The Thai Mountains

6th to 11th September - Pai & Chiang Mai

We arrived in Chiang Mai and got ourselves onto the minibus heading to Pai, even further into Northern Thailand, we never originally intended on heading this far but with previously meeting up with Jenna and Josh, we wanted to continue with their route. The 3-4 hour journey was not only the best luxury public transport we've had so far but the views were amazing, mountains surrounded us whilst the clouds rolled through these huge valleys. This to me felt like the real Thailand, the Thailand i'd seen millions of photographs of and where i wanted to be. We jumped out of the minivan at the main market in Pai, i'd read about it being a great night time market with shops, food and bars. First thing we noticed was absolutely zero pestering. Not one person came and tried to sell us something, it was a far cry from Bangkok... Thank god. Jenna and Josh headed off to their own accommodation whilst Ben passed me his phone and i rang ours. To my surprise the guy was English! Turns out he's from Brighton so getting picked up was nice and easy. That first night we were starving and ventured down the hill where our new home was and into town, down the hill however, there must of been a pack of like 15 dogs. During the day they're harmless but at night time, they follow you, barking and at times its a bit unsettling! I kept thinking, just you wait, tomorrow we'll have scooters and you won't go for me then! The next morning thats exactly what we did and from then on, they stayed at a distance haha.
     The scooters here seemed great due to the vast countryside which was filled with little gems, the first day with them we travelled out towards a waterfall, where after a small walk we were knee deep in water exploring and then grabbed some food at 'Strawberry Farm', didn't have any strawberries but it was definitely the best pad thai i'd had so far! Getting towards the late afternoon we had heard of Thom's Elephant Camp, a local lady who's family had cared for elephants over several generations. I'm usually very wary of anything involving elephants as i think they belong in the wild, end of. However this appeared to be a well kept place that genuinely cared for the elephants. It was completely free to go stroke them and throw some bananas straight into their mouths, entertained us for a good 20 minutes before one of the ladies there told us that the elephant here, whilst pointing to one in particular, will pick you up. Surprisingly with not much peer pressure Robin decided he would volunteer as tribute and off he walked towards the elephant and within a split second it had wrapped its trunk around his legs, dragged him into the air and began placing Robin in his pen. All at the same time me and the guys had broken down in laughter as Robin furiously grabbed at anything in distance to 'save' him from impending doom. The elephant placed him down reasonably safely as the woman ran in to try and help and before long the elephant then tried to pick her up, it was all far too much for us and tears were almost shed on my part from laughter. I'll always remember that time when Robin almost got eaten by an elephant. The next day we relaxed a little more and simply drove around on the scooters for most of the day before trying to find somewhere to watch sunset, we struggled at first trying to find a good spot but finally settled on an open valley where you could see a storm rolling in across the distant mountains, not a bad view at all.
     The next day i began to deteriorate, i had a reasonably dodgy tasting chicken roti the night before and wasn't feeling great so sat around for the first half of my day, later on the guys had come back and decided to do nothing at all so me, Ingham and Robin headed off to do Pai Canyon, a walk everyone recommended doing if you're in the area. It was fairly awesome, the views were great and half of the hike was more like rock climbing as the path was incredibly thin at points and it dropped down then back up again. We watched sunset which was unfortunately quite underwhelming then shot back on the scooters as it got dark. That night i got worse and worse, turns out i'd got another bad stomach and it kept me in a horizontal position for the final two days of Pai. With our time there done we set back off in the air-con minivan back to Chiang Mai for our final day before heading South and with me still in poor shape we only went out for some food, but it was still eventful to say the least, we saw a sign for a buffet after a near 20 minute walk from our hotel and like eager kids we ran in, paid and got sat down only to realise that we had to cook everything ourselves. Challenge accepted. But it went wrong fairly quickly, all the meats, definitely cut off, were laid out with noodles, rice etc and we just picked up a tray of foods and began boiling our meats. Yes boiling. It was all we had, a pot of water and we had to make do. In all honesty i tried to stay out of the cooking but the guys pulled it off somehow and the food was reasonable. I pretty much just stuck to two bowls of rice since i thought i was dying from the inside out. I'd really enjoyed Pai but can't say i really experienced Chiang Mai, it seemed like too much of a built up city and thats why we didn't give it much more time.

