22nd August 2006

Well guys here we go again, another instalment of the adventures of a life not yet lived.
I have just returned from another breath taking and exhillerating trip around Thailand.
Yes Thailand, why there again? Well its friendlier, cheaper, hotter, happier, easier and all round great fun to go there than a week in spain.
That’s Why

Some hellos. Lincy, Lotus, Julie and Ted (hi hope you ok), Andrea, Angela – get this to the girls.

I also send my love to Judy and I hope you get well soon. Big Boy make sure she get this and then well you were there so you don’t need to read any more.

I left the UK on the best day possible, the day that the government decided to ban all hand luggage and create chaos for the travelling man.
I actually enjoyed it, it was great fun there were queues and queues and hot fed up people but what can you do and the fact that it made standing about at Heathrow actually quite pleasant it self was a blessing.
Tony and I had the opportunity to sit and drink and eat whilst admist scenes of calamity and noise with our clear plastic bags and very little else!!!
And getting frisked by women before departures is always a great way to start the trip.

The flight same same to Bangkok (bkk) and we arrived with about 50 mins to spare before our next flight to Chiang Mai left (cm). So that was good. Bkk airport is always far too big far too long and never well signed so when get off the jumbo onto the bus into the transit area there are no staff no signs and so we run about eventually finding the checkin. After much hilarity from the girls there about our plastic bags we get on a bus and driven all the way round the airport to our plane which was 3 metres away from the jumbo we arrived on. So that was a waste of time energy and sweat.

I will make several comments about the weather I think but luckily most of us were in the UK for the heat wave so you can appreciate the heat in Thailand, except it was about 35 degrees and 99% humidity all the time so mmmmmmmm nice.

The flight to CM was rather typical and when we get there, immigration was a doddle and then we had to collect our bags. With a 50 minute window the odds of getting the bags off one plane onto another I suppose were pretty slim but this is hindsight. At the time everything was possible until in international arrivals 2 hot English blokes and one lady all from the Uk (the plastic bags gave us away) stood waiting for something that was not coming, our bags. The nice man at the lost bag control said they may be in CM that very evening and gave me a nice piece of yellow paper and promised to deliver to the guest house on their arrival. That was great as we did not know the address but did phone him later with it.

So Chiang Mai. Always good often great. It felt so good to come back, happy faces, easy going cheap food and beer and heat. Big rain and lots of hustle. Noi’s guest house as ever was a delight to see and the staff welcomed us back with great big smiles and gin. Our rooms the same as before and so it was like coming home.
We met our friend Paul who was out there already and we hit the bars full on with 3 different stories to tell. I tell mine, they tell theres. We all had fun. We were offered some Cambodia whiskey which is a little bit like tequilia with the worm, except this lot put large snakes, spides and scorpions in it to give it a kick. So no, did not fancy that. The 5 long island ice teas we all had were enough and the vodkas and the singhas.
Good to be back.
I ended up at spiceys. Good old Spiceys. Not changed a bit. Drunk Farang, Drunk Thai. I retired from the night at about 4.30am and after dodging the prostitutes and the lady boys I slept.

I had no intention of creating a long letter from the moon as well what can you do in 9 days. Well I did a lot. An awful lot. I met so really great people, some very beautiful people and some new friends. I seen more of the country and experienced more of its culture. I did bars, the clubs, the karaoke and the sight seeing. All great fun.

Saturday was the Queens Birthday or Mothers Day. This meant the bars were closed. So we ate and drank in a restaurant with Paul and his girlfriend and then came back. I managed to find a lock in and left the others to sleep and I stayed there till about 4am drinking Samsung and redbull. That fun and cheap

Sunday was spent with hangover and feeling hot and drained. 2 days in drank a fair bit and that was good. The night bizarre we had already visited to buy shirts and stuff as the bags never arrived on time Friday (they were at the guesthouse by 11pm Friday night so not all bad).
I met my good friend Sandra on Sunday in Starbucks, it was good to meet up and catch up. We went to the Sunday market and met her friends for food in the temple, which consisted of deep fried prawns, stir fry chicken, bbq pork, noodles, thai salad, red ant omelettes, sticky rice and the like. Tony and his friend Lotus joined us for food and a chat. Lotus by the way is a very nice girl and great to friend to us both.
Afterwards Tony went off to look at paintings and I went with Sandra to another bar and drank with her friends a while until they went off and then we decided to meet up with Tony and go clubbing.
I like clubbing in Thailand. Where we go there are little western presence and there is live music and lots of it. We went to a bar called Well Out and drank and then to the new trendy club called Horizon and for 1200 baht (£4) a bottle of Chivas regal and your own personal barman. Trouble is when you start drinking a bottle at midnight it takes a while to disappear. At 4am the bar shut. So we got driven back by the girls and we staggered off to sleep.
In Thailand, they have a different outlook on life. The people think nothing of drinking heavily and then driving. It’s the way it is. In fact you would not know they are hammered until they fall out of the car!!!! So you put up with it and ignore it. I wore my seat belt though.

Monday, Was a great day. Rain and heat. We went elephant trekking and White water rafting.We were supposed to go trekking in the mountains but we were still pissed at 10am the elephants never really made us sober up so we ate biscuits and told our guide, nah we sit and wait to go rafting.
White water rafting is wow.It rocks, It sobers you up. Alton Towers log flume has nothing on this. We paddled our way through deep fast moving river water squeezed through the rocks and crashed into water and got drenched for about 45 mins it was fantastic. We were planning to do this again in the week but time was against us and that means the next time we are going again. Lincy, your coming too.

