Marsedit
Offline blogging may sound like a bit of an odd idea, but the idea did stick with me. After all, wordpress is not exactly the world's best word processor. I just grabbed Marsedit and am going to see how this works for me. On other news, Im really turning into a twitter fan.
The first two weeks of work
It has now been two weeks since I started working so I figured it might be a good time for a post about how things are.
Before I started working all I heard from the working people is how they miss the student time. How much more demanding working life is. It won't be an overstatment to say I went to my first day a bit worried.
My first day was like Christmas. I got a mobile phone, a laptop and a car. And that was pretty much it. The next two days have been just as nice. Together with all the people who started working for Getronics-Pinkroccade this month we had a 2 day into plan. Some presentation, some group talks, and beer. Yes every building in the company has its own beer tap with a barman. I like that. Did I mention, its free beer? The people I met were intellegent, interesting and fun. If this is how most people in the company are, I made a good choice coming to work here.
From the forth day on, and for the coming 2 weeks I'm in courses in Amersfoort. Its quite relaxed. I'm doing the courses alone, with a tutor I can turn to for questions. My tempo is quite high (im going almost at twice the expected rate) so I might be finished earlier then expected.
After I finish the courses I have a month of stage to build some web app (interesting ideas for what exactly are welcome). Then it will be time to actually work on real projects.
Finally, I’m offically a university graduate
It seems like it took forever, but its finally finished. As of today, my Bachelor's diploma in Informatica (computer science) is waiting for me at the administration office of the university. Only now do I really believe that I have actually graduated. Next step is an MBA, but I think I'll wait a year or two first.
Bangkok and Some Beaches
Bangkok, Thailand, back where people are nice, and the food is good. Or so we had thought as we woke up. We headed towards the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Being the responsible travellers that we are, we stopped in front of the palace to put on long pants and long sleeve shirts. As we were clothing, a man approached us and started talking to us. I have read on the lonely planet that if anyone starts talking to you, you should be suspicious. It also said you should be double as suspicious if he says where ever your going is closed. The man chatted with us for a few minutes then asked if we were heading for the palace, because"It was closed". Paula unfortunately did not yet read the boxed warning.
The man told us it was Buddha day, original name, and that the Grand Palace was close to foreigners until 13:30. Only Thai people are allowed inside so they can pray in peace. He came with a great plan for us to visit others site in the meantime and miraculously, a tuk-tuk showed up just as he was finished. We said kindly no, and that we would rather walk. He got all mad and walked away. Paula accused me of being rude, and I was feeling quite bad about it. I decided I still want to try the Palace, because I still suspected some trick.
We approached what seemed to be a gate. A man in a suite told us the same story and again a tuk-tuk was there to take us on the trip "for just 10 bath"(that's about 23 cents). Behind the man in the suite was sitting a serious looking military officer so I figured the guy was legit, and I was rude and so we hopped on the tuk tuk.
The first stop was the standing Buddha temple. The Buddha there is very impressive and we were glad we went. Then the driver took us to a tailor without us asking. The Tailor shop looked very professional, and the prices were higher then average, which gave the whole place a serious feeling. Until we said we are only shopping around and will not buy anything. The salesman became agitated, refused to give us a written offer and pretty much threw us out. The next stop was not a temple, but a jewelry shop.
We got offered a fake pearl necklace for 175 euro. Hurray. We didn't want to offend anyone by calling the fake by its name so we just said it was expensive and that we needed to think about it. The saleswoman was quite good at pushing."We are only open to foreigners today", followed by "Buy for wife(Paula) as Christmas present", then "If you not have cash we take credit cards". Unfortunately for Ms pushy, both Paula and I are quite good at haggling. So we left without buying anything. We told our driver no more shops, we want temple. To our surprise he took us to one.
It was the golden mount. The Golden Mount is an artificial hill, with a huge stupa at the top. Though the stupa itself is not that interesting, it is a great place to view the Bangkok skyline. By the time we got back to our tuk tuk it was after 13:30 so we were ready to go back to the Grand Palace. The driver however had other plans. He wanted us to go to a shop. We told him that no, we don't want to, and that if he refuses its fine, we will pay the 10 bath and find other means of transportation.
