Thailand: Phitsanulok & Sukothai (Day 101-102)

Just a quick stop to spend a day in Sukothai which was the first capital of Thailand and is famous for the extensive historical ruins, which after restoration, became a Unesco World Heritage Site. A great day by bicycle around the different 'wats'. What is a wat? A wat is a Thai Buddhist temple or monastery. In most cases it is not just one building, but a collection of buildings, shrines, and monuments within a courtyard that is enclosed by a wall.

We stayed in Phitsanulok, less touristy than Sukothai (only 1h by bus) and this is where we enjoyed our best massage and tried so many different thai sweets as locals on the market were very friendly and were letting us try. Talking about people, Thailand is known as the 'Land of Smiles' and we like to say that we have liked locals evrywhere we have been so far but Thai are 'supra friendly' at 99,9%. They also don't try to rip you off as much but you still need to bargain a little; this is part of the game. Also, they do not get upset if you don't buy... But I just learned (with internet) the true meaning of 'Land of smiles'. The reason is there's a much broader range of uses for smiling in Thailand, some of which would be considered as inappropriate or even as rude in the west. Read more: http://www.into-asia.com/thailand/culture/smile.php 

Grilled worms, cockroaches... will we try? not yet... still thinking...

Each of the buddha's different postures conveys a different meaning. The lotus position represents the process of meditation, an important aspect of Buddhism. If the hand is raised, it signifies a warding off of things that would cause fear. If the hand is touching the earth, it conveys the solidness of the ground in a metaphor for the stability of true Buddhist faith. The reclining Buddha is generally representing the final passage into nirvana, which is the state of nothingness to which some sects of Buddhists aspire. The laughing Buddha is based on a Chinese monk.

Thailand: Bangkok (Day 97-100)

Bangkok is not so polluted and quite clean... reflecting the thai culture. Quite a few things to do between shopping at various markets, wandering around the flower market, hoping on and off the taxi river boats to visit different temples such as Wat Arun - the temple of the dawn made of porcelain, Wat Po - famous for its massage school (Wat Pho = 'Calmness is Happiness' and this describes what you see there - a big reclining buddha...)... We will still have to visit the Royal Palace and discover the klongs in May before leaving Asia. A visit to the floating market would be a wish too if we find the way to a non-touristy one. As we stayed in a very nice flat, 12th floor with nice view and swimming pool (see picture) - thank you Nath and Christian for this luxurious 5 days - we just went and have a round in the backpacker area - very lively of course and you can become a freelance journalist or a FBI cop in just 30 minutes (not talking about all other possibilities). They can copy just everything... A quite nice city break before heading north for more food, buddhism and hilltribes.

Reclining buddha in Wat Po

Thailand: Kanchanaburi & the River Kwai (Day 93-96)

Why going to the River Kwai... of course famous for its bridge (which has nothing of special of course in its architecture...) but the whole area and region is authentic and the quiet atmosphere of sleeping on the river is fantastic. This being said, it is also a great place to party as there are hundreds of discoboat to rent for the night. We wished for a moment to have all our friends around for a great one! Instead, we went first to the market which was so  far the best one for food and then to listen to a thai band playing reggae, not the best one we have heard... Again a 2-day moto tour with visits to temples, waterfalls... By the way you can get your legs and feet cleaned for free at Erawan waterfalls by big fishes which are normally not so big in aquariums where you have to pay for a fish massage. Not too keen on this but we still had a bath in the 7th waterfalls, the highest one which contained smaller fishes... Experienced also a small part of the death railway, part of history...

Waiting for the delayed train... which is usual in Thailand...

The giant rain tree... more than 100 years old with a trunk large enough to be encircled by 10 people. The average radius of its crown is 25.87 metres and the diameter of its shadow is approximately 51.75 metres while the height of its canopy is 20 metres.

The death railway...

Thailand: Gulf of Thailand - Koh Tao (Day 88-92)

Mango bay

We left the Andaman coast to explore a little the east coast. I am not talking much about transports in Thailand because everything is made for tourism and thus very easy to travel around. Sometimes it is not even worth getting on local buses as booking through an agency does not cost a lot more and is much more convenient but we still like the local way... We chose Koh Tao over the 2 others islands (Phan-gan and Samui) for scuba diving as we wanted to judge by ourselves the dive sites as we heard very contrasted opinions. Indeed, the water is very different from what we have been used to in Indonesia and on the West coast... Deep Blue. So deep and intense that in my first dive I experienced some vertigo symptoms. Very strange feelings that I do not want to have again. Thierry as usual like a fish in water. Koh Tao is not the best for corals but good for big fishes. We saw many blue-spotted stingrays, groupers and a reef-shark.

