From Melbourne to Thailand

Going to Melbourne felt a bit like going home. The city has a very European feel about it, reminding me a lot of London, with seperate boroughs, street restaurants and a very liberal feel. Also, I was there to meet up with Sarah, a friend from university who was living with her friend, Livvy, in a shared apartment for three months before they set off on their own tour of Australia and South East Asia. When I arrived I had a couple of hours to settle into my new hostel before Imet up with Sarah and Livvy for dinner. On the way we picked up their new found Melbourne friends Julius, from Kenya and Elliot from Kent. We made our way to a Korean chicken restaurant and ordered two giant platters of fried chicken which was far more delicious than I ever expected fried chicken to be.

The following day I went to Sarahs flat which was in central Melbourne right next to Flinders Street Station, which is a large yellow building that reminded me of the spa buildings in Budapest. At their flat I met Sydney born Max, another friend Sarah and Livvy had made since being in Melbourne. We all set off around town to the trail of the street art that the city is famed for. 

Afterwards, Max took us to a rooftop bar where we could take in the Melbounre skyline and share some summer sangria. 

On the 4th Sarah met me at my hostel and we went for breakfast nearby and walked to Fitzroy, an area of Melbourne which is the Melbourne equivalent of Shoredich. We had a very delicious coffee and headed back the the centre to meet Livvy, Elliot and Pablo, from Spain. We had lunch and watched some TV before making a move to the twilight market in Queen Victoria Market. We wandered around and had dinner from one of the many stalls and then head back to my hostel. 

That night Sarah won a free Fraser Island tour at the Irish bar we went to by wrapping Elliot up with tissue paper like a mummy. I walked back to my hostel in the freezing cold rain and had to sleep in a dorm with a man snoring very loudly AGAIN. Thank god for ear plugs.

The next day was the day I had set aside to sort out my Thailand 60 day visa, so after watching Homes Under The Hammer at Sarahs flat I set off to the Thai Consulate. On the way I had to have a passport photo taken at a chemist and I turned out looking like an alien, but I was beyond caring.  The lady behind the desk at the consulate looked unsure, which I assumed was to due to awful photo but it turned out that she was unsure whether they can get the visa finished in such a short amount of time but said that if I came back tomorrow they would try their best. Livvy and Sarah came to meet me at the Consulate and we got a tram to St.Kilda beach. We walked down the high street and had sushi (Sarahs first time) then headed to the beach, which after the beaches of the east coast was a little bit underwhelming and FREEZING! Regardless of the temperature, we ended up having a quick nap by the sea before having a look around the market in a nearby park and heading to Abbotsford for dinner. The dinner we choose to have was at a place called Lentil As Anything which was a vegetarian restaurant which was seriously delicious and, better yet, was pay-what-you-can. The majority of the staff there are voluntary which give the place a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We all had a starter, main and shared a dessert while the sky got darker then hopped in the tram back to the hostel for the night. 

The next day, after checking out of my hostel and moving my stuff to Sarahs flat for my final night, I headed back to the Thai Consulate to collect my visa, which thankfully had been done in time and then went back to the flat to watch some TV before we met Elliot and decided to check out someing called the Moomba Festival on the Southbank. It turned out just to be a tacky fair but it did boast a wakeboarding conpetition whcih we sat and watched for a while, and a giant fairground ride which Elliot and Sarah braved while me and Livvy watched on. We moved to Fitzroy to meet up with Phil and Max for a few drinks. We went to a really cool bar called The Black Pearl which played 1930-40s music and sat there for a few hours and talked until we couldn't deny that it was bedtime. 

On my last day in Melbourne I felt sad to be leaving, the city had been so much fun, very expensive, but I had really enjoyed getting to know it and spending time with Sarah and all the people she had met so far. We had a very lazy morning in the flat but managed to muster the energy to go to the shop to get some supplies for the picnic we had organised to go on with Max and Phil later that day. We met Phil and grabbed the tram to the Botantical Gardens. We waited for Max as long as we could before starting to eat the food and were then given a load of food by a group of people who were celebrating a birthday nearby. Max finally arrived and it wasn't long until Sarah and Livvy had to leave to get to their waitressing shift. It was strange to say goodbye to Sarah, not only because we had spent a lot of time and had a lot of fun together over the past few days but because I knew that she was the last person I knew for certain I would see from home until I got back to the UK in 9 months time. After they had left Phil, Max and I discussed the evils of the world, covering the crisis in North Korea and globalisation. We then went to have a look around the WW1 memorial, The Shrine Of Remembrance before heading back into the city.

