My longest, most impressive and awesome trip! Thailand part1 (northern Thailand)

Hey everybody!

I would like to introduce you to the culture and some places in Thailand!

Last summer I spent 5 weeks in Thailand with a friend of mine. After our Matura we had to make our decision between going to Turkey, which was a fully-organized trip in an all-inclusive resort, or organizing and choosing the trip ourselves at a place of our choice. Good luck we didn’t go to Turkey but preferred to go to Thailand!

We planned to stay there 5 weeks in total. The holiday should last for such a long time, because we wanted to explore the whole country and get a little bit into the countries culture. Our plan was to go from the very north of Thailand to the islands in the southeast.

We did hardly any per-organizing; we did neither book any hostels nor did we book any train tickets or ferry tickets. The only thing we did previously was to plan the route we would take by speaking to a friend who’s already been to Thailand twice and who recommended some interesting sights to see, the most beautiful places among Thailand and the most exciting activities to do in Thailand.

In the beginning we had a great problem with the tropical, hot climate, which caused tiredness and lack of appetite. But after a few days we got used to it. Good luck, we didn’t have a jet lack when we arrived in Thailand, quite the contrary – we had one when we came back home.

We arrived at Bangkok’s main airport on 18^th of August, 2013 by plane and actually wanted to directly take another plane to Chang Mai the same night. Unfortunately, the small, regional airport was already closed; and so we had to wait for the next day. We set the alarm for 6 o’clock in the morning to make sure, that we arrived at the airport early enough to get a ticket. When we finally came to the airport it was more than shocking when we heard that there were no tickets left to Chang Mai for another 3 days. Although we had 5 weeks to explore the country, we didn’t want to lose only one single day of that exciting time.

For that reason, we had to find another solution and bought two 3^rd class train tickets. This train left the same day (it’s the 19^th of august now) at 10pm. Unexpectedly, there were too many people for this small train, even though we had to reserve tickets previously. The condition of the train was horrible. The windows couldn’t be fully closed, which caused that loads of mosquitoes came into the wagons. The seats were supposed for two people, but the size of the seats was constructed for a person and a small kid (if you compare the size of the seats to Austrian standards).  Many people had to sit on the floor, because there weren’t enough seats at all.

The most frightening aspect, however, was that the train seemed to be/drive very unstable. It seemed as if there were stones on the tracks and the train would just go through them without decreasing speed.

Here are some pics to give you an impression to Thai standards:

Here are some pics of the picturesque landscape we could see while our weird traintrip:

 

After 17 crazy, exhausting but also exciting hours we finally arrived in Chang Mai. Via the web we had already booked a small room in one of the numerous hostels in Chang Mai. We took a TUKTUK to get us there.

We spent 5 great days with incredible, absolutely new experiences there and were impressed by that culture, which was hugely different to our own culture.

Good luck, we didn’t have a so-called jet lack. Still, we slept more than usually as we weren’t used the tropical, hot climate over there.

In Chang Mai it was the first time that we really ate Thai food (in Bangkok we only had fast food as we always stayed very close to either the airport or the train station). If you like it spicy, Thailand is perfect for you. If you rather prefer mild food you can always order a meal without spices – Thai food is never deep-frozen or prepared, but fresh and self-made!

My favourite meal was yellow curry with potatoes, which is neither spicy nor mild. It is available at any restaurant and street restaurant.

What you’ll for sure going to come across are lizards. (I don’t know what the exact term for those animals is, but down here is a photo):

As you can see on the photo, they are really everywhere. They are in sleeping rooms, in trains, behind windows, in menus etc.....

Still, you will basically see them sitting on the ceiling at night; and sometimes one of them might lose its balance and fall down on you ;-)

To explore northern Thailand we took part in 2 daytrips to different sights and cities. There was a group of 6-10 people who were taken to different sights, places or activities during one day. One of those trips costs around 1000 Baht (around 25€). I personally, would advise you against those trips, as it’s mainly money-making for the company. In further you can’t decide on your own when to move to another sight or how long to stay at a place.

One trip included elephant riding, which really upset me. Prior to booking this trip, I heard that there were special camps for elephants that very brutally domesticated. Those camps would help elephants by giving them more living space, healthier food and proper medical treatment. Of course we did not go to such a camp, even though we had asked before if it was one of those “rescue camps”, but went to one of those brutal camps, where elephants were tied all day long and couldn’t even make two steps forward or back. At first I didn’t recognize that this camp was one of the bad ones, as the stuff were very polite and the elephants were very calm. As soon as we started to ride the elephants the guide showed his real face. Every time the elephant didn’t immediately do what he wanted (e.g. crossing the river without drinking any water) he just shoot his legs with a stone. By the way, the leg of an elephant is the only part of his body where the skin isn’t as thick as at other parts.

From that day on, I’ve decided to not ever book such a trip again.

One good thing about the trip, however, was that the guide took us to a spring somewhere up a mountain. It was great there, because the water was really cool so you could refresh you after the walk up to the spring. It was also very picturesque up there, because you were swimming in the cool water while watching a landscape I’ve never seen in my life before: huge trees, green bushes everywhere and hardly any people anywhere! (except for those who were in our group)

Here are some pictures:

  Our guide (not the one who shoot the elephant!); on our way to the spring

 a sleeping dog (you see dogs everywhere!)

 finally the spring itself ;-)

What you really need to see when you go to Thailand is the “White temple”. It is not only a usual temple but a real piece of art! This temple is in Chang Rai, another famous town in northern Thailand. The construction started in 1997 is not fully done until today. I’m sorry that I don’t know the name of the architect/artist, but there was only his Thai name in Thai letters mentioned.

If you catch the right moment, when the sun’s rays are “touching” the temple, it seems to be made out of icing.

this is a carton copy of the architect:

We went to a few other sights such as the golden triangle and the orchid house, but in my eyes they are not really important. If you want to see sights which everyone knows about you should go there. I promise you, that everyone will ask if you went to see those popular places, but they’re nothing more than tourist attractions with the aim to make money.

(The white temple is also basically a tourist attraction, but still it is impressive to see such a unique piece of art.)

I won’t tell anything about the temples we saw or show any pictures of them. They are everywhere; there is one in almost every street. And the thing is, if you have seen one you, have seen all!

In general I can say, that there is so much more culture in northern Thailand than in the South. Although, there are already numerous tourists in the North, Thais haven’t forgotten their own culture and customs. You’ve got the chance there to find some hidden, unexplored places where Thailand has remained Thailand and hasn’t changed into a profit-making country. On the other hand it is not so easy to strike up a conversation with a native Thai as they don’t have access to higher education and therefore speak very little English only. This means that you can’t really ask a native how they live and what are their customs, their religion (generally it is of course Buddhism, but it would have been very interesting to get to know something about it and how Thais see it) and their principles.