Jungle trek - day 84,85,86

After being picked up from our hostel and taken to see the tourist police (a place where they keep a copy of your passport when you go into the jungle), we were driven to a local market and then a little place in the hills where we had a nice lunch. From there we started our trek through the jungle. We walked for a good 4 hours, going up the hill through the bamboo jungle. Our group consisted of 12 people, 9 french and 3 dutch! Our guides were P (he was a famous singer in Thailand a few years ago! he was awesome! we had such good laughs with him... he kept on saying "I'm a Rambo" and swooshing around cutting bamboos with his machete!!), Noom and Nikki. There was also a stray dog that followed us all the way from the very first day. The first night we slept in a camp belonging to one of the hill tribes. Dinner was very good and we spent the evening around a campfire watching our guides do some "white magic" tricks. We all slept in one big room made of bamboo and not exactly wind or water tight... the matresses were very thin and the temperature dropped so much that even with 6 blankets we were cold! The second day we walked through the jungle again and went elephant riding for a bit. After that we split up and there were only 6 of us left. Our lunch were some very good noodles wrapped up in a banana leaf, which we ate with some bamboo chopsticks that P cut for us. We walked some more in the afternoon and saw a farm (we tried some very good pomelos) and a church. We stayed in the village of the Lahu people, another hill tribe. We saw a dead pig being prepared for a dinner feast and then headed to our own little hut. There was no electricity in the village, so we had to do everything with candlelight. Dinner was very good again. We spent the evening around some candles, listening to P sing and play some of his songs on a guitar. We slept on some very thin matresses again and had lots of blankets, except it was so incredibly cold that we didn't sleep well at all... The next morning we started walking again until we got to a little restaurant where we had a good lunch. There was a karaoke box there, so we saw P on TV! There were lots of his songs that you could sing a long to on that karaoke box! After lunch we were taken to the river by a pick-up truck and after getting changed, we got into a raft and rafted down the river. The water was very very cold, but it was good fun! After a while we switched from the normal raft to a bamboo raft... it was a fun experience! The bamboo raft is kind of submerged so you're sitting in the water and it has a tendency to sink on the left side and then the right side and back again, so you spend your time trying to balance it out! After that we were brought back to Chiang Mai by pick-up truck. We are at the Spicythai hostel now, waiting for our bus to Bangkok. It is supposed to leave at 22h and arrive around 7h tomorrow morning. We are gonna go to Soi 1 Guesthouse in Bangkok to pick up our luggage and then find a way out of Bangkok that does not involve a plane...

Weather: bloody hot during the day and freezing cold at night

Chiang Mai - day 83

We arrived at Chiang Mai station around 11h30 and took a minibus to our hostel, Spicythai Backpackers. The hostel is amazing for its price: only 5 euros per person per night, including free internet and breakfast! And the staff is very helpful and friendly. Anyway, we had lunch near the hostel and took a “taxi” to Doi Suthep, a temple up on a hill (1600 meters altitude) about 15 kilometers outside Chiang Mai. If we’d have known the actual state the car was in, we probably wouldn’t have taken that taxi: the tires were too big for the car and the suspension was crap, so each time there was a bend in the road (and there were lots!), the tire would touch the car and we’d just pray that the tire wouldn’t explode! On top of that, on the way down, the driver let the car roll down the hill to “roll-start” it (obviously after removing the stone that was blocking the tire while the car was parked so it wouldn’t roll down hill)!! Oh well, the temple up on the hill was nice, but the central piece of interest was surrounded by scaffolding. Like so many temples in Thailand, the predominant color to be seen was gold. The view over the city was great; it made us realize how big the city actually is… After getting back to town, we went back to the hostel to get changed and check some things on internet and then headed back out again. We took a taxi (= the back of a pick-up truck with a broken exhaust pipe) all the way to the Tiger Kingdom and were amazed to find a place that looked like a luxurious resort. By the time we got there, it was already dark and the tigers were too active to pose for any pictures with us, but we did go and see the baby tigers (2 months old). We got to spend some time with them alone in their cage which was just incredible! They are so cute and playful... and Pierre agreed... until one of them bit him in the arm… after that, Pierre just wanted to throw the damn thing against the wall… so Pierre has now officially been bitten by a tiger and will probably keep a lasting souvenir of it! In the meantime, Nat was getting sexually harassed by the tiger since it jumped on her and started licking his way up to her face... at which point Nat was just praying it wouldn’t bite her in the throat and cause her instant death while Pierre was getting everything on video... After the baby tigers, we went over to have a look at their parents... they were both huge and very aggressive! One of them actually barked at us (I know you wouldn’t think tigers bark, but that one very clearly barked in a dog kind of way!) and was staring at us like we were some prey or some kind of food. We saw some more tigers, some only 4 months old, others 1 year old. They were all beautiful animals and we enjoyed a nice dinner on the terrace of the restaurant overlooking their playing area. Overall it was an unforgettable and unique experience!

