Blog no. 1: STARTING MY ONE MONTH OF TRAVELS - THAILAND 2015

August 19 2015

Blog no. 1: STARTING MY ONE MONTH OF TRAVELS - THAILAND 2015

15.1.2015 OVERBOOKED FLIGHT?!?

Great date to start my journey! This was my third travel to Asia, so I wasn’t really nervous, my plan for this year was to discover Laos. As I was landing in Thailand I decided to start in Chiang Mai for a few days, then spend about 2 and a half weeks in Laos, and then about a week in Cambodia before I was returning home from Ho Chi Min, Vietnam.

The biggest challenge was to pack only hand luggage - I landed in Bangkok and had already booked a flight 1,5 hours later to Chiang Mai, which meant I didn’t really have a lot of time in between flights, so I decided to pack everything in my hand luggage - my backpack was just the right measure, the problem was the weight, so when I was packing I had in my mind that I have to pack really really light. I wore a lot of clothes (it was cold anyway) and the rest weighed about 7 kilograms. With the backpack weighing almost 2 kilograms, it wasn’t easy to pack this light, but my back was later very grateful ☺.

I flew Trieste - Rome - Abu Dhabi - Bangkok with short stopovers, before each flight I had to get a new boarding pass. When I arrived at Abu Dhabi airport I went directly to transfer desk where they told me my flight was overbooked. They told me to come again later and then I realized there were about five of us who didn’t have the seat on the plane, although we booked the flight few months ago. You can imagine there were a lot of anger and confusion but I realized that acting calm in this situation really helps, because if you shout on the officers it doesn’t make them want to help you more. They said we have to wait about 10 hours before the next flight to Bangkok and that we will get hotel and food vouchers. That actually wouldn’t be so bad if I hadn’t already bought my next plane ticket to Chiang Mai - I would eat and get some rest and then arrive at Bangkok in the morning, rested. The weirdest part was that they told us about the overbooked flight like it was normal ☺!! I was already sure I’ll miss my flight, when they said to one of us: “Oh, you have a sit on the plane!” The girl ran quickly to board the plane. And then I thought: ok, before, they already told her that she doesn’t have a sit, so if she wouldn’t be at the transfer desk now, she would miss her flight, but one sit would be empty! So I thought - what if somebody else has a sit and doesn’t board? I had an idea to go to the boarding gates and wait if maybe somebody doesn’t show up. I explained them what happened, waited for everybody to board, and they already said that the plane was full. I didn’t know what to do, I was just standing there, with a sad face, when all of a sudden they said that one sit was empty!! Quickly they gave me a boarding pass ( I was lucky that I had only hand luggage, otherwise this wouldn’t be possible) and I was so happy to get on that plane after they had already told me twice that it was not possible, that I couldn’t believe it!! My persistence and inventiveness made it possible, and I had a lot of luck, too - the girl, who got the seat on the plane, realized that the seat next to her was empty, so she told this to the flight attendant and explained I was waiting for an empty seat, and this way I was really fortunate to get on my plane!! I was so happy and full of adrenaline and had a really nice flight with Etihad Airways! Advice: do an online check-in next time ☺!!

I arrived at Chiang Mai airport at about 11.30 in the evening. Getting a ride to the city centre can be tricky - one car drives only to one destination, so if you are alone you have to pay for the whole car. As there wasn’t much interest in sharing and it was already late, I paid 150 BHT (1 EUR was about 38 BHT this year) to get to my North Land House hotel, with 400 BHT a night for a double room. The bed was really good, but I had problems catching mosquitoes all three nights I spent there.

