Onze eerst stop/stap rond de wereld...

We zijn bijna twee weken onderweg en onze eerste stap rond de wereld zit er bijna op. Het lijkt wel of we reeds twee maanden aan het rondtrekken zijn. In Thailand reizen we semi georganiseerd, dit betekent concreet dat het verblijf en de meeste verplaatsingen reeds zijn geregeld. Dit is eigenlijk niet nodig. Want Thailand is een perfect land om in rond te trekken. Turkije of Egypte kunnen hier nog iets van leren.

Ik vergeet natuurlijk even de huidige problemen in Bangkok. Voor allen dit zich ongerust zouden maken, kan ik jullie alvast gerust stellen: NEEN we reizen NIET terug naar Bangkok als er geen oplossing is in de luchthaven! Dan zullen we zelf onze trip regelen vanuit Zuid-Thailand door Maleisië naar Singapore. Dit betekent waarschijnlijk een dagje minder strand en een busrit van +- 16u. In Singapore worden we immers op 5 december verwacht voor onze vlucht naar Vietnam. Dit is dan weer het nadeel van vooraf dingen te organiseren. Anders hoef je niet wakker te liggen van deze deadlines. è PS next day 16u51: ondertussen hebben we effectief een busticket gekocht naar Singapore een trip van 24 uren!! Jawel we vertrekken dus een dagje vroeger in Thailand ....

Nu ik ga niet klagen, ik zit hier in Railay Beach: een strandje dat enkel met long-tail boat te bereiken is. Wat betekent dat je de laatste meters van de boot moet springen in de zee (+- 28ฐC) om dan in fijne zandstrand naar de lobby van onze 'Center Parcs' te trekken, waar ik nu om 21u met een pintje Singha bij 25ฐC dit verslag zit te maken. Oeps bij het woordje verslag moet ik toch even aan het werk denken, de eerste keer deze reis. ....Bopro....deSingel... staalconstructie...weg.....??

Onze tocht is al vrij intensief geweest: veel zien (Bangkok...) en om de twee à drie dagen verder reizen. Wat bijna altijd gelijk staat met een dagtrip. Vandaag was onze eerste dag VOLLEDIGE rust! August doet het eigenlijk fantastisch. Ik heb er echt geen andere woorden voor. Hij heeft totaal geen jetlag gehad, hij vindt de verplaatsingen fantastisch, zelfs toen hij een uur heeft moeten rechtstaan in de bus. Maar hij wil wel elke ochtend ons reisschema kennen: waar wat wanneer ...prachtig.

Het vervoer is een topgear uitzending waard: vliegtuig, dubbeldekvliegtuig, trein, metro, boot, jeep, olifant, long-tail boot, bus, mini bus, taxi, taxi-boot..... De uitschieter was toch wel de nieuwe Airbus A380 zelfs voor een economy reiziger is dit een luxe ervaring! Met een privé (jawel elke stoel een eigen scherm met bediening) home-entertainment systeem zoals elke man zich dit wenst: video on demand, play station, music channel,...... Waarom is zoiets enkel mogelijk als je van de grond gaat? Op deze manier was een vlucht van 12u een makkie voor August met drie keer Wall-E!

De weblog heeft al enige inspanning gevraagd: verslag maken, fotootjes selecteren, internet verbinding zoeken en uploaden. Maar het is leuk te weten dat jullie dit met vele lezen en het zal voor ons zelf later een mooi dagboek zijn. Waarom is dit eigenlijk in het engels, ja...? Na 10 jaar huwelijk heb ik het afgeleerd om te proberen mijn vrouw iets uit het hoofd te praten...Jullie kunnen natuurlijk altijd een petitie starten om haar te overhalen. We leven immers in een democratie, alhoewel in Thailand? Hou er alvast rekening mee dat in de volgende landen best wat meer tijd tussen de verslagen kan zitten. De overvloed aan internetcafés is immers niet overal te verwachten. We blijven alvast verslagen en fotootjes uploaden.

Nog 2 dagen en dan zijn we weer on the road, ook dit is achterhaald morgenvroeg zijn we weg. Nog keer 5 slapen en dan komt de sint voor alle brave kindjes. Het zijn mooie vooruitzichten.

See you on the beach.

Steven

Day 9: Transfer to Pukhet (28 nov 2008)

'Busses in Thailand are very comfortable and have all airco. Very pleasant ride' said the guy from 'Art's river side lodge' when he dropped us at the public bus station. He did not mention that these excellent conditions had to be shared with some other passengers as well, a LOT of other passengers. Not exactly that busses are popular amongst other than Thai or backpacking tourists, but due to the big strike at the Bangkok airport a lot of tourists were forced to take buses heading south to Pukhet and the islands.