Weather: very hot, sunny and for the first time, a blue sky!

New Zealand - more pictures

Thailand - pictures

Bangkok - day 82

We got up late, packed our bags, left the big backpacks at the hostel and took two little bags with us for our trip to the north. We took the skytrain to Siam and walked into a very nice shopping mall. The contrast between luxury and poverty in Bangkok is insane. All the nice shopping malls around this area have metal detectors at the entrance, as well as security guards. We went up to the 5th floor, where the cinema was supposed to be... and walked into what must be one of the biggest cinemas we've ever seen! We thought we would walk right into the ticketbooth, but no, we walked into a huge hall with a bowling alley and a Starbucks and an Imax and a bunch of escalators and lots of ticketbooths... We wanted to see the new James Bond movie; just to give you an idea of how many cinema rooms they have in this place, there was a 007 movie starting every 40 minutes! We thought it would probably be very expensive, but it only cost 2,50 euros per person! After going through three more metal detectors, we finally got to the right room. The screen was incredibly big and the sound was amazing, but best of all were the seats: reclining ones!! The movie plot was crap, but the special effects were great, so overall it was entertaining and definitely worth the price!! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking through that mall and the next and the one after that... One of the most surprising floors was the 2nd floor of the cinema mall cause it only had car dealers on it; they had everything from Ferrari to Lamborghini, to Maserati to Aston Martin, to BMW and Mini and even Spyker and Lotus. They each had a whole bunch of cars in their "shop windows" although we have absolutely no idea as to how they got them there! The last mall we went into was called MBK and is known for being where the local youth goes shopping. Apart from having normal shops, they have an impressive area dedicated to fake items. It looked a lot like the Silk Market in Beijing, except that the vendors don't talk to you unless you ask them something and when you ask for the price, they give you such a low price you don't even dare to negotiate it! Nothing like China!! A much more relaxed way of shopping for sure! From the mall we walked along Chinatown all the way to Hua Lamphong train station where we waited for our 19h35 night train to Chiang Mai. We had booked a 2nd class sleeper ticket and were disappointed to find that what we got were just two regular seats... until after departure... that's when they started pulling out tables and serving dinner (if you wanted any) and a bit later they came by and turned the seats into full sized beds! They even had sheets and pillows and privacy curtains and little reading lights... In the morning they came by to serve breakfast and clean up the beds again. Great service for only 15 euros per person for a train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (750 kilometers)!