Sandra and I went to Chiang Rai on Tuesday on the spur of the moment decision. Chiang Rai is a a northern city 4 hours away from CM and it was a great place. Good markets and the hotel rooms we each had were great. She taught me a lot about Thai food and the spicier the better now. We trawled the markets and found little and watched the countries prime minister give a speech to the townsfolk while we were there.
The next day she drove further north to MaeSi the border town with Burma. I have walked on Burmese soil although not for long as I did not have my passport with me which if I knew that was what I was going to do then I would have brought it along. We did some shopping and endured the heat.
Then down to the golden triangle, where you can see Burma, China and Laos all from one spot and that was really good to see. There were lots of monuments and statues (see photos) and the heat was very dry and very very hot.
I had a great time away from CM and it was a great experience to see more of the countryside and to spend time with real Thai people.
Wednesday night I ended up drinking with some English guys who work out there and we shot some pool and did a load of bars before staggering home again at 4am.
Chop Chop Cook Cook was Thursdays agenda. Tony, Paul and Me went cooking. We attended the Chocolate school of Thai cookery and it was great fun. I learnt to cook with gas and a wok. From scratch and also how make several dishes.
So I am now able to cook spring rolls, Thai green curry (ace), stir fry chicken with basil, Pappaya Salad, Stir Fried Noodles with Prawn and fried bananas. The food was amazing and the course was a fun day out and a great laugh
Leaving the course I got a call from the lads I met the night before to see if I wanted a beer. I did and so by 5am in the morning and lot of alcohol later I returned to my room a little worse for wear but another great night. I met his friend and his Laos girlfriend Pu who was drop dead pretty, Steves girlfriend Duum who was very pretty and an accountant and we did the usual drinking buckets and lager and all very ow my liver hurts routine.

Tony wakes me at 10.30 telling me I am out with him off to buy some jewellery for mother and getting picked up in 30 mins. I am wrecked, grey and tired. But I got up and had some Tea and my hangover cure arrived.
Tony had arranged for a lift through lotus to gems gallery, it’s a big place sells gems.
We are met by a woman called Lincy who took us to a van where a Ming from Hong Kong and her aunt jin were waiting.
We then drove to the temple on the mountains overlooking CM and this is called Do Sothep and it is a very buddist shrine for the whole of the country. It is amazing. Gold Wat, white elephants and many many people there being blessed and praying. We had to walk about the site with out footwear and it was a very peaceful and tranquil place. Both myself and Tony got blessed and then we got a friendship bracelet blessed by the monks and then did the sticks. The sticks are when you shake a tin of sticks which all have a number on them, when the stick falls out, you get a number and then take the corresponding prophecy. It is really cool and we had good luck. The views from the temple also were very good as you could see for miles and you could see CM and the street where we were staying.
After the Temple we went to the Kings Summer residence which was further up the mountain and shrouded in cloud. Tony and I had to put on fishermans trousers as we were incorrectly dressed to go and that was ok. Jin met some school girls from a town 100km from CM and introduced them to me and big boy and they had never seen Westerners before let alone speak to them. Just think, me an ambassador for the western world, how exciting… We spoke to them and they laughed. We gave them our email addresses and they screamed with happiness it really was an amazing experience one that I wont forget for a long time. Me and Tony have now been invited to their school which I know I will go and visit when I next return that’s for sure.
Heading back to CM we stop at a place to eat and have Thai food which is now totally easy to eat the spicier the better. The thai people really think that us farang cannot do spicey but as I am eat colmans mustard from the pot, eat dry hot horseradish, I can give them a run for their money even if it does make me cry!!!!
Then to Gems gallery where I get some rings for mother, a topaz one and a ruby one. I get a jade Buddha for which I am very pleased with.

We get dropped back to the guest house as we were getting picked up for another night out on the oh la la. Lotus comes and gets us and then we get Lincy and head out in the rain.
It rains. Not this rubbish drizzle we get here but big heavy fast warm rain. In an hour most of the streets were flooded and it continued to rain heavily for hours. We headed to the good view restaurant for a meal and live music. We met Paul there as well. The music was good if not a little loud. We ordered Samsung and lots of food. I had my first taste of Japanese food and good it was too, I now like raw fish (sushi for those that don’t know) and the thai was good as well. Then to another bar for more whiskey. Then I had to sing and I had promised Lincy, Lotus and Tony a treat so we went Karaoke. Wow I love it and I can Brittney very well!!!! And loved it. We drank too much, they ripped us off but I did not care cos everyone happy and that’s always good.
We left about 2 and I got dropped at spicey where I remained for about 3 mins then headed home and stopped for food at Daves burger bar and then to Cherry bar where I chatted to an English guy, a kiwi and a neo nazi german American (all life in Chiang Mai) everyone happy and the conversation was very bizarre then next thing a tuk tuk arrives and out spills a fight!!!! So not having this I go as I am not there for that and then stepping over the lady boys fighting as well amongst themselves for a reason I dare not ask I get back. Another top day.
Saturday was spent writing my journal, eating and reading and generally taking it easy and that was good and I met up with Steve and Dum the like later in the day and we had some drinks, Tony met up later and we had a good last night, saying goodbye not always a good thing but the doors always open.
Sunday I said goodbye to Sandra and spent the afternoon chilling with Tony and mentally preparing to leave.

You know I have never been waved off before, it was good. I like that. Promise you will do that for me.....

We said see you soon to Thailand and came home Monday am.

I spent 10 days in Thailand. I met so many good people and had a completely different experience from the time before. Those that were there with me deserve a big thank you and for those that read this, no I not think anymore. Look forward and enjoy the memories of the past for what they are memories. A well respected monk once wrote ‘we are all brothers and sisters on an amazing journey through a constantly changing universe. Sometimes we feel pain. Sometimes we are happy.’

That’s it, the letter from the moon. This time I saw the whole of it. I will return.

My final thoughts to all.

May we all meet again, free from all suffering and laugh together at the past.

Luke