Ok, a bit more serious than I thought...see the red text at the bottom of the blog...fun, fun!
Yes, Cyclops is my name, except I am not a super-hero with an eye in the middle of my head. No, I have one working eye at present and am managing to scare some of the little children in Cusco with the local population starting at me as I walk (or try to walk without tripping over something) along the pavements here. My head is covered with a huge, white, eye bandage, that conceals over one quarter of the right side of my face.
Further to my latest blog a couple of days ago about me complaining about the altitude affecting my eye I have managed to probably have one of the most expensive weekends in Cusco (in Cusquenañ terms) along with visiting a few clinics and hospitals in the area.
Since last Tuesday in classes my right eye hasn´t been functioning properly so I´d had enough by Friday evening and went into the pharmacy and asked for some cream for my right eye. The lady, who I think was just some sort of assistant, or maybe someone just off the street, saw the shelf for eye cream and lifted the first box she saw. Obviously everything was in Spanish and I was having trouble reading the instructions, so I placed some drops of cream into my eye.
Went to bed early that night, to rest my eye. Never slept a wink, walked the floors as my eye, by this stage was killing me. I was thinking that maybe some flesh eating bug had got into my eye and was eating away at it or had picked up some disease out here (the things you think of late at night when you can´t sleep).
After a couple of hours sleep, the brighness woke me up. Looked in mirror, eye was bulging and swollen. Put some more cream into eye. I went to the local market (as the cleaners were in the house) to get out of the way. It was way too bright and could hardly see 2 ft in front of me. Horti, one of the women who works in the school, who is like a mum to everyone (so sweet) called round and took me to the doctors. The first clinic wasn´t too far from where I lived. It was an eye clinic that looked really dodgy with an old room out the back and a dangerous looking staircase that led to other rooms. Thankfully the doctor wasn´t there until later.
We scarpered and found another clinic. This one was a bit better and more upmarket and they worked alongside the Swiss doctors. Anything Swiss is good - like those Swiss watches and chocolate you can´t beat them - and there´s Roger Federer too. Off I went in the little ´Peruvian/Swiss ambulance´ to the nearest 'eye doctor/clinic'. The ambulance was ok - a bit small, even for me. Had to crouch down in the back, the little bed was about the width of a 40cm ruler and was pretty squashed. On the walls of the ambulance were a few bits of hospital equipment like a mask, some tubes, a test tube of water (?) and some plasters/bandages. No monitors or heart equipment, so God help the unfortunate person that manages to have a heart attack over here - they´re screwed because 1. there´s no room to move and 2. there´s no proper equipment.
Got taken by ambulance to the eye-doctor in another area in Cusco and she was lovely. Checked my eye and saw that there still was a tear on the cornea from the time I injured it in school, which has yet to heal, she pulled something out of my eye with tweezers. It started with a ´P´ in Spanish - I´m guessing it may have been an eyelash and then told me I had a corneal ulcer at the bottom of the existing tear in the eye. Oh yay, that´s great news. She told me I wasn´t to go out and was to keep my eye closed for 24 hours(so I missed the salsa with the others) and proceeded to bandage me. No eye patch here. She spent 5 minutes cutting white tape and finding some gauze and stuck my eye closed shut, whilst covering most of my face. She also told me that the eye cream that the person in the pharmacist gave me earlier, was the wrong type of antibiotic and made my eye worse (I knew she looked dodgy that woman). The ambulance dropped me off home - mortified was not the word.
Now I look like some kind of freak walking the streets here. My friends have acted like my white stick and helped me across the roads etc. Everywhere I go, people stop and stare. I´m in the process of trying to translate into Spanish, 'I have been shot in the eye' so I can maybe wear some sort of billboard around my neck. The experience has been fun to say the least and my treatment is ongoing but I have been able to learn lots of Spanish words about the ´hospital´- always a bonus!
Found out today (Monday) when I returned to my lovely eye doctor for a check up that it is actually more serious than originally thought. It´s not technically an ulcer - I´ve got a virus in my eye - the ´zoster keratitis virus´ Basically shingles in my eye, that if not treated quickly can cause blindness. Near shit a brick when she told me. Caused by a lowering of the immune system. Years ago I got shingles (herpes zoster..no not the STD - it´s unrelated!) in my ear as my immune system was rundown, so the virus stays dormant until it decides to reawaken again.
I feel great but maybe all the over-exercise in Thailand had something to do with it and the tuna/peas food that I eat! Glad I went back so am on various anti-virals to treat me and under medical surpervision and have to go back to see her next week, but apart from that I´m still loving it here and still managing to learn my Spanish verbs, which I´m kind of getting the hang of. I also took the stupid cover off my eye...had enough of being the local city freak much to the amusement of my friends/classmates here!
20 May, 2012
18 May, 2012
Hola desde Cusco
Arrived in Cusco after 4 days of travelling from Belfast - London - Madrid - Lima - Cusco. Back in the same house and the same bed. It's like home from home. So much for a nice easy first day back in school. I didn't even get the chance to fail my entrance test again. They had my notes from last October and decided to put me straight back into class. I'm in a class by myself with my teacher, Erwin and started with verbos irregulares. Classes and teachers change each week, so next week a new student could be in with me, depending on the numbers arriving.
My basic Spanish is really rusty. The first day, one of the teachers in the school said to me in Spanish, "Enjoy your lunch" - my reply was "Gracias, tengo hombre" (thanks, I'm men) instead of "Tengo hambre". They all pissed themselves laughing. In class I'm constantly mis-pronouncing words all the time and reading them like they were English words. There are listening, reading, writing and talking skills for the 4 hours of intense lessons. I'd be reading a passage of some really old and hard book, trying to pronounce and understand what it was saying and the next minute the teacher would be in stitches laughing. I look up, ask him why he's laughing so much, he replies.."Oh, you've just said a bad word" (with my mis pronunciation) - one was masturbation and the other was farting.
Just like the last time, the teachers all converse in Spanish for the whole 4 hours, so by the time I leave the school my brain is fried. But today, (Friday) was a good day - bit more relaxed and the student can go on walks around Cusco after breaktime, with their teacher (conversing in Spanish). The student gets to decide where to go, for example: el museo, el mercado etc. I chose the highest Irish bar on the planet - ´Paddy´s´, so we stopped there for one drink and I introduced Erwin to a pint of Guinness. Conversing in different languages always gets better with alcohol as it relaxes people!
The TV in the house has no English channels at all. My favourite programmes are in the morning before I go to school - kids TV, especially 'Bob le Constructor' (Bob the Builder)as I can understand it. I know what it's like for those children from foreign countries who came into my class with no English at all, or those children with special needs who can't read/write/understand properly. When someone speaks to me really quickly in Spanish, I stand there trying to pick up some words I know, look of confusion in my eyes, frozen in a trance like a complete dope. When they speak slowly I can understand them. I've got 120 days stamped on my passport for Peru, so by the end of that hopefully my Spanglish will turn into proper Spanish.