So we challenged the amount of people that could be squeezed in one bus to the very limit for half a day. We met from very closely another very friendly but little strange Dutchman, Floris, who was wondering how he would get back to Holland on time not to upset his boss two times on a row. In his attempts to get outside of Thailand he seemed to be not really hampered by any knowledge of the geography of the South-East Asia.

Late in the afternoon we finally arrived at the Kata Palm Resort and Spa at Kata beach. Back in the pool we forget pretty soon about the bus experience.

Day 8: jungle book (27 nov 2008)

The lodge had a nice restaurant, overlooking the river. We had breakfast while looking at a family of monkeys who were gathering around the river. The question remains who was observing who

Today we were going for an elephant ride through the jungle. Very commercially exploited, but August loved it. Quite bumpy on the back of such an animal. I made a fool out of myself by asking when 'our' elephant would give birth, when the driver laughed at me and said she was a man which I could witness myself some time later when the elephant gave us a little demonstration of his male features (needless to mention that August was quite interested). Apparently 40 year old elephants have impressive tummies.

In the afternoon my brave husband and son were going to explore the national park and were hiking to a water fall. I had a date with my book which was strongly neglected the last week, on the terrace of the lodge at surrounded by the jungle noises.

Husband and son safely arrived back- they managed to do a walk of 6 km, which is quite extraordinary for August who likes to spend most time on a couch in sitting or lying position. The only issue both city die-hards encountered was that they were both 'attacked' by leeches

Day 7: Here comes the rain again (26 nov 2008)

Welcome to the rainforest, the driver smiled at us when we arrived in the pouring rain. Quite strange, warm rain does not really bother, it is the humidity which gets in to your bones and clothes. Literally everything absorbs moisture. Already in Bangkok we observed this phenomenon, but there the main discomfort was the spongy bread and croissants.

The lodge however was a fair compensation for the rain: a little wooden house on pillars in the middle of the forest with a view on the river and the mountains. In the annex a bathroom in the open air was installed, with of course only cold or let's call it in an euphemistic way 'ambient' water.

Steven looked very frightened facing a cold shower. August did not realize yet the danger, but also he would have to undergo the experience of a cold shower which would require his both parents to keep him from running away before all soap was rinsed away.

No fridge, no television, just 2 beds with mosquito nets to separate us from any creature, and more important the next shop with cold beer a walk of at least 20 minutes through the jungle and the mud away. (Note for the C-family: I could do with a bucket here, please send me one per express filled with ice and a six pack)

As we would realise specially at night, the forest is never quite. Don't forget that I am travelling together with 2 city die-hards who yell at the slightest notice of something creeping around. So it took some time to catch sleep.

In the afternoon we discovered the very laid back village of Khao Sok, with a combination of hippie bars, massage salons, little restaurants serving herb juices and back packer lodges. The whole atmosphere was quite relax. We had a drink in 'Camp Freedom', a bar installed in a tree, where a stoned would be Bob Marley served us a cold beer while we sank away in the pillows on the terrace overlooking the river and the mountains while it was pouring down. We watched some Thai washing themselves in the river (with clothes), apparently this is quite common.

Day 6: runaway train (25 nov 2008)

After checking out of our relative luxury hotel at noon, we had to get through the afternoon awaiting the night train to the south. Why not look at some different aspects of Bangkok? So we went to Sukhumvit road, the 5^th Avenue of Bangkok, close to the financial district. Sukhumvit road is the shopping centre of the town. Quite odd is that both sides of the road are separated by the sky train, an efficient though ugly transport system at 20 meters above street level.

In the Emporium shopping centre which was all dressed up for Christmas, we found the paradise for shoppers: all big mark shops you can imagine where present, and of course a posh public of dressed-up Thai. In a nice internet shop we uploaded the day 4 and 5 report and pictures to the web log.

At the Bangkok main station we were awaiting the night train that would lead us to Khao Sok, a national park existing out of 4000 km² tropical rainforest in the South of Thailand that managed as by miracle to keep outside the attention of the wood exploitants. It is protected now, but not after the energy company did destroy part of it for the construction of a dam.

The main train station was, though rather resembling to and ice skating hall, a very cosy and animated place. A local television station was broadcasting on a big screen, giving us a pretty good impression of what is hot in Bangkok , and of course the huge picture of ever present King Bhumipol was looking down on us wishing us a good voyage.

The train was an adventure on its own. Imagine yourself a Belgian stop train anno seventies. One compartment was shared by 2 persons, and they were open to the central corridor. we had 1,5 compartment for us, and shared the 2^nd compartment with Marcel, a Dutch guy heading for his mid life crisis. He was heading south for the famous 'black moon parties', which apparently are more exclusive than the full moon parties (which he would have missed anyhow due to bad planning). When I mentioned the Aids problem in some areas in Thailand he looked quite frightened. Apparently he had some interesting experiences already in Bangkok as he told us ('they are so nice and sweet, the Thai girls'), Little detail: a she-male personally accompanied him to his very seat in the train.

