As I write this I am in a minibus leaving Bangkok, which has to have been the most stressful time of my trip so far. Not only is Bangkok a hive of activity with cars, motorbikes, buses, coaches, tuc tucs and a scattering of people bustling and dodging eachother but I had my first minor crisis of the trip. But, I will get to that.
First of all I am glad to be able to talk about my much more relaxed time in Pai, a town north of Chiang Mai. Actually, to just describe it as 'north of Chaing Mai' would be simplifying the fact. It is actually a three and a half hour drive which involves a total of 762 turns as you assend and descend the mountains in a minibus with 10 other backpackers. My journey to Pai was a dramatic one sitting, as I was, next to an 18 year old boy from Luton with severe travel sickness and the hangover from hell. Luckily my role as nurse during the trip took my mind off the roads and, although the patient was as sick as a dog, I felt fine. We arrived in Chiang Mai and I had been informed that the hostel I had booked, Circus School Hostel, offered a free pick up service from the bus staion. As I sat waiting for the shuttle bus to arrive a local man approached me and said 'Circus School?'. I followed him and was shocked to find that there was no shuttle bus, only a dated moped, without much choice I jumped on the back with all my belongings and was taken through the town, across a bridge, up and hill and dirt track until we reached the hostel. I liked the hostel straight away, there was a big open outside space, two bamboo shaded areas and most importantly a irresistible infinity pool.
I checked in and was shown my bed in one of the bamboo dorm rooms. I decided to chill out at the hostel that evening, sitting in the shade reading my book (Wild by Cheryl Strayed) and saw Marilon and Jolijn, two dutch girls I had briefly met in Chiang Mai and who had recommended the Circus Hostel (the name of the hostel referring to the optional circus skill lesson that the people who worked at the hostel offered in the afternoons). I also met Omer, a guy from Birmingham/London and talked with them for a while before heading for an early night.
The next day I relaxed in the morning and warmed up after the surprisingly cold night and then headed with Marilon and Jolijn to a restuarant called Om Garden in town where we had an absolutely delicious lunch in a beautiful bohemian setting. The town of Pai has a very chilled/bohemian/hippy feel about it, which was perfect for me because I wanted a place where I could sort out my plan in my head and get adjusted to Thailand. I walked back to the hostel and sat by the pool to escape the dry heat. I can imagine that during different times of year the view from the pool is really breath-taking, stretching out to all of the surrounding mountains and jungle but, just like in Chiang Mai, the air was thick with smoke from the forest fires. This did however make for some stunning sunsets as the sun turned the smoke red as it dips behind one of the mountains. I bumped into Leena, a German girl I had also met at my hostel Chiang Mai and that evening a group of us head into town for dinner and to have a look at the night market.
The next morning I agreed to take Leena to Om Garden for breakfast, which was just as delicious as the lunch I had the day before. Leena and I decided that we would take her moped and travel to a river nearby that one of the guys at reception (who was originally from Brighton!) had recommended. After a 10 minute ride through the surrounding countryside and small towns we arrived at the spot.
It was made up of dozens of bamboo shacks built in the river which you could hire for the day and food stalls selling a variety of Thai street food. We relaxed by the river all day, reading, swimming and eating. The river was especially nice because it was a local attraction and so we were one of only two groups of westerns there.
There were also giant catfish in the river whoch you could feed and watch them all splashing around trying to grasp one of the small chunks of fish food. After a few hours there we head back to the hostel. That night there was an party going on in the jungle nearby and most of the people from the hostel were going. We arrived in the jungle and were supplied with the customary neon face paint and danced the night away, at one point Leena found herself being recruited as one of the bar staff! There were people from the hostel there doing fire poi and lots of trance music and it turned out to be a really fun night.
The next morning I stayed in bed for the morning, tired out from the night before. I spoke to Yoeri, from Holland, who had been travelling in South East Asia for a while and told me about the Philippines and Laos, two places I had not considered before, but after seeing his photos and hearing about the places he had seen I would love to fit into my year away. I then spent time relaxing by the pool with Leena again as this day one was of the hottest so far. That afternoon when the hostel got out all the circus equipment I had a go on the poi, which I hadn't done for quite a few years. Turns out that I can remember a couple of tricks and attempted to teach them to some other people. It was nice to do poi again and it reminded me of mum who had been really good at it and had taught me the tricks I was now teaching others. That evening Leena spontaneously decided she wanted to get her nose pierced, inspired by me she said. We walked into town and after trying nearly every tattoo shop, found one who did piercings. We had some street food for dinner at the night market, which, as always, was really tasty.