Cusco's weather is weird at the minute. The rainy season has finished, so sometimes it feels like being back in Thailand during the day (ok, not quite as hot but around 28 degrees)and the North Pole at night and in the early mornings. In one day I managed to get sunburnt (blisters on my lips and a peeling red face) and then at night wrapping myself up in hoodies, tracksuit bottoms, hat, extra 'frazadas' and two pairs of socks. It's baltic and there is no such thing as central heating systems in any of the houses/buildings here.
Cusco is 11 156 ft above sea level and people can experience a bit of altitude sickness when they arrive. Breathing is normally fine, but there are times when you could be walking up the street/lying sleeping in your bed when suddenly you start to gasp for breath. It's a bit like sticking your head out of a car window and opening your mouth and letting the wind catch your breath. The pollution doesn't help either. Every morning, so far without fail, my right eye (that took a paper cut to it last year in school) constantly weeps and is really sore, so sitting in class is slightly embarrassing as I can't keep it open. Any bottles of cream/anything with a lid expands (in fact, everything seems to expand at high altitude) and when you go to open it, it squirts out liquid. Training at high altitude is apparently the way to go to increase your fitness levels, so am giving myself to the weekend to acclimatise before I start running and spinning again. Have only managed to talk one friend into spin classes next week - the others would rather pull pins out of their toe-nails. Tomorrow is the weekend and a few of us are going to try out some salsa or maybe just watch the Latinos and see how it´s done properly - should be fun.
Cusco hasn't changed that much. Still the same busy place as always with lots of tourists around, either getting ready to go to Machu Picchu or just coming back from it and viewing all the historical sights around the city. Lots of fiestas are still going on every weekend, vendors selling everthing, lots of streets near where I live are being dug up and new paving stones being put down (sometimes you'd think a child paved the streets as some of the re-paving looks like they have just been thrown down in no order at all), people being squashed in combis on their way to work/school; chorlitas (who could do with a good bra fitting - hard to tell if their stomachs are their boobs and vice-versa) smiling with their tooth-less smiles shouting 'Pase, pase' (come in, come in); taxi drivers beeping at you to let you know they are available. The taxis would crumple in an accident - the metal on the doors are so thin you could use a tin-opener to cut through them.
Forgot about the wee security guard that goes around the streets/passages where I live; whistle in his mouth, blowing as hard as he can to let you know he's around. Not good when you're lying in bed sleeping and his whistle goes off at stupid o'clock giving you near heart failure. To enter the main house, there are 3 doors to unbolt and unlock first. In our house, there's a small whistle attached to the inside of the first door. If someone tries to break and enter into the house this little black whistle will apparently save our lives (?) No such thing as: a) defending yourself; b) calling the Police; c) getting the hell out of there. Oh, no - we've to blow this whistle as hard as we can and if we do this, the nice security guard will come and save the day. Only in Cusco. That's why I love it so much here - completely random!
My basic Spanish is really rusty. The first day, one of the teachers in the school said to me in Spanish, "Enjoy your lunch" - my reply was "Gracias, tengo hombre" (thanks, I'm men) instead of "Tengo hambre". They all pissed themselves laughing. In class I'm constantly mis-pronouncing words all the time and reading them like they were English words. There are listening, reading, writing and talking skills for the 4 hours of intense lessons. I'd be reading a passage of some really old and hard book, trying to pronounce and understand what it was saying and the next minute the teacher would be in stitches laughing. I look up, ask him why he's laughing so much, he replies.."Oh, you've just said a bad word" (with my mis pronunciation) - one was masturbation and the other was farting.
Just like the last time, the teachers all converse in Spanish for the whole 4 hours, so by the time I leave the school my brain is fried. But today, (Friday) was a good day - bit more relaxed and the student can go on walks around Cusco after breaktime, with their teacher (conversing in Spanish). The student gets to decide where to go, for example: el museo, el mercado etc. I chose the highest Irish bar on the planet - ´Paddy´s´, so we stopped there for one drink and I introduced Erwin to a pint of Guinness. Conversing in different languages always gets better with alcohol as it relaxes people!
The TV in the house has no English channels at all. My favourite programmes are in the morning before I go to school - kids TV, especially 'Bob le Constructor' (Bob the Builder)as I can understand it. I know what it's like for those children from foreign countries who came into my class with no English at all, or those children with special needs who can't read/write/understand properly. When someone speaks to me really quickly in Spanish, I stand there trying to pick up some words I know, look of confusion in my eyes, frozen in a trance like a complete dope. When they speak slowly I can understand them. I've got 120 days stamped on my passport for Peru, so by the end of that hopefully my Spanglish will turn into proper Spanish.
Cusco's weather is weird at the minute. The rainy season has finished, so sometimes it feels like being back in Thailand during the day (ok, not quite as hot but around 28 degrees)and the North Pole at night and in the early mornings. In one day I managed to get sunburnt (blisters on my lips and a peeling red face) and then at night wrapping myself up in hoodies, tracksuit bottoms, hat, extra 'frazadas' and two pairs of socks. It's baltic and there is no such thing as central heating systems in any of the houses/buildings here.
Cusco is 11 156 ft above sea level and people can experience a bit of altitude sickness when they arrive. Breathing is normally fine, but there are times when you could be walking up the street/lying sleeping in your bed when suddenly you start to gasp for breath. It's a bit like sticking your head out of a car window and opening your mouth and letting the wind catch your breath. The pollution doesn't help either. Every morning, so far without fail, my right eye (that took a paper cut to it last year in school) constantly weeps and is really sore, so sitting in class is slightly embarrassing as I can't keep it open. Any bottles of cream/anything with a lid expands (in fact, everything seems to expand at high altitude) and when you go to open it, it squirts out liquid. Training at high altitude is apparently the way to go to increase your fitness levels, so am giving myself to the weekend to acclimatise before I start running and spinning again. Have only managed to talk one friend into spin classes next week - the others would rather pull pins out of their toe-nails. Tomorrow is the weekend and a few of us are going to try out some salsa or maybe just watch the Latinos and see how it´s done properly - should be fun.
Cusco hasn't changed that much. Still the same busy place as always with lots of tourists around, either getting ready to go to Machu Picchu or just coming back from it and viewing all the historical sights around the city. Lots of fiestas are still going on every weekend, vendors selling everthing, lots of streets near where I live are being dug up and new paving stones being put down (sometimes you'd think a child paved the streets as some of the re-paving looks like they have just been thrown down in no order at all), people being squashed in combis on their way to work/school; chorlitas (who could do with a good bra fitting - hard to tell if their stomachs are their boobs and vice-versa) smiling with their tooth-less smiles shouting 'Pase, pase' (come in, come in); taxi drivers beeping at you to let you know they are available. The taxis would crumple in an accident - the metal on the doors are so thin you could use a tin-opener to cut through them.
