxen for some time to where we could climb up to the mounting platform to get into our seats on top of the elephant - we had a very cute baby one accompanying us as well. We found we had to hang on all the time as the ground was pretty rough and we were thrown from side to side and we were pleased that they provided us with an umbrella to give us a bit of shade from the sun - it was very hot. The time we had on the elephant, maybe 20-30 minutes, was good and plenty long enough because of the jolting - I don't think it would be that great to do it for a whole day on uneven terrain!

L & the 5 girls!

By now it was lunchtime and we were provided with a buffet meal back at the Elephant Park headquarters. It was OK but nowhere near the standard of the buffet that we had at the Rosegarden on the Floating market tour in Bangkok - I think we had been spoilt.

Chiang Mai 2

It was quite late when we went to bed on Thursday night after our nice dinner at The Whole Earth on Thursday night and at 2.00am we were woken by the sound of a light waterfall. We turned on the light to see water pouring from the ceiling in the entry area close to the aircon vent. After placing the bathroom bin under it Len rang for help and 2 Thai men came with their ladder to fix it which took about half an hour. It seemed that we had just got back to sleep before we were woken again about 4.00am by the same noise so the whole process was repeated. We didn't manage to sleep again after this so were pretty tired going to breakfast the next morning which was again an early rise as we had booked in to do the elephant trekking and bamboo rafting. Plenty of choice at the continental and cooked breakfast which I think I will now call the 'new dinner'! At our Bangkok Hotel we could only have Continental unless we paid extra and of course this was much better for our waistlines!

We were picked up from our hotel for our excursion by a minibus which already had 9 mostly English speaking friendly Chinese tourists on board -lots of Chinese on holiday here at the moment as it is holiday week in China.We were driven out to the Mae Taeng Elephant Park where we were just in time to see the Elephant Show which was packed with tourists - standing room only for us in the seated viewing stands. The show was actually very impressive with the elephants displaying their dancing skills, strength, and football goaling techniques. What had us totally awed though was watching 3 of the elephants painting - it really does have to be seen to be believed! I thought they did very well to get a couple of painted lines down the sheet of paper but then these lines were added to to make tree trunks and then green bushy branches topped by red flowers and then the older elephant drew in the behinds of 2 elephants and a couple of them even signed their names! Absolutely astounding - they can paint better than me!! All their mahouts (keepers) did in the whole process was put fresh paint on the brush and then put the brush back into the elephant's trunk.

Painted & signed by Suda, the elephant!

The paintings were up for sale in the souvenir shop afterwards and there was one I would dearly have loved. They were priced at 1000 baht which is only about $40 but it was then that I discovered that the money manager had only taken about 500 baht, the trip theoretically being all inclusive and he didn't want money or cards being "lost overboard" when we did the bamboo rafting. We can't believe that the paintings hadn't already been sold when we walked through the shop so we have the feeling that they may photocopy them so you're not actually buying the original. Even so a photocopied one would have done but never mind!

Chiangmai 1

Thursday morning was another early wake-up call for us as we were being picked up at 7.00am to go to the airport for our flight to Changmai. Quite a long wait before we could board but the flight itself is only about an hour so this went quickly with lunch being served en-route.
Again we were met at the airport by the Hotel Beds rep, this one having the unfortunate name of Pong which she says means "fat" in Thai making a double insult. The airport was much quieter than Bangkok and although we had a little problem with finding our luggage it was soon personally delivered to us and didn't delay our trip to the hotel too much.
It was a more relaxing drive than the one we had in Bangkok with the roads and surrounds being quieter and less built up - suburbia itself until you reach the inner city with the population of Chiangmai city itself being only 160,000 although including the urban sprawl takes its up to nearly a million. Bangkok city is over 8 million and if you include the metropolitan area the figure rises to about 14 million.

T & TukTuk!

After settling into our room at the Royal Princess which is on the doorstep of the night markets and close to the inner city we had a walk down the closest city wall of which there are 4 making a big square. There are only bits and pieces remaining of the wall although part ot it seems to have been rebuilt recently. The roads are busy with cars, motor-bikes, tuk tuks and little red trucks that are virtually like taxis . you can hail them to go where you want if empty or share a ride if the passengers aboard are going in the same direction. Crossing roads can be very hazardous and with no-one taking any notice of pedestrian crossings you basically have to just barge out and force the cars to stop or wait for a friendly local to do this for you!

Lrelaxing with Chan (beer)!

There is a little canal flowing around the 4 walls and we spotted a few fish while we walked along it before diverting into the city centre and stopping to view a temple or two - we think there are about 120 of them in the city so they are easy to find. It's pretty hot so it was good to stop for a beer at a little cafe and take in the surroundings before heading back to the hotel for a shower and then dinner at a nice restaurant down the road and around the corner from the Hotel called The Whole Earth, which had been recommended to us. I spent my "Birthday Voucher" from David and Christine here - an appropriate place as their wedding reception was at a Thai Restaurant. Loved our meals and thankyou so much C&D!

Bangkok 3

Wednesday continued to be a busy day and after the floating market we headed to what we were told were the Rose Gardens for lunch and a Thai Village Cultural Show which is held in a pavilion within the park. There are no longer any roses there however and we found that it has subsequently been renamed the Sampran Riverside.

1st stop - Sri Lankan style Buddhist temple

The buffet lunch in the large venue overlooking a lake was superb - a lot of choice with Thai meals predominantly but also sushi, italian and chinese dishes available with lots of little Thai desserts to follow - they were little so we managed to sample several!

Then we had to rush to walk round to the Cultural show which we also enjoyed and which included Thai music, scenes depicting rice farmers, explanations of young men's initiation into monkhood, Thai dancing including a flag dance at the end where I could be proud to see the kiwi flag, traditional Thai drumming, Thai boxing showing the use of arm guards, sword fighting which looked quite ferocious a typical Thai wedding and the unique bamboo dance from the Northeast region where the dancers have to be pretty quick to jump over beating bamboo poles which are moved together and then apart quite quickly. I'm sure they must have some nasty blows to their ankles whilst practising! The audience were invited to join in the Ramwong Dance for the finale but we managed to stay stuck to our seats. The highlights for us were the boxing and bamboo dancing.

Pole dancing - Thai style!

Afterwards they put on a short but entertaining show with 3 elephants showing their skills.
Our trip back to the hotel was broken with a short stop at a Teak carving and furniture makers where we saw some nice furniture as well as some pretty ugly items such as the huge dining room tables and chairs - maybe they would look OK in a castle says she who lives in a bus!

Just one of the dining room chairs!

We were pretty tired by the time we arrived back but instead of lying down we did manage a quick swim and lounge by the pool before it got dark. Just as we were about to go down the street for dinner there was a spectacular long thunder and lightening show so we ate in the hotel restaurant and, again, enjoyed our Thai meals!