Journey to the North
Okay, so we’ve reached Sunday now. I had hoped to go to church but my transfer from the 93 hotel (bubble space hostel) was an early one. 9 am pick up. So typically I set my alarm for 8am, then spent my night chatting to my family and friends in England till about 5am. The dreaded alarm sounded, that piercing sound that can only mean one thing when caught unawares. Perfect. Sleep. Ruined. So I forced myself up out of a deep slumber, you know the ones I’m on about? The kind of deep sleep you switch the alarm off for and miss your morning lecture and maybe even the afternoon one. As you can imagine, I am shattered; the excitement of the beginning of my northward journey however keeps me conscious.. As well as my new found love for “premium iced matcha” or matcha iced tea, for you normal-tons. But premium matcha is apparently better, so I get that. ..if the shoe fits…
I arrived at my next destination on my northward journey, Ayutthaya. Once the capital of Thailand, it is now well visited by backpackers and tourists alike, in search of the ruins caused by wars. Quick confession, I spent my days walking around eating good food and wandering between the the makeshift market stalls, back pack in tow. There is some beautiful scenery around here, but I wasted so much of my days relaxing in my bedroom. That all I have to show for Ayutthaya is a belly full of goodness and a few photos so I can say “been there, done that”.
The northward journey continues and I am heading to Sukhothai, also a previous capital of Thailand. My bus was due to depart at 9:30am, I was pre warned that it may be five or ten minutes late. So when it arrived at 10:10am, I was er, glad I guess. I was glad. It was due to be a four and a half to five hour journey. With two stops, one for a toilet break, the other for food. I of course brought food at both, but at least I have the excuse that I didn’t get breakfast.. I brought these pineapple pasty things.. I say things because I got two with my greedy self. They were small though. Just as well they were cheap because I didn’t like them. So I did what all school kids do on the school coach back from the swimming baths. I left them in the fishnet pouch on the back of the seat in front.
I tried to sleep most of the journey away. But it was just so uncomfortable, I woke up several times and forced myself back to sleep. At around 17:30, I woke up and stayed up. If you do the maths, I should have arrived at my new accommodation hours ago, but we were caught up in nothing other than flash floods; the road no longer visible, turrets of water flowed seamlessly like a river towards an unknown destination. Each time a truck drove past, waves would expand outwards like the rings of droplets on water. Effortlessly crashing into the shops and houses at the sides of the road. Shop and house owners stood hands on hips, knee deep in muddy water. With their stock or furniture, propped up on makeshift shelves or units. I guess this was a sign of things to come. Of course as you’re trudging along after hours of driving through heavy downpour it’s then you notice all the houses are propped up on stilts. So this is probably going to be a very wet and miserable section of the journey. Our coach had to divert five or six times due to the excessive downpour. If we had downpour like this in England. Forget school. Life, would be shut for a week. I didn’t think I was going to make it to my destination in all honesty. Not that I was going to die, but I thought we’d perhaps have to turn around. But instead our coach driver would reverse out of roads and turn the coach to take another route.
I’ll be honest, at one point I was downcast and feeling sorry for myself. Questioning why I bothered to go to this place, only to be met by flash floods of muddy water and to be spending four nights at that! Then, I quickly cheered myself up. I am in shelter, I have clothes on my back, shoes on my feet and I’m sat inside and air conditioned coach! As for my doubt about reaching my destination, I carry a verse with me everywhere I go and it popped into mind, just at the right moment. Matthew 6:25–34 (I’ll add a link to the verses at the bottom) And acknowledged that this is all part of my journey, this is what will make my trip different, memorable and most importantly. This is Thailand. Like Jamaica, It’s not always sunshine and beaches, sometimes its wilderness and downpour and that diversity, that’s what makes it beautiful.
