Farewell to Thailand!

We have written before on why we're not going to stay in Thailand longer term as originally planned, and although we've hinted at our adventures, we haven't actually told you all what we're doing next!  

So without further ado...<drum roll please>...we have seven weeks to head through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and then we have a flight booked to England on 24th September from Hanoi! Cheap flights are now available from Hanoi (Vietnam) to Heathrow via Helsinki with Finnair! 

So onwards we go...

We were pretty unfamiliar with this part of the world before we got here, so we thought it would be useful if we provided an interactive map for you lovely readers...


View Larger Map

And so it is that we bid farewell to the beautiful country of Thailand, with all its lovely food, its countryside and its lovely wats and to our dear friends Nick and Pam who have been such lovely hosts! 

We're starting off with a two day slow boat ride down the mighty Mekong from Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. More on that to come! (Rest assured, Paddy has already started on the movie references, see Apocalypse Now, etc)

Goodbye to "Sabaidee Ma?" meaning "How are you?" but literally translated means "Are you feeling relaxed?" 

Lots of sabaidee love,
Maddy and Paddy xxx   

A taste of Thailand...

WARNING: this post may make you hungry...

Before we arrived in Thailand, we had been told about the food, oh you will love it 'they' all said. Our attitudes to food are very different. Maddy, although less fussy than in previous years, is still wary of most meat and fish. Paddy? Well, he is certainly willing to give most things a go. Examples of his classic taste include: boiled pork entrails and noodles in a broth, squid stuffed with mince pork in a red curry sauce with coconut milk. With plenty of prick hang (dried chilli). He was also been searching for a drink well known in SE Asia, called bubble tea. His search continues. Tips most welcome.

Maddy has been enjoying trying pad Thai at every restaurant we have been to (hold the gung tang a.k.a. dry shrimp) and oh, the puddings!

Mango and sticky rice? It's lush.

Bananas in coconut milk? Yum!

Thai version of egg custard tart? Yummo.

And a very random one that we tried in a diner in the very trendy area of Chiang Mai, Nimmanheimin...

Deep fried toblerone! Om nom nom (think mini chocolate samosas)

Chiang Mai has been called one of the best cities in the world in which to be a vegetarian and due to Maddy's fussiness we decided that it was easier to explore this option. The diversity of the veggie food has been fantastic! Eating salad with confidence is great, and certainly not something that is common in beloved India!

Giant salads at Pun Pun (from an organic superfood farm
situated just north of Pai)

Lush spring rolls and chilli sauce

We have been using the app VegOut which finds nearby veggie restaurants according to your current location in the world together with maps and reviews taken from HappyCow.net. Very useful, particularly when you are new to a city, have no idea where you are, have a partner who refuses to ask for directions and it's monsoon. And you have no umbrella.

Once umbrellas and ponchos were bought we headed to Pai and dived into more luscious food including Gaeng Kiaw Wan (Thai Green curry) at Na's restaurant just up the road from our bungalow. They served blue flowers (that's a nice blue!) with the meals and the waitresses loved staring at Maddy...

Spicy Thai salad

We also became completely addicted to having eggs Benedict for brekkie at a place called Hotel d'artistes with an iced coffee...it's a great way to start any day of chilling...

Matchy matchy - quelle fromage!

Of course, Paddy loves to cook and being on the road we don't have too much opportunity to do that, so our dear friends Nick and Pam 'allowed' Paddy to cook one of his mean jalfrezis. A quick trip to the local market with our basic Thai skills in hand...

And a ta-dah a jalfrezi was created!

We expect you'll want to rush off and have a snack now, enjoy!

Much love

Maddy and Paddy xxx

A Slice of Pai Part 2

So here we are living in Pai, northern Thailand. You can read part 1 of our time in Pai here.

It seems like aaaages ago since Kat and Alex were here, but we did promise a full recap of our adventures with them, so here it is. Plus, we haven't really been doing too much since they left, mostly snoozing and enjoying the local eateries, buzzing about on scooters, drinking excellent iced coffee and beer, hanging out by five star resort swimming pools, enjoying daily 2 hour Thai massages and still managing to fit in some great box sets on the laptop with top class thai food take aways. We know, life, eh?! 

Oh and we've been making plans for the next chapters, but more on that to come soon...

So we continued to live in the artsy bungalow at Sawasdee Pai, right by the river...it's like a home away from home here. For some reason we just can't seem to be without an ocean or a river nearby!

This is the view from our porch.

We have been eating so much yummy food, including reviewing all the eggs Benedict on offer in town! With an iced coffee of course.

Eggs Benedict, Boomelicious cafe, Pai

Whilst Kat and Alex were here we got up to all sorts...

...we climbed up 350 steps to see a temple and look over the Pai valley for a stunning sunset view...

The views over the Pai valley were spectacular, spectacular! We listened to the temple dogs who have a lovely daily ritual of howling over the hills when the temple monk bashed his big temple bong at 6 pm every day, daily. In Buddhism, time essentially has its own meaning. Ask the dogs! 

Beautiful Buddhas

Clear blue skies...for now.

Love the colours at the temple.

It was so great to hang out with these two!

We finally fulfilled Maddy's dream of riding an elephant. Although it wasn't quite as she had imagined and actually very, um, uncomfortable. She wouldn't move forward enough for poor Paddy to stay on without fear of sliding off the back.

The Ashes were on TMS so whilst Alex and Paddy got stuck into that, Kat and Maddy went off and got pedicures!

