Conscious of time marching ever onwards, I was keen to leave the sunny shores of southern Thailand and make my way to Chang Mai, the 'Rose of the North'. I decided to try out the sea plane as an experience and duly arranged an early morning pick up with my very helpful hotel owner 'John'. (This wasn't his real name of course, however having a Western name enables him to circumvent the otherwise inevitable five minutes of playing happy host to some well meaning Westerner trying to get their tongue around the Thai vernacular....and of course it helps those of certain dispositions feel more 'at home'.)
So there I was, 8.45am racing across the coast of Thailand in a long tail boat towards the floating pier where I was to be picked up by sea plane and taken to Phuket; this destination being my short stop over before surging back up the spine of the country to Bangkok and then finally Chang Mai. I couldn't resist standing at the front and top of the boat, rope in hand and fastened to the bow. The sun was beating down and I was master of my own destiny....for a brief few minutes, until the boat skipper pointed to various gaping holes in the side of the island we were duly rounding. They were from the Tsunami and were clearly of such howling magnitude you could only wince, try and then try again to imagine the violent force and sheer mass of the thundering waves that thrashed this part of the region...and so it was, how I was reminded all of a sudden, that in the grand scheme of things how little control we all have over our destiny when confronted with the unstoppable onward cycle of mother nature.
The flight itself was a fantastic experience and offered a privileged birds eye view of Phi Phi island as well as other smaller, but unidentifiable island outcrops. I met an Israeli gentleman on the plane who was on holiday; taking time off from being the Hotel manager for the holiday Inn in Krakov, Poland. An Israeli, vacationing in Thailand (with a leather briefcase), who's lives in Poland.. that's what I love about travelling, the opportunity to meet such a wide variety of people with such different life stories. I subtley suggested he had an interesting story to share of how that came to be, but unfortunately we didn't get much time to converse.
..and so on again from Phuket to Bangkok; with a short few hours to hunt out a great lunch I settled on a restaurant in China town. I couldn't go wrong...pan fried prawns and asapargus, seafood soup and some barbeque pork; it was authentic, spicy and even after five days, left me with an altogether new appreciation for Thai cuisine.
Arriving to Chang Mai late at night was no problem; the juganaut that is the tourism industry in Thailand is so well oiled it's almost too easy, and in some respects takes away from any chance of having a good storyline for Tales of the Unexpected. The said scenario; you arrive to the airport, you are presented with a whole row of travel agents before and after the arrivals gate, all of which have a somewhat blindingly impressive array of hotel and tours on offer, to which you can be taken to by the battallion of taxi drivers waiting outside....but this battallion has sub divisions of course..you could opt for the top guns who have their shiny new silver taxis, or, if you're feeling a little more social put yousrelf in the hands of the mini bus drivers, or, if you're feeling a little more relaxed and have time on your hands, you could opt for the local Bus service...and at bus stations you can add the Tuk Tuks to the list...so it goes on. It's impressively efficient, so much so in fact I dare anyone to come to Thailand and get lost with no where to stay for just one night, it's nigh on impossible, even if you tried to get lost, the Thais are so friendly and so hospitable I'd put good money on you being found and returned home just in time for a foot massage.
The next day, Chang Mai offered me the opportunity for exploring some of it's most sacred and revered temples, most of which date back to the 13th and 14th Century. It was during this exploration of the temple sites that I stumbled upon a monastic school for children and was to be once again immersed in the beautiful orange colours of the traditional Thai buddhist attire.
The mobile phone was a popular carry around at the Monastery I visited in Chang Mai.
Young buddhist monks at leisure.
There's little doubt who this is for and what 'they' have to do.
The golden temple at centre stage as well as the surrounding statues and ornaments made for a beautiful setting.
The temples of Chang Mai tend to be stylised in a different manner to those of Bangkok and other parts of Thailand. The archirecture favours wooden structures and within them carvings of various shapes and sizes from the 13th and 14th century.
Recent Comments