Christmas and New Year in Thailand
I went to Thailand with Ryan for 10 days over Christmas and New Year. We started in Bangkok, made trips to Ayutthaya and Kanchanaburi, then made our way down to Ko Chang before returning to Bangkok.
Bangkok was a bit too crazy for my liking. I've spent time in busy cities before but never felt half as hassled as I did when in Bangkok. London, New York, Paris and Tokyo are all big, busy cities, but they are a lot more modern than Bangkok and it's easier to escape within those cities, that is from the smell, the heat and the crazy people. In Bangkok I felt that everyone was out to con me, and that every half-appealing deal was probably a scam. It was probably just the humidity, noise level and relentless traffic getting to me! But even when looking around some off the beautiful temples in the city I found it hard to appreciate any peace or tranquility. Maybe living in Japan for several months had made me too appreciative of calmness and unable to cope with anything uncalm?!
We stayed in guest houses nearby the infamous Kao San Road, where you can sit watching the people pass for hours on end without getting bored. There were some very interesting characters hanging around.
The two days in Kanchanaburi were spent riding elephants, trekking, taking river boat trips, and bathing in waterfalls. It was nice to escape the madness of Bangkok for a while. We then made our way to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya where we looked at several of the remaining structures, some more complete than others, all of them stunning.
Then we had a three day stint on the Island of Ko Chang to the south east of Bangkok, near the Cambodian border. We decided to avoid Phuket because it was further away and we fancied something a little less mainstream. Ko Chang is a popular destination for Thai holiday-makers and we were told it was about 50/50 Thai to foreigners. The travel agent also told us our hotel was next to the beach. It wasn't. It was two kilometers of mountain road away from any beach of note and so we decided to hire scooters for a couple of days. I fell off mine! No high-speed crash. I was as good as still and it toppled to the side - the embarrassment was far greater than any pain sustained from my injuries!
We spent new years partying on a beach in Ko Chang and met nice people from France (wow!) and Hong Kong. The following morning we had to leave early to get back to Bangkok before we flew back to Osaka. Whilst I did enjoy Thailand I was keen to get home and felt the experience was more stressful and draining at times than it was fun. In a funny way it actually made me appreciate Japan more.
I've just discovered that I have in fact deleted many of my better Thailand photos. Damn! Oh well, here are some others.
Ayutthaya temple.
Ayutthaya
Beach on Ko Chang
Bangkok was a bit too crazy for my liking. I've spent time in busy cities before but never felt half as hassled as I did when in Bangkok. London, New York, Paris and Tokyo are all big, busy cities, but they are a lot more modern than Bangkok and it's easier to escape within those cities, that is from the smell, the heat and the crazy people. In Bangkok I felt that everyone was out to con me, and that every half-appealing deal was probably a scam. It was probably just the humidity, noise level and relentless traffic getting to me! But even when looking around some off the beautiful temples in the city I found it hard to appreciate any peace or tranquility. Maybe living in Japan for several months had made me too appreciative of calmness and unable to cope with anything uncalm?!
We stayed in guest houses nearby the infamous Kao San Road, where you can sit watching the people pass for hours on end without getting bored. There were some very interesting characters hanging around.
The two days in Kanchanaburi were spent riding elephants, trekking, taking river boat trips, and bathing in waterfalls. It was nice to escape the madness of Bangkok for a while. We then made our way to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya where we looked at several of the remaining structures, some more complete than others, all of them stunning.
Then we had a three day stint on the Island of Ko Chang to the south east of Bangkok, near the Cambodian border. We decided to avoid Phuket because it was further away and we fancied something a little less mainstream. Ko Chang is a popular destination for Thai holiday-makers and we were told it was about 50/50 Thai to foreigners. The travel agent also told us our hotel was next to the beach. It wasn't. It was two kilometers of mountain road away from any beach of note and so we decided to hire scooters for a couple of days. I fell off mine! No high-speed crash. I was as good as still and it toppled to the side - the embarrassment was far greater than any pain sustained from my injuries!
We spent new years partying on a beach in Ko Chang and met nice people from France (wow!) and Hong Kong. The following morning we had to leave early to get back to Bangkok before we flew back to Osaka. Whilst I did enjoy Thailand I was keen to get home and felt the experience was more stressful and draining at times than it was fun. In a funny way it actually made me appreciate Japan more.
I've just discovered that I have in fact deleted many of my better Thailand photos. Damn! Oh well, here are some others.
Chillin' in the taxi.
Ry on the bridge on the River Kwai.
Ayutthaya temple.
Ayutthaya
Temple of the Dawn
posted by Laurence at 3:58 PM
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