I said goodbye to Phil in town and went with Max to change some money into Thai Baht then to find somewhere we could kill some hours before my flight out of Melbourne Airport. We walked through the city and into Chinatown and found an art gallery/bar where we had a cider. Max then took me to another bar called Croft Institute which was themed to look like a labartory/old psychiatrict hospital where we had a cocktail which you we encouraged to drink though a plastic syringe. 

We walked to the transport station said goodbye and I hopped on the airport shuttle bus and got to my airport with time to spare! My flight included a 6 hour stop-over at Kuala Lumpar then a short three hour flight to Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand. As we came into land we passed through a layer of what I assumed was fog but what I later found out was smoke from the burning forests this time of year. I caught a taxi to my hostel, Julie Guesthouse, which had been recommended to me by my friend Jess and rightly so because I liked it straight away. I was staying in a single private room for 180 baht a night which roughly equates to £3! I decided it would be a good idea to familiarise myself with the local area so went for a walk that evening and was lucky enough to walk right into the weekly twilight market which took place on the roads which winded pass delicious looking restaurants and some stunning temples, which seemed to be on every street. 

The next day was spent mainly relaxing and adjusting to the temparature, which was HOT. In the evening, once it had cooled down a bit I took part in a thai cookery course, learning to make 5 traditional dishes including Pad Thai, Spring Rolls, Thai Green Curry and Hot and Sour Soup. Even though I chose not to out much spice in the food, it still ended up being a bit too firey for me but I realised that if I am planning on staying in Asia until December I better get used to spice pretty soon! 

At the course I met a group of Gemans, a kiwi, an American, a Canadian and a Brit and we decided that that night we would go and see a ladyboy show. We travelled to the night market and it wasn't long until we spotted the eye-catching ladyboys ushering people into the show. 

We took our seats right at the front of the audience and enjoyed about an hour of lip-syncing, glitter, partial nudity and fabulousness sometimes having to remind myself that I was watching a group of men performing (although some of the acts certainly suspended the illusion better than others). We left the show and spent a couple more hours chatting in an Irish bar before calling it a night. 

On the 10th I had a dream come true. I finally got to get close and personal with some elephants! There are many elephant companies to choose from in Chiang Mai, and I can imagine in Thailand as a whole, but the one I chose (although it was slightly pricier) was called Elephant Retirement Park and was set up to look after elephants who were retired from work either in farming or entertainment. I decided to choose this one as you didn't ride the elephants, which can be done cruelly in some cases, and you got to have a mud bath with the animals at the end! We started the day by learning a bit about the 4 elephants they have there, one teenage boy, two 2 1/2 year olds and one big mamma who was actually in her final month of pregnancy. We then got meet the elephants, get hugs and very sloppy  kisses from them and feed them a ton of bananas. 

After that was lunch and a nap before we got to get muddy! The mud pool was full of deep thick clay mud which the people who worked there assured us was good for our skin. The elephants got in one by one and we covered them in mud as well as getting absolutely covered in mud oursleves (mostly by the workers playing tricks on the westerners). After the elephants were sufficiently covered we all lay down in the mud and had mud fights until it was time to wash ourselves and the elephants in the pond. (Photo below shows the moment one of the people who worked there dumped a load of mud right on my head)

The whole day was really magical and something that I have wanted to do for a long time. It was also really great to see the elephants being cared for so well and having such a nice connection with the local people who worked at the park. That evening I was so tired from all the excitement but had organised to meet up with the germans and go to the night market and a reggae bar. I bought a bracelet with an elephant pendant on it to remind me of the day and we played a very intense game of Jenga at the bar before I finally succum to my tiredness. 

I think I will pause there, even though a lot has happened since the tenth, as this post is turning out to be a mammoth read. I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless and I will attempt to write a new one as soon as I find the time, although time seems increasingly hard to find. I have said farewell to Australia, which will always hold a special place in my memory bank and sawadee ka to Thailand, a place which I can tell still has a lot to show and teach me, and that is bloody exciting!

Thank you very much for reading! 

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