Bangkok & Chiang Mai, Thailand

AC: We took a "taxi" (effectively the brother of our guesthouse's owner's family car) from Siem Reap to the Thai border. 3 hours of driving on 99% dirt road in a car that must have done the trips too many times for the poor suspension to handle! After the very efficient Thai border control we took our 5 hour bus ride to Bangkok. Bangkok is like most huge Asian cities I guess - very lively and busy. We took a few days here to check out the place, and visited some local temples - the 'Reclining Buddha' is quite impressive (see the photos). We purposely avoided Khao San Road (the extremely touristic backpacker area) and stayed in Thewet area - a lot nicer indeed. If you visit Bangkok - avoid Khao San Road like the plague! We then took a 14 hour overnight train trip up to Chang Mai in the north. We hired a small moto for the time and scooted around the town and explored the nearby villages too. NB. These bikes get flat tyres quite often, and always when there's no fix-it service stations in close proximity! Still, Chang Mai was very enjoyable, and while a large city as well, more pleasing than Bangkok and without the constant shadow of tuk-tuk drivers and almost everyone else in Bangkok trying to sell you something or take you to their brothers jewellery shop. Near to Chang Mai was an Elephant Sanctuary we visited with the motorbike. Great to see Elephants taken care of kindly, but the actual 'show' we saw was a little sad in my opinion as their handlers rolled the out to perform trick after trick. I guess as long as they are treated well.... After Chang Mai, it's south to the islands near Malaysia for some beaches!
VG:Bangkok: grosse ville bien polluee ou tout le monde essaie de t'arnaquer - voila la premiere impression ! Entre les chauffeurs de tuk tuk, les soit disant guides et professeurs d'histoire qui tentent par des stratagemes plus ou moins minables de nous diriger vers certains magasins ou hotels pour recevoir une commission, ca devient comique ! Il faut garder le sens de l'humour ! Il y a quand meme plein de choses a voir (et a acheter) a Bangkok, mais 3 jours ont largement suffi. La Thailande a beaucoup plus a offrir. Apres 14 heures de train nous sommes arrives a Chiang Mai dans le nord ou on a loue une moto pour se ballader entre les temples et dans la montagne. La roue arriere a creve au bout d'une demie heure. Des thais tres sympas ont mis la moto sur leur pick up (non non, ils ne sont pas partis avec !) et nous ont amenes a un garage (qui n'appartenait pas a leur cousin et ne pratiquait pas des prix exorbitants). Apres reparation on a enfin pu rouler dans la montagne sur cette pauvre petite moto qui a souffert dans les cotes ! On a aussi visite une reserve d'elephants qui sont tres bien traites (a une epoque ils avaient quasiment disparu dans ce pays), mais les voir jouer au foot ou peindre des tableaux n'etait pas exactement ce qu'on attendait... Comme on n'avait que 15 jours en Thailande, on a ensuite pris un avion (economie de 30 heures dans le train) direction le sud et ses iles. Suite au prochain numero !
:: View the photos from Bangkok here
:: View the photos from Chiang Mai here