The driver would not be easily persuaded. He went first with the nice guy "Please help me, I get gasoline like that", followed by the angry "I waited for you why you not nice?!". We stood our ground so he just drove away, without taking his money. After getting over the initial surprise, we had a good laugh. We got a free tour around the city, spending a total of maybe 10 minutes in the shops, and the Palace was only 10 min walking away. We got the feeling we scammed the scammers!
On the way to the Palace 3 people tried to start talking to us by saying the palace is closed FROM 13:00, and as a final note we came across the first guy, who ignored us, and the guy in the suite who was just telling two Lebanese guys that the palace is closed from 13:00. We interrupted and informed them what he had told us earlier, the guy vanished in the background as we headed to what was the real entrance. Eventually we didn't go into the Palace that day as by the time we arrived we had but one hour to explore it, so we decided to go back another day.
Our next few days in Bangkok have been quite full. We saw the palace, and some huge shopping centers. We went to see a movie, which quite amusing because before the film start everybody stands up and a short video with pictures of the king is shown!
We also gave up on tuk-tuks and taxis. Taxi running on a meter turned out to be cheaper then a tuk-tuk, only most of them try to scam you by driving in a very indirect route. So we did the only thing left, we took the bus. That turned out to be a great idea, because quite frankly, they are incredible easy to use, ride frequently, and there are so many of them, you almost never need to change buses no matter where your going.
Bangkok was fun, but I really wanted to get my ass on some beach. and so on the 21 of December we boarded the night bus to Krabi, with the plan to spent xmas on Raily beach. The lonely planet describes it as the most beautiful beach in Thailand. A friend of ours (Yes Aharale I mean you!) spent a whole month there and was totally in love with it. To say we had high expectations would be an understatement.
As high as out expectations were, the disappointment was way bigger. The surrounding is amazing, but the beach itself is pretty standard. There were only red, fat drunken English, sometimes with their red, fat annoying kids. Garbage was everywhere. And as a final piece everything was crazily over expansive. Every hotel claimed to be full, except for the one room they could show us. Then another room became magically available after we refused the first. You get the general idea.
After 3 long agonizing hours on Raily we left. I have located on the lonely plant a much promising little island, called Ko Bulon Lae. It was only another day's traveling away! Paula didnt know if she loved me for pulling her from Raily or hated me for making her travel another day. The next day at noon, when we finally got to Bulon Lae she knew she loved me. We found azure water, white yellow beach, and an amazing little island. Bulon Lae is quite small, with only a few resorts to stay in. And when I say resort I mean a couple of bungalows and a small restaurant/bar/reception. it was perfect!
We had a great time on Bulon Lae. We ate well, we had a nice snorkel trip, we ate well, we hung on the beach. Oh and the food was really good. We spent 6 days on that small charming Island then moved on to Ko Tarutao national park.
The national park contains several islands, the biggest of which is Ko Tarutao. The place most people end up in, however, is Ko Lipe, which is where we went to. We were planning on using Ko Lipe as a spring board to one of the park's other islands, Ko Adang. We were under the impression this island would be almost completely deserted. We were planning on having a new year's eve all alone. Were we ever wrong.
Thailand it seems share the same months as we do, only their calendar year is different. So when we have new year, they to, have new year. The Island's only camp site was packed full of Thai people. We came there with a water supply, food, and cooking material, only to be confronted by some bungalows and a restaurant. Oh well. It was not what we expected but we had a blast. Most amazing of all was the snorkeling there. We saw a sea turtle! It was so lovely, so beautiful, and as we found out later so very rare. Camping there was great. Our tent was right on the beach, which was beautiful. We had a campfire right next to the sea every evening. It was a lot of fun, and it gave us both a lot of energy. On the 2nd of January we moved back to Lipe.
Lipe, smaller then Bulon Lae is much more touristic. It has some great beaches, and very nice restaurants. It also has some diving schools offering dives in the national park. After debating about it for around 5 seconds we decided to take a diving trip. Man was it worth it. The visibility was great, the corals were great, and we saw some wonderful marine life. A pack of Barracudas and a Lion fish are my favourites.
Yesterday we left Ko Lipe and Thaliand and got to Malaysia. We will be spending the next couple of days in Georgetown, then Kula Lumpur, before our return to Thailand for some final beaches and some shopping.
