| Around the World | ||
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Ayuthaya and Chang Mai | |
One day in Bangkok was more than enough for us. We got on the train
and headed north. Our first stop-off was at Ayuthaya, 86 km north of Bangkok. It was great to leave
the smog and traffic behind and get out to the open countryside. This place used to be the capital
of the old Siam empire, so there are many historical ruins.We hired out bikes and toured around for the day, before hopping on the train for the long journey to Chang Mai. Our train left at 6pm, and we wouldn't arrive until 6am the following morning. It was uncomfortable, and noisy, but also great fun. We really felt like explorers, huddled up in our sleeping bags, watching the country pass us by. When we passed through Lopburi, the only sign of life was crowds of monkeys along the streets. The only thing I could think of - Planet of the Apes (the musical). When our train finally came to a halt at Chang Mai, we gathered our possessions, walked out of the station and straight into the first hotel we saw. We didn't care if they were going to rip us off, as long as we could sleep. But boy did we strike gold. This was a lovely new hotel. The rival of any back in Ireland, and the deluxe room set us back a grand total of £12! Now I know it's not like me to splash out like that, but I was tired. Not only did our room have air conditioning, and a fridge, but cable TV!!! Pure luxury! It required all our will power not to stay in the room for the rest of the holiday. Chang Mai is in the north of Thailand - 700 km from Bangkok. A fair sized city, it is definetly more pleasant than Bangkok. Less rushing around, less hassle. We found a great Irish bar that has it's own bakery and restaurant. We were determined to do some jungle trekking, so we booked ourselves onto a 3 day trek starting the following day. We also managed to squeeze in a micro-lite flight. A micro-lite is similar to a hang-glider with an engine and a small frame where the pilot and passenger sit. We were picked up from our hotel, and driven 15 miles outside the city for the flight. I had especially charged the cam-corder batteries for this, but as luck would have it, technology failed me, and I didn't get a second of footage. Never the less, Marie got some nice photographs. It was approaching sunset, and the views were spectacular, if a little hazy. It was pretty scary to be so high up of the ground in what seemed a flimsy contraption. In particular, when I was given the controls, I could feel the blood rushing to my feet as I moved us up and down through the air | ||
