Cabbages, condoms and creepy crawlies. Bangkok

Bangkok, Thailand

After Nepal we headed back to Delhi for a couple of days. I had a meeting and Baby D ended up stuck in the hotel being violently sick after some dodgy airport momos we’d had for lunch as we left Kathmandu.

Time was flying by as we were on our way to our third country, in our third month, Thailand! We had arranged to stay in Bangkok for three nights and the plan was to then fly up to Chiang Rai for a few days. Three nights soon became five as were having a great time. I had booked another hair appointment to get this disastrous hair colour sorted once and for all. After another 4 hours in the chair, I was finally almost happy – apart from the fact that my hair was now the texture of straw. At least the colour was normal. 

We were staying in Sukhumvit, near Nana Plaza which is notorious for the Go-Go clubs, bars and multitude of Western men picking up Thai girls (and ladyboys). We’d been to Bangkok before, staying in a similar area, and it felt more gentrified and much cleaner. I guess it would in comparison with Pahar Ganj where we’d spent most of our time in Delhi. It’s amazing how your standards change over time; many people we have spoken to in Bangkok complained about how busy it was, how dirty it was and how they couldn’t wait to leave. Then there was us, extending our stay as we were enjoying it so much. 

We booked up a trip to go to Damnoen Saduak floating market. This was a couple of hours’ away in a mini bus (around 100km, but with several stops to pick other tourists up) and we had the choice of taking a small boat around the river-roads or just walking around the foot market alongside the river. The boat ride was only meant to be no more than 40 minutes in duration, allowing us half an hour to wander around the market as well, so we decided to go on the boat. What a lovely thing to see, women selling their wares as they floated past us on their boats and small static boats alongside the river. There were all sorts of things for sale, mostly food and touristy trinkets and we ate quite well as we made our way round, having bananas and then ice-cream served with fresh coconut and green sticky rice topped with peanuts. This needs to be brought back to the UK immediately, it was so good!

Floating market

As we turned the corner to head back to solid ground we were met by a Piccadilly Circus style traffic jam (if Regent Street was a waterway).

At one point we thought our driver had fallen overboard as we didn’t move for about an hour, even though other boats pushed past us. He was about 500 years old though so he obviously didn't fancy his chances against some of the hard Thai women in control of the other boats. The motor boats virtually ploughed into the smaller rowing boats, almost hitting our fellow passengers in the head, and at one stage there was a pile-up where a boat had mounted another one as it tried to come past. We were ready to boat hop across to dry land. After 40 minutes of this, we finally made it back but it meant that we had no time to walk around the market. It was a nice experience in spite of that, just a shame it was such a long journey for such a short trip. In hindsight we would have just gone to one of the smaller markets nearer to the city such as Khlong Lat Mayom.

Ayutthaya

Reclining Buddha at Ayutthaya

We’d been advised to go to Ayutthaya by some lovely Thai girls we’d met on the Poon Hill trek so we  decided to go on the following day. Ayatthaya is an old kingdom of Thailand, but after the war with Burma in 1767, the city was burned down and many of the temples and palaces destroyed. Ayatthaya was a lovely example of Thai history, about a 2 hour drive from Bangkok, again allowing for pickups on the way. The city was left to rot for a long time after it was destroyed but subsequent rulers of Thailand have throughout the years made improvements which are still ongoing.

Back in Bangkok and okay, okay, I know I am such a cliché, but yeah, I went and got a tattoo. I wanted a small reminder of my travels, so I had to get inked. There are a number of dodgy looking tattoo places in Bangkok as I’m sure getting a tat is up there in the top 10 things to do in Thailand for backpackers. I spent a good while researching into reputable places and we checked a couple out before settling on Bangkok Ink in Sukhumvit. This was a cool place which is also a training school, although I had an experienced tattooist ink me in about 15 minutes flat. I would definitely recommend this place. It is off one of the main roads so is not that easy to find unless you’ve done your research and it’s got great online reviews from a good mix of people. Baby D was entertained by Bryan, an American that was training at the tattoo school and we managed to hook up for dinner with him before we left Bangkok. 