Cambodia Experience
Our last day in Siem Reap we went to the floating village. The place is an interesting place and some proof of human adaptation. The lake, in which the village floats, has a huge difference in water level between the seasons. To compensate for this houses were built on bamboo rafts so they move with the water level. It really is fascinating to see how people live on what is almost a scene out of "Water World", well without the bad acting. And at a lower budget. Fishnet bellow the house, boats serving as a mini-market floating around. It's an ado to human adaptation, at least as I see it.
Then we left for Phnom Phen. Stayed a night and left for Kratie. If you haven't heard the name, don't be surprised. Its a small town with nothing much in it. But its on the Mekong next to where the Irrawaddy dolphins live. For those of you who don't know it, its sweat water dolphins. We found a hotel we thought was pretty good, went for diner and then to bed. then it became interesting.
We were sitting with our books when we both noticed small animals jumping on our books. I didn't give it a second thought and dismissed it as some weird tropical bug. Paula however, being the keen biologist that she is, recognized them as flees. "I am not sleeping in a bed with flees!". So I went to the reception and tried to explain to the non-english-capable-staff that we had flees. I got a bottle of shampoo. I tried again. This time I was more successful in getting through that it was, in fact, some sort of bug. So I got a bug spray. I tried to explain this doesn't kill flees but failed miserably. At this point one of the small crowd that has gathered around me had the brilliant idea of actually calling someone who can speak English. With this new translator I got through that it was actually flees that we were facing. The staff was not convinced, they wanted to see the flees for themselves. And so back to the room we went: me, the translator, and 3 staff members. Of course it was next to impossible to see any flees. They also said they had no room available. When we said we would leave, a room became available.
It also had flees. even more so. enough for me to show the stuff. So late at night, with the whole town closed we went into the street, bags and all and hurried to the first hotel we found, which luckily was around the corner. It didn't have flees. It did have air-co, and double the price. But we figured it beats getting flees.
After our nightly escapade we were all ready to see some dolphins. After a short motor ride we got to the dock, where we hired a boat, and a guide and went dolphin searching. It was wonderful to see them. There is just something about dolphins that make me feel all warm inside. we spent about 3 hours looking around with dolphins popping up close and far, in pairs, solo. We even got to see them play here and there. It was an uplifting experience in all manners. After that Cambodia seemed like a much nicer place. The next day we went back to Phnom Phen and I prepared myself mentally for our following day in Phnom Phen. We will be going to Tuol Slang, a.k.a. S-21 and the killing fields.
It was even more difficult than I imagined. S-21 was a school before it was transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. more then 17,000 people were sent there during the two years of the Khmer rouge regime. 6 walked out. It is a horrible place. Even now, after 30 years it seems like you can feel the pain and horror echoing back from the walls that once where home for children's dreams. The people were not executed in S-21. Instead they were set on trucks and sent to a field about 15km outside of Phnom Phen. Hence the name. It is as of yet unclear how many of these killing fields actually exist. It is a surreal experience to wonder the peaceful groove, full of trees and small holes. to think of the horrors that took place there. People were not shot, because bullets costs money. They were punched to death. Mothers watched as their babies were slammed into trees until they died. Then the mothers were mascaraed.
I do not want to go into it any further. Instead I wish to note two more things about the place. In S-21 there are paintings made by one of the prisoners. the painting were comissioned by the wardens to describe the different types of torture. One of the paintings shows a method of torture which has been on the news lately, the so called "Water Boarding". the method the America administration claims is not torture.
The second is a sentence that was written on a wall in a cell block. "We cry about the past but do nothing for the present". Think about it.
The next day we took the bus from Phnom Phen to Bangkok. This time the border crossing went smooth. We got what we were promised. By 21:30 we were eating Masiman with rice in an alley of Khao San road.
The Angkor
There are few places in the world who's name alone is inspiring. The Angkor Wat is definitely one of those places. After spending 3 days there I can completely understand why. Angkor, the old capital of the Khmer empire is a huge complex. Its about 40 km from the north most temple ruins to the south most. In this big area there are hundreds of temples, the most known, and the biggest is the Angkor Wat.
It is quite hard to grasp just how immense it is. Unlike churches, it does not have one big hall. To understand how big it is one has to be standing outside it. As we understand it is the biggest religion building in the world.
