After my amazing experience in Phuket I headed north to see what the rest of the country could offer me. What I found was a piece of Thailand that I had yet to experience. The islands of the south were quite diverse, but since they were so heavily polluted with the young party scene, that is what I typically associate the south with. Although the north is not too far off, there is a lot more to do than gaze at crystal clear water while being scorched by the blistering sun with a bottle of Change Beer in your hand.
In my opinion Bangkok can be misunderstood by many tourists, hell the first time I was there I misunderstood it as well, but for a totally different reason. The first time I landed in Bangkok was the first time I had ever been to Asia, the utter chaos (or perceived chaos) of Asian streets, horn honking, pollution, population, dirty allies, prostitutes, ladyboys, loud bars, tuk tuk drivers, dirty hostels can all be a bit unnerving, especially when traveling alone. The funny thing is once you can handle it, once you accept Bangkok (or any city for that matter), for what it is than the sooner it all becomes a game for you. The second time around, Bangkok was a breeze. Keep you mouth closed and sit in the middle of the boat when cruising down a "sewage ally" (as I call them) in a long boat, haggle your ass off when deal with a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) driver, don't be surprised if a beautiful girl who smiles at you has a larger adams apple than you, and even if that saturated filthy ally your in is at the point of fermentation, that Pad Thai vendor in it may be the best in town! Bangkok is a Zoo but the sooner you learn to deal with it the better, Chackuchak weekend market will make any "shopper-esk" western woman go wild, the place was unreal.
The side of Bangkok that a lot tourist see which leaves them with a sour taste in their mouth, is the Khao San road Bangkok which is a myriad of flashing lights, shitty bars with bad music, tons of cloths, flip flops, corrupt tuk tuk drivers, and 100 times more tourists than actual Thai people. It would be the equivalent of a Chinese person moving to ANY china town (outside of china), not leaving it and saying which ever city they were in was not a good one. Hmmmm?
Kanchanaburi: a small town about two hours north of Bangkok was a bit of a refugee after a few party nights in the big city, I was tipped off to the town by a German buddy who I traveled China with and it turned out to be a great stop over which lasted 5 days. Floating market which is a bit of a tourist trap, the "TIGER TEMPLE" which was also pretty lame, along with the River Kuai bridge which held good historical value but when seeing it, is actually as you would imagine.... just a bridge. The excitement or non-excitement was just the life style of the area, renting a scooter and driving for hours through the hills and roads, stumbling across a market in the middle of no where and watching a man turn pure cane sugar into colored sugar "hair," relaxing by the river and enjoying some good food in an outstanding guest house. A relaxing escape from Bangkok.
Chiang Mai: This city was a good place to go, totally unrepresentative of Bangkok or southern Thailand as a whole. This laid back city was a great place and Julies Guest House was a awesome place to stay supplying info for any and everything I wanted to do. Great food markets, the Night bazaar was not all that spectacular but did not let me down on the copious amounts of outrageous t-shirts that Thailand seems to be bursting with. The River Side bar was jamming with good live music every night, and the coffee in the morning was brilliant (northern Thai or Laoation hills coffee).
Pai: Another City which I fell in love with, a small town located about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai which is as close to the Burmese boarder as I have come. A mountain town, and YES it gets cold at night especially in the winter with temperatures dropping into the 40's. A total hippie town with a really cool vibe to it, lots of coffee shops, tons of good music, very laid back people. A semi isolated community which is now getting recognized by tourists. I hit it during a Reggae festival which was both good and bad, good because I got to see the festival, bad because it brought a ton of tourist into a town I would have loved to see when it was slow and empty. Again it didn't stop me and Matt from renting scooters ($3 a day) and riding them from sun up to sun down, I would say Pai is a must do in northern Thailand.
PHOTOS:
Http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc24/MarcvaccaroThailand2?feat=directlink
In my opinion Bangkok can be misunderstood by many tourists, hell the first time I was there I misunderstood it as well, but for a totally different reason. The first time I landed in Bangkok was the first time I had ever been to Asia, the utter chaos (or perceived chaos) of Asian streets, horn honking, pollution, population, dirty allies, prostitutes, ladyboys, loud bars, tuk tuk drivers, dirty hostels can all be a bit unnerving, especially when traveling alone. The funny thing is once you can handle it, once you accept Bangkok (or any city for that matter), for what it is than the sooner it all becomes a game for you. The second time around, Bangkok was a breeze. Keep you mouth closed and sit in the middle of the boat when cruising down a "sewage ally" (as I call them) in a long boat, haggle your ass off when deal with a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) driver, don't be surprised if a beautiful girl who smiles at you has a larger adams apple than you, and even if that saturated filthy ally your in is at the point of fermentation, that Pad Thai vendor in it may be the best in town! Bangkok is a Zoo but the sooner you learn to deal with it the better, Chackuchak weekend market will make any "shopper-esk" western woman go wild, the place was unreal.The side of Bangkok that a lot tourist see which leaves them with a sour taste in their mouth, is the Khao San road Bangkok which is a myriad of flashing lights, shitty bars with bad music, tons of cloths, flip flops, corrupt tuk tuk drivers, and 100 times more tourists than actual Thai people. It would be the equivalent of a Chinese person moving to ANY china town (outside of china), not leaving it and saying which ever city they were in was not a good one. Hmmmm?
Kanchanaburi: a small town about two hours north of Bangkok was a bit of a refugee after a few party nights in the big city, I was tipped off to the town by a German buddy who I traveled China with and it turned out to be a great stop over which lasted 5 days. Floating market which is a bit of a tourist trap, the "TIGER TEMPLE" which was also pretty lame, along with the River Kuai bridge which held good historical value but when seeing it, is actually as you would imagine.... just a bridge. The excitement or non-excitement was just the life style of the area, renting a scooter and driving for hours through the hills and roads, stumbling across a market in the middle of no where and watching a man turn pure cane sugar into colored sugar "hair," relaxing by the river and enjoying some good food in an outstanding guest house. A relaxing escape from Bangkok.Chiang Mai: This city was a good place to go, totally unrepresentative of Bangkok or southern Thailand as a whole. This laid back city was a great place and Julies Guest House was a awesome place to stay supplying info for any and everything I wanted to do. Great food markets, the Night bazaar was not all that spectacular but did not let me down on the copious amounts of outrageous t-shirts that Thailand seems to be bursting with. The River Side bar was jamming with good live music every night, and the coffee in the morning was brilliant (northern Thai or Laoation hills coffee).
Pai: Another City which I fell in love with, a small town located about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai which is as close to the Burmese boarder as I have come. A mountain town, and YES it gets cold at night especially in the winter with temperatures dropping into the 40's. A total hippie town with a really cool vibe to it, lots of coffee shops, tons of good music, very laid back people. A semi isolated community which is now getting recognized by tourists. I hit it during a Reggae festival which was both good and bad, good because I got to see the festival, bad because it brought a ton of tourist into a town I would have loved to see when it was slow and empty. Again it didn't stop me and Matt from renting scooters ($3 a day) and riding them from sun up to sun down, I would say Pai is a must do in northern Thailand.
PHOTOS:
Http://picasaweb.google.co.in/vaccaro.marc24/MarcvaccaroThailand2?feat=directlink
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