Forgot about the wee security guard that goes around the streets/passages where I live; whistle in his mouth, blowing as hard as he can to let you know he's around. Not good when you're lying in bed sleeping and his whistle goes off at stupid o'clock giving you near heart failure. To enter the main house, there are 3 doors to unbolt and unlock first. In our house, there's a small whistle attached to the inside of the first door. If someone tries to break and enter into the house this little black whistle will apparently save our lives (?) No such thing as: a) defending yourself; b) calling the Police; c) getting the hell out of there. Oh, no - we've to blow this whistle as hard as we can and if we do this, the nice security guard will come and save the day. Only in Cusco. That's why I love it so much here - completely random!
07 May, 2012
Ding-dong...Round 2
The last paragraph of my previous blog was a little white lie. Most of you now know that I didn't actually go to Laos. I did, infact go back to Downpatrick for a surprise visit home. The only person who knew about this was my sister, Donna.
I'd had it planned since I booked my return trip to South America as my flight leaves from Heathrow. My RTW flight ended in London, so I thought it would be a good idea to call home for a while. One of the main reasons to go home was to stand as a God-parent for my lovely niece Grace, who was 2 weeks old the last time I saw her. Now she is 10 months old and is just adorable. Mind you, she nearly missed out on her big day. I jumped into my sister's car and advised them of a short-cut to get to the church (which is in the arse hole of nowhere here in a place called Ballycruttle) as I drove past the road everyday to get to work. We got lost and just about made it in time (speed restrictions were broken, as were several near accidents on windy, county roads). I could've sworn I knew the direction of the place. Now, I'm getting all sorts of abuse from my sister and her partner and various family members that go like: "Here's the girl that travels all over the world and doesn't get lost; then she comes home and can't find a place 5 miles away from her own house" - new nickname 'Sat-Nav' (cheers Gary)
The last 2 weeks have been so busy seeing friends, family, relations, colleagues and the school children again. It has been great seeing everyone and catching up. It feels like the last 10 months of travelling didn't actually happen - like a dream within a dream. After a few sleepless nights deliberating over what I should do, I decided to take an extension to my career break from teaching for another year. The school has been very supportive, so hopefully my job will be there when I return next year.
So, yeah, I've got another year and lots of people are asking what I will do. Last year, I was very organised and knew when and where I would be at certain points of the year. Now, I don't have a clue. Well, technically, the first 6 weeks are planned. I know I'll definitely be learning Spanish back in Cusco. This time next week, I will have no doubt, failed my Spanish 'induction' test again (like I did the last time) as I've forgotten most of the stuff I learnt back in October of last year and will be back in the dopey beginners class again. Hopefully this time, I'll understand a little bit more than being able to write my name and the date on the exam paper.
In fact, I'm so disorganised, I haven't been able to sort out how exactly I'm getting from Lima to Cusco (which takes 22 hours on a bus). Flights are way too expensive, as most internal flights are in South America, so that is out the window completely. Some famous person once quoted that: 'A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving' - I'll agree to that for now (?)
I really want to learn Spanish properly and I want to be able to work with the children over there and actually converse with them by stringing a few sentences together. I have been in contact with a volunteer organisation that is based 30kms outside Cusco, high in the mountains of the stunning Sacred Valley, in a place called Huambutio.
Unlike other 'volunteering', this place doesn't charge you hundreds of pounds to actually help them, or where the money you give them tends to line the pockets of the fat-cat directors. All they ask for is 20 Soles a day (£4). This will house and feed myelf and will also help towards the running costs of the scheme/workshops. They need volunteers and teachers for remedial education programmes. Obviously, I hope to teach but also help with environmental awareness, reforestation and improve houses by re-building them (that should be fun as the only house I've ever built was with Lego blocks as a child). The area is very poor. Children and families have a poor quality of life. Some residents live in areas of social unrest where services have been neglected by the local municipality.
One of my friends who I met travelling the last time I was in Peru, (Grainne - the one who had the hair disaster with me) is also travelling over to South America. She'll be working in Arequipa for 4 weeks and will make her way up to Cusco when I finish my Spanish lessons. I'm looking forward to catching up with her and she's up for volunteering and joining me travelling for a couple of months around South America, which will be great.
She did, however, say that she has a contact near Lima that could give us some work teaching there. Get this: it's a priest who says that we can help teach/volunteer with the children - sounds great. Our accommodation?? - a convent. Seriously, what is it with me gettting stuck in convents in South America (this will be the third time if it occurs, the last 2 occasions I managed to get locked in with another girl on some random tour of a city). Sister Grainne and Sister Mary - has a nice ring to it...not. Not sure if we'll deifinitely do this, but stranger things have happened.
I am looking forward to my round 2 of travelling, especially going back to Cusco and Peru. When will I be back home?? The answer to that will be: when my money runs out/when I've had enough of moving around and living out of a bag. I can't see myself lasting a full year with my budget (unless I find paid work somewhere) as I won't be getting my teaching job back until September 2013. But, for now I'm quite happy to continue on with my little adventures.
However, I will be up for ALL offers of employment of doing absolutely anything when I return home.
I'd had it planned since I booked my return trip to South America as my flight leaves from Heathrow. My RTW flight ended in London, so I thought it would be a good idea to call home for a while. One of the main reasons to go home was to stand as a God-parent for my lovely niece Grace, who was 2 weeks old the last time I saw her. Now she is 10 months old and is just adorable. Mind you, she nearly missed out on her big day. I jumped into my sister's car and advised them of a short-cut to get to the church (which is in the arse hole of nowhere here in a place called Ballycruttle) as I drove past the road everyday to get to work. We got lost and just about made it in time (speed restrictions were broken, as were several near accidents on windy, county roads). I could've sworn I knew the direction of the place. Now, I'm getting all sorts of abuse from my sister and her partner and various family members that go like: "Here's the girl that travels all over the world and doesn't get lost; then she comes home and can't find a place 5 miles away from her own house" - new nickname 'Sat-Nav' (cheers Gary)
The last 2 weeks have been so busy seeing friends, family, relations, colleagues and the school children again. It has been great seeing everyone and catching up. It feels like the last 10 months of travelling didn't actually happen - like a dream within a dream. After a few sleepless nights deliberating over what I should do, I decided to take an extension to my career break from teaching for another year. The school has been very supportive, so hopefully my job will be there when I return next year.
So, yeah, I've got another year and lots of people are asking what I will do. Last year, I was very organised and knew when and where I would be at certain points of the year. Now, I don't have a clue. Well, technically, the first 6 weeks are planned. I know I'll definitely be learning Spanish back in Cusco. This time next week, I will have no doubt, failed my Spanish 'induction' test again (like I did the last time) as I've forgotten most of the stuff I learnt back in October of last year and will be back in the dopey beginners class again. Hopefully this time, I'll understand a little bit more than being able to write my name and the date on the exam paper.
