as soon as we got to chang mai we organised a jungle tour which basically meant that we'd be going to see a few different tribes, staying overnight with one tribe and doing elephant trekking, bamboo rafting and white water rafting as well as a massive trek through the jungle. it was amazing, and we really enjoyed ourselves but for example when we went to the long neck villiage, we didnt stay for long. we got out of the car and it was as though the people had just been put there for our amusment, like a human zoo. they didnt look happy and although of course we wanted to ask them questions about the rings they wear on their necks, and if they hurt, take photos and look at them.... it felt wrong. it felt really wrong. it wasnt natural, it was made for tourists and even though we didnt like it, we were supporting it by even being on that trip, by paying the money to go and see those tribes.
it really sucked, we felt awful and ended up going and sitting in the car because it just felt so so wrong. it sucks when things are like that. because, of course you want to come to thailand, of course you want to see the tribes, of course you want to ride an elephant..... but what you dont realise is by doing those things, and paying for those things you are supporting the treatment (which is sometimes terrible) of the people involved. I dont know. it seems like in thailand tribes, and elephant mahouts etc dont really exsist any more, so you pay money for a kind of fake version. in india it is just so different, if you go to see a tribe you really really do see a tribe..... i guess india is no way near as touristy as here though. and also india is the land of culture, seriously i dont think were going to get anything nearly as good as the traditions and culture we saw there....
nevertheless the trip we went on WAS fantastic, we stayed overnight in the jungle, it wasnt with a 'tribe' so much as it was with our thai tour guides and 20 other tourists.... still that was really fun, we stayed in bamboo dorms and despite me being a little groped by someones drunken hands in the night (and staying up most of the night terrified) it was a good experience. we ate amasing local food, and took freezing ice cold commmunal showers, tried to learn french as we were the only english ones in the group, and nearly died on the 2 and a half hour uphil trek to the accomidation..... it was really good. but it was not real.... i dont really know how to explain it.... it was something that wouldnt happen normally, but had been created for tourists. kind of like a rustic thai version of disneyland i guess!!
on the first night we got to chang mai we went to the night market, ate AMAZING street food and bought a few pressies for home for pretty cheap, the atmosphere at the night market was so much more cultural than any part of thailand we have been to, but was still touristy. see the thing we have found with thailand is that yes, some parts are beautiful but you have to really hunt to get to them. The majority of thailand is so touristy that its been kind of ruined. infact its been really ruined. but dont get me wrong, we had a great time here, weve seen and done some great things, but if its culture your looking for, you wont find it here. sooooo were pretty excited to get out, as you can imagine... thailand also eats your money big time so were hoping to save a bit by moving to vietnam.
this sounds like such a negative post, but its not!!! hahah thailand has been great its just i guess for us our trip is mainly about culture, so it wasnt our favorite place to far. for some people it might be their favorite place in the world i guess, especially if you find somewhere untouched, then of course it is stunning, like the islands we saw on the boat trip (the ones where no one lives).
xxxx anyways if anybody reads this in time, im in bangkok ALL day tomorrow so ill be on skyypppeee!! xx
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
'A Paradise Lost' dammmm straight
So, mum and dad now know about the tattoo..... urm i guess its fair to say that they weren't overwhelmingly happy about it, but luckily for me ive been blessed with parents who support me in all the crazy things i do soooooo i think i can go home without being shot now :)
well, what have we been up to?
Well, we arrived in Koh Tao, met our old friend Jo who is now a QUALIFIED DIVER ahhh yeahhhh she even broke out her card and was trying to use it as ID. Brilliant. We stayed in Koh Tao for a few days, had a night out (a crazy crazy night out may i just add) which ended in us all being horribly hungover but finding fluffy dogs dressed in human clothes, it was totally hilarious.... we also found a kebab man called sexy, of course we photographed everything and soon remebered that the night before, we had been barred from seven eleven (the spa shop) the night before, for chasing around a man and whipping him with a belt.... not good.
Anyway, we left Koh Tao and went to Koh Phi Phi where we had a very funny very random night out when we bumped into Rhian and Lynsey from Jersey! we were planning on havnig a 'quiet night in' but of course that did'nt happen, and we ended up totally wasted on buckets of lord knows what, finding illuminous paint and painting everything in sight, including a urinal with our postcodes...... wow.
