Sep29
| May18
Trekking in Umphang
Early in the morning we got up, had breakfast and started our 3 hour long trip down south along the sinuous mountain roads. We all four –Julia, Hector and a couple of kiwi guys- end up feeling motion sickness due to the over 1200 bends of the way. Appart from that, the first day of the trek was perfect. We started with a 4 hour rafting in the Mae Klong river, stoping aside to collect “jungle food” such as bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Then we arrived to a camp on the river side, where we prepared dinner –Thai food of course- and where we spent the night and felt asleep hearing the beautiful jungle sounds.
May14
Mae Sot
Thanks to a very friendly Thai family who picked us up from the side of the road after we were waiting for a a bus which was not coming and decided then to try to hitch-hike, we arrived in Mae Sot after a good 4 hours ride under the sun and the rain and against the wind, sitting on the back of their pick up van.
May11
Ayuthaya and Sukhothai: ancient capitals of the Thai Kingdom
From Bangkok we headed up north for something more than an hour and arrived to Ayuthaya, one of the former capitals of the ancient Thai Kingdom. The city itself has not much to offer, although some good guesthouses, bars and street markets together with the ruins of the old city (not many in quality but widespread) make it a “must” for people staying in Bangkok. We spent one and a half days there and it was our first contact with old Thai architecture, Thai rented bicycles and Thai rainy weather. Yes, it rained quite a lot. So much that we think now that the monsoon season, which should start in Thailand by the end of May or the beginning of June, has gone ahead this year. F**ck!!
May8
Bangkok
Bangkok has been a good surprise for us: it is clean, well organaised and much less noisy than we had expected. It is a very crowded city but everybody seems to be in his given place and we never felt overwhelming as in another cities, such as Delhi or Mumbai in India. We had the impression that Thailand is going to be much easier to travel than India or Nepal, although we really like challenges…
May6
Hitting the road again!
After a one month visit to our roots, our family, our friends and our traditions, we come back to the new, to the unknown, to the surprising things that a trip to south east Asia has to offer.