In fact, I'm so disorganised, I haven't been able to sort out how exactly I'm getting from Lima to Cusco (which takes 22 hours on a bus). Flights are way too expensive, as most internal flights are in South America, so that is out the window completely. Some famous person once quoted that: 'A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving' - I'll agree to that for now (?)
I really want to learn Spanish properly and I want to be able to work with the children over there and actually converse with them by stringing a few sentences together. I have been in contact with a volunteer organisation that is based 30kms outside Cusco, high in the mountains of the stunning Sacred Valley, in a place called Huambutio.
Unlike other 'volunteering', this place doesn't charge you hundreds of pounds to actually help them, or where the money you give them tends to line the pockets of the fat-cat directors. All they ask for is 20 Soles a day (£4). This will house and feed myelf and will also help towards the running costs of the scheme/workshops. They need volunteers and teachers for remedial education programmes. Obviously, I hope to teach but also help with environmental awareness, reforestation and improve houses by re-building them (that should be fun as the only house I've ever built was with Lego blocks as a child). The area is very poor. Children and families have a poor quality of life. Some residents live in areas of social unrest where services have been neglected by the local municipality.
One of my friends who I met travelling the last time I was in Peru, (Grainne - the one who had the hair disaster with me) is also travelling over to South America. She'll be working in Arequipa for 4 weeks and will make her way up to Cusco when I finish my Spanish lessons. I'm looking forward to catching up with her and she's up for volunteering and joining me travelling for a couple of months around South America, which will be great.
She did, however, say that she has a contact near Lima that could give us some work teaching there. Get this: it's a priest who says that we can help teach/volunteer with the children - sounds great. Our accommodation?? - a convent. Seriously, what is it with me gettting stuck in convents in South America (this will be the third time if it occurs, the last 2 occasions I managed to get locked in with another girl on some random tour of a city). Sister Grainne and Sister Mary - has a nice ring to it...not. Not sure if we'll deifinitely do this, but stranger things have happened.
I am looking forward to my round 2 of travelling, especially going back to Cusco and Peru. When will I be back home?? The answer to that will be: when my money runs out/when I've had enough of moving around and living out of a bag. I can't see myself lasting a full year with my budget (unless I find paid work somewhere) as I won't be getting my teaching job back until September 2013. But, for now I'm quite happy to continue on with my little adventures.
However, I will be up for ALL offers of employment of doing absolutely anything when I return home.
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| Grace on her big day |
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| Godmother and Godfather Decky |
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| Grace, Carla, Niamh, Daniel & Stephen |
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| Jammin session with Leona |
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| with Regina, on one of my many nights out |
24 April, 2012
Good-bye Thailand
Whenever you sit in a bath for hours and start to get all wrinkly - that was a bit like the Songkran Water Festival. A festival whereby the Thais welcome in the New Year - they use the Tamil calendar and their New Year is something ridiculous like 5114, not 2012 like we do. It is a time of cleansing of themselves, their houses, everything and respect of their elders and Buddha. 3 whole days of getting absolutely saturated. Myself and a few of my friends could only manage one day of all the water before hibernating in someones house for the other 2 days. It was great fun. As soon a someone walked out of their door, they were attacked by people young and old throwing water everywhere and covering you with either perfume (which stank - if it was some fancy named expensive brand that was nice it would've been great), talc or orange paint. Ice water was the worst, especially if you had to go indoors to the air conditioning, then most people started to freeze to death.
So off we went back to our apartments, 3 of us jumped on Hermie my scooter and went to the nearest evacuation route - which was at the Big Buddha, which sits 6km high up on the hill (the same place the running of tyres on your shoulders occurs). Myself and 2 other girls, Tina and Emma looked ridiculous all squashed on Hermie, legs and arms hanging over the scooter in any direction, trying to drive slowly and get up the hill as quickly as we could without falling off. We made it up with hundreds and hundreds of Thais all up there already. Everyone waited eagerly for the tsunami - we had a good view of the sea - hours passed and the all clear came. There was a tsunami ok, but I suppose you could say a bit of a baby one. Actually, some people could probably cause more of a ripple if they had a bit of a 'wind' problem and let off in the sea. The tsunami wave was apparently 4ft high - even smaller than the tide coming in! At least we were safe and no-one was taking any chances this time round.
Have had my last week of classes and have now moved on from Phuket and am back in my little hotel in Bangkok, the one I was in before. No more sweating constantly, no more tyres, no more Hermie the scooter :( I had the most amazing time there and met so many fantastic people. Met so many people from everywhere around the globe and will keep in contact with a good few of them. Never met a Norwegian before, now I've met a handful. Well, let's just say I won't forget the likes of Tina, Nikita and Ted - 3 different characters, each from different parts of Norway - each totally different from the next, each adding a different dimension to my daily life, but all completely nuts (in a good way). Most of our waking hours were spent together: training, eating, going out, watching movies in each others room during rest times, going to the beach, going on the scooter... a few of us nearly morphing into each other in little ways. I suppose training at Tiger Muay Thai was a bit like being in a jail, but a brilliant jail at that, spending your life with these people. Thailand has been stunning - it's right up there with South America, beating Oz and NZ. The country is so pretty and the Thai people are just something else - and Thailand is known as the 'The Land of Smiles' - never did I meet an unhappy Thai person. Every single one of them were charming, always willing to help and always smiling and saying hello, asking if you'll come back and visit. They just love their Royal Family and their Buddhist religion, unlike many other countries in the world. The last 6 weeks have just been fantastic, but time to move on again for my next destination...?
Laos - I'll be flying there in the next couple of days and have no idea what to expect. Looking forward to it and then it's back to South America and Cusco for 6 weeks of studying Spanish and volunteering again. After that, more travel to Columbia and Ecuador. I never plan too far in advance as things can change at the last minute, depending on what is happening at that particular time. That's just one of the many things I've learned over the last 10 months of travel.
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| Songkran with Nikita, Tina and Emma |
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| Songkran Parade |
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| Soaked on the streets |
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| Add caption |
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| People driving up to Big Buddha on the tsunami evactuation |
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| Tsunami wave coming in? |
10 April, 2012
Hermie the Scooter
Hermie is my scooter/motorbike and it is a he/she and keeping with tradition here in Thailand, it's a kind of lady-boy motorbike. Its name is Hermie (like a hermaphrodite which is both male and female) and I've been having a great time travelling all around the island most afternoons after training with people from the camp. On most days myself and another Norwegian guy sometimes go off to see the sights. To rent the bike for the week costs the equivalent of 20 pounds. All you need is payment, your passport, no insurance/driving skills needed whatsoever. You get shown how to turn the bike on and then off you go onto the roads of Thailand with all the other crazy drivers.