17.1.2015 (Chiang Mai) HELLO AGAIN, CHIANG MAI

I had a really good night sleep and slept for almost 12 hours. A friend, Martin, booked me a room there, so in the morning, when I woke up, I saw a familiar face☺! Between 10^th and 19^th of January Chiang Mai was hosting Fruit Winter Festival (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf3Y1UZwgrc), where people from all over the world came to eat delicious fresh fruit, hang out and do some activities. My brother, Žare was also there, I was so happy to see him after two months and also happy for the fruit he brought ☺! I love all the fresh delicious fruit South - East Asia has to offer and also the rest of the food in gorgeous there, so a lot of my descriptions of the trip include food, so if you don't like food, just stop reading ☺. Martin lent me his bike to go to the Khurn Churn vegetarian restaurant with Žare, where the rest of the fruit lovers came. We saw Conor, the organizer of the event, very enthusiastic guy with a lot of smiles, and met Tummy, my brother’s roommate, a doctor, a dancer and a very interesting person! The food there was awesome, so delicious, so many different tastes, with curries, salads, soups, fruit, drinks for as much as 170 BHT! Very good choice, I definitely recommend it! After lunch I went with my brother to the Nong Buak Hard Park (in the south-west corner of the city) and relaxed a little in the beautiful scenery, surrounded by little lake, palm trees, flowers and lovely frangipani - a perfect place to relax under a palm tree when the sun is too hot!

18.1.2015 (Chiang Mai) CRAZY DANCE PARTY

In the morning, I went with Žare and Martin to Muang Mai Market - located a few minutes by bike from Chiang Mai historical centre on the North - East corner. There are a few markets in the historical centre, but if you like a lot of fresh, good, ripe and cheap fruit, this is a place for you!! Watermelons, pineapples, papayas, pitayas (dragon fruits), bananas, coconuts, durians, mangoes, pomelos and much more, just there, waiting for you ☺! We ate the watermelons by the river, we found a perfect place. I was very happy to have spork with me - I just cut the watermelon in half and ate it with a spoon, delicious!

I tried durian - I wanted to see what all the fuss this smelly fruit, which a lot of people adore, is about! Well, I tried it but really didn’t like it - maybe the problem was that I smelled it before I tasted it and the smell was really horrible. I was sure it was rotten, but then Martin and Žare were eating it like the best desert ever, enjoying it like crazy. At first I thought they were joking, but they really liked it ☺. It wasn’t rotten, I just didn’t like it, but they say you have to get used to the taste and then it is delicious - well, I’ll see if I will try it again, maybe next year, but I’m not so sure ☺. In the afternoon in Nong Buak Hard Park Grant Campbell (aka Raw Aussie Athlete) had a talk about his life, his diet, his water fast experience - so much energy and peace at the same time, concentrated in one person, I liked his talk, trying to tell others about his life, but not persuading them they should do it too. Amazing, he shows us that everything is possible, and that you can achieve a lot with raw vegan diet. Later I went to Sunday Walking Street - this is a market on a street, which they close for traffic on Sunday evenings. I’ve been to a lot of markets, but this one is really huge! So many things to see, eat and drink, but that means also a looooot of people! I would definitely recommend it, but you need a few hours just to walk through ☺! It is nice just to see what original items they produce and sell, some are less original, but still interesting - my advice: if you find something you like - buy it, because later you probably won’t find the same thing ☺!!

And then crazy thing happened - one girl was smiling at me and calling my name - it was Marija, the girl I was about to travel with through Laos!! We didn’t plan to meet in the market, so it was so funny to run into each other coincidentally among so many people, it was a good sign ☺! We walked around the market some more and Marija introduced me to Khanom Krok, coconut pancakes - small pancakes which you can get all over Thailand and Laos, so delicious that we ate them almost every day ☺! It was my third time to Thailand and I’ve seen them before, but had never tried them! Later I headed to a dance party at Zoe in Yellow ba r- I came a little late and the party was already going on! At first I was a little shy, but then I realized something - the people there didn’t really care about my dance, they were there just to have fun and dance, making moves they felt were right at that time. I danced like crazy and was so happy - surrounded by so many interesting, happy, smiling people, without a drop of alcohol! And I felt so good, so happy to be experiencing this moment with all of them, I didn’t know many of them, but it didn’t matter, nothing mattered at that time, the only thing that was importing was to have fun! And we did ☺ !!

19.1.2015 (Chiang Mai) AMAZING CHOCOLATE SMOOTHIE

In the morning I grabbed a bike, packed my luggage and moved to a place my brother rented as I was crashing there for one night. After I settled I went with Martin and Žare to the Chiang Mai Rock Quarry by bikes - I think it took us a little more than an hour to get there as we were cycling in the midday sun and not with the best bikes. We stopped for a refreshment - a coconut and sugar cane drink. Definitely you need a hat, sunscreen and a lot of water to do this. But the scenery was beautiful when we came out of the city and the crazy traffic. And there it was - the Quarry! Red sand, just a few people, refreshing water and good places to jump ☺!