Exploring Koh Tao was quite an expedition... We rented a scooter, as usual in Thailand, but this time I did spend more time walking up and down than being on the scooter with Thierry. It was worth it though as we enjoyed the beauty of each bay with our favourite: Mango bay which is the hardest to reach  though;-) A hell of a ride this was...

One thing that surprise us is the number of 'Ladyboys' in Thailand... Our first guess was that it is due to the fact that they are very well-accepted in the thai culture which is true. But we also learned thereafter that it is also due to tourism and has become a big adult entertainment industry.

Thailand: Andaman Coast - Koh Lipe, Koh Lanta & Krabi (Day 74-87)

Koh Lipe is the most southerly island on the west coast of Thailand. We did not know what to expect regarding the crowd as we had met people who warned us about tourism but Koh Lipe was still off the radar a few years back. After a 2h ride on a speedboat, leaving behind majestuous mountainous islands (Koh Lipe is part of the Koh Tarutao archipelago made of 51 islands), we arrived on this small flat island - big enough to have a few walks around and get tired enough to rest on the white sandy beaches or enjoy a bath in the crystal clear blue/green water. Indeed, Koh Lipe is just a beauty! We stayed away from the main beach and stayed very close to the fishermen village where locals do not look so thai yet.  It was indeed settled by a band of sea gypsies originally from Malaysia, known as the 'Chao Ley' people. Funny enough, we could see big flat TV screens in the middle of empty bungalows made of wood and tole.  It looked very contradictious but shows the importance of technology in Asia, even remotely. We enjoyed our first thai dishes such as mango sticky rice, green papaya salad, green curry...and of course fish and seafood! We also started our massage therapy with a soft one - the oil massage (for my 28th birthday...). What a life!

With my mummy (my parents joined us to enjoy south Thailand)

We left a fairly small island to explore one of the biggest island in Thailand: Koh Lanta Yai (Koh Lanta archipelago is made of  52 islands). The main island is made of 2 parts, with only the south one able to host backpackers and tourists. We ended up staying right on the beach in a bar in the middle of the Blackmoon and alike parties, which are far from being insane, so it was actually ok. Zak, Tawan and their son were very friendly hosts and Thierry got to go sea kayak fishing with Zak at dusk. They went first for squids to catch bigger fishes (snappers...), not too big though as it was only a kayak! We also got our second massage - thai style this time and ouch we suffered... but this was good! The island is not the 'paradisiacal kind' of island but very charming with its varieties of landscapes: West for long beaches, South for nature lovers and East for a bit more traditions with mangroves and small villages. Indeed, on the east side, you can also experience the Chao lai culture (see fact below). Other activities have been scuba diving in caves, moto tours to discover the different parts of the island, among which the north part (crossed the sea/river with a little boat). A little story for those who would adventure themselves like we did on empty beaches. Do not wander on an empty beach in Thailand. If empty, there is necessarily a reason... We got beaten by hundreds of sandy mosquitoes. 3 days of itchiness like I never experienced! Anyway, we still recommend Koh Lanta which has a more backpacking style than others islands...

Blackmoon party... Cute.

The 'Sea Gypsies' or 'Chao Ley' are an austronesian ethnic group (Indo-Malay origins) with about 2,000 to 3,000 members who maintain a nomadic, sea-based culture and speak their own language. They are very good boatmen, skilled fishermen and excellent divers. The core of their culture has developped around the sea and shore environment.

We stayed in Krabi town to stay away from the crowd of Ao Nang and it was a really good choice as it is a lively town with a nice food market and little bars. A 2-day moto tour in the region well-known for its rocks emerging from the sea. Stunning! We did go and have a look at Railay beaches that you can only reach by 'longtails' (boat). Very nice but just for a few hours and early morning as after I leave you imagine the scene... We gave a miss to a short visit on the island of Koh Phi Phi as Krabi was already far too much for us regarding tourism.

Longtail boats

Malaysia: Pulau Penang (Day 69-73)

Known for its food trail... Actually we did not really know anything about Penang apart from the fact that it is the nearest malaysian city to the thai border with an airport. When we got there, we discovered 2 great news. The first one was that we could get a 2 -month free visa for Thailand in just one day instead of only getting a 15-day visa at the border and the second one was that Penang offers great food!!! So what did we do during 5 days? We tried and ate nearly all dishes we could find when walking around the streets. Many dishes in Malaysia are derived from multiple ethnic influences mostly Chinese and Indian using South-East Asian spices (Nyonya). This is where we started to really enjoy the amazing and spicy taste of the South-East Asian cooking. Hmmm... We even went to the movie for not even 2 Euros. Modern cinema but so so movie ('The Tourist')! An enjoyable city break...