Here's my top 10 road tips for driving over here: -
So what else has been happening? Obviously, I'm still training everyday and the Buddha runs with the tyres are getting easier. I've finished first in my group in the last couple of weeks and the tyre is becoming a friend. I've now been moved from 'Beginner' Muay Thai into the 'Intermediate' section - so that means I can break more bones as I'm a little bit better than before - so don't catch me on a bad day ;)
Yesterday, myself and 2 girls; one from Sweden and the other from Norway hired out bicycles (push bikes, not motorised scooters) and cycled for miles - my God, the hills over here nearly killed us all. The locals were looking as us as if we were crazy as no-one is on a bicycle here - all motorbikes, because the place is so hilly. We had to get the bikes back by 7pm, so at 6pm we were miles from Kata (the place where we hired the bikes) and managed to bike to Surin. It took us a few hours to get there, so we had about 45 minutes to get back. We managed to hitch a ride 3/4 of the way there (the Thais are just the lovliest of people who would do anything for you..Buddhism - what a lovely religion) and caught a tuk-tuk back (we were squashed into it!). Such fun.
Next weekend is 'Songkran' which is the Thai New Year and unlike us Westerners celebrating by getting drunk, falling out of pubs, singing Auld Lang Sang at midnight, the Thais celebrate by soaking everyone. From what I've heard, the soakings are bad, but great fun. The soaking of water starts at midnight and lasts for 2-3 whole days. Yes, all day long. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are wearing - if you are out on a street in Thailand, be prepared to get drenched. So we've all bought water-guns and are getting together to join in the fun. I'd say after my third drenching, I'll be getting hacked off - maybe I'll use my Muay Thai skills on someone? Nah, it should be good fun - if you can't beat em, join em. Watch this space!
Here's my top 10 road tips for driving over here: -
- Carry as many people on your bike if you want. A family of 5 squeezed on has been the most I've seen so far.
- A 2 wheeled bike is like a juggernault on the road - place as much as you can on your bike - groceries, animals, coffins...
- Buckle your child in between parents and other siblings - standing room is perfectly normal, as is sleeping on the back of your mother, as you travel at high speeds on the road.
- Undercutting is the new over-taking.
- Red lights can mean stop or go - whatever takes your fancy at that time.
- Zebra crossings are just white stripes painted on the road to brighten it up - take your life in your hands if you decide to cross using it.
- Roundabouts - circles of confusion. As long as you get on it wedged between other cars, you'll live - no giving way to the right over here.
- U-turns are perfectly legal in the middle of a busy intersection.
- Pot-holes, wild dogs, elephants, loose goats etc may find their way onto the road. If the monsoon rains start, take shelter under the nearest awning.
- Safety clothing - dodgy helmet that escapes from your head over speeds of 60 kph. Flip-flops, shorts and singlets are perfect for the wind-chill and if you fall off you'll lose most of your skin to the road.
So what else has been happening? Obviously, I'm still training everyday and the Buddha runs with the tyres are getting easier. I've finished first in my group in the last couple of weeks and the tyre is becoming a friend. I've now been moved from 'Beginner' Muay Thai into the 'Intermediate' section - so that means I can break more bones as I'm a little bit better than before - so don't catch me on a bad day ;)
Yesterday, myself and 2 girls; one from Sweden and the other from Norway hired out bicycles (push bikes, not motorised scooters) and cycled for miles - my God, the hills over here nearly killed us all. The locals were looking as us as if we were crazy as no-one is on a bicycle here - all motorbikes, because the place is so hilly. We had to get the bikes back by 7pm, so at 6pm we were miles from Kata (the place where we hired the bikes) and managed to bike to Surin. It took us a few hours to get there, so we had about 45 minutes to get back. We managed to hitch a ride 3/4 of the way there (the Thais are just the lovliest of people who would do anything for you..Buddhism - what a lovely religion) and caught a tuk-tuk back (we were squashed into it!). Such fun.
Next weekend is 'Songkran' which is the Thai New Year and unlike us Westerners celebrating by getting drunk, falling out of pubs, singing Auld Lang Sang at midnight, the Thais celebrate by soaking everyone. From what I've heard, the soakings are bad, but great fun. The soaking of water starts at midnight and lasts for 2-3 whole days. Yes, all day long. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are wearing - if you are out on a street in Thailand, be prepared to get drenched. So we've all bought water-guns and are getting together to join in the fun. I'd say after my third drenching, I'll be getting hacked off - maybe I'll use my Muay Thai skills on someone? Nah, it should be good fun - if you can't beat em, join em. Watch this space!
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| Running up Big Buddha with a tyre |
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| More tyre work on the beach |
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| Me on Hermie the scooter |
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| Nikita and Pernilla - our cycle day out. Here we are hitch-hiking |
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| Bodyfit Beach Thursdays. Proof that I'm not the only nutter that does this. |
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| Muay Thai training |
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| Running up and down steps with tyres |
22 March, 2012
Alive and (Muay Thai) kicking in Phuket
Doing really well and am alive and kicking (literally) here in Phuket. Haven't had much of a chance to get to a half decent computer as the power kept cutting out, computers didn't work...the usual, so this could be a long one catching up on over 2 weeks.
Arrived at my camp over 2 weeks ago in a 'fun' taxi journey from the airport, checked into my sauna of a room at around midnight and got a bit of sleep before starting my fitness regime the next day. Phuket is roasting hot - 38 degrees with humidity to add to that. So what do I do? Well, everyday, bar Sunday, I train 5 hours a day in this sweatbox. The mornings will start with Bodyfit. One day, participants could be running on a beach with tyres on their shoulders, throwing the tyre, sprinting from flag to flag, crawling around in the sand doing exercises for core strength & stability, running 6km up a hill to the Buddah (who sits up there grinning at us all like idiots as we die trying to get to the top)with a tyre on your shoulder, squatting in between flags, climbing up 50 steps backwards; running up and down steps with that tyre again (I've never taken a dislike to a round, black bit of rubber in my life as it bruises your shoulders/head as you run)...you get my drift I'm sure. This is just touching on the surface. Yesterday as we all ran up and down hills with these tyres, a bus full of Japanese toursits got out and took lots of pictures. People look at us like we are completely insane, doing all these things in this heat. Or you'll have people relaxing on the beach in their loungers as teams of us run past, tyre in mid-air, telling us we are nuts.
Here at the fitness camp you can do all sorts - Western Boxing, Krabi Krabong, weights, spin, Muay Thai, yoga, Cross-fit and if someone was really nuts, they could start training at 6 am and finish at 8pm that night doing different exercises, but I've yet to meet that mental patient. I will either run, spin, lift weights and also do Muay Thai along with Bodyfit. Enjoying the Muay Thai and think I could defend myself ok if someone tried to hit me. Muay Thai is a form of kick-boxing and most of the kicking comes from your shins and not the foot. My shins have hardened (after 2 weeks of bruising kicking bags, trainers and classmates) - don't think I'll need shinguards the next time I play soccer.
