Thailand Adventures – Experiences of a First Time Traveller
Travelling Thailand on the back of a motorbike - If you have a need for travel follow the journey of a young, ignorant and excitable woman with a passion for travel writing and a nack for making mistakes!
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Thailand Adventures – Experiences of a First Time Traveller
Nyree writes tips & tricks, as a fellow bridesmaid who has made limitless mistakes, dealt with Bridezillas & managed to maintain her manicure in the process. She runs http://www.myultimatehens.com.au so grab your martini glass and come follow Nyree into the world of weddings
So I can see why people come to Thailand on their honey moon. Thailand has beautiful endless white sand beaches, cheap pina coladas, 50c manicures, silk sheets and hot, crisp weather. Sounds dreamy.
Chang Mai has none of these things…and im loving every minute of it.
Swap the postcard pictures for sweaty streets, constant beeping and bustling, a constant supply of random animals (AKA chicken in my room, but more on that later) and refreshingly honourable people and you’re just about there. I can’t get enough. I think the lonely planet should actually read “when packing for Thailand please be sure to pack an crazy amount of patience and an endless ability to laugh at everything, also, when departing the plane, please be sure to leave your comfort zone at the door!” Maybe I think i will write to them about it, that is, if I wasn’t so busy riding around on the back of motorbikes. 2 days in and not a single minute the same. If I’m dreaming PLEASE don’t wake me up. Every morning I wake up with butterflies. Literally- there are many living in my hostel room. I don’t know if it is the crazy smells, the baby elephants, the 10c beer or “jump in the back of my ute” taxis, but I just can’t get enough of Chang Mai. Life is fantastic. Sweaty, but fantastic.
My official life as a Chang Mai uni student started when I was whisked into an open air taxi, whilst simultaneously been asked ‘you marry? you marry?’ by the driver. I’m glad the taxi had an open back because a) if we roll over (which is very likely given the crazy turns!) I can hopefully make a speedy and glamorous exit out the back. b) It was BOILING! And wind air-conditioning is totally underrated c) I could clearly view the wonderful yet slightly crowded new world I was to call home for the next 3 weeks. Bring it on.
After a lot of bowing and hand shaking at the entrance to the university dormitory I was shown into my room by some very enthusiastic Thai students who insisted on carrying everything but my money belt up to my room. 5 sets of later we were there. Room is fairly nice…2 single beds (which I will soon slide together to make one glorious king size bed) and a small bathroom, and the most exciting part – a glorious air conditioner. There was a slightly awkward moment when all my bags had been placed neatly on the bed, I had said thankyou and then we all just kind of stood there. I meekly tried the ‘thankyou’ line again in a hope that they would leave so i could have a much needed sleep -As you can imagine, i was extremely tired due to having to overcome many shenanigans on the journey over. After a good two minutes of smiling and shuffling, i made my hands into the sleeping position and they all laughed hysterically then left. My god I’ve missed Asia. Now, a good sleep was just what I need!
Having woken up for the fourth time due to slowly sinking and falling into the crevice created between my two beds bed, i decided a shower would be perhaps the better option. I casually began to undress in my bathroom before I turned around and dropped everything and screamed in manner of Hitchcock film or similar. There was a chicken. There was a chicken in my shower. It looked up, pissed off that I had disturbed its peaceful nesting. It glared at me, like seriously evil eye glare. I started to think that maybe it wasn’t a can of sprite they had served me on my last flight? After yet another feeble glance around the corner, Ii realised that yes indeed, there was a chicken like creature nestled in between my makeshift shower and the toilet. I have no idea how i managed to avoid it until now. I had painful visions of me half a sleep, walking to the toilet only to be pecked half to death whilst wondering what the hell was going on. It is only now that i realise how lucky i am to be alive.
So, it turns out, it is some sort of Thai ‘o week’ this week, and the nice man who came and removed said chicken from my room said in slightly understandable English that maybe some students had put it in my room as a practical joke…I like their style! Must remember the old ‘chicken in the room’ trick for my next o week. As I finally drifted back into much needed sleep, I tried not to think about the cruel fate I had subjected that chicken too, and I sleepily hoped that I won’t be eating it, or its evil eyes, tomorrow lunch time.
4 Hours later and I groggily awoke to a loud banging noise on my door. Awaiting me were the 6 glorious people with whom I will spend the next 3 weeks travelling with. They had just come back from a white water rafting trip (damn my 30 hour plane trip, dammit!) and were ready to go on an adventure in search of food. everything is an adventure when travelling – and I love that. At home it’s just a matter of ‘going to lunch at a cafe.’ Here it is a matter of finding transport, bargaining with the taxi driver, squeezing 7 people into said taxi, almost running over some overweight tourists, before pulling up outside a cafe named ‘EAT!’ …and that is before you have even started your meal!
We chose a small side street cafe with chairs similar to those found in kindergartens the world over. We had bloody good fun trying to decipher the menu, and eventually ended up pointing to random things and hoping that everything would turn out for the best. We all had a good laugh when the owner came out with a huge plate of (what looked like) fried rice and said “COW PAT!?” we all looked around, puzzled, before again he enquired “WHO COW PAT!?” through tears of laughter we realised that a) we had somehow ordered a mass bowl of rice to share between 6 and b) that cow pat was clearly the word for fried rice or so we hoped. Here comes the introduction of the ‘don’t ask, just eat rule,’ also known as the ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you,’ ‘ignorance is bliss’ or similar. Basically if I am eating fish bowel fried with chicken feet I would prefer not to know. So far, So good!
So the end of my first day in Thailand came to a sweaty, exhausting and fantastic close. I cannot imagine the adventures that lie ahead – I’m not being poetic, I actually have no idea – I’m sure nothing this fun can be planned! & I can’t wait to find out!
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