The first two days in the Angkor we spend on bicycle, visiting the more central located temples. Aside from the Angkor Wat we visited the Bayon in Angkor Thom, Pre Rub, and some more less known temples. On a third day we took a TukTuk (3 wheeled taxi) for some temples that were far of.
The Angkor really grows on you. In the end of the third day we had a hard time saying goodbye. It is hard to explain in words just how magical the place feels. Walking in ancient temples, some reclaimed by man, some are still covered in jungle, you can completely loose yourself.
Gallery update
Gallery has been updated. New pictures are from our bike trip in the north of Thailand, the Angkor Wat and the floating village. As usual you need to log in to see pictures of Paula and or me.
Hope you enjoy them!
Cambodian border experience
Yesterday we crossed the Cambodian border, after falling victim to several scams in one ticket. We bought a fairly expansive ticket from Chiang Mai to Siam Reap(the city next to the Angkor Wat). We were promised to buses in Thailand and good buses in Cambodia. We didn't get the bus we were promised from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. A pickup truck brought us to a gas station where a bus, which looked like it was at least 20 years old, was waiting for us. Somehow it managed to reach Bangkok in time for our connection bus.
The bus from Bangkok to the border was even worse. We got picked up from a highway junction. The bus rattled and was pretty cramped. At the border they tried to scam us into paying twice the visa price. We also had to wait for about two hours at a restaurant while some guy went with most peoples passport, and their money to arrange said visas. We said we arrange it ourself at the border. When we got to the actual border we were lead, by one of the tour group people to the clerk where we could buy the visa. It said very clearly above him "tourist visa 20$, normal visa 25$". We knew from the lonely planet that tourist was 20 and business was 25. The guy from the tour company, and the clerk changed a few quick sentences, and it seemed then that it was 25$, because "a tourist visa is just for one day" Feeling we did the best we could we payed the extra 5$ each. One thing I'm sure of. I'm going to file an official complain with the tourist police as soon as we get back to Thailand. Its not that much money, viewed in the total budget of the trip, but it can really ruin your day, and there is no real reason for it. After waiting in line for 3/4 of an hour we were finally in Cambodia. Then we were made to wait with the whole group for a bus that would take us to Siem Reap.
We have heard about buses taking people to guest houses so the drivers can get commission, and after a short talk with the tour operator that accompanied us it became clear that we were gonna be on just such a bus. "I have no control over where he stops, I'm in the Thailand side" He the proceeded to cross the border with no passport and no problem. The scene on the Cambodian side is really something. It feels like the wild west, like no man's land. Lots of shady types walking around. You can almost smell the criminality in the air. I wanted to get out of there as fast as we could. Finally a bus came. It looked like it would break down any minute. Paula noticed all the "problematic people", that is those who tried to arrange the visa for themselves, were singled out to get on the bus, so she decided no matter what we are not getting on that bus. I reasoned that there are 25 people on the bus, there were only 7 problematic people in total. Paula insisted, and I, being the loving guy that I am, stood by her and refused to get on the bus. After argueing with a few people we were left to be, and the bus left. Another half hour passed and nothing happend. I decided it was time for me to take some action, so locating the nicest looking guy I walked over, with a big phony smile and asked very politly when the hell are we getting the fuck out of here. My exact words might have been somewhat nicer, but I think this better describe my feelings at the moment. "The other bus is broken so we need to see what happens, there might not be another bus today, but we will take care of you." I gave the guy 10 minutes to find out when, if at all, this mistery, maybe broken, bus is coming. Of course he didn't get back to me so after a quarter of an hour I walked to him, smiling a bit less, but still being nice, and asked again about transportation.
"Bus not coming, so I have arranged a Taxi for you" I heard a few minutes ago how some tried to stuff 8 backpackers in one regular 4 door car taxi. "How big is the taxi, and how many people will go in it?" I asked. "Regular car, with 4 people". I was getting a bit optimistic. a few minutes later a Toyota Camry pulled next to us and we were shown to it together with an American couple. After being told about 10 times the taxi has already been payed for we left for Siem Reap. There were still about 10 people waiting for transportation when we left. About 2 km from the border we passed the bus that Paula didn't want to take. It looked like it was broken. The passengers were outside, the driver was looking into the engine. I was so glad Paula decided we shouldn't take that bus. I have no idea if these people made it to Siem Reap that evening. At around 9 pm we got to Siem Reap, after 26 hours of traveling. It took us a few tries but we found a nice guest house to stay in and so here we are.
