The Road To Mandalay

It was a  brief stay back in Bangkok at the very odd Honey Hotel, where breakfast was included but bizarrely just for one of us. Perhaps they weren’t used to a married couple staying there as it was mostly full of 50-something, single, fat, western blokes looking for a special Thai massage or a wife. The free tourist magazine was interesting as you could easily book a three night stay on a tropical island or just settle for a ladyboy.

Cheap feast on the streets of Rangoon

We had an early morning start with a march through the hectic streets of Bangkok laden with backpacks, squeezed onto the  rush hour skytrain and finally a taxi to the airport for our flight to Burma. Strangely there’s a half hour time difference between Thailand and Burma.
 

We arrived at our utterly unremarkable hotel in the capital city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, a chaotic city compared with the efficient organised chaos of Bangkok. Despite the country being open once again to tourists, they obviously still receive very few as most pairs of eyes were firmly fixed on us with either a continued piercing  stare or fits of giggling. Odd really, coming from the men and women who both wear skirts.

However we dived straight in with a street corner feast of egg curry and fried rice accompanied by about six other dishes that we didn’t order whilst  sat on a children’s size plastic table and chairs, but still the whole thing came to a little over £1.50.
 

Travelling around independently here is virtually impossible  so we decided to let Exodus take the strain on this one as we’re more than happy to have someone tell us where to go, what to eat and when to breathe for a change. They’re an English tour company who specialise in organised tours and the only drawback is our social skills have been somewhat under used for the past six months but on Sunday afternoon we meet up with a group of 16 others from England who will be our best friends for two weeks.

With our new buddies in tow we'll set off around this fascinating country to explore Pagan with its 4000 temples, the evocatively named Mandalay and Inle Lake, home to the famous leg-rowing fisherman.

 

No Woman No Cry.....

It's a tough life on Koh Kood

Legs outstretched on the powder white sand in the shade of a towering coconut palm, we contemplated the following morning’s options. Should we paddle the kayak gently upstream from our riverside bungalow to the waterfall for an early morning swim before breakfast on the balcony or should we head downstream to the warm, turquoise sea and swim there?

This was proving to be more difficult than we’d anticipated so we dragged ourselves off to the riverside coffee shop in search of some  inspiration. By the time we’d indulged in some banana cake topped with homemade yoghurt and some sticky rice with fresh mango topped with coconut milk, we’d completely forgotten why we went there in the first place.

Surrounded by paradise, this is the extent of the daily dilemmas that we face and do we feel guilty about it? No. After all its taken us more than six months to get here so we're lapping up every minute of it.

It was just a thirty minute speedboat ride from Koh Mak to its big sister island of  Koh Kood where we spent six days, just enough time to explore on a moped, kayak up the river, frequent several of the beautiful beaches, consume vast amounts of Thai curry and visit a really cool reggae bar who’s strapline was, ‘ no woman, no cry, no wi-fi’.

After two fabulous weeks on these two islands we were inevitably a little sad to leave but a quick trip to Burma for three weeks is the only thing standing in the way of another huge slice of Thailand island life. But it was time to head back to Bangkok to the suspiciously named Honey Hotel, then its off to Burma before our brains turn into  a big bowl of sticky rice.                                                                     

Thailand Images (so far)

Far too much time on our hands

The 46m long reclining Buddha

Wat Pho, Bangkok

Vanessa and friends

Grand Palace, Bangkok

Grand Palace, Bangkok

Buddhist monks, Bangkok

Vanessa at the Grand Palace, Bangkok

Sunset on Koh Mak

Koh Kham's white sand beach

Ampawa floating night market

Thailand's Islands

Just gorgeous....and Vanessa too

Deserted, flour like sandy beaches with gin clear, bath warm water, cheap accommodation and arguably the most delicious food in the world for less than £2. What’s not to like about Thailand?

We've been busy completing a list of important things to do here which works on a sliding scale starting from nothing , working all the way up to bugger all. At the moment we're about midway between the two but we have had some important decisions to make during the day. Where are we eating tonight but more importantly, is it going to be green, red or yellow Thai curry?                                                     

The stunning beach at Koh Kham

           It was a taxi, bus, taxi, boat, taxi combo from Bangkok to reach the lovely quiet island of Koh Mak near the eastern border with Cambodia. Scattered with small beach resorts with various priced huts, a few restaurants,  a few beaches and a moped to get around the virtually car less roads was just perfect for us. Just a five minute boat ride away was the private island of Koh Kham with sand so white and fine and water so clear, we felt like waving the last boat away so that we could sleep there. A week of this before heading off to the neighbouring island of Koh Kud, our list of important things to do firmly grasped in our hands.