The next day (we had about 2 hours sleep) we boarded a boat as we had booked a full day around the islands, snorkelling and kayaking all day.... at first this seemed hilarious and we stumbled from our room, all of us laughing about nothing, jo with one shoe and niema with a moustache still drawn on her face. We got on the boat and all promptly passed out until we arrived at our first destination and got into the crystal clear water. It was absaloutly stunning. Once in the water i forgot about everything else and just felt like part of the ocean. I dont really like staying on the surface so i spent most of my time being a dolphin- taking deep breaths and swimming as deep as i could amoungst the coral and fish before i had to resurface for some more H20. The whole day was amasing, and each time i found i was the last to be called from the water- i just didnt want to get out. Id fallen in love with the sea all over again. Unfortuantly for me i have dodgey ears which dont let me equalise which seriously inhibbits the things i can do and how far i can dive down (and that i cant go scuba) BUT when i tried really hard, i managed to equalise. it was only once, and i couldnt do it again, BUT i did it once, which gave me a little hope that maybe someday ill be able to go scuba!
We saw so many beautiful fish, and on the last dive we found black tip sharks! They were not huge, but they were sharks non the less, which was CRAZY as i am petrified since watching jaws. That film seriously has ruined my life, but once i was down there with the fish and in the coral i just forgot about my fear (of deep water and sharks) and instead felt kind of like part of it all? Cliche cliche i know but thats how it was so whatever!
Now, im having a minor money freak out as thailand is robbing us for all were worth and money here doesnt last five minuites. So, were travelling back to Bangkok and then to Chang Mai (north thailand where the long necks are --- you know the ones with the gold bangles on their necks?) to do some elephant trekking and white water rafting etc and then were getting the heeelllll outta here. To be honest what ive seen of thailand has been sometimes beautiful but mainly tacky, ruined, overrun and touristy..... we havent been that impressed. The most beautiful things ive seen were on that boat tour which took us around all the islands and diving spots.... but we went to maya bay, where the beach was filmed, and we didnt even want to take a photo of it. It was so ruined, overrun with boats and shedloads of people it just looked rubbish! Of course on the boat we saw some islands which were absaloutly breathtaking, but the actual islands themselves are just like any other hot holiday.... its like going to malia or magaluf..... maybe not as bad actually but there is that kind of crowd around.... I guess maybe my opinion of thailand may be better when we go north, dont get me wrong we have seem some BEAUTIFUL islands, reefs, and fish and stuff but to see that you have to get the hell away from the people. We were all talking about it and i bet one day all of thailand was like that, stunning, untouched. But it is getting more and more developed, more and more western and it is ruining it..... you do feel like your just zombied around, following everybody else on their path through thailand..... I guess it depends what you want really. I could of stayed in Phi Phi for longer, but i would of had to get a job.... and i wouldnt be seeing culture, id be staying there to get drunk and meet brits..... i dunno i guess its ok for a little while but i couldnt do that for a long time, its not really what i want out of this trip i guess.
I want to do things ive never done before, and see amasing things, and remember them mainly! I didnt come half way around the world to get wasted every night... of course a few drinks is ace, and it has to be done, but not every single night. I am sure for some people, thailand would be paradise. I found a few of the islands i would call paradise, but non that werent in the process of being built on, built up or ruined in some way.....its a shame but its all because of money. And i get that but its also a shame.
Anyway, rant over!! Up north is meant to be 'real thailand' so I shall tell you a bit more about it when I go up there! Verrrryyy excited! Have had so much fun in thailand so far, but it really is taking its tole on my bank account! So were gunna do the north as quick as possible, get the hell out and get a job for a little while!!
Right, look for gallery, sri lanka edition is in now!!
Adios x
xxxxxxxxxxxx
well, what have we been up to?
Well, we arrived in Koh Tao, met our old friend Jo who is now a QUALIFIED DIVER ahhh yeahhhh she even broke out her card and was trying to use it as ID. Brilliant. We stayed in Koh Tao for a few days, had a night out (a crazy crazy night out may i just add) which ended in us all being horribly hungover but finding fluffy dogs dressed in human clothes, it was totally hilarious.... we also found a kebab man called sexy, of course we photographed everything and soon remebered that the night before, we had been barred from seven eleven (the spa shop) the night before, for chasing around a man and whipping him with a belt.... not good.
