Northern Thailand

Hello Everyone,

We left off in Mae Sariang in Northern Thailand and that was over a month ago. We spent only half a day in Mae Sariang, but during that time we rented bicycles and biked to this Wat on the hill above town. At the wat it started to rain...foiled again.

I should note that I lost my journal at the airport in London and therefore do not have the names of many of the places we visited. I'll do my best to locate them, but some will sadly remain nameless.

Hilltop Wat in Mae Sariang

Next we traveled to Mae Hong Son, my personal favorite. While there we rented a motorbike and toured around. We also found a delicious coffee shop which had some of the best bagels I have ever eaten. This may not sound particularly notable, but you don't find good bread in Thailand and New Zealanders just don't understand the concept of a bagel so it was very exciting.

Near Mae Hong Son--Namtok Pha Suea waterfall (I think)

The Queen's gardens at the northern palace. She loves gardening and is pictured above smelling some potted flowers.

Giant sacred carp at Tham Plaa (Fish Cave). While asking how to find this spot, I confused some Thai words and asked about the location of 'Frog Fish'. I asked repeatedly, "Where is the frog fish, no the frog fish." Only later did I realize what I had been asking.

A mountainous view on the way down from the Queen's Palace

A clouded leopard...perhaps the most beautiful animal I have ever seen

Lush, green rice paddies and Gareth on the motorbike

Next we headed to the hippie capital of Northern Thailand, Pai. People from all over who arrive for a few days wind up staying years, especially artisans and musicians. The food here is some of the best we had. I especially recommend a place called Charlie and Lek's. We stayed for nights days. Entertainment at the hotel was plentiful with hammocks to read in, a pool to swim in and an in-room DVD player to keep us indoors when it rained. To visit the wonders of Pai outside of our hotel we rented bicycles one day and a motorbike another day. I could have stayed for weeks.

Hilltop Wat overlooking Pai

A surreal throw-back to the American Southwest at the Grand Canyon of Pai complete with pine trees and cryptobiotic soil. Hmm.

Standing over the River of Pai

Gareth reading at a restaurant. We were stuck here for awhile do to heavy rains.

Getting a hug from an Elephant named 'Rock Star'

Our last destination was Chiang Mai. Well, I suppose our final destination before leaving was Bangkok, but we were both terribly ill and I don't have any pictures of that...thank goodness. That, however, is another story.

Chiang Mai was also very nice. We met up with a friend Crystal from the wildlife center to embark on a hike up to the hill top wat outside of the city. It was a bit more of an adventure than we had planned, but we had a great time. En route we saw eight waterfalls, a group of hiking Buddhist monks and two Germans who had gotten their dirt bikes stuck in the mud. At the top was the incredible (and busy) Wat Phra Thart Doi Suthep with hundreds of Buddhas, glittering gold pillars and breath-taking carvings. I think it is my favorite Thai Wat.

Bells at the Wat

This one's for you Mom. In Thai mythology a 'Mom' is a horrible crocodile-fish-lion who protects the spirits in the temple behind it. (I think.)

And finally, Gareth en route to the Wat looking at the distant Chiang Mai.

When you can no longer stomach the thought of green curry or Pad Thai, two of the world's most delicious foods, you know it is time to go. Abandoning the plans to visit Laos and Vietnam was difficult to do, but we were both tired of being on the move and recognized that we would not be able give these other countries the appreciation they deserve. So we packed our few remaining things and left. We had a wonderful time exploring and hope to make it back someday. Although, I'm in no hurry. My travel bug has been temporarily cured in favor of hairdryers, clean clothes, family and friends.

Bear Experiments and Moving North

Hello Everyone.

Photos first today. I like to throw curve balls at you from time to time.

Let's just call him Buddha bear. I dare you to rub his belly for good luck.

The mural I helped paint at the wildlife center.

Our sun bear climbing for bananas we hung in the tree.

The civet Gareth helped rescue from this small cage. It is now at the wildlife center in a much bigger and better setting.

