Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong (+Photos)
Posted on July 24, 2007
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We took the 8:30am bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong on Friday. It is the only direct ‘1st class’ bus that does the trip. We got some of the last tickets, and ended up in the last row. It was pretty cramped and bumpy. There was also a TV and they insisted on playing Thai karaoke at blaring volume.
All in all a pretty uncomfortable 7 hours.
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Chiang Mai in retrospect (+Photos)
Posted on July 24, 2007
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We left Chiang Mai a couple of days ago. We’re now in Luang Prabang, Laos after 3 travel days. I thought that we’d have plenty time to edit photos and write blog entries offline as we traveled, but we didn’t really feel up to it. Moving is exhausting, especially by bus.
So now that we’re situated, and have had a day to recuperate it’s time to upload everything. More about Chiang Mai after the jump.
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Over to Laos
Posted on July 20, 2007
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We came up to Chiang Khong today on the bus from Chiang Mai. It took over 6 hours, and we were in the back seat most of the way, right by the toilet and in the bumpiest part of the bus. It was pretty cramped, even though it was 1st class (I’m having trouble imagining 2nd and 3rd.)
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Chiang Mai (+Photos)
Posted on July 18, 2007
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After a surprisingly painless and efficient day of air travel, we arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s ancient capitol and second largest city. Far from being a beachy paradise, Chiang Mai is old world all the way - a walled city, over 300 temples or “wats”, and a moat!
Now We’re Cooking (+Photos)
Posted on July 18, 2007
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One of the activities we’ve been most looking forward to on this trip is attending a cooking school in each of the countries or regions we visit. Today we started by doing a course at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School.
Krabi Music
Posted on July 17, 2007
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The ‘Old West’ bar - right round the back of our guest house. When we walked past on the way to dinner they were playing Four Non-Blondes, ‘What’s going on.’ That was enough to make us go in for a drink to hear what else was in the rotation.
Tenacious D - ‘The Greatest Song in the World (Tribute)’ (which the Thai bar back was singing along with vigorously, leading us to wonder if non-english speakers realize that TD is a comedy band…)
Beats International - ‘Dub be good to me’ (Caitlin didn’t recognize it so must have been a british thing)
Radiohead - Creep
Krabi Town
Posted on July 16, 2007
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From Phi Phi we took the ferry to Krabi, and from there a Songetheaw in to Krabi Town. We stayed at the Chan Cha Lay guest house. The room was fantastic, aqua blue throughout, and with an outdoor bathroom and shower (in a cool way!)
The ferry was smaller, but faster, than the one we took from Phuket to Phi Phi. There were more locals on board, so it felt a little less like the eurostar and more like SE Asia. It was a pretty funky boat, definitely been plowing the seas for many years. The sea was calm, much more pleasant than the last journey.
Phi Phi (+Photos)
Posted on July 16, 2007
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We’re staying at the Paradise Beach Resort, (or is it bungalows?) not to be confused with Paradise Pearl Beach Resort (right next door.) Four nights. Beach time, and diving.
Ko Phi Phi is simply beautiful. Long beach, where we are staying, is about 2km long, with bungalows set back about 20 meters from the beach the whole way, and a step incline into jungle about another 100 meters behind those.
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Diving
Posted on July 15, 2007
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We spent two of our days on Ko Phi Phi doing our SCUBA checkout dives. It was definitely a good choice, the reefs here have been really beautiful. On our first dive we saw a turtle, which was unexpected and fantastic. The dive sites were a 30 min boat ride away off of the other Phi Phi island, Phi Phi Ley, and one was a tad further off of Boi Noc. The seas have been relatively heavy, so the crossings were quite rocky, and the Boi Noc dive site was tough to get in and out of. But under the water things were pretty calm.
Farangs
Posted on July 15, 2007
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In Phuket town we felt very white, we saw less than a couple of dozen other obvious travelers. Once we got to the ferry terminal things changed, and now on Phi Phi it’s pretty milky white. Most everyone seems to be pretty chill, even in the larger groups.
keep looking »