Anyway, we left Koh Tao and went to Koh Phi Phi where we had a very funny very random night out when we bumped into Rhian and Lynsey from Jersey! we were planning on havnig a 'quiet night in' but of course that did'nt happen, and we ended up totally wasted on buckets of lord knows what, finding illuminous paint and painting everything in sight, including a urinal with our postcodes...... wow.
The next day (we had about 2 hours sleep) we boarded a boat as we had booked a full day around the islands, snorkelling and kayaking all day.... at first this seemed hilarious and we stumbled from our room, all of us laughing about nothing, jo with one shoe and niema with a moustache still drawn on her face. We got on the boat and all promptly passed out until we arrived at our first destination and got into the crystal clear water. It was absaloutly stunning. Once in the water i forgot about everything else and just felt like part of the ocean. I dont really like staying on the surface so i spent most of my time being a dolphin- taking deep breaths and swimming as deep as i could amoungst the coral and fish before i had to resurface for some more H20. The whole day was amasing, and each time i found i was the last to be called from the water- i just didnt want to get out. Id fallen in love with the sea all over again. Unfortuantly for me i have dodgey ears which dont let me equalise which seriously inhibbits the things i can do and how far i can dive down (and that i cant go scuba) BUT when i tried really hard, i managed to equalise. it was only once, and i couldnt do it again, BUT i did it once, which gave me a little hope that maybe someday ill be able to go scuba!
We saw so many beautiful fish, and on the last dive we found black tip sharks! They were not huge, but they were sharks non the less, which was CRAZY as i am petrified since watching jaws. That film seriously has ruined my life, but once i was down there with the fish and in the coral i just forgot about my fear (of deep water and sharks) and instead felt kind of like part of it all? Cliche cliche i know but thats how it was so whatever!
Now, im having a minor money freak out as thailand is robbing us for all were worth and money here doesnt last five minuites. So, were travelling back to Bangkok and then to Chang Mai (north thailand where the long necks are --- you know the ones with the gold bangles on their necks?) to do some elephant trekking and white water rafting etc and then were getting the heeelllll outta here. To be honest what ive seen of thailand has been sometimes beautiful but mainly tacky, ruined, overrun and touristy..... we havent been that impressed. The most beautiful things ive seen were on that boat tour which took us around all the islands and diving spots.... but we went to maya bay, where the beach was filmed, and we didnt even want to take a photo of it. It was so ruined, overrun with boats and shedloads of people it just looked rubbish! Of course on the boat we saw some islands which were absaloutly breathtaking, but the actual islands themselves are just like any other hot holiday.... its like going to malia or magaluf..... maybe not as bad actually but there is that kind of crowd around.... I guess maybe my opinion of thailand may be better when we go north, dont get me wrong we have seem some BEAUTIFUL islands, reefs, and fish and stuff but to see that you have to get the hell away from the people. We were all talking about it and i bet one day all of thailand was like that, stunning, untouched. But it is getting more and more developed, more and more western and it is ruining it..... you do feel like your just zombied around, following everybody else on their path through thailand..... I guess it depends what you want really. I could of stayed in Phi Phi for longer, but i would of had to get a job.... and i wouldnt be seeing culture, id be staying there to get drunk and meet brits..... i dunno i guess its ok for a little while but i couldnt do that for a long time, its not really what i want out of this trip i guess.
I want to do things ive never done before, and see amasing things, and remember them mainly! I didnt come half way around the world to get wasted every night... of course a few drinks is ace, and it has to be done, but not every single night. I am sure for some people, thailand would be paradise. I found a few of the islands i would call paradise, but non that werent in the process of being built on, built up or ruined in some way.....its a shame but its all because of money. And i get that but its also a shame.
Anyway, rant over!! Up north is meant to be 'real thailand' so I shall tell you a bit more about it when I go up there! Verrrryyy excited! Have had so much fun in thailand so far, but it really is taking its tole on my bank account! So were gunna do the north as quick as possible, get the hell out and get a job for a little while!!
Right, look for gallery, sri lanka edition is in now!!
Adios x
xxxxxxxxxxxx
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