...We went off on a day trip to visit the Lod caves. On the way there, we sat in rock pools and watched tipsy Thai men ride down waterfalls. Alex was keen on following suit, but a stern look from Kat spoke to the contrary so instead Simon and Alex sat in the pool and looked on forlornly.

Simon had a little difficulty posing for this photo..

Babes in the rock pool (what you didn't see: Kat slipping down a rock face and me catching her 'cheeks' to stop her falling! Also, none of us except Alex could actually get anywhere without falling!!)

Once we got to Lod caves, we clambered aboard a bamboo raft and stopped off to look at three different caves. There we were, clutching our bags of fish food. 

Here are just a few things that Maddy wasn't sure about: the dark, the bats, the size of the fish, the rickety bamboo, the poo-covered handrails, slipping on rocks.

Lots to rest with...

Wish you could all hear the screeching of the bats ...

We hired a lady with a lantern for a mere 250 baht (5 quid) to show us round the caves as we had been told this was the best way to see the caves. She pointed out all the rock formations that looked "like" things. And so begins the show...

Teeth

Popcorn

We got a bit distracted...

Prehistoric painting of an animal. Unfortunately faded due to time and flash photography. This photo was taken without flash but just by lantern light.

Our charming guide.

The boob!

Stalagmite and stalactite joined together...

Rickety stairs (not covered in bat poo for once)

Huge catfish jumping out of the water,
fighting over the food we had bought for them.

Come back, lady with the lantern!

Us lot on the raft.

One last funny shaped rock for you - the crocodile!

When we had finished the boat trip and cave tour, we had been advised to stay behind and wait for the big swoop of bats that would emerge at sunset. So we waited. 

In hope...

And whilst we waited, KitKat and Mandolin (their nicknames for each other dating back to when they used to be flatmates - Katherine and Maddy to everyone else) discussed the pros and cons of selfies and getting just the right amount of background in the shot...

...but alas whilst many many swifts did fly in (it was very dramatic!), the cloud of bats did not fly out...apparently they aren't keen on coming out if rain is on the way which it most certainly was as we found out slippy slide style on the drive back to Pai!

...we also visited some local hot springs. They were, well, hot. And smelly! As we walked further up the hill the springs got hotter, and the eggy smell became stronger. The temptation to boil eggs was strong, but somehow we resisted....

It will be sad to leave this beautiful part of the world, but the road is a-calling!

Check out the reflection of the clouds in the rice paddies!

With lots of love,

Maddy and Paddy xxx

(Selfie not quite perfected!)

What's Wat in Chiang Mai?

Read our original post about Chiang Mai here but as promised, we wanted to share with you some of the delights...

There are over 300 wats (Buddhist temples) here and yet only 250,000 people, which is a crazy ratio of erm...quite a lot, but who are we to judge? We are guessing it gives them time to pray in peace and surround themselves with lots of shiny sparkling Buddhist paraphernalia? 

So far we have seen 6. Maddy read one travel blog where they'd managed 37 in four months. That's going some! We can't imagine having the time to do anything else! Having said that, they are beautiful and serene places (though watch out for the temple dogs).

We had no clue about Buddhism and it's been quite interesting to learn a little about it, so we thought we'd share what we've learnt with you, our dedicated readers! You may thank us later.

So the wat, aka the temple, is also a monastery. You can usually find orange robed monks pottering about carrying out their daily chores. This is everything from sewing their orange robes to changing the incense. The wats are hugely ornate large buildings with high ceilings and sloping roofs.

Dramatic entrance

You'll always see lots of Buddhas in varying sizes, mostly huge, both inside and outside the wats. Believe us, they simply can't get enough of them! 

As you can see, wats are not known for small and simple is best, but instead it's all about the grand, the gold leaf and the detail!

Maddy was in love with all the colour!

The gold leaf!

As with many religions, symbolism is a Big Thing. You'll see lots of dragons guarding the temples, symbolising enlightenment, positivity and creativity. The apparently Buddhist expression 'meeting your dragons in the cave' means facing your own fears. But we reckon its more to do with naughty children being sent to the temple to be told off by the monk, but we are both children of Catholic education, so we wouldn't really know about being bold. Down with that sort of thing!

Raar!

 

And usually a few horses...this horse can travel across clouds, and circumnavigate the world three times in a day. You can place any and all wishes with the horse apparently! With Paddy's fondness for a flutter at the bookies, this sounds like the one to place your bets on! Or not, as is often the case with Mr Noble.

And what, we hear you cry, is the large gold pointy thing?

Gold 'chedi' next to sugar cube white cemetery

It's called a chedi or stupa. Sometimes gold, sometimes stone, but always large and grandiose, usually containing relics of important monks or royals and used for meditation by Buddhist monks.

Many of the wats are continually undergoing renovation
due to the large amounts of money donated to the wats (see also: karma)

Can you tell it's monsoon?!

Love this photo with the orange robes contrasting with the moody clouds covering the mountains in the background and the dramatic white cemetery

We've also spotted Lord Ganesha placed strategically around Buddhist temples and homes and have been wondering what a Hindu god is doing here in Buddhist territory? Is he lost? Well it turns out that the elephant-headed god is actually considered an incarnation of Buddha by Buddhists! So there you have it.

(As a side note did you know that the three wise men in the Bible were actually looking for a reincarnation of their Lord Buddha?)

Hope you enjoyed a little culture...!.

Lots of love,

Maddy and Paddy xxx