I consider myself an experience traveler. I have crossed border cross land before, and I have never had it as bad as the Cambodian border. I really was on the verge of just saying "Fuck it, lets go back to Thailand and do Malaysia instead."It felt like you were being smuggled into Cambodia by the Mafia. The worst part is, that the Cambodian government is keeping it like that thanks to a certain airway company bribing a certain official to keep this statues quo as long as possible. You can guess why I'm sure. Siem Reap luckily has done a bit to repair the damage done by the border crossing. The people are nice and polite, though the tuktuk drivers jump you whenever you so any sign of an intention to move from one place to another.
Tomorrow we are gonna start exploring the Angkor Wat. We really are looking forward to it.
Chiang Mai and the north
The north of Thailand, so much to do so little time. Like I wrote earlier we had to narrow it down. We knew we had about a week so we devised a plan to fill the days as best we could.
The first day was dedicated into what, in my opinion, is one the best things in Thailand . Thai food. The Thai kitchen is incredibly rich in taste and has a fresh feeling to it. we both are great fan of Thai food so we decided its time we knew how to make some ourself. The first lesson was the material so we went to the local market for a fast lesson on the different sort of rice, noodle, vegetables and meat that goes into Thai dishes. After some shopping we got a ride to the school. The class was smallish (about 8 of us) so there was enough time for individual attention. Our teacher was really funny, mostly because of the way he laughed at his own jokes. at least once every 5 minutes he would tell a joke, which non of us understood, but he had to laugh so hard at his own jokes it was really funny. Cooking was fun to. we learned how to make home made Curry, and how to cook several dishes (Yes Aharle we learned to make Massman). We even cooked adventure style. That is set fire to the food in the wak. At the end of the day we had the pleasure of eating what we cooked. To our surprise it actually tasted remotely like real Thai food, which for a first time, made us both quite happy. It also filled us up very well. With a full stomach we rolled into our guest house to book a 3 day trek. They were a few people short so they said they will let us know in the morning if we are leaving or not. Hoping for the best but expecting the worse we made a backup plan of going downhill mountain biking instead. The trek didn't go through the next morning, "But tomorrow we go for sure" we were promised. So we went mountain biking.
And boy was that fun. We both have mountain biked before, but never really did hard core downhill. Somehow we got ourselves into an advance level path, which is parallel to black slopes in winter sports. We got body armor, helmets, knee and elbow protection. At this point Paula was starting to get stressed. Then our guide started talking about all the bad things that could happen. It didn't really help that, being an American he probably over exaggerated a lot of things. Paula was starting to get real doubts about our ability to finish this route in one piece. We got on the bike, and then things really got worse.
The first part of the route must have been the most evil piece of terrain I have ever tried to negotiate with a bike. Hell, it looked so evil I would have thought twice before attempting it on foot. Roots, logs, rocks, in all shapes and sized. And this on a 30 to 40 degree angel. Luckily for me I had quite a good bike (some sort of downhill mongoose bike that were real heavy duty) so I successfully negotiated the terrain. Paula had the misfortune of having a crappy bike, with a front brake that could be either off, or full on. Combine that with the fright she got from our guide, and you see her situation. Just as we were considering maybe we did take a bite to big for us to chew, the route became much friendlier. That hellish descent, the first part of the route, is ,as it turned out, the worst part. We got on a few dirt roads, then some more hard core descents, but nothing as long as that first part. By the end of the day I was feeling quite confident on the bike. And my arm muscles hurt like hell.
All those downhill mountain bikers in movies, they all have thick muscular arms. I always figured it was part of having a sporty life, or going to the gym. I had no idea how hard your arms are actually working when doing serious downhill mountain biking. I figured it would be like snowboarding. Just try not to fall while gravity does the rest. By the end of the day my shoulders were done, but man was it fun! Paula also had a blast. Despite the rotten start. I cant wait to try it again. Maybe throw in a few ramps for jumps next time.
When we got back to the guest house we heard there were still not enough people to go to the trek tomorrow. "But the day after tomorrow we go for sure". Having heard that before we decided to take matters into our own hands. We sat down with the lonely planet and chose what we really wanted to see in the north of Thailand. We made a 4 day plan, and the next morning we got up, checked out and rented a motorbike for four days.