Our favorite dog at the wildlife center

Sukhothai

Sukhothai

Sukhothai

Out the back of the songthaew to Mae Sariang. It really rained for a while.

Last we wrote we had just returned to the wildlife center after a trip to Cambodia. We've since finished our work at the wildlife center and are now in the north of Thailand. The 'experiments' with our sun bear went about as well as we had predicted, and the bears at the government center near by are a few steps closer to being let out of the cages and into their large enclosure. All in all, a great experience and I am going to miss the animals and the delicious fruit shakes in town.

And now we are on the road again. We spent a day in Sukhothai, an ancient ruin site in the north of Thailand. To get around, we rented bikes and spent most of our time under trees reading books.

The we went to the town of Mae Sot on the Thai/Myanmar border to renew our entry stamps. Mae Sot itself is an interesting town, but there isn't much to do except volunteer in refugee camps and buy cheap Burmese goods at the large market. We ate at a restaurant called Khrua Canadian run by a Canadian man named Dave that was dissapointingly not very Canadian. He didn't even serve poutine or have any Canadian beers. Our guest house, Ban Thai, on the other hand was excellently charming despite the fact that it took us 20 minutes to find someone to pay when we left. They are lucky that we are honest.

The border crossing on the other hand was very interesting. We took a pick-up to the border where you get an exit stamp before walking across the bridge to Myanmar. There you hand over your passport and about $15 to the border officials while you walk around the town of Myawaddy. Not wanting to contribute any more money to the military dictatorship, we quickly walked around the main street to a little wat, turned around an headed back to the border. I don't think any explanation of the experience would do it justice, so I'll stop there.

Today we took a songthaew (a covered pick-up bed with seating) 6 hours on 'the road to nowhere' from Mae Sot to Mae Sariang. It was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on: mountains, rivers, cliffs, villages of stilted homes, mountain top wats. Incredible even considering the car sickness. Now we're in Mae Sariang for a night or two. We'll write again soon!

Love,

Sara and Gareth

Hi everyone,

We are back at the wildlife centre after a visit to the forest sub-station and a great trip to Cambodia.

We drove out to the small house they call the "pumpkin house" on Tuesday. It's located between two areas of protected forest on the Thai side of the Cambodian border. To reach it you either have to drive the short way and ford a river, or go the long way and risk the hill. When we arrived the roads were comparitively dry, and we didn't have any trouble getting there. We spent some time sweeping out the many giant lizards that had taken residence there and then set up our mosquito nets. We were pretty tired from the many visits we'd had on the way in (checking in with the army, the park rangers, the town leaders, and many others) so we just got some peace and quiet. It is a beautiful place, and very relaxing.

The next evening Sara and I were waiting up for Muoi (an employee of the TSCWA and our all-round hero) and the two vets to get back from their day of neutering and spaying stray dogs. The hours went by, night fell without any discernable decrease in humidity, and we begain to get worried. It had rained quite a bit in the day, and sure enough the road was a swamp. At one point we heard a straining engine off in the direction of the hill, but only for a moment. About an hour later they showed up, the truck plastered in mud except below the 2.5 foot mark, where the water had reached when they forded the river.

The next morning we decided that we had better get out while we could. Despite being laden down with five people and all their gear, we made it across the river and to the Cambodian border. We crossed with a minimum of bribery, and negotiated an expensive and extremely bumpy "taxi" ride to Battambang, about 150km from our border cross. The roads were one lane dirt the whole way, so we decided to stay overnight rather than continue on to Siem Reap, another four hours or so.

In Siem Reap we spent three full days exploring the Angkor temples, sometimes by tuk-tuk and once by bicycle. I can't begin to describe it, so I'll just post some pictures. It really was a unique experience.

The rest of our time in Siem Reap was spent enjoying the 50 cent draft beer and 3 dollar curries that were very common. The food was really fantastic, and we definitely lived like royalty while we were there.

Phnom Penh was a beautiful city filled with wonderful, friendly Cambodians, most of whom seemed to have refreshingly little connection to western tourism. Instead, people just seemed to ignore us and get on with their lives, at least outside of the main tourist areas.