Weather: hot as usual

Bangkok - day 81

We got up at 5h40 this morning and after stopping about 5 taxis, we finally found one that knew the station we wanted to go to. From the Thonburi train station we took a 3rd class very old train to Kanchanaburi. On the way we stopped next to the Oriental Express train and wished we were on that one instead. We got off the train at the Bridge over River Kwai, which is a very famous historically important place in the west of Thailand. There were lots of tourists there, but it was still nice (and quick) to see. We walked over the bridge and train rails, trying not to fall into the water through the holes in the wood! Then we took a taxi (= the back of a pick-up truck) and then a scooter with a little iron structure attached to the side of it. It took us a good hour on that little scooter thing to get to the Tiger Temple. We were glad to have a good driver cause we went over the highway and passed a bunch of cows on the road and it could have been a lot scarier, especially seeing the state of the actual scooter (it was actually torn down the front...). Anyway, at the Tiger Temple they had a sign that said "If you are wearing red, pink or orange, you are not allowed inside the temple"... three guesses as to what Nat was wearing... yep, orange shorts and a bright pink polo! So we had to get the worst pair of pants ever and an ok souvenir-like bright blue polo to get in. When we got to the tigers, it was all worth it! We got up close and petted a whole bunch of tigers. We could even hold on to their tail and lift their paws! We saw some really big tigers, but also some 7-week old cubs! As well as 4 and 6 month old cubs. They were the cutest ever!! Getting so close to them was amazing! After walking around and seeing some buffaloes and wild pigs and camels, etc., we took the scooter-thing back to Kanchanaburi (another hour) and then a bus back to Bangkok which took us about 2,5 hours. From the bus station we took a taxi and got stuck in a massive non-moving traffic jam and decided to walk the rest of the way to the hostel. After getting changed, some friend's of Nat's (that she met 8 years ago in Egypt...) came to pick us up and took us to Patpong. Patpong is the equivalent of the red light district and is also home to a big street market where they sell lots of fake stuff. We had dinner in the area and tried some very good Thai specialties. Then we walked around the market and bought some stuff, before having a drink at Radio City bar. The night ended with a visit to a very typical Thai sex show. We would never have gone in there if it weren't for the fact that we were with Nat's friends who know the area very well... anyway, the show was... interesting... The girls where all overweight and completely naked, not making it a very pretty sight... The highlight must have been one of the girls popping out pingpong balls from between her thighs and aiming them at two poor tourists that quickly got up and left the building with tears in their eyes! Believe us, it was an unforgettable experience!

Weather: still hot and sunny

(Tomorrow night we are taking a night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and from there we are going on a 3 day 2 night jungle trek, so don't expect us to have internet access up there!)

Bangkok - day 80

Our first stop this morning was the Hua Lamphong train station to book our train to Chiang Mai for the 25th of November. We got the train we wanted to book for the way there, but the return train didn't correspond, so I guess we'll see about that later... From there we took the metro and then the skytrain to Mo-Chit, which is where the world's biggest market is held every weekend. It is pretty damn big and sells everything from clothes to pets (they have hundreds of underage puppies and some very weird turtles and snakes and birds) to furniture to food and antiques! The only thing they don't sell is electronics... Anyway, we spent quite some time walking around and got fed up with the heat and the people pretty fast. Also, we were disappointed cause we didn't find any christmas presents at all... the only thing we ended up buying were 3 polos. Late in the afternoon we took the skytrain back to our hostel and relaxed there for a bit. For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant called Akbar and had some good chicken korma. We're planning a day trip to Kanchanburi tomorrow so we're going to bed early tonight!

Weather: very hot

Bangkok - day 79

When we arrived in Bangkok last night, we were surprised by the amazing modernity and cleanliness of the new international airport. We took a taxi to our hostel and avoided getting ripped off! yay! Anyway, this morning we slept in and then tried to make up our mind about what to do with the day. We decided to follow the suggestion of a tour around the main temples and Grand Palace. We were promised we would get around all day spending less than 80 baht each on transport... We walked to the canal from our hostel and waited for a boat-bus to pass. When it finally came, it turned out to be like a giant canoe type boat with nearly a hundred Thai people sticking out from everywhere! We managed to jump on board (they barely even stop...) and after a little confusion made it to the final stop of that boat-bus. From there we walked around, went into a temple we didn't know (and still aren't sure which one it was) and then followed the main road until we finally found a big square with lots and lots of people on it. It seemed to be some kind of exposition about a member of the royal family and must have been the number one activity to do on a saturday for the entire Thai population! We got tired of the crowd really fast and just wanted to get out of there. So we walked around looking for the entrance to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaeo temple. We actually walked all around the outer walls (about 2 km) until we nearly got back to where we'd started and found the entrance right there where we hadn't looked! The temple was very nice; very impressive; lots of gold everywhere and also a lot of people... Unfortunately to visit the temples, you have to wear long trousers and therefore melt in the exhausting heat! Anyway, after seeing everything we wanted to see, we walked back out to the street and into a little food market place. We bought some pork satay sticks that looked pretty good and had that for lunch. We visited one last temple, the Wat Pho, where we saw a huge 46-meter long Buddha lying down. The rest of the temple was also very nice. From there we took a boat over the Chao Praya river up to where we could catch the skytrain (like a metro above ground) back to our hostel. For dinner we went to a little street food court and had some kind of curry chicken that turned out to be insanely spicy, but very good! We're both hoping our stomachs can cope with it...