At Muay Thai we all spend 2 and a half hours doing cardio, kicking, punching, sparring with each other and we all share a common bond...salty bodily fluid in the form of sweat and lots of it. The phrase 'Women glow' doesn't exactly fit in here. Within 5 minutes, everyone is saturated with sweat right through their clothes. We all end up running in each others sweat puddles that have landed on the floor, slipping off each other - it's so bad that my knees have started to sweat. Never in my life have my knees sweated. After lessons, we all look like we've just been put through a washing machine, with the 'spin' bit broken - pure saturation. But it's great - everyone gets on so well with each other and I've met so many people from every part of the globe (who like me, have also paid to torture themselves - so it's fantastic meeting like-minded/mental people).
I've enjoyed it so much, that instead of just staying here for 2 weeks, I've extended it for an extra month (and could go further after this). I did decide that my concentration camp of a room was nearly killing me and had to move out after 2 weeks. It was usually cooler outside my room at night; the fan that was constantly on to cool me down sounded like a jet engine starting up; most nights I lay in a pool of my own sweat trying to sleep; the TV had BBC News 24 all day long; a gekko (lizard) made a home in my room and croaked all night when I tried to sleep; the toilet was a walk outside to the end of the block and when you used it and threw toilet paper in the bin, about 60 mozzies flew out and tried to feast on you. All this led to a bit of sleep deprivation, which isn't good in this heat/for exercise so I found myself a new apartment not far from camp. In my new pad, I've 2 beds, a TV with loads of channels (even ITV is there), air conditioning, a bathroom etc. On site, is a restaurant, pool and massage...aahhh, the massages are bliss - Costs the equivalent of 2-3 pounds for a massage. Got a Thai massage with a friend and the wee Thai lady was jumping all over me, pulling my arms/legs in the strangest of places. An oil massage is much nicer/more relaxing.
Spent my first weekend away with 10 other people from the camp and went to Phi Phi Island and Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' was filmed). We caught a boat to the island, snorkelled in the turquoise waters, ate food and sang songs around the campfire, drank out of buckets (!), watched the sunset/sunrise, swam in the water with plankton that glowed around you, slept out under the stars - pure paradise on earth - apart from the fact that my legs/ass had been a feast for the local sandflies/mozzies. It's hard to believe that these places were destroyed in the tsunami, but there are remiders everywhere and the Thai people are so resilient and have been building their lives back up.
The following week (last weekend) was St Patrick's Day. A crowd of us painted bits of our body in green (all we could find was green eye-liner) and I made a crap attempt at drawing shamrocks on peoples faces and we headed into the madness of Patong. Patong is a bit of a sleazy but very fun tourist strip. Here you'll bump into the lady-boys, women pole dancing on bars that open out onto the street, games of all sorts being played on the streets, food vendors selling food (that could probably food poison the unsuspecting drunk tourist falling out of a bar at stupid o'clock who is desperate to eat), bars of every nationality, offers of ping-pong shows being shoved in your face! We all had a great night, quite literally drowned the shamrock (as no-one drinks during weekly training) and made it back to Chalong in a tuk-tuk singing lots of songs, in the wee small hours of the morning.
It's great here - everyone is so similar and are here to train, get fit, detox, ...whatever and we tend to bond easily because of that. People just hook up after training, jump on the back of some of their scooters (which can be hired for 4 pounds a day, without a licence or any prior motorbike experience), head to the beach, go for dinner, sightsee or check out the night markets (yes, I ate some fried witchety grubs/larvae along with Tina, a Norweigan friend - it was nice). So all is good right now. Thailand is surpassing NZ and Oz - even after all the torture I'm putting myself through!
Arrived at my camp over 2 weeks ago in a 'fun' taxi journey from the airport, checked into my sauna of a room at around midnight and got a bit of sleep before starting my fitness regime the next day. Phuket is roasting hot - 38 degrees with humidity to add to that. So what do I do? Well, everyday, bar Sunday, I train 5 hours a day in this sweatbox. The mornings will start with Bodyfit. One day, participants could be running on a beach with tyres on their shoulders, throwing the tyre, sprinting from flag to flag, crawling around in the sand doing exercises for core strength & stability, running 6km up a hill to the Buddah (who sits up there grinning at us all like idiots as we die trying to get to the top)with a tyre on your shoulder, squatting in between flags, climbing up 50 steps backwards; running up and down steps with that tyre again (I've never taken a dislike to a round, black bit of rubber in my life as it bruises your shoulders/head as you run)...you get my drift I'm sure. This is just touching on the surface. Yesterday as we all ran up and down hills with these tyres, a bus full of Japanese toursits got out and took lots of pictures. People look at us like we are completely insane, doing all these things in this heat. Or you'll have people relaxing on the beach in their loungers as teams of us run past, tyre in mid-air, telling us we are nuts.
Here at the fitness camp you can do all sorts - Western Boxing, Krabi Krabong, weights, spin, Muay Thai, yoga, Cross-fit and if someone was really nuts, they could start training at 6 am and finish at 8pm that night doing different exercises, but I've yet to meet that mental patient. I will either run, spin, lift weights and also do Muay Thai along with Bodyfit. Enjoying the Muay Thai and think I could defend myself ok if someone tried to hit me. Muay Thai is a form of kick-boxing and most of the kicking comes from your shins and not the foot. My shins have hardened (after 2 weeks of bruising kicking bags, trainers and classmates) - don't think I'll need shinguards the next time I play soccer.
At Muay Thai we all spend 2 and a half hours doing cardio, kicking, punching, sparring with each other and we all share a common bond...salty bodily fluid in the form of sweat and lots of it. The phrase 'Women glow' doesn't exactly fit in here. Within 5 minutes, everyone is saturated with sweat right through their clothes. We all end up running in each others sweat puddles that have landed on the floor, slipping off each other - it's so bad that my knees have started to sweat. Never in my life have my knees sweated. After lessons, we all look like we've just been put through a washing machine, with the 'spin' bit broken - pure saturation. But it's great - everyone gets on so well with each other and I've met so many people from every part of the globe (who like me, have also paid to torture themselves - so it's fantastic meeting like-minded/mental people).
I've enjoyed it so much, that instead of just staying here for 2 weeks, I've extended it for an extra month (and could go further after this). I did decide that my concentration camp of a room was nearly killing me and had to move out after 2 weeks. It was usually cooler outside my room at night; the fan that was constantly on to cool me down sounded like a jet engine starting up; most nights I lay in a pool of my own sweat trying to sleep; the TV had BBC News 24 all day long; a gekko (lizard) made a home in my room and croaked all night when I tried to sleep; the toilet was a walk outside to the end of the block and when you used it and threw toilet paper in the bin, about 60 mozzies flew out and tried to feast on you. All this led to a bit of sleep deprivation, which isn't good in this heat/for exercise so I found myself a new apartment not far from camp. In my new pad, I've 2 beds, a TV with loads of channels (even ITV is there), air conditioning, a bathroom etc. On site, is a restaurant, pool and massage...aahhh, the massages are bliss - Costs the equivalent of 2-3 pounds for a massage. Got a Thai massage with a friend and the wee Thai lady was jumping all over me, pulling my arms/legs in the strangest of places. An oil massage is much nicer/more relaxing.
