Chris' Travels

Day 42 - Nong Khai HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

So this is Christmas. As predicated, it's not meaning an awful lot this year. Sure the hotels and that have tinsel a and the odd Christmas tree. but you can't escape the facts. The sun is shining. The weather is hot. I'm with a load of virtual stranger. I didn't receive 1 present! But thats ok. I'm happy.

Day 39

Got up a bit early and wanted to get the bus out of Bangkok to an old capital city called Ayuthaya. Jumped in a cab, Who I soon learnt was determined that rather than take me to the bus station, wanted to take me the whole way. we negotiated a price on the way out the city. Who knows what would have happened if we hadn't reached agreement because we'd left Bangkok far behind. Anyway, so I payed a lot for a 1 hr journey, but I just had no fight left in me against this cabby. I arrived, Went on an evening tour of some of the temples on a long tail boat with a dodgy Canadian couple, went back to guest house, and not being too impressed with the place decided to move on the next day.

Day 40. Got a ridiculously slow, but extremely scenic bus to Lopburi. A city that is over run with monkeys. The bus didnt go near the motorway but in doing that got to see some of the Thai countryside, how people live etc. pretty amazing. Very basic in many cases. Arrive in Lopburi, get a hotel sorted, and go and see the monkeys. They've pretty much have chosen one old temple they like and live on the streets around there. still lots of people have "caged their houses in" because the monkeys are known to cause trouble (who'd have thought it!). The monkeys did their usual, try and steal a bag routine, or jump on someone's back. it was ok. Went to dinner and got chatting to a manager of the restaurant. He was a "nice" bloke and said he was involved in a local HIV clinic and that sometimes he took people to go and see. Initially I thought this sounded interesting, as I wasn't having a traditional Christmas anyway maybe this would hit home some of the problems Thailand really faces behind the tourist trail I'd mainly been on, so I agreed to meet him the next morning.

Day 41. However over breakfast i begin to smell a rat..... Firstly, thinking about the whole thing over night, I felt pretty sure from a personal perspective I didn't want to see someone ill, probably very ill in hospital. Secondly if I was ill, I'm also pretty certain I wouldn't want some tourist staring through my hospital door. It seemed a loose loose situation. Then when my friend lets call him Mr Scam, told me that actually he wanted a fair amount of money to take me and would leave me there for 3 hrs, I carefully but firmly backed out of the deal. Then he started to push me to write my address on an envelope, and put money inside so he could "pass it on" as a donation. Anyway. I was firm. NO NO NO NO NO!!! He still wanted my name and address on the envelope......Now what's my name and address again? Oh yes: Chris Johnson 1537 goldsmith road........ etc. I have no doubt this clinic exists, I saw the leaflets. But My Thai friend was quite possibly not being very honest with me.
SO as he knew what Hotel I was staying at, I got out of town!
Firstly Local bus to a city thats not very touristy, Saraburi. That is: it's not in lonely planet, at all, I had no map, I was the only westerner I saw in town for the whole day, and experienced extreme language barriers at every corner. So managed to book an overnight train to Nong Khai, waste some of the time chatting to my bro online, and then found THE shabbiest hotel I could to get my head down for a couple of hours (still feeling tired!). I'll post some photos when I remember my camera lead, but it was BAD. So that was that, hung around, got the train, arrived this morning at this town which is a border town with Laos. This wasn't the way I was expecting to come, but getting to Chiang Mai in north Thailand would have been a headache, as the westerners on Christmas hols had booked the place, trains and buses up. But that's ok. I'm spending today in a lovely Guest house, right next to the Mekong river, I'll probably spend tmrw here too. I've decided to start my English teaching job in Siem Reap around the 15th of Jan which means what I hoped to do may be a bit of a tight squeeze. We'll see what happens. So thats about it. It's Christmas. I've finally found somewhere I can take a break and catch my breath rather than another bus train motorbike or whatever.

posted by Chris @ 8:39 am