Johnny and his harem

That evening we headed over to a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms. Pretty much everything was made of condoms; the lamps, the flowers, the mannequins. Shame the food seemed to be as well. When we finally got served it was all stone cold and ummmm, slimy. This place raised money to help with social and community development projects as well as promotes the importance of family planning.

So much to do, so little time! We had one more day in Thailand before we were heading south to Trang to go island hopping. I’d spent ages looking for a good Thai cooking class and we struck gold the next morning at Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy. There were only three of us (including Baby D) and Chef Air met us in Sukhumvit to take us on a tour of a small food market nearby. I think probably around 50% of the vegetables there were alien to us, but we learnt a lot about them, the different types of noodles, tofu and eggs. All around Bangkok we had seen these pink eggs and we asked the Chef what they were. He told us they were century eggs, which went through a particular treatment to make them black and taste, shall we say, unusual. Needless to say, Baby D had to have one and he bought one to have with the lunch we were about to cook.

Cookery class

Once we were in the cooking school we sat down with our prepared ingredients laid out. We’d had to choose 5 different dishes to cook, and this was the only school I could find that let us do this. Baby D and I had picked Pad Thai, green curry, tom yum soup, beef in pepper sauce and mango and sticky rice. One of the jobs was to grind the ingredients to make green curry paste in a huge pestle and mortar. Baby D obviously wasn’t making enough effort so the Chef took over to show him how it was done. I jokingly remarked that the bowl had a crack in it, as he was giving it some welly. Chef replied saying that he’d only ever broken one, and that was an 80 year old one his grandmother owned. Baby D took over and within seconds the whole thing had broken into three pieces. We scraped our green curry paste up and later used it in the cooking, but the Chef made us bin it as he could hear grit from the broken mortar in the wok! Luckily the staff at the school made us a new batch to eat.

The lesson was about 4 hours long and it was great fun, especially as we actually got to cook, unlike our cooking experience in India. The Chef was really funny and he knew his stuff, happily answering all of our stupid questions and taking the mickey out of our (Baby D’s) mistakes. “I know which of you cook regularly by the way you use your knives – he, for example, (Baby D) just nearly stabbed himself”. The food was delicious, and we were given the recipes afterwards.

Maeng Da

One last thing we needed to do before we continued our travels, and that was bug tasting. Eating insects is no big deal in many parts of the world, especially in Thailand which has the largest bug eating population in the world. After a few beers for Dutch courage we went in search of the insects. As luck (?) would have it, an insect seller happened to be driving past as we left the bar. We flagged him down and spent pennies on four bulging bags of bugs:

Silk worms – a bit sweet with a texture like mushy peas. Aftertaste is quite nasty, a bit like eating worms or something. And lingers.

Crickets (some full of eggs apparently). Marinated in soy sauce, actually pretty good. I ended up eating them to get rid of the taste of worms.
Grasshoppers. Not too bad but a bit too crunchy for me because of their long legs.
Last but not least was Maeng Da, a huge waterbug that looked similar to a cockroach. We found out the next day that we weren’t meant to eat the whole thing. We’re still here, so not to worry.

#bangkok #thailand #cabbagesandcondoms #daamnoensaduakfloatingmarket #khlonglatmayom #maengda #ayutthaya

Two weeks in Nepal

Kathmandu Part 1, Chitwan and Pokhara

We had an uneventful journey into Kathmandu apart from some stunning Himalayan mountain scenery  on our descent. At the airport we found a driver to take us into town who waited with Baby D while I nipped off to get a sim card. When I eventually got the sim, a police officer came up to the driver and slapped him. A tussle ensued, and as Baby D stood laughing thinking it was a joke, I realised it was serious and before we knew it, our driver was manhandled out of the door and cuffed. 