We spent one day at a wildlife rehab type facility outside of the city. The staff were kind enough to show us around behind the scenes and we were even present for the arrival of two black bear cubs that had been rescued from a snare trap. One of the little guys was missing a paw, but I can't imagine a better place or more attentive group of staff to facilitate his recovery.

We are now back in Banlampur, at the wildlife centre. While we were away Muoi built a great water pool for our one sun-bear, and we'll be starting our simulations tomorrow.

That's all for now, I'll put up some photos and Sara will probably add to the post soon.

Love to everyone,

-Gareth and Sara

Our friendly sun bear in Banlampur.

Our vehicle: speedometre, tachometre, fuel guage not included.

Bun-Bun, a gibbon who has befriended Sara.

The Pumpkin House.

One of the lizards, about 30 cm tip-to-tail.

Sara reading some pulp-fiction on our bed.

Our first night in Cambodia, and our first glass of Angkor Beer.

Angkor Wat seen from Phnom Bakheng, a hilltop temple.


The central temple complex.

A sun bear at the Phnom Tamao centre in Cambodia.

Pictures at Last

Sawatdee Cha.

Here we are back in Bangkok, healthy again. Gareth's already updated you, so I won't waste your time. :)

Grand Palace in Bangkok

'James Bond Rock' in Phang Nga National Park

In a cave in Phang Nga National Park

The only pictures from Phuket, so I included it.

Through the Looking Glass to the east coast of Ko Lanta

Fire Twirler on Ko Tao

Most amazing fire wielding five year old this side of the equator (centre)

Our first visible sunset in Thailand, Ko Tao

Islands!

Since last we spoke we've been all over. Unfortunately a proper update will have to wait until I find a computer that will recognize our card reader so I can get some photos up. In the meantime we'll make do with considerably fewer than a thousand words.

After leaving Prachuap Khiri Khan we headed to Phang Nga, a quiet little town next to a beautiful national park. We took a boat ride through mangrove forests and around several small islands and limestone caves. The trip included a stop-over on "James Bond Island", where scenes from The Man with the Golden Gun were filmed, and which is now inhabited primarily by seashell vendors.

Next we headed to Phuket, the large island in the south-west of Thailand. We spent a couple of days at some beautiful but overcrowded beaches swarming with pizzerias, pasta restaurants, and Europeans.

Next was the somewhat windblown island of Ko Lanta, which was supposed to be our quiet getaway. It certainly didn't disappoint in this regard, as we were quite literally the only people staying at the resort on our first night. The place was largely closed down, and so for about 14 dollars we were given a luxurious bungalow with private bathroom, four poster bed, and satellite TV. Oh, but the satellite wasn't hooked up and the power was off during almost our entire stay, so the staff brought us candle lanterns instead. It was really quite great.



From Ko Lanta we went straight to Ko Tao, on the east coast. It is a small island popular with divers and famous for its clear waters. We had fun exploring and motor-scootering around but the experience was dampened a little by the overcast and rainy weather and by the fact that we both got sick while we were there.



Now we are in Bangkok once again, about to head east. More interesting possibilities are brewing, so we'll try to update again soon.

Planes, trains, buses, boats and tuk-tuks

After taking a whole variety of transport, wee are in Prachuap Khiri Khan, a few hours south of Bangkok on the east coast.  It is a small town with a calm and relaxed atmosphere that is very welcome after the chaos of Bangkok's Khaosan Road.  For instance, we no longer fall asleep to the pounding reggae beats of 24 hr Bob Marley.  

Here are a few pictures of our last day in Kuala Lumpur and our first few in Thailand. 

Riding the express river boat in Bangkok was dirt cheap and way nicer than walking the exhaust filled streets.

Sara cooks up a storm at our vegetarian cooking lessons at May Kaidee's.  Thanks for the great present Sara!

Posing on the Skybridge between the Petronas Towers. 

At Butan Caves, outside KL.  Note that these were not the caves we stumbled on to accidentally after our bus adventure.