Around 10 o'clock the steward (we had 2 stewards for each wagon, one for the beds and one to prepare food and drinks upon request) prepared our beds, and after killing what we hoped was the last cockroach we were shaking asleep by the train movements.

Day 5: Temple of Love

Today is temple day. The royal palace downtown is a huge open air exhibition of a forest of incredibly colourful temples, an overdoses of kitsch against which no single Christmas decoration in the west can compete. Impressive. Amongst the abundant wall decorations we managed to retrieve the 16^th century ancestors of the C-family, as well as a statue of Wassily. Odd how slow evolution of man and dog kind proceeds through the centuries.

The lying Buddha was the attraction of the day. He is lying (obviously) inside a temple, and is big, I mean BIG. One tow has the size of a human head. Unfortunately we had a brief moment of stress at the time: the camera remained dead the next hours. And the photo's taken with the mobile phone remind me of the sights I have without glasses/lenses. Luckily it turned out to be only the batteries - I could breath again cause the forecast to spend the next day in a shopping mall was not particularly attractive, moreover since it took Steven about 2 months to decide and buy our current camera.

We had lunch in some little bar where my mother would not believe I would dear to eat, but the food was nice and tasty (and so far we experience no discomfort of what kind so ever).

The afternoon we spend in a long tail boat on the 'Klongs', the little canals crossing Bangkok as a real spider web. As little voyeurs you can look in the back yard of the houses. The trip brought us the strangest combination of sloppy houses (some sinking away in the river), temples, posh villas of the newly arrived Thai, orchid farms and peaces of wasteland. Electricity and drinking water supplies are installed, though not exactly compliant to EU/US standards.

Next day is the last day in Bangkok already - in the evening we will take the night train to Kao Sok, to the 'jungle'.

Day 4: one night in Bangkok

After a 12 hours night rest (yes, even August slept around the clock) we managed to squeeze ourselves on one of the ferries heading to the centre of town. Sundays in Bangkok, seems like absolutely everybody needs to get in town. And it is hot, I mean HOT over here (enjoy the snow in Belgium)

a walk in Bangkok makes a hard man humble - not much between despair and fantasy.

A walk in Bangkok is a dazzling sequence of people, noise, smells. Though we managed to make our way to the national museum, with some beautiful fine pearl inlays and a impressive collection of wood carved sculptures. Apart of the fans, a big fake elephant dressed up for battle was the attraction for August. Unfortunately photographs were not allowed.

The big attraction for the Thai is the temporary exhibition about princess SRI NAGARINDRA, the 84 years old sister of the king, who recently passed away which brings here in the middle of a real cults. The Thai adore their royal family, e.g. the king's birthday Dec 5^th is a big celebration. Luckily we are gone by then;

In the afternoon we made it to Chinatown - the stroll through the city earlier this morning seemed a quite walk compared to the Chinese attack to our senses. Everything, literally anything you can buy here. Food (our things with a certain nutritional value able to be digested by a human body), the usual range of fake mark clothes and handbags, Christmas stuff, and a nice range of toot prostheses in all kinds and shapes. I keep wondering how they are collected. Maybe my sister (probably the best dentist in the world) might have some ideas. Little note for the C-family: Steven did not buy a watch in Chinatown, I could talk it out of his head.

In the evening we found a nice place at the river side for dinner. Again August made some foreign friends. The food in general is cheap and good, though not so spicy as I hoped for.

Day 3: Arrival in Bangkok

After a very short night we found ourselves back in the brand new international airport of Bangkok. The heat and humidity fell as a blanket over our heads once outside the terminal.

During the transfer to the hotel we noticed the most colourful taxi's - never thought about the possibility to combine fuchsia with red!. Since it was Saturday, they were hardly any traffic jams according to our driver, only around the shopping malls. Turned out that there were quite some shopping malls on our way to the hotel, which is on the west bank of the ChaoPraya river, close to one of the many boat piers. As we will discover during the next days, boats are apart of the metro the most efficient means of transport in this eternally traffic jammed city.

Anyhow, once arrived in the hotel we enjoyed the pool and we managed to stay awake or at least in some state of consciousness during the rest of the day. More than a stroll around the hotel and a benchmarking study of the local beers was not on the program for today.

And what about August? Well, 3 main things about him. First of all he is doing fine, really fine; seems not to have any jetlag and adapts well to the new day/night schedule. Secondly, he is a real attraction here! People tend to talk with him, try to touch him all the time (there is where my Crocodile Dundee knife is very useful). I hope I will get the locals so far in near future that we get discounts in shops and restaurant just for bringing him there. The only thing is the heat - now you should watch him when he desperately walks (never runs, he remains a Salon Baron after all) from ventilator to ventilator in the non-air conditioned rooms of museums, or wiping away his sweat with his little sunhat (as preview of our visit to the national museum).