Momo

Once we reached the city, we went out for some proper momo (we opted for chicken over the local buffalo), and then an early night before our 6 hour bus journey to Chitwan National Park. The bus journey wasn’t the most pleasant. The bus itself was fine, but the roads are terrible and we were a pretty nervous as we drove through mountains, so close to the edge.

Wild rhino at Chitwan

We spent a relaxed couple of days in Chitwan, taking a jungle walk, spotting wild rhino, taking a jeep safari and a sunrise canoe ride through crocodile infested waters.

We took another 6 hour bus ride onto Pokhara where we were doing a 5 day trek to Poon Hill on the Annapurna mountain range, up to an elevation of 3210m. Once we arrived in Pokhara, we organised our trekking permits (entry permit and Trekking Information Management System (TIMS) – both of which are required for any trek in Nepal). We bought some trekking trousers and socks and hired some walking sticks, and we were good to go. 

Before that however, I needed to sort my barnet out. My hair had been getting blonder and blonder since having it done in Delhi so I popped into a hairdressers in Pokhara, near to our hotel and asked for brown streaks to break up the blonde. I showed him old pictures of me and a few from the internet, including Jennifer Aniston’s, for the colour. After making sure as best I could that he understood what I wanted, he proceeded to bleach my already very blonde hair even blonder. I was less Marilyn Monroe and more like a blonde Marilyn Manson. Who knows what the guy was thinking, but I stopped him when I realised what he was doing and when I saw him pick up the black dye after I’d complained, I was out of there like a shot. I found another shop who reluctantly darkened my hair, although they left it on longer than I wanted and I came out like Morticia from the Addams family.

Poon Hill trek  

We set off in the taxi at 8am, heading to Nayapul where we would start our trek. We had planned for a 5 day trip, but the hotel had told us it could be done in 4 at a push. Nayapul is the gateway to the Annapurna mountain range and we walked 2 miles, stopping to buy hats and gloves, before even reaching the entrance to the conservation area where we had our permits and TIMs stamped and logged. 

Nepalese mountain village

The trek soon warmed up with what started as a gentle walk uphill, which turned into quite an arduous hike up rocky, steep steps and over huge tree roots. We stopped off several times for water or biscuits, or just to catch our breath and the scenery was beautiful. Waterfalls, imposing cliff faces, dense forests, strange bird calls and very few other people – much fewer than we had been led to believe would be trekking, but it was still just out of season, not that the hot sun was a sign of winter for us.

Waterfall on the trek

When we did see people, (usually overtaking us) we were often amazed by the amount of luggage they had; all carried by porters. These guys are in their latest teens to mid-twenties and carry around 15-20kg on their backs, or more frequently, with a thick strap around their heads taking the weight of the baggage. They had the speed and sure-footedness of mountain goats as they hiked up the hills, and they probably smelled a bit like goats by the end of it too. I know I did. They seemed to be spurred on by the next shady rest point – the quicker they got there before their clients caught up, the longer they had to rest. 

We had a good 6 hour trek to the first small village, Ulleri. And what a rest we needed by then. The last 2 or more hours of the day’s trekking was vertical, and the steps to hell were steep, shallow, broken, dung-covered and never-ending! It was soul destroying to get to what we would think was the top, sweat pouring from us, only to turn the corner and have to go again on the next set of steps. I was in awe of the villagers who must have to do it fairly regularly – even if they only did it once a month, hats off to them! There was no way a car or motorbike could get up to that height or incline. The only vehicle that was used was pony or donkey and they were stopping for no one. We soon learned to get out of the way when we heard the bells that the animals had round their necks.

That night we stopped at a tea house (lodge) in Ulleri called Meera Lodge which had been recommended on Tripadvisor. It was a very welcoming family that met us and we were the only customers at first. Our room was basic but cosy, separated from the other rooms by a simple structure of plywood but the shower was steaming hot, the food was tasty and nourishing and the views were spectacular. 