Spent my first weekend away with 10 other people from the camp and went to Phi Phi Island and Maya Bay (where 'The Beach' was filmed). We caught a boat to the island, snorkelled in the turquoise waters, ate food and sang songs around the campfire, drank out of buckets (!), watched the sunset/sunrise, swam in the water with plankton that glowed around you, slept out under the stars - pure paradise on earth - apart from the fact that my legs/ass had been a feast for the local sandflies/mozzies. It's hard to believe that these places were destroyed in the tsunami, but there are remiders everywhere and the Thai people are so resilient and have been building their lives back up.
The following week (last weekend) was St Patrick's Day. A crowd of us painted bits of our body in green (all we could find was green eye-liner) and I made a crap attempt at drawing shamrocks on peoples faces and we headed into the madness of Patong. Patong is a bit of a sleazy but very fun tourist strip. Here you'll bump into the lady-boys, women pole dancing on bars that open out onto the street, games of all sorts being played on the streets, food vendors selling food (that could probably food poison the unsuspecting drunk tourist falling out of a bar at stupid o'clock who is desperate to eat), bars of every nationality, offers of ping-pong shows being shoved in your face! We all had a great night, quite literally drowned the shamrock (as no-one drinks during weekly training) and made it back to Chalong in a tuk-tuk singing lots of songs, in the wee small hours of the morning.
It's great here - everyone is so similar and are here to train, get fit, detox, ...whatever and we tend to bond easily because of that. People just hook up after training, jump on the back of some of their scooters (which can be hired for 4 pounds a day, without a licence or any prior motorbike experience), head to the beach, go for dinner, sightsee or check out the night markets (yes, I ate some fried witchety grubs/larvae along with Tina, a Norweigan friend - it was nice). So all is good right now. Thailand is surpassing NZ and Oz - even after all the torture I'm putting myself through!
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| Wat Po, Bangkok |
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| Phi Phi Island |
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| Maya Bay - 'The Beach' was filmed here |
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| My group sleeping out in Maya Bay |
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| St Patrick's Day festivities |
05 March, 2012
Bangkok - The City of Angels (?)
Arrived in Suvarnabhumi Airport safe and sound; followed the Thai/English signs to immigration/baggage collection (or what I thought it was). Ended up walking through the wrong entrance only to find myself being scanned and shipped up to departures to fly out of the airport that I just arrived into. My understanding of Thai just isn't quite what it used to be. Was able to get myself back down to immigration; joined the shortest queue (which took forever to move) and at this stage the passengers from my plane had long gone and I was eventually re-united with my pink duffel bag lying all on its lonesome on the floor by the carousel.
Staying in a place called Lat Krabang which is about 15 minutes taxi or 4 minutes in the Airport skytrain in a cheap, but really lovely family owned hotel who are just adorable. Big double bed, cable TV and a fridge stocked with free water, coke, noodles and coffee - what more could a girl ask for! And they have a free computer in the lobby, so decided to make use of it as I may not often get a chance to in the camp in Phuket.
This morning I decided to get up early and take a tour of Bangkok (known as the 'City of Angels/Siam City' or 'City of Scammers' more like) myself instead of taking a tour from these tour companies that charge a fortune for the same thing. Armed with a map and the following words of wisdom from Ritvic (the lovely owner of the hotel) in his broken English with a Thai accent which went something like this: "You take Skytrain/airport link purple line or Lad Krabang, change at Makkasan Road, walk 200 meteeerrr to MRT route, go to Siam...shopping, shopping, shopping...you like shopping? Then go to Hua Lamphong - China Town...wery big, nice bird nest soup - you like bird nest soup - you eat Thai? Afta you go to Templeee - lots of Templeee here - big Buddahhh, Grand Palace - you cross a rivaaaa - go to Pier 5...no ova pier...wery expensive - pirate people here, they charge 300 Baht..Pier 5 only 14 baht...much betta for tourist. Bless him, but I was getting confused at this stage so decided to figure it out myself.
So I caught a taxi up to the airport, jumped on the Airport Link to take me to Phyai Thai which is near the shopping area, but miles away from the toursity spots/temples I was looking for. Had several goes at getting a taxi for the right price cos here in Bangkok city, most taxi/tuk-tuk drivers just see you as a wallet/purse on legs and will try their best to screw you for a few extra Baht (don't blame them to be honest, I would probably do the same if I earned as little as they do). Wanted to go to the Rattanakosin area near the Chao Phraya River where the Wat Po, Grand Palace and Big Buddah are (main tourist spots). First taxi driver in his 80's (thinkin an aul guy would be nice/honest) picked me up...got in, spoke a bit of Thai, told him where I wanted to go and aksed how much - he was chargin an arm and a leg and I asked him in Thai to turn on the meter (if they don't turn on the meter here, they charge whatever they like). The wee shite came up with every excuse under the sun like 'big traffic jam, it costs more'. So I said no way, jumped out and caught another one. Got to Wat Po Temple - really stunning, took a few pictures and walked round to the Grand Palace.
Having visited Vietnam before and all the temples there, I totally forgot about the 'acceptable dress code' for the places around the Grand Palace and I rocked up in short, demin shorts with flip flops and a singlet. Realising my stupidity, I didn't even try to get into the Palace (as my nakedness would have offended the entire sacred ground and the Emerald Buddah would have cursed me) and saved myself the embarrassment of being turned away by some Thai soldier, feeling like a complete prostitute.
So off I wandered to the little market stalls across the street, opposite the Palace. Had done a tiny bit of research of Bangkok and a line in one of my notes read 'Never take a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace or Wat Po'. Obviously, I completely forgot about this and took a tuk-tuk right outside the Palace with the driver, who was a young lad, who spoke good English/very friendly said he'd take me to some temples that I told him I wanted to go to. It was really cheap - going for 40 Baht - which is the equivalent of 75p. Jumped into the tuk-tuk (which was one of my to-do things anyway) and whizzed round the streets and backstreets of Bangkok. Saw the temples that I wanted to go to and then the driver was going on about some price of petrol somewhere and that I could get cheap clothes/jewellery some place.
Rocked up to this 'gem store' and then remembered the little note to myself telling me not to get a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace came back to me! Read that these guys around this area can bring you to these so called 'gem stores' and stupid foreigners go in and buy fake gems and get ripped off. Also, I read that they get a commission from these shops, so if tourists just walk in, they get a nice wee wage. So, remembering what I had read, I decided to play him at his own game and was like, 'Nah, I'm not into gems, don't like them, so you can take me back to the Grand Palace now...and oh by the way, you're not going to rip me off/scam me cos I know what you get out of this place, thanks very much!'. He was like, 'Oh please, just go in and look, please'... I never budged..think he was raging - I could just see him nearly cry cos he wasn't getting his commission or petrol voucher or whatever it was. Apparently it's a big scam over here.
