Just as December began, perhaps frightened by the coming cold, or simply eager to set off yet again, I decide to undertake a trip of about 2 months. Partly in company and partly alone, the itinerary that will guide me will take me to splendid Laos, incredible Burma, to rediscover the sea of Thailand and visit its north for the first time, and passing through Malaysia and Singapore I will reach Bali, where I am considering the possibility of going to live for a while...so here I am again in the now almost familiar and beloved Southeast Asia...
Day 14 Dec 2006
BANGKOK IS ALWAYS BANGKOK...
...and so everything starts again from Bangkok. The usual Bangkok. Hot, incredibly humid, but always exciting with its mix of smells, lights and people... Bangkok serves to get us used to Asia again...and my God how little it takes me. Here I really like seeing and being part of a time that seems never to pass... I don't have much to see. I've already tasted touristy Bangkok. We've come here to get the visa for Myanmar, to get 2 massages, to fall into the thousand temptations of unrestrained shopping and to have to escape from a horde of "lady boys" who chase us through the narrow streets of Patpong...
I'll return to Bangkok later in the final stretch of my trip, and racing on a tuk-tuk I'll give another look to the Grand Palace, to the Wat Pho with its ever-astonishing reclining Buddha, and then lose myself in the chaos of Khao San Road and the countless markets, where everything is for sale, that the city offers.
Krabi - Ao-Nang
Day 219 Dec 2006
CHIANG MAI AND THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
We will re-enter Thailand from Laos by crossing the border located between the cities of Huay Xay and in the northern border area of the two countries, in what is partly known as the Golden Triangle. Both to leave Laos and to enter Thailand the bureaucratic procedures are quick and...wet, since to cross the Mekong, which acts as the natural border between the two countries, you have to prepare to get soaked on a little local boat that shuttles between the two banks... We wake up early and to relax, another 5 hours of minivan to Chang Mai!!!..and here we are. Returning to Thailand after the beautiful but hard Laos is like feeling at home. In the evening we eat European-style (we all needed a nice steak...) spending the equivalent of 3 nights in a hotel and we go out until late among the usual calling cries from the young Thai women...
Described by everyone as a marvel...I admit its charm with the temples and the air of a little Bangkok that you breathe, but perhaps the tiredness of these last days or I don't know what, means that it doesn't "captivate" us as much as we expected...
Ko Phi Phi
Day 321 Jan 2007
KRABI AND KHO PHI PHI
The two-month "tour" could only end where it began: Thailand, an almost obligatory passage for anyone going to Southeast Asia, and how could we not end this trip relaxing?!?...I spend the last week between Krabi, specifically Ao-Nang and Koh Phi Phi. Krabi and its coastline are decidedly beautiful and nature with its tall rocks covered in vegetation, scattered a bit everywhere, from the beaches to the sea itself, make the whole thing a destination where the photos taken could be used as postcards. Ao-Nang specifically is populated almost exclusively by Scandinavian families and the road that skirts the beach is the usual endless succession of little shops... Koh Phi Phi remains paradise on earth.
Having had the luck to see it before the tsunami manages to give me an idea of the devastating force of nature and of the suffering of these people, now all concentrated on the reconstruction of the island. Prices have at least tripled in 3 years, but the wonder and enchantment of this island make it absolutely unique.
0 reader comments