The Wi-Fi there was very good surprisingly, and we settled in for a good night’s sleep after our long day’s walking. Luckily we’d bought hats as we needed them that night; it was freezing. There were only single beds so we couldn’t even cuddle up for body heat, although a Chinese couple were put in the room next door, and Baby D felt like he was in bed with them, as you could hear everything through the thin walls and they must have been millimetres from him. Having said that, it was a great place to rest our heads and the food was lovely. It felt authentic, like we were doing the trek the old fashioned way and not ‘flashpacking’ too much.

Beautiful scenery

Day 2 and we were reinvigorated and raring to go. Baby D was surprised at me and said I was like a new woman after whinging and panting my way up the hill the day before. The trek seemed much easier, less steep and more exhilarating somehow. We were on our way to the next stop which was Ghorepani, 45 minutes from Poon Hill, the pinnacle of our trek. For most of this leg we were accompanied by a dog and every time we thought he had disappeared because he had found something more interesting or he was chased off by another dog, he would reappear. 

Having left Ulleri early to get a head start, we were there by lunchtime and after checking in with the officials there to log progress to keep track of trekkers, we sought out our next lodge, Snow View. This place was a proper hotel (with concrete walls and everything!) We had a room with a double bed and a single bed so took advantage of the extra duvet. 

Annapurna Mountain Range

The views were just fabulous. We had a room on the top floor overlooking Annapurna and the aching legs and moaning were definitely worth it. The high point of this trek (in more ways than one) is to hike up to Poon Hill for the sunrise. After having dinner and beers with the other guests we went for another early night ready for our 4.30 alarm call the next morning. 

Everyone on this trek (and probably other treks) was in bed by about 9pm, wrecked after a gruelling day’s walking, wanting to be fresh for the following day or just because it was so cold! It was really nice to sit chatting round the big chimney fire with the other guests and we had some great conversations and met some interesting characters from all over the world, Thailand, Myanmar, USA Italy and Netherlands. The Thai girls gave us some tips for the next leg of our travels; the Burmese guy, Chicoco (aka Chicago) advised us on our plans to Myanmar; his accidental travel companions Niels and Domenico kept us entertained with their stories, including how Chicago who seemed to have a scuffed pair of trainers, a pair of jogging bottoms, a plane cushion and not much else for a 20 day trek, had almost fallen off the side of the mountain but was quickly caught by the scruff of his neck by the guide! We also met David from West Virginia who had lived in China for 4 years, teaching English. David had done the trek alone in an old pair of DMs, having flown into Nepal for a week’s holiday.

Poon Hill sunrise

The next morning and we were up early – in the pitch black – to head up to Poon Hill. We were unsure of the way so we started following the super-fit Niels, Domenico and Chicago. We lost them after about a minute but by then we were on the path. Baby D had a headtorch but even with this we stumbled up the hill, complaining (well I was) all the way. After an eternity (an hour)  and a panic because Baby D couldn’t find the purse to pay the entrance fee of 50rs, despite me double checking he had it before we left, we were at the top. What a view. I can’t explain how epic it was. This is something that I will remember forever; I have never seen views like it. And what a sense of achievement. Other more hardened trekkers might scoff but it was not an easy feat, despite what the internet told us about it being suitable for all ages. We actually thought that was pretty irresponsible as much of it was very treacherous and definitely not easy.

Sunrise - Poon Hill

We found the other guys at the top; they had got there about 45 minutes before us, surprise surprise. And guess who else we found? Yep, the dog that had followed us most of the way. Baby D was over the moon. We headed back down for breakfast after the sun had come up over Annapurna, and after Baby D got his head down for an hour – he was suffering with a bad headache (altitude?) - we were off again. 