Bangkok

The floating market

The swift three day visit to Sydney ended with a 9 hour flight to Bangkok in Thailand, our fourth country in  eight days so we were ready to take things just a little bit easier. There was no chance of that.

Bangkok is huge, crowded, chaotic, stiflingly hot, with modern, efficient skytrains and undergrounds whizzing commuters and tourists all over the city, from massive and unbelievably designed shopping malls to stunning ancient palaces and temples. In the midst of all this are thousands of smiling street vendors creating the most delicious food at ridculously cheap prices, and an equal number of fat, bald, 50-something westerners with a Thai bride, girlfriend, hooker, ‘gaysian’, ladyboy on their arm. Scarily its quite difficult to tell the difference. It’s a fascinating and invigorating city, perfect for people watching and a complete assault on the senses.

Our main aim was to obtain our Burmese visas so we immediately had to delve into the fast pace and negotiate the sophisticated train system to drop in our application and then experience the city for a few days whislt we waited to collect it.

Worship at the reclining Buddha

Asian markets are fascinating places to visit and Bangkok has some exceptional ones. The weekend market is a maze of 15,000 stalls selling just about everything, mostly food, where you can buy a tasty Thai curry and jasmine rice for as little as 60 pence. The floating night market at Ampawa is a beautiful place where little old Thai ladies on their cramped long tail boats, cook up the most delicious seafood and serve it to the queue of hungry people sat on the riverbank. The strangest market of all though is the train market, which quite logically you would think is a market on a train. Not quite. It acually spreads across the railway line where the awnings meet to form a narrow covered walkway just above your head. It only becomes strange when you discover that eight times a day a train passes through so eight times a day the whole market has to be moved and moved back again to let the train somehow squeeze past. 

After five months of South American food Vanessa was in Thai food heaven so every evening we immersed ourselves into the smells and tastes coming from every street corner but we did drag ourselves off to bar one evening called The Iron Fairies which was described as ‘a disused iron fairy works in Paris circa 1912’. Small, dark and dingy but miraculously still enough room for a five piece jazz band. It was a bizarre night.

We collected our Burmese visas but before leaving Bangkok we paid a visit to the Grand Palace set in stunning grounds with ancient temples at every turn. The biggest attraction though is the massive, golden reclining Buddha, stretching 46m long and 15m high.

We loved Bangkok, but 24 consecutive days in cities was taking its toll.  Thailand’s islands were calling us.

 

 

Sydney Images

The infamous Bondi Beach

Darling Harbour

Coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee Beach

Sea pool at Bondi Beach

Vanessa after her bridge climb

Sydney Harbour

Circular Quay

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Vanessa begins her climb

Our last night in Sydney

Chile & Argentina Images

Spectacular flight over The Andes

Arty Santiago, Chile

Santiago, Chile

Fantastic graffiti in Santiago, Chile

Death Valley, Chile

Death Valley, Chile

Death Valley, Chile

Salta, Argentina

Purmamarca, Argentina

Vanessa on Argentina's salt flats

Argentina

Tilcara, Argentina

Humahuaca, Argentina

Australia...Reflections

Vanessa climbs Sydney Harbour Bridge

Some seventeen years ago we were fortunate enough to visit Australia so this time around it was no more than a quick three day stopover, primarily so that Vanessa could achieve her ambition to climb to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge which you weren’t able to do back then.

Continuous sunshine and 28 degrees centigrade made it perfect conditions for her midday climb. With no pre-match nerves, sporting a cheeky little boiler suit , cap and headphones, she was off and  managed it with ease. A fantastic achievement in such a stunning location.
 

We’ve always had magical memories of Sydney but this time it seemed to be even better. Everything is spotless, modern, easy to get around and then of course there’s the harbour with the ‘bridge’ and the iconic Opera House. We walked for miles and miles with nothing but admiration at everything we saw. Darling Harbour,  a wonderful place to stroll around in the evening, Manly Beach which is just a short ferry ride across the harbour giving fantastic views, and then there’s the world famous Bondi Beach which just had to be sat on for a while. From there we walked a beautiful coastal route passing more glorious beaches, Matamara, Bronte and finally Coogee Beach.

It truly is one the world’s greatest cities and must be an incredible place to live. Our only drawback was that we had no spare money to enjoy any of the vast number of bars, cafes and restaurants as everything is so expensive, but we barely noticed.

DAYS SPENT:   4

TRANSPORT:  1 plane, 1 train, 3 buses, 1 ferry,

NUMBER OF PLACES WE STAYED:  1 hostel

ITEMS LOST/BROKEN:  none

FAVOURITE EATERY:  Coles supermarket and their own brand stuff

WILDLIFE SPOTTED: no koalas, no kangaroos, 2 water dragons

TOURS TAKEN:  Vanessa’s climb to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY:  Coles supermarket