Leena and I had decided to move from our dorm rooms to a bamboo cabin at the hostel, which actually cost the same amount so we checked out the next morning then back in again and moved our stuff to our little cabin which was so cute!
We could not resist breakfast at Om Garden and so Leena, Jolijn and I went there. Jolijn had to leave to collect Marilon from the local hospital where she had been for the past two nights due to food poisoning she had got in Miramar three weeks previously. Leena and I walked around Pai and I did a bit of shopping, which I had successful avoiding until then. We bumped into Jolijn and Marilon later on who were going to book thier bus to Bangkok. I decided that I would go with them and book onto the same bus, knowing that I could easily stay in Pai forever and taking this as my cue to leave. I walked back to the hostel in the heat and got straight into the pool where I met Leena, Omer and Izzy and Leah from London, who had been in Sri Lanka previously and could not recommend it enough! That is another place to add to the ever-growing list! I skyped home in the evening as it was Mothers Day and spoke to everyone including my grandparents and cousin Oli before heading into town with a group of people from the hostel for dinner and a couple of delicious passion fruit mojitos at one of the bars in Pai.
In the morning Leena woke up early as she had decided to do a 10 day silent meditaton retreat in a temple nearby, something I wish I had the mental strength to do. At least I know that whenever she looks at her nose piercing she will remember beng lazy in Pai with me! I checked out not long after and after saying goodbye to people at the hostel I walked with my bag into Pai where I met Jolijn and Marilon for some breakfast before our looooooong coach journey to Bangkok (15.5 hours in total).
After a pretty restless journey we arrived in Bangkok at 6am and were greeted by the fast pace of city life which I had become completely unaccustomed to during my time in laid back Pai. Nearly instantly I was experiencing the dishonesty that I had been warned about. Taxi drivers asking for a ridiculous fare to get somewhere we knew was much cheaper. I sat with Jolijn and Marilon until their bus to Koh Chang and after a stressful few minutes dealing with taxi drivers who were trying to con me I managed to get a tuk tuk to the skytrain station and then a train to near my hostel. Finally I arrived there but was told that my room would not be ready for another 5 hours, so I had a much needed shower, sat and read my book and attempted to nap in the reception/social area before I heard someone saying 'why is that girl sleeping?'. At long last my room was ready and Islept until the evening. I met two American girls, Brittany and Amanda who I went to the hostel bar to have dinner and some drinks to celebrate St.Patricks day with. A group of us from the hostel then went to another bar, which was very expensive and up-market and then onto an Irish bar where there was a Thai Irish band, who despite the contradition of cultures were really good, although I definitely missed St.Paddys in London!
The next day, after a delicious mixed berry smoothie for breakfast I went with Brittany and Amanda to a giant mall (one of MANY in Bangkok) where I realised that I did not have my currency card, most probably leaving it in the atm in Pai the last time I had used it (the cash comes out before the card in ATMs here, a common mistake backpackers make). What made it worse was that I had forgotten the pin to my bank card, rendering useless as I held it in my hard squeezing my eyes shut to try and trigger my memory. Brittany and Amanda suggested that we go for a boat ride along the river and I agreed that there was nothing I could do about my card at that moment so I might as well see some of the city. We got a taxi and walked through a market until we found a ferry pier where we paid 40baht (less than a pound) for a trip down the river to central station, passing the grand palace, some of the famous temples and the skyscrapers that Bangkok has to offer.
After the trip I returned back to the hostel and emptied my bag, desperate to find my card, but with no luck. I skyped my dad who helped me cancel the card and see what we could do. I requested my pin to be sent to my home address and researched where my local western union was. I watched some Alan Partridge on YouTube to confort myself, knowing that I only had 200baht (£4) in my purse. Just before I went to sleep my dad skyped me to tell me that Alice had managed to find the place I had written down my pin for my bank card! Elated, I settled down for bed and slept happy in the knowledge that I could access my money!
So here I am, a survivor of my first minor crisis. During the stress of thinking I had no money, I really questioned my ability to do this for a whole year. If I couldn't even look after one plastic card how could I look after myself? But, in the end, I have realised that this is what travelling is about. It isn't just about washing elephants, eating delicious food and meeting great people but about overcoming challenges. This time around I was very lucky to have my dad on the other end of the line helping me through it but hopefully over the course of the next year I will learn to rely less on my family and more on my own abilities. This will be one of the most valuable lessons I could learn from my time away. So yes, it was stressful, but with a bit of confidence, common sense and Alan Partridge I'll get through it and be able to enjoy all the experiences I have waiting for me.
Thank you for reading! x
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