Our next stop was Tadapani. This part of the trek was by far the worst – even more so than the first day and the steps from hell. There was still some hard snow on the ground when we left Ghorepani and we had to climb more steps, so the snow got even thicker and icier further up. As we wound our way round the trail, going up then down, then up again, the path was icy, then muddy then icy mud and people were slipping and falling all over the place. Baby D and I were in trainers so we were taking it fairly slowly and carefully.

Panoramic Poon Hill

I was pretty petrified at some points – I am not scared of heights but I do suffer a bit from vertigo and I am the clumsiest person in the world so I had visions of going straight over the edge of the sheer cliff face. When we reached Tadapani we were physically and mentally exhausted and at some point en route we realised that our next stop should have actually been Ghandruk which is a village about 3 hours beyond Tadapani. Every time we stopped at a village we got our second wind and here was no exception. So on we trudged to Ghandruk. This part was idyllic, straightforward, generally downhill, and peaceful as most other trekkers stopped for the night in Tadapani where the hot springs are. We were lucky enough to spot two red pandas and I saw the back of what looked like a large Rottweiler – maybe a bear?!

Amazing views

 

Ghandruk is a lovely village at the foot of Annapurna; just how you would imagine rural Nepal to be. Ponies, cows and donkeys get right of way round there, and when we reached our lodge (again, crazily good views of the mountains) we sat with a beer watching women picking cauliflower and weaving blankets. We had our pick of the teahouses as we were more or less the only trekkers apart from a Chinese contingent that stayed in a different lodge, and a Nepalese couple we had met before Tadapani who had just completed base camp, who also stayed somewhere else.

Having been told that we were only an hour away from Nayapul where we would complete our circuit, we left a bit later in the morning. After a tricky 14 mile (!) downhill trek through more arable land and some picturesque villages, we started to recognise our surroundings. Needless to say it was a bit more than an hour. The super fit Nepalese base camp couple sailed past us on a jeep – slackers, and we bumped into some loud Aussies that were on our bus from Chitwan to Pokhara, who were straight off to Kathmandu for some R&R in a 7 star hotel.

We decided to save a bit of cash and take the bus back into town. The cab out to Nayapul had cost us 2000rs and the bus was only 150 each. About an hour into the bus ride Baby D realised he wasn’t wearing the bumbag…ensue mad panic as this was the home of the passports. After yelling at the bus driver to stop, and every other passenger getting involved, Baby D ran down to the front and spotted the bumbag hanging off the arm of a chair! In his scramble and rush to get on board the busy bus, it had somehow become entangled and no one had noticed thankfully. The passports went straight in my bag, along with the purse after the Poon Hill entrance near-fiasco.

Before the trek we had been advised not to worry about a guide and just to follow the other tourists. I don’t know how much the tourists with guides paid, but we did speak to a few people who felt they were out of pocket having paid for a package deal including a guide, and then having to pay for food and accommodation on the trail. We both felt that we didn’t need a guide as the route was fairly straightforward, however I think like any trek, going it alone, completely unaccompanied is a bad idea.

It was a set rate for accommodation which was fairly cheap - we paid 500rs for a double room and adjoining private bathroom, but food and drink were not cheap. WiFi was 100rs for the duration of our stay at each place. The villagers are reliant on this seasonal tourism and they have a captive market so there is no room for negotiation really and it didn’t seem to be the done thing – not that we were complaining. Having said that, the last lodge was 700 but as it was otherwise empty they only charged us 500. I don’t know how they got around the fixed price either to charge more than the other lodges. After a good 2 months away from home comforts, every lodge we stayed in had piping hot showers; a novelty for us. 