I love jumping from high places, I just have to know that the water is deep enough - and it was, a lot of people jumped here, although they were some accidents when people died there, so you should be a little careful. But my brother is not used to high jumps like these (it was about 6-8 meters high), but he did it anyway, I am so proud of him for stepping outside of his comfort zone! The jump was nice and the water was refreshing, we just had to be a little careful coming back, because where the sand was wet it was quite slippery. After the jumps we had a fruit picnic and I was observing a beautiful white and black butterfly, he wasn’t afraid of me at all, so I could admire him for quite a while - when I see a white butterfly, it means I’m on the right path, so I was even more amazed by it ☺. When we got back to the city, I had an idea to get a chocolate smoothie at Dada Café - very nice place with a lot of choice of good food. I had this smoothie last year and had been dreaming about it since ☺.

This is a smoothie made of coconut milk, avocado, mango and cocoa, in the right combination it tastes like chocolate, amazing, rich, sweet, creamy chocolate!! And you get a big glass of it - Martin and Žare were hooked instantly, and Marija loved it too ☺! After we were meeting Conor and Brittany at Cooking love, great little restaurant with delicious food and friendly owner. I loved the green curry and the papaya salad and they also serve delicious fresh young coconut curry, served inside a coconut ! It was the last day of the Fruit Winter Festival, but some people (including my brother) were still staying in Chiang Mai and hanging out! But for me it was time to experience Laos ☺!!

20.1.2015 (Chiang Mai - Chiang Khong) WIND IN MY HAIR

I woke up with a sore throat. As we were trying to buy the tickets to Chiang Khong (Thai - Lao border city) last minute Marija and I couldn’t get them from agencies in the city on the evening before our departure, so I went by a bike very early in the morning to the bus station to buy tickets to Chiang Rai. The busses go every hour, but can be full - so if you just show up there and want to go with the next bus, you can wait for an empty one for a few hours, so if it is possible, buy the ticket in advance! We wanted to go with the Greenbus Thailand company because they have good busses. When it was time to go, I was a little sad to leave my brother, but was heading towards a great adventure, so I hugged him and Martin goodbye, without any long farewells, and got a songthaew to the bus station. The bus was good, comfortable, just way too much aircon - and this happens on most transports. Usually it is so cold, either because of the aircon or opened windows, that you need to have your jacket and a scarf always close, ready to be used. The bus from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai took about 3,5 hours. About 20 minutes before you arrive at Chiang Rai, you can ask the bus driver to stop at the White Themple (Wat Rong Khun), it’s a very special themple, all white and with an interesting interior - last year the artist was still painting the interior with a lot of crazy ideas (from Superman to Hello, Kitty), I recommend checking it out ☺! You can get a local bus to get to the city centre later.

Marija and I skipped it and rather went to lunch until our local bus to Chiang Khong departed. But as you learn quickly, a ride with a local bus can be cheap but also quite an adventure. They didn’t close the doors and the windows couldn’t be shut either, so it was very cold again. I know, you think it is very hot there, so a little wind is ok, but not really, maybe for half an hour, but not for two hours. In the late afternoon it gets a little colder and add the draft to the already sore throat and you get a very “nice” cold. Marija and I put scarves over our heads and dressed more, but it was still very windy. Well, at least we laughed a lot ☺! We arrived at Chiang Khong at night so it was good that we had already booked a nice room at Green Inn hotel, I think for about 400 BHT a night. In the evening we went for a walk and grabbed some dinner, I ate Tom Yum Soup, with ginger and lemongrass, it helped that after a whole day in the “wind” I managed to end up just with a cold. Actually by the evening both of us were feeling a bit weak and blowing noses regularly. Marija was smart and brought Nasopure (a plastic nasal wash), and we were using it to clean our noses for quite some time, I think it helped not to end up lying in bed for a few days - that and eating ginger helped too, for sure !!

We went to bed exited, knowing that in a few hours we will be entering the land both of us really wanted to see ☺!