Well, I finally flew out on May 9th after rescheduling 3 times. I was pretty non-plussed about going beforehand, but my word, how that has changed now.
I've always considered myself quite worldly and cultural but nothing prepared me for experiencing Thailand!
From the moment I saw my first "Arry Monk" and indulged in my first tentative Wai I was hooked. What an incredible place full of incredible people!
The first five days we spent in Chiang Mai in the north, which is an incredibly vibrant University City. The first two days were spent relaxing, understandably after a marathon journey to the country. However, we did go out every night to sample the local nightlife and was not disappointed. Thankfully, Chiang Mai appears to be relatively unfounded by Westerners as of yet so we had a fantastic time immersing ourselves with the local culture as well as the partying with the very friendly locals. I was astounded to find out the respect the Thai's all showed eachother as well as the vast cultural differences such as having a drink and not fighting, politeness, chivalry towards women and care/attentiveness. Western society has a f()cking lot to learn!
The highlights in Chiang Mai had to be being fondled by a gaggle of university girls, the sights over Chiang Mai from the temple and one fantastic waitress Faa, who was mesmerising and almost single-handedly convinced me Thai women are the way forward.
From Chiang Mai we flew to Pattaya via Bangkok. Pattaya was a ****ing god awful place. Surrounded by sex tourists, perverts, paedos and wrong-un's, I flipped out emotionally and lasted 3 hours (we were meant to be there four nights) and moved outside the city and stayed at the Ravindra. Met up with a friend's friend who runs a guest house out there and managed to go to Koh Samet for a day (****ing hell the scooter ride to the main island's harbour was an experience no handed!) and had a boat trip around the island with food, fishing, snorkelling and visiting the fish farm a highlight. Didn't venture into Pattaya again as I didn't want to see the exploitation of these wonderful people so stayed outside and went to all the cultural places around (more temples, restaurants and went to the places the Thai's went to) and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The final sojourn was Bangkok but we arrived on the day that was acclaimed 'Battle Of Bangkok' last wednesday. Sadly, the curfew was imposed for the duration of the stay but we managed to get out and about during the day and experience the water taxi's and many of the local sights that were not closed off due to the troubles. Had a river view corner suite at the Chatrium Suites with a fantastic view of BKK - highly recommended. The only let down were the rude and obnoxious Iranians staying there... what a bunch of w4nkers they were.
The hair op was off also so I had plenty of money in my pockets, not that I needed it because everything was so cheap anyway! Whilst we did do some decidedly tourist-like things but the real fun was sampling and indulging in the locals customs and culture. I was astounded the attention I was afforded in every place I visited by the women and to be fair, the men also (which I took as a compliment) and loved how open and accepting the Thai culture is.
There were definitely many amusing moments, from meeting a gaggle of dumb germans in Chiang Mai who asked where the european women were (Er, what? 1, they're in europe and 2, why the **** would you go to Thailand for western women and 3, how could anyone not fall in love with the exotic women over there!?)
After that strange exchange, they did seem be fairly normal guys as we discussed current affairs and our respective countries and cultures. That was, until the most quiet german popped up with this gem:
"We have hooligans in our country, too. We call them Jews"
:-o
We were astounded and asked him to repeat what he said but he refused and they soon slunk off. Bizarre. Not much changed after 70 years then! :-o
Meeting someone from Holbury at the Chiang Mai waterfalls was also incredible - what were the odds?
Being stalked by ladyboys in BKK was amusing and being stopped in a temple continuously by a group of girls to have my pictures taken with all of them over and over again was also a great ego-massage. I have to say, I did enjoy walking around each area on my own and being pointed, stared, gawped and smiled at.
Oh and when you buy a drink in Chiang Mai, you don't buy a single drink, you buy a bottle for a group. And if you don't finish it, you get to take it home, incredible
From the clicking heels to saluting security guards and officials, wai's from locals to the graceful, gliding women of Thailand, it was an incredible cultural experience. I will be returning for my bride in one approximately years time.