Pokhara

We were glad to be back in Pokhara having completed the trek in 4 days. We put our filthy clothes in for cleaning and went out for a huge pizza and some well-earned beers. The next day, taking it easy before our 7 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu, we took a stroll along the lake and stopped for a drink, spotting the base camp Nepalese couple, then Niels, Domenico and Chicago (in fact we saw them several times) and a couple we had met on the trek, Leonie and Steve. We had a good chat and a couple of beers with Leonie and Steve. Leonie had taken a tumble when we were walking with them on the way to Tadapani and landed badly on her wrist, so she was strapped up and in a bit of pain, anaesthetised by the beer! It transpired later after, she'd had it checked in Delhi that she had broken her wrist. The hospital had thought she had dislocated it and tried pulling it back into place...ouch.

Kathmandu Part 2

Durbar Square

A 7 hour bus ride back to Kathmandu ensued and we stayed in Thamel, in a lovely hotel called Dream Nepal, with gorgeous typical Nepali hospitality. We spent our last two days sightseeing, visiting Kathmandu Durbar Square – we were meant to pay 1000rs entrance fee, but somehow ended up not paying at all, and Patan Durbar Square – where we did pay. Both squares are full of beautiful pagodas and winding hidden streets and alley ways. It was terrible to see the damage done in earthquake in 2015 where around 9000 people died.

Boudhanath Temple

Many of the monuments in Nepal including the squares, are quite expensive for tourists, but we figured if our money is going towards the repair and restoration of these places we didn’t mind. We went up to Boudhanath Buddhist Temple with its impressive all seeing eye and lovely little square of Tibetan shops, Swayambhunath Buddhist Temple, otherwise known as the monkey temple and Pashupatinath Temple which is similar to Varanasi in India in terms of it being a holy place for Hindu pilgrimage and cremations.

Swayambhunath Temple

We saw a couple of cremations, but unlike Varanasi, here it felt like more of a spectacle with steps opposite where people sat watching and taking pictures of the rituals. Our guide told us that the family will fast for 13 days after burying their dead, eating only in the morning, and not eating spices, and drinking alcohol for a year. There are three types of ceremony for the dead in parts of  Nepal and Tibet – sky, earth and wooden. Sky is where bodies are chopped up and eaten by vultures, earth is burial and this would be for religious men like sadhus, or children less than a year old – those without sin or having led a sinless life I guess. The belief is that they are not reincarnated as they don’t need to be, and would re-emerge as trees or flowers. 

The last is wooden, which is the typical cremation that we saw at this place. The eldest sons strip to purify their parents and shave their heads as part of the ritual. It was perfectly acceptable to watch and take pictures here but it still felt like we were encroaching on others’ grief. There are hermits living in caves in the rockface, practising strong yoga which is where they lift weights with their private parts! Another 1000rs entry for this temple plus an extortionate guide fee, but worth it. 

Pashupitanath

The day before we left Nepal we had arranged to do the mountain flight. This scenic flight was first thing in the morning and took us from Kathmandu to see the Himalayas, home of the mighty Everest. The whole trip was about an hour or so, there were 20 passengers in total and everyone had a window seat in this little aircraft. We had thought long and hard about doing this because it was very expensive ($190 US each!) and we actually booked it before doing Poon Hill trek, figuring that it was a once in a lifetime experience. 

Mountain view flight

We were disappointed in all honesty. We had quite a good view of the mountains when we flew in from India and we had got up close and personal with Annapurna mountain range on the trek, so to pay all this money and see the mountains at the same distance as when we’d first arrived in Nepal, was a bit of a let-down. The windows were very scratched and our seats were (of course!) on the wing, so our photos were obscured by the propellers as well as the scratches. We were allowed to pop our heads briefly into the cockpit and the pilot pointed out the different mountains, but I would say we were a good 30 miles from Everest. We felt that for us, it was not worth doing, especially for that price. Had we not been on the trek, we would have definitely enjoyed it more, but it was a disappointment after the views and sense of achievement we’d had on the trek. 

Back to Delhi for 2 days of meetings before Thailand.

#nepal #kathmandu #chitwan #annapurna #poonhill #pokhara #momo #boudhanath #swayambhunath #pashupatinath