At first I was considering renting a dirt bike, to enable us to go off road. But with a passenger, and a fairly large bag it would have been nothing short of madness. So we got ourselves a chopper. At least as far as choppers go in Thailand. You see, here its all small engines so our 400cc Honda Steed was a real heavy motorcycle. I have to admit the bike impressed me in a very positive way. With lots of torque at low revs, it had no problem negotiating the steep climbs we faced.
We first headed to the northward to Chiang Dao, to visit holly caves. The caves are host to a Buddha temple, and are nice to see as a natural phenomena. From Chiang Dao we headed east towards Pai, where we planned on spending the night. The road is only 200km but it took us over 4 hours to complete, an it had nothing to do with the road quality. This road, and the road we will be taking for the next 3 days were really bike heaven. Lots of curves, lots of hairpins, it was a lot of fun to ride. Paula was also having a blast. A chopper doesn't only give the passenger more comfort, it also sets him quite high, which meant she could see more then the back of my helmet.
The next day, we drove from Pai to Mae Hong Son. On the way we stopped at the Coffin caves. Inside this rather large cave complex coffins have been found which have been dated back to 1200-2200 years ago. It is still unclear who made them, but the small number of them suggests it was reserved for very specific individuals. The coffins are very long logs (5-9m in length) cut in the middle lengthwise, then hollowed out (basically resembling a long, round canoe) and suspended on logs. The whole experience of caving and ancient relics is quite exciting I have to admit. To get around in the cave one must use a boat. This adds even more to the sense of adventure and exploration when visiting the cave. Unfortunately, all this also means a lot of people come to visit. For the first time in our trip we were surrounded by tourists, most of whom, to my surprise were Israelis. That did damage the experience a bit, but it was still amazing. At sunset we arrived at Mae Hong Son.
Our third day was spent in the area of Mae Hong Son. We started by going with a boat to a Karen long neck tribe village. The experience was not quite what I had expected. for some reason I was expecting a quite, almost intimate meeting with the tribe. What I got was a street market which happened to be run by women, some of them are long neck. Don't get me wrong, it is very interesting to see these people, and to hear about their customs. There was however not a lot of reality in it. As soon as they spot a camera they switch to posing mode. So catching them natural is quite the challenge. Seeing then acting naturally is also not easy, but we finally manged, thanks to Paula, and her passion for kids. After taking a snap of a kid she showed him the picture she made. She then proceeded to try and teach him how to make a picture with the camera. Within 10 seconds she was surrounded by kids, all trying to make pictures and view them, at the same time. It was wonderful to see. The tribe's people around also were amused. It helped dismiss a bit of the stiffnes you felt by them when you were approching. After that, Paula managed to get some better shots of the tribes people.
We got back to town hopped on the bike and went to visit the summer palace. While actually locating the palace grounds we failed to actually find the palace in it. We pretyt much covered all the roads inside but there was no palace to be found. There was however a nice collection of animals that would not shame any medium scale zoo. Included in that collection is a miniature leopard. Sizing at about 1.2m long, it looks more like a house cat on steroids with a cool fur. Until he opens his mouth. Damn there are some sharp teeth inside. Resisting the urge to try and reach inside to pet them, we got back on the bike and continued to a village on the Lao border. The village, is known for its tea plantations (recently before that it was for the opium). Drank a cup of tea and started heading back to Mae Hong Son. We nearly froze.
You think of Thailand you think of warm, and sun. Well we found out the north can be quite cold. The night at Pai the temperatures dropped to 10 degrees. But at least we weren't riding. Now the temperature was going in that direction, while we were on the bike. It took me 10 minutes in a hot shower to feel all warm again.
On the last day we woke up quite early as we needed to cover all the distance back to Chiang Mai in one day. Expecting the cold we wore all our cloths. We looked like stuffed teddy bears, but at least we weren't cold. On the way to Chiang Mai, we stopped at the top of the highest mountain in Thailand, measured at 2565m. Getting to the top is a matter of following the road there. We arrived in Chiang Mai in time for diner.