 Having a break from the bikes at Strawberry Farm

 My interesting protection for several days!

 The walk down to a waterfall we found

 Finally a group shot!

 My favourite and only good elephant photograph so far

 Watching the storm come in over the Pai mountains

 Pai night market

 The dodgy, thin path up Pai Canyon

 A hike wouldn't be complete without some climbing

Not great light but at least we saw a sunset at the top!

Bangkok Has Us Now...

1st to 5th September - Bangkok

We arrived in Bangkok one night before Robin, Ingham and Ronchetti joined us on our travels so with one swift move of dropping our bags off at the hotel we shot out towards Khoa San Road, the main backpackers spot filled with food, drinks and live music. It had already hit 1:00AM upon our arrival the street was still booming where we met several interesting people, firstly a Thai guy who asked us where we were from in England, he then went on to show us a tattoo on his arm showing the hatred he has for Scousers! Odd but i’m not gonna argue with the guy! Our night only lasted a few hours as we had to get up early in anticipation for the others, so only a few beers down, we headed back. As we awoke we grabbed our things, laughed about the night before and set sail to find our new hotel and wait for their taxi to arrive. Sure enough within an hour here pulls up a taxi with three guys from the Ribble Valley… When you’re half way across the world and have been for near two months, seeing familiar faces is a very odd experience. Smiles and hugs everywhere to be reunited with our best friends and then we got straight out into the busy capital to show them the bartering, street food and generally colourful atmosphere that Bangkok has to offer. We spent the following two nights heavily intoxicated, I’m not going to lie. We travelled up and down the backpackers area meeting people, drinking, dancing and then finally doing something i’ve hugely wanted to try, eating insects! We bought a big bag and shared them out between us, the crickets are far too crunchy however the meal works are surprisingly good! Everything was soaked in soy sauce so the taste probably wasn’t how it should be. The one thing i’m still not to try are the tarantulas, this is a hurdle for another day i think. I keep telling myself to overcome my fear of spiders i must eat one, i’m unsure if this is good logic but you never know! 
     Bangkok was great fun and a brilliant catch up as we also met up with Josh and Jenna another two from Clitheroe who are travelling together but luckily we are doing Thailand at the same time. Then by sheer luck i saw on Facebook that Daniel, a guy i knew back from school was visiting Thailand and with a quick message he ended up joining us during the nights out. On the third morning me, Robin and Ingham decided that Bangkok obviously has more to offer and we set off in tuk tuk to see the local temples. Our first sighting was nothing great but we knew our driver had taken us to the wrong one! We asked to get dropped off at the Golden Mount and he thankfully obliged and we told him he can go. This temple was great, we set off walking up the steps and firstly saw all the large bells hung up along with a gong. We got slightly childish and starting ringing them all before moving further up the hill to the actual Golden Mount which was amazing to see but also the views from up here were crazy, we could see across most of Bangkok, i hadn’t realised the sheer amount of sky scrapers until this point. After this we got a new driver and headed towards Wot Pho, the temple of the reclining buddha which is build on a large area of land with loads of different things to see inside. The attention to detail across the complex was superb with monuments and large spears facing the sky everywhere. Then we finally got around to seeing the reclining buddha, i had seen photographs but never thought it was actually as big as it was! The thing was ginormous! Photographs just don’t do it justice. If i knew anyone visiting Bangkok i’d advise this temple, we spent an easy hour and half here and only left due to being starving. 
     The next and final morning we decided to do something where everyone talks about, the floating markets, its always a mixture of good and bad experiences at them and we hoped we would strike lucky but unfortunately the experience wasn’t great. When we arrived after the long drive our taxi driver told us we couldn’t walk around the markets and we had to pay for a boat, this is a lie and i knew it. We argued for a good 10 minutes before the other taxi driver came across and offered us the boat for a reasonable price, reluctantly we accepted just to get away from my driver! The markets themselves were too quiet and we spent hardly any time there before the boat heading back to shore. Not impressed to say the least! The taxi had waited for us and we jumped back in. He didn’t say a word for most of the drive home and i had fallen asleep during this time in the front. I woke up with this driver screaming in my face “GET OUT, YOU PAY NOW”, by far the worst wake up call i’ve ever had. We were 200m from our hotel and he refused to drive us forward and instead began grunting and screaming like a wild animal. I asked him several times to please stop shouting and it just didn’t seem to sink in. Even when getting the money out to pay him, he threatened to call the police! We did absolutely nothing wrong, he was simply angry because we didn’t fall for the tourist trap that he would surely get commission for. I’m very glad we didn’t encounter him again, could quite easily of put his windows through! 
     With that fiasco over and done with we had a small nap and then set sail for our last night in Bangkok where we met up with Megan, a friend from back in Sri Lanka and a few others she got to tag along. It was once again a great night full of laughter and i’m pretty sure at one point i started working for an insect selling stand, shouting out to foreigners telling them they’re ‘good’. “Step right up, step right up, best bugs in Bangkok”. With a couple of sales and my commission (a few crickets) i was on my way again to the next bar. Bangkok as a whole was so much fun but i felt like at times we didn’t do it properly, i wanted to explore much more than i did, hopefully i will make up for this on our next stop of Chiang Mai and Pai in the north of Thailand.

