Escape From The Planet Of The Apes

STATS: Day count=152; theft count=0; rip-off count=1; tourist screw-up count=4; Chris’ photo count=1453; Emma’s photo count=55; touch-typing char/min=234; Poi skills mastered since last post: shoulder reels (well, not ‘mastered’ exactly!)

  Our final days at the gibbon sanctuary were much the same as other days. We ran out of mosquito repellent which was a bit of a pain as there were a *lot* of mosquitoes and they seemed to like us, which is flattering, but not pleasant. We took a trip into Myanmar (Burma), but saw only the inside of the immigration office as our aim was just to get an extension to our Thai visas, which was achieved by leaving Thailand, walking across the ‘Friendship Bridge’ into Burma and getting an entry and exit stamp from Burma (and paying $13 each for the privilege) before walking back into Thailand to get another 15 days visa. Shame we couldn’t see more of Burma but you are only allowed a single day visa at this crossing anyway, and it’s difficult to avoid supporting (i.e. giving money to) the undemocratic and dubious-human-rights-record government that they have there. There are supposed to be ‘elections’ in Burma this year some time – current thinking is July – and Thailand is expecting  a large influx of refugees just after these ‘elections’ – which it is likely to deny entry to forcibly. Given the sanctuary is only 6km from the Burmese border it could be interesting times here later this year! So we are now proud owners of Burmese passport stamps which imply a far greater adventure than actually happened.

We also were given the vast responsibility of looking after the two visitors to the farm that arrived a few days before our departure. The place doesn’t get many visitors (these were the only two during our stay) as it is a bit out of the way and takes a bit of effort to get there – plus for some reason the owner doesn’t really promote it much – despite being somewhat reliant on donations – I think she gets enough money from grants and the payments and support of volunteers not to need donations too much. The place is mentioned in the Rough Guide, however, which is how we heard of it, so they do get one or two visitors popping in. We ‘looked after’ a Dutch couple who were brought to the farm by their tour guide and who seemed very interested in seeing the gibbons and listened intently as Emma explained all about the place, and I just followed dutifully and ensured they didn’t get attacked by the gibbons. They escaped unscathed and left a sizable donation so we must have done our job well enough!

After almost tearful farewells to the gibbons (well, they looked upset anyway) we started our travels once more. It’s strange to miss a bunch of wild animals, but we did get attached to many of the gibbons during our brief stay. However, it actually feels good to be ‘back on the road’ again – trying to find buses, seeing how far we can carry our rucksacks and not really knowing where we will be in a few days time. Working at the sanctuary was great, but we have missed the sense of discovery of new places. Having said all that, our first stop was somewhere we had been before – Kamphaeng Phet. Last visit we didn’t stay long enough to actually see any of the ruins that the place is famous for, and the guest house here is really nice, so we thought we’d pop back there again for a couple of days to do the place justice.

Armed with our newly expanded and practiced Thai vocabulary, which now included the indispensible “vegetarian food” and “egg fried rice” (which unfortunately sounds very much like “chicken fried rice”), we confidently marched to the night market for some dinner. I was very pleased when the cook we approached nodded and repeated our requests for vegetarian food, and our possible suggestion of egg fried rice, and awaited our meal. It arrived as some lovely egg fried rice with vegetables…and pork. Maybe our Thai vocabulary needs some practice. There is a minor suspicion that the ‘pork’ may have been a soya substitute – they do use a lot of very realistic meat substitutes here for vegetarians – but we were fairly convinced it was real. Tourist screw-up count increased slightly due to this misunderstanding. And yes, we left the pork pieces at the sides of our plate to make a point!

A wander round the ruins of the ancient (14th – 16th century) city of Kamphaeng Phet the following day was hot, but interesting. Despite being a Saturday the national park containing the ruins was pretty deserted, which made it even nicer walking around the ruined temples set in a wood. Not as impressive as the similar ruins at Sukhothai, but some nice vistas nonetheless. Buddha statues galore once again.

Not wanting to set roots in a place for too long, we headed out from Kamphaeng Phet the following day, on a 5 hr bus journey to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. For the first time the Thai organisation showed some cracks, with the bus being overbooked – people took this in their stride, though, and some padded stools were quickly found for people to sit on in the isles (for 5 hours!!) and no complaints were heard. Obviously, had we not got a seat, complaints would have been heard, I’m sure, though British reserve would have prevented them from being officially vocalised!

Chiang Mai is a large, touristy town, probably most visited in Thailand after Bangkok and the popular southern islands. As such it has lots of cafes, bars and restaurants and is very well set up for tourists. However, unlike Bangkok it doesn’t seem too ‘busy’, especially within the old city walls, and is a really nice place to wander round and explore.

So explore it we have done, doing our usual trick of setting out in the hottest part of the day (temperatures reaching about 38 degrees here, apparently) and shunning the taxis and tuk-tuks in order to ‘experience the place’ by doing what none of the locals seem to do, and walking. We soon had our fill of temples – the place has almost as many as Bangkok and is a lot smaller – so took a walk for a few km outside town to a museum dedicated to the hill tribes around the region. About 2 hours later we arrived at the pretty building in the middle of a nice park to see a large, professional sign telling us in both Thai and English that the place was closed for renovations from March to September 2010. Had we been sensible and got one of the numerous taxis here, I’m sure we would have been told that in advance. Tourist screw-up count increased to a round “4”.

Still, all this walking does prevent this from feeling like a real holiday, and ensures that we don’t pile on the pounds from the numerous eatery choices that we have here. It also does mean that we see the non-touristy parts of places – the ‘normal’ shops, signs without English translations and people just going about their normal working lives. Plus it gives us a chance to stop off at restaurants or cafes where locals, rather than tourists, eat. So we’ll stick to the policy of walking everywhere we can, despite being the only people who seem to do so!

Being full of bars, cafes and restaurants, and the Thai people being mad about football, many places are showing all of the world cup games live – impressive given that the late game doesn’t start here until 1:30am. We’re watching a few of them, though I haven’t been all that impressed with the quality so far! (and that is without us watching England’s initial performance against the USA).

More temples, markets – both daytime and night time, and even an art museum later and we are ready to move on to our next destination – Pai, a smaller town 4 hours by bus to the west of here. Described as a small travellers’ stop with a laid-back, New-Agey feel. Should suit us perfectly!