Traveling on a bike has proven to be lots of fun. Although non of the paths we took are unique, doing them on a bike is quite rare. We got a lot of friendly waves and smiles from locals, and a lot of attention from kids on the way. Being on a bike puts you out there with the people, not closed inside a box. If it gets cold, you feel it. If it rains, you get wet. Then again, people notice you more, and you get a lot more contact with the people and the surrounding.
The tale of crossing the Cambodian border will be told in the next post.
Oh and once again, gallery has been updated.
A trip through the capitals
Diving has not been to me all that I had expected it to be. I was actually waiting for my mind to be blown away, all my old hobbies forgotten and a new obsession to be introduced. Instead what I found was a charming, relaxing experience that offers very little in the adrenaline department, but a lot on the animal viewing department. I did not expect me to get all excited about seeing a shark. Its just a really large fish after all. Yet, when I did see a shark, from quite close by actually, I was excited. Not in fear mind you, but in awe. The movements so strong and sure, a creature in total dominance of itself and its surrounding. It really was all that and more. Diving has not proven to be my new adrenaline shot, but in a sense it is something better. Something that I can't quite get in any other sport.
After finishing the course we started our trip north, with our final stop Chiang Mai. On the way we passed through all the capitals of Thailand, old and new.
From Koh tao we travelled to Bangkok. It was not our intention to stay there, just to spend the night as a stop on our way north. In the morning we were confronted, for the first time in Thailand, by tourist hassles. We wanted a taxi or a tuktuk to the bus station. No taxi would take us with the meter. they all wanted a flat price of 300 Bath (around 6 euro). Having travelled before we knew that means the price is way to high, so after walking a bit further from the tourist area, we found a taxi that would take us with a meter. It was 91 Bath to the bus station. Two hours later we were in Ayutthaya, the old capital, and the seat of power for the Siam kings.
Ayutthaya is not a pretty place, but it has around 400 temple ruins spread amongst its modern houses. Some of these are nothing more then a low square wall about 3 meter long and 3 meter wide. Others are tall Stupas and Prangs. To manage to see most of it, we rented a scooter. I have had a motorcycle before so I knew how to drive with gear. These scooters have a gear box that feels like it was made to be used with slippers. Instead of the usual small lever, there is a pedal for shifting up, and one for shifting down, making it easy to shift with sandals. Luckily because man it was hot! I have not had shows on since we left china. The temples of Ayutthaya have been quite impressive and by the day's end we managed to see pretty much all that we wanted. so we headed north to Lopburi.
Lopburi is a small town. It has nothing really going for it, except once a year. They have a lot of monkeys there. Once a year top chefs from Bangkok cook a king's meal for the monkeys, who ravage the tables set for them. That's what we came to see, and it was worth passing by for. Those of you who remember our trip in Kenya know we had a run with monkeys in the past, so we were more careful these time. They are wild animals, and they really have big teeth. Seeing a monkey trying to open a can of Coke is actually quite amusing. And seeing them running around with pasta in their mouth is hilarious. We left the same day.
Arriving finally in Sukothai, the even older capital of Thailand. It also has a lot of ruined temple and an impressive old city. Again we rented a scooter and went touring. The Ayutthaya temples were destroyed by the Burmese army in the 18th century, the Buddhas there beheaded. It was nice to finally see Buddha images with the head on. We also saw the biggest Buddha as of yet. 16m tall and 9m wide sitting Buddha. The sculpture is in a room just barely bug enough to hold it, making it look even bigger. It is quite impressive. In Sukothai we also learned about the different posture of the Buddha images, and what they all means. I was again confronted by just how little I know about eastern religion and believes. It is a shame, as Buddhism and Hinduism are both very large religions. I definitely should take some time to learn more about them.
Finally, having seen all the old capitals, we took the bus to Chiang Mai and here we are now. Chiang Mai has a lot to offer. So much in fact that we are taking a whole day just to decide what we want to do here. We want to take a cooking course, we want to ride mountain bikes, we want to trek, we want to raft, we want to see the hill tribes, we want ..., the list just goes on and on. Our time unfortunately, does not. So we will have to cut a few things out of the plan, trim some days of several activities, and find a way in between. In about one week we need to be heading into Cambodia.
Ill let you know how it all turned out 
Last, but not least, the gallery page has been updated. in the trip album ther eis an album called new. We will upload the new pictures here, moving them out each time before loading new pictures. This should make it easier to see which pictures are the newest.
Love
Kfir