Anyway, he was nice and took me back. I got the cheapest ever ride around Bangkok (well over an hour), saw the things that I wanted all for 75p; so I think it was 1-0 to me, versus the scammers. Instead of paying 9 - 15 thousand Baht for an organised tour, I spent less than 1000 Baht; about the equivalent of a tenner for transport, entrance into the places and some lunch.
Bangkok isn't the shithole that some people had said to me before. I quite like the city. It reminds me a bit of Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam - westernised and more wealthier, with more cars than mopheads, but still the poverty in the side-streets. There are skyscrapers across the city with golden temples and images of the King everywhere. There are lots of market stalls with people selling everything from used shoes, old cassettes, to food, to Buddhist monks roaming the streets - you name it, it's all here (have yet to see the lady-boys yet, but think it was a bit too early in the day). There's lots to keep your senses busy. People are very friendly here and if you try and speak Thai, you'll be greeted with more smiles, an answer in English and less chance of being scammed, as you show them you are trying.
I got to see a few things, but this place is so vast, I've only touched the surface. Fly out to Phuket tomorrow evening to my camp, so hope to go into town in the morning and see another couple of things and maybe take a wee visit and get a Thai massage - here's hoping it's not one of those other 'massage' places, knowing my luck! ;)
Staying in a place called Lat Krabang which is about 15 minutes taxi or 4 minutes in the Airport skytrain in a cheap, but really lovely family owned hotel who are just adorable. Big double bed, cable TV and a fridge stocked with free water, coke, noodles and coffee - what more could a girl ask for! And they have a free computer in the lobby, so decided to make use of it as I may not often get a chance to in the camp in Phuket.
This morning I decided to get up early and take a tour of Bangkok (known as the 'City of Angels/Siam City' or 'City of Scammers' more like) myself instead of taking a tour from these tour companies that charge a fortune for the same thing. Armed with a map and the following words of wisdom from Ritvic (the lovely owner of the hotel) in his broken English with a Thai accent which went something like this: "You take Skytrain/airport link purple line or Lad Krabang, change at Makkasan Road, walk 200 meteeerrr to MRT route, go to Siam...shopping, shopping, shopping...you like shopping? Then go to Hua Lamphong - China Town...wery big, nice bird nest soup - you like bird nest soup - you eat Thai? Afta you go to Templeee - lots of Templeee here - big Buddahhh, Grand Palace - you cross a rivaaaa - go to Pier 5...no ova pier...wery expensive - pirate people here, they charge 300 Baht..Pier 5 only 14 baht...much betta for tourist. Bless him, but I was getting confused at this stage so decided to figure it out myself.
So I caught a taxi up to the airport, jumped on the Airport Link to take me to Phyai Thai which is near the shopping area, but miles away from the toursity spots/temples I was looking for. Had several goes at getting a taxi for the right price cos here in Bangkok city, most taxi/tuk-tuk drivers just see you as a wallet/purse on legs and will try their best to screw you for a few extra Baht (don't blame them to be honest, I would probably do the same if I earned as little as they do). Wanted to go to the Rattanakosin area near the Chao Phraya River where the Wat Po, Grand Palace and Big Buddah are (main tourist spots). First taxi driver in his 80's (thinkin an aul guy would be nice/honest) picked me up...got in, spoke a bit of Thai, told him where I wanted to go and aksed how much - he was chargin an arm and a leg and I asked him in Thai to turn on the meter (if they don't turn on the meter here, they charge whatever they like). The wee shite came up with every excuse under the sun like 'big traffic jam, it costs more'. So I said no way, jumped out and caught another one. Got to Wat Po Temple - really stunning, took a few pictures and walked round to the Grand Palace.
Having visited Vietnam before and all the temples there, I totally forgot about the 'acceptable dress code' for the places around the Grand Palace and I rocked up in short, demin shorts with flip flops and a singlet. Realising my stupidity, I didn't even try to get into the Palace (as my nakedness would have offended the entire sacred ground and the Emerald Buddah would have cursed me) and saved myself the embarrassment of being turned away by some Thai soldier, feeling like a complete prostitute.
So off I wandered to the little market stalls across the street, opposite the Palace. Had done a tiny bit of research of Bangkok and a line in one of my notes read 'Never take a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace or Wat Po'. Obviously, I completely forgot about this and took a tuk-tuk right outside the Palace with the driver, who was a young lad, who spoke good English/very friendly said he'd take me to some temples that I told him I wanted to go to. It was really cheap - going for 40 Baht - which is the equivalent of 75p. Jumped into the tuk-tuk (which was one of my to-do things anyway) and whizzed round the streets and backstreets of Bangkok. Saw the temples that I wanted to go to and then the driver was going on about some price of petrol somewhere and that I could get cheap clothes/jewellery some place.
Rocked up to this 'gem store' and then remembered the little note to myself telling me not to get a tuk-tuk from Grand Palace came back to me! Read that these guys around this area can bring you to these so called 'gem stores' and stupid foreigners go in and buy fake gems and get ripped off. Also, I read that they get a commission from these shops, so if tourists just walk in, they get a nice wee wage. So, remembering what I had read, I decided to play him at his own game and was like, 'Nah, I'm not into gems, don't like them, so you can take me back to the Grand Palace now...and oh by the way, you're not going to rip me off/scam me cos I know what you get out of this place, thanks very much!'. He was like, 'Oh please, just go in and look, please'... I never budged..think he was raging - I could just see him nearly cry cos he wasn't getting his commission or petrol voucher or whatever it was. Apparently it's a big scam over here.
Anyway, he was nice and took me back. I got the cheapest ever ride around Bangkok (well over an hour), saw the things that I wanted all for 75p; so I think it was 1-0 to me, versus the scammers. Instead of paying 9 - 15 thousand Baht for an organised tour, I spent less than 1000 Baht; about the equivalent of a tenner for transport, entrance into the places and some lunch.
Bangkok isn't the shithole that some people had said to me before. I quite like the city. It reminds me a bit of Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam - westernised and more wealthier, with more cars than mopheads, but still the poverty in the side-streets. There are skyscrapers across the city with golden temples and images of the King everywhere. There are lots of market stalls with people selling everything from used shoes, old cassettes, to food, to Buddhist monks roaming the streets - you name it, it's all here (have yet to see the lady-boys yet, but think it was a bit too early in the day). There's lots to keep your senses busy. People are very friendly here and if you try and speak Thai, you'll be greeted with more smiles, an answer in English and less chance of being scammed, as you show them you are trying.
I got to see a few things, but this place is so vast, I've only touched the surface. Fly out to Phuket tomorrow evening to my camp, so hope to go into town in the morning and see another couple of things and maybe take a wee visit and get a Thai massage - here's hoping it's not one of those other 'massage' places, knowing my luck! ;)
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