Travel Zulu

I came across this article on Mae Sot. I was there only a couple of weeks ago. Even though I didn’t go to Burma, the police checked my passport going in and out of the town. Near where I was staying, there was what looked like a detention center for Burmese refugees. It was depressing to see, but the people seemed to be treated reasonably well, even if they were locked up. I felt sorry for them, but then I remembered Australia has a similar policy of holding refugees in similar detention centers.

I had to change bungalows where I am staying. The new bungalow doesn’t have an attached bathroom. The outside bathroom seems to attract all of the wildlife.

I didn’t feel so comfortable having this frogs eyes staring back at me having a shower. Eventually he got the idea and jumped back outside.

Even though it is currently the ‘dry season’ in Thailand, there has been a bit of rain. One night there was even a spectacular electrical storm.

But today, the skies are blue…

I have this palm like plant right in front of the bungalow I am staying in which only flowers at night. During the day the buds look like they are going to burst open. As it becomes dark, the flowers open revealing these pink and white flowers. By next morning the flowers have all dropped to the ground.

My bungalow has a nice tropical garden and is at the foot of forest covered mountain, so all this weird and wonderful wildlife comes out at night.

After a week in Thailand, I haven’t been in a place long enough to get my clothes washed. Most places charge around 35 baht ($1$) a kilo.

As I was carrying out my washing, a foreigner who is working in the place I am staying said that doing the laundry is part of their service. I said that they were pretty smelly, as I had been travelling around northern Thailand for the past week, but he said it didn’t matter as he would just put them in the machine.

For what is already a cheap place to stay, it got even cheaper. Having to do things like washing and cleaning is never much fun and now, I don’t have to worry about either of these things. What a life!

I caught the bus and ferry from Bangkok to Koh Chang today. I was here last year and liked it so much that I decided to come back for a while. I got the same room as I stayed in last time. It is a little more expensive than last time, but they said they would give me two nights free if I stayed a week, which makes it nearly the same price.

It is amazing in just that short time, new developments have sprung up. Last time I was here it was rainy season, so there weren’t as many people around. But still it is a pretty laid back place. It is also so much greener down this way. Up north it was so hot and dry. Today it was so mild and even rained a bit.

I travelled to Maesot today. It is the most western spot of Thailand on the Moe River which you can cross over to Myanmar (Burma). Not a pretty spot, but an interesting place with an interesting mix of people.

I arrived in Sukhothai today - it was only about an hour away. I rented a bike and rode around the old or ancient part of the town. It is really hot here, but it is suppose to get cooler at night.

Bushfires are raging across the north of Thailand, and it looks like there is no rain in sight. They are giving residents face masks to help stop breathing in the smoke, which is causing a lot of problems for people with respitory problems.

I am thinking of going across to Mae Sot tomorrow and then heading Bangkok. It is a bit disappointing because I really wanted to chill out for a week or so in Chiang Mai. I was then planning to go on to Laos, but I think I will skip that for now - head back to Bangkok and then go to Thailand’s eastern islands. From there it is an easy trip over to Cambodia.

I caught the train up to the difficult to pronounce, Phitsanulok today. It was a pleasant six hour train trip and got into town in the afternoon. Maybe it is a cliche but I think Thais are pretty friendly not just to foreigners but to each other.

When you are travelling most of the people you meet are the ones who deal with foreign travellers day in day out, so catching a train and meeting people who you would not ordinarily get a chance to talk to can be fun.

Many Thais speak English well enough to have a basic conversation. I lived in Japan for around 10 years and found so few people who could or were willing to speak English, so it makes a nice change.

It is kind of strange arriving in a new town or city. You have a map of the city, but you have no idea of how to read it, let alone know which way you should hold it up.

Taxi drivers will greet you with, “Where do you want to go?” Of course you want to show that you know exactly where you want to go, but in reality you have no idea. It is always hard to know if your hotel is 100 or 1000 meters away. Distances on most maps can be pretty deceiving.

After finding somewhere to put my head down for the night, I like to walk around for a while to get my bearings, not going anywhere in particular; find the local stores and somewhere to eat.

After a couple of days, you become more familiar with the place and can find your way around without a map without getting to lost. The people in the restaurants and start to become more familiar and conversation gets a bit longer.

You would like think that they will remember you, but ith the hundreds of people passing through, I am sure you just become another forgotten face.

After seeing a few sights it is not long before you start studying maps of the next place you want to visit and the whole journey starts over.