Weather: very hot, kind of sunny, but it looked cloudy due to the air pollution...

Christchurch - Auckland - Bangkok - days 66 to 78

As you may have noticed, the updates haven't been posted as regularly as we would have liked to, so due to lack of time and internet access, we will sum it all up in one post.

When we left Christchurch, we got to Kaikoura, a small town on the coast known for its whale watching; so that is what we did. We saw a bunch of sperm whales, a seal, lots of birds and some amazing Dusky dolphins that were having a lot of fun just jumping around. After spending the night in Kaikoura, we went on to Picton where we took the ferry back to Wellington. We stayed in Wellington for the night and then took the Magicbus to Napier. On the way we stopped at Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre where we saw some kiwis (the birds) and some tuataras (dinosaur-like lizards)! Napier is known as the art deco capital of New Zealand and you can definitely tell by the style of their buildings! After spending the night in Napier, we moved on to Taupo. Although we had stopped here on the way down, we hadn't done the Tongariro Crossing (supposedly the world's best one-day trek!) due to the bad weather. In the afternoon we went on a sailing boat to see the Maori rock carvings on Lake Taupo, it was fantastic and very relaxing! The next morning we got up at 5h45 and took the shuttle bus to the departure point of the Tongariro Crossing. We walked for a long time over rather flat paths and then got to the steep part of the walk; it was exhausting!! When we got to the top, the view was incredible! There was still a lot of snow on the volcanoes; the walk took us around Mount Doom (a.k.a. Mount Nguroaroe) and Mount Tongariro and Mount Ruapehu. We saw the Red Crater (definitely deserves its name) and the Emerald Lakes. We had lunch by the Blue Lake and enjoyed the scenery. From there we walked down through some forest paths. In total the walk took us 7 hours... but it was definitely worth it cause the weather was amazing! From Taupo we took the bus to Rotorua, where we decided to stop to do some more activities. In the afternoon we went up the hill to do some luge, which was great fun!! At night we went to the Tamaki Maori Culture Show. It was impressive and taught us a lot about Maori culture, but there were so many tourists that it kind of felt like a tourist trap... (comparable to Chez Ali for those who have been there!). At the end of the show we got a traditional dinner that was cooked/steamed in a hole in the ground. The taste is interesting, but after about two or three bites you just wish that not every single thing had that smoky rotten egg taste! The next morning we went rafting on the Kaitiaki river. It included the world's highest commercially raftable waterfall (7 meters!!) and was really great!! From there we went to Mount Maunganui (surfing paradise of New Zealand) and spent the afternoon on the beach. The next morning we took the bus to Auckland and visited the city in the afternoon. It was rather disappointing; a big city like any other, without any special interest (apart from volcano craters sticking out everywhere). The next day we took the bus to the Bay of Islands; we stayed in a nice hostel in Paihia for three days during which we went on a day trip to Cape Reinga (most northerly point of New Zealand), drove over 90-mile beach and enjoyed sandboarding down an 85 meter high sand dune. It was awesome!! The last day we went for a swim with some wild dolphins, also a great experience! (although the water was very very cold and resulted in Pierre getting sick...) From Paihia we took the bus back to Auckland, passing through Opononi and the Waipoua Forest where we saw Tane Mahuta, the Lord of the Forest, a 2000 year old massive Kauri tree! We spent the night in Auckland and didn't do much. The next morning we took the airport shuttle at 6 a.m. and got to the aiport in time for our Qantas flight to Sydney. The descent and landing were very rough... Now we are stuck in the airport until our next flight (to Bangkok) departs at 17h30 (local time). Once we get to Bangkok, the time difference will only be 6 hours (instead of 12!!).

Weather: we've had everything over the last few days from rain to sunshine and from freezing cold to bloody hot...

New Zealand - pictures part 3

New Zealand - pictures part 2