The bells at The Golden Mount (Wat Saket)

 At the top of Wat Saket

This huge, reclining Buddha is at Wat Pho, it totals 46m long!

 I also became quite obsessed with the temples attention to detail, including spears from their roofs

 The entrances are guarded by huge Chinese warrior statues

 Some of the guys in front on their boat at the floating markets.. Not that impressive of a place

The only passable photograph i captured whilst there

Sri Lankan Culture at Last

24th August to 1st September - Kandy, Adam's Peak & Negombo

After the amazing train journey that was Ella to Kandy we stumbled out of the train station and bartered a tuk tuk driver into taking us up the mountains to our new 4 person apartment. Our first impression of Kandy was quite expected, busy but yet full of greenery. We arrived at our new place and were greeted by a lovely couple who had only just opened up, tea was instantly served and we noted our own kitchen so decided for the first night Christine would cook something traditional from China, we both headed down to the shops in town and bought loads of stuff including breakfast however when attempting to buy sausages i was turned away by the Sri Lankan worker who explained due to the festival happening, no meat or alcohol could be served. No alcohol for me isn't a problem, but meat... None the less the meal was great and after a couple of games of yaniv, the card game, where i betted and lost my bed for the night, we decided to get some sleep. The next day was absolutely packed with interesting things which came by complete chance, we started our day quite poorly, rolling out of bed late morning and only getting into Kandy centre for turn 1:00PM. Our tuk tuk dropped us off at Kandy lake where we had a quick walk around, seeing loads of people, mainly families, already sat down awaiting the evenings parade of elephants and dancers. Within 10 minutes we had been asked by a local to attend a small ceremony where the different performances would be shown to foreigners in a bid to attract more tourism. Reluctantly at first we accepted but soon found out it was free and pretty cool! Around a group of 100 sat down as we watched and photographed these elaborate dancers with drums and got to see one of the elephants all dressed in gold and silk. It was interesting to learn about the festivals heritage and i believed we purely found this ceremony by chance. As the hours went on through the day we had visited one of the markets and bought a few new thinner pieces of clothing to keep the days heat at bay we bumped into this Sri Lankan guy who swore blind he knew us from our accommodation, i instantly thought this was a scam as he told us about a market for locals and that we should go there. He walked us down the road five minutes to its location, took us in and started to show the price differences. He wasn't wrong! It was so much cheaper from fresh fruits to clothing. After a few more minutes with this man we explained we wished to walk around alone and just like that he said thanks and headed off. I was expecting for him to at least ask for a tip, but thankfully we must of been in luck. We got the ingredients bought for tea and ended up at this small fruit and spices stand where the owner began feeding us a variety of different fruits.. Jack fruit, dorian fruit and papaya. It was far from a bad discovery and with a quick, friendly chat and a photograph together we went our separate ways. We had discovered that this local market meant near no haggling required and no pestering. Soon after the sun began to creep below the horizon line and the streets were getting bare, we knew everyone was off to watch the festival begin so we walked to the starting point and took a seat near the end due to it being so packed. Within 20 minutes the police had began closing the road we were sat on, turns out the festival doesn't head down this route! We grabbed our things and shot down the road trying to find a good spot for when the festival began, however so many of the roads had been blocked off we walked for a good 10 minutes before finding this smaller road which was already filled with locals. We decided to get settled here, moving forwards when we could to try and get the best views for the festival. As most things are in Asia, it started almost an hour late and with a poor standing area we saw very little and the festival itself went quite slowly. None the less i'm glad i saw a mixture of elephants, fire dancers and people dancing on stilts. For me, the best part was seeing an entire city come to life for this once a year festival and just how excited the locals got, a good comparison for our country is when the queen visits your local area and the masses appear from nowhere!
     The next morning we got up nice and early ready to push the journey forward to Adam's Peak, one of the most popular hikes for visitors. The hike is typically a pilgrimage for buddhists who would complete the hike for sunrise and begin morning prayer at the temple of the peak. Our train journey was not great by any means, even with second class tickets we stood up on the rickety edge of this train for three and a half hours before finally arriving at a town near by to the peak. From here we got a heavy walk ten minutes up the road to the bus station and luckily ours was just leaving so we jumped on and within a further hour we had reached our accommodation. Bags in our rooms and tea in our bellies the four of us headed out to grab something to eat, i was craving a large meal knowing our hike would be done with no breakfast so we went into a restaurant just down from where we were staying. I was optimistic about the food literally until the moment it was placed in front of me. Not completely sure what i ordered but it was some form of chicken with tomato sauce served with friend rice. The chicken was so dry it was tough and the rice had so much grease i'd expect it to be sieved first. By far the worst meal of Asia so far! Instead of making me feel ready for tomorrows hike i felt ill. Straight to bed i decided where i still only managed around two and a half hours before my alarm shattered my sleep, with a look outside whilst getting my hiking boots on we saw that it was raining quite heavily and knew it was only going to make the morning harder. At this time i was considering calling it a day and going back to bed, however, i knew that i wanted to challenge myself on this trip and it would be the largest hike so far! Rain coats on, we set off. It was a good 40 minute walk before we even reached the start of Adam's Peak where the steps began, when i was told it is a total of 10,400 steps all the way up and down i thought it was quite reasonable, considering a typical staircase. I was completely wrong. Every single step was different in both size and distance apart which meant concentration was a must, within an hour the rain became almost unbearable, i was drenched down to my boxers and my feet was squelching. We wanted to try and take shelter somewhere but the steps were just surrounded by dense looking forest and it was still pitch black. We continued onwards until we saw a group taking a break, they asked how long it had already taken and by the reply we realised how quickly we had done most of the hike, this gave us a new lease of life which was sorely needed when we saw just how steep and slippery the last 20 minutes was! Most of the steps were only large enough to fit your tip toes on and they spiralled left to right making it very difficult. The fog began to surround us and visibility was incredibly poor when all of a sudden another hiker coming back down said we're only 2 minutes away and sure enough we had arrived in no time! We could see absolutely nothing haha! But it was expected, with it being the rainy season i knew the odds were stacked against us but really wanted to do the challenge none the less. We cut up a pineapple for breakfast, took a few group photographs and got heading back down quickly as it became so cold, the coldest i've actually been so far. The walk up was breaking my thigh muscles but the walk down, my calfs were on fire! Thankfully cramp stayed at bay but i realised i was healthier than originally thought, tough mudder must of sorted me out in some way, shape or form. After the long stroll back to the accommodation we grabbed some well deserved breakfast and got to sleep for a good three hours before once more, waking up feeling rough and getting three buses and a six hour train drive to Colombo and to finish off, an hours tuk tuk drive to Negombo where we stayed for nearly a week! We had said goodbye to  during the journey as she went white water rafting but she reappeared on her last day in the country with a bottle of wine, we all relaxed playing cards and said our farewells once more. Negombo wasn't a great place but it gave us time to relax, regroup our plan and get ready for the hectic month that will be Thailand. Sri Lanka, you've been nothing but great to us!

 Young boy on the train from Kandy to Ella

 Everyone hanging out to see the mountain views

 Pulling up to a station

 I wanted his spot the whole journey, so instead i photographed him...

 Kandy Lake

 As the crowds began to arrive for the celebrations

 I'm photographing Ben but sure, a smile is always welcome!

 Dancers with drums

 Dancers once more

 Catherine photographing the photographer

 The local market filled with fresh fruit

 Our new best buddy

 One of the elephants during the festival

No views from up Adam's Peak but heres one of the temples near the bottom