Eventually I arrive at the bus station, the black of night is over us like a quilt; after getting my backpack out from the hold luggage under the coach, I got completely drenched in the 20 meter scuttle to shelter. My phone of course has died, my iPad has little to no battery left. And my driver… Is nowhere to be seen. What the hell have I paid for? Tonight can’t get any worse, I think to myself. A Tuk Tuk driver offers to take me to my destination and I politely decline, explaining that I have a driver coming to collect me. Shortly followed by a taxi driver who heard me turn down the Tuk Tuk driver but thought he’d try his luck anyway. I scurried over to the information desk, and ask the gentleman behind the glass covered with out of date posters, if I could use his phone to make a call. The call is to my accommodation, the phone rings and rings and rings. I turn around, back facing the glass listening to the ring like an echo in a shell. The two drivers who bombarded me previously, stood looking smugly. The taxi driver said “hotel no pick up phone, no”, whilst the Tuk Tuk driver stood holding a leaflet with the name of my guesthouse plastered over the front. I begrudgingly walked over whilst thinking to myself.. So much for the air conditioned car I paid for. Having paid the Tuk Tuk driver before we embarked on the journey to my guesthouse, he simply pointed at the door upon arrival and watched me struggle to get my belongings out of the back before hastily driving off without so much as a good bye. I walked like a drowned rat up to the entrance, to be greeted by a man who spoke minimal English, not his fault, I can’t speak Thai. But it did make it difficult. I tried several times to explain that I was just trying to check in and it was already paid for. But he just kept telling me the price per night, and that he can book me “in for one night no probrem”. Eventually he understood and exclaimed, “ohhh you are for four nights, this wrong guesthouse”, what did I say about the night getting worse? He made a phone call and soon enough a barefoot man with two umbrellas emerged, we then had to walk the 30/40 metres or so to my actual accommodation. Whilst he apologised for not picking me up and also asked me “why you come now? This monsoon season”. I had a serious bone to pick with Google, but it turns out… Low season is actually the bad weather.. I thought it was low risk of bad weather. But you learn something new everyday. Today just wasn’t my day though.
As I took off my sandals to enter the guesthouse I was astonished, it looked terrible. Like the house of a hoarder. I had no energy to be furious however and was just happy to have a place to lay my head. I was greeted by the huge smiles of two elderly Thai ladies. And the barefoot gentleman told me that these would be my hosts. I was wondering why they didn’t tell me themselves, but I soon realised they didn’t speak any English at all. Challenge accepted, I thought to myself. So I settled down in my room only to find that in spite of having a key, the door didn’t lock. I attempted to plug my phone in to charge, and quickly realised, my adapter didn’t fit these sockets. Great. In semi panic mode I took my charger up with my phone and walked out to the elderly ladies to ask for an adapter. At first they didn’t understand and instead indicated that my plug wouldn’t fit their sockets. But I already knew that. I continued to patiently explain and eventually they understood. One of the ladies found an extension cord. But it too had holes for only two prongs rather than three. So I pointed at my three prongs individually in hopes that they would understand. Both ladies shook there head, meaning that they didn’t have that. I was distraught (1st world problems) and I think how I felt was plastered across my face because the other lady went to have a look in another room, she untied a few plastic bags and managed to find a 3 prong extension cord for me. THANK GOD.
Sorry, forgot to mention some very vital information. As I walked out into the hallway of my unlock-able room to try and sort out the plug situation; a jet black scorpion moonwalked behind a rubbish bin opposite my bedroom door as I’d obviously startled it when coming out of my room. So when walking back to my room as I’m sure you can imagine, I was terrified. I quickly shut my door behind me and sat on my bed. Eyeing up the gap at the bottom of the door and hoping it was just small enough that Mr scorpion couldn’t fit under and therefore sting me to death in my sleep. I couldn’t take it, I was so uncomfortable the whole night. I did manage to sleep but didn’t leave my room all of the next day. Thankfully I had WiFi, and so I spent my day looking for new accommodation. There was just no way I was staying another night in the death den. Aka, “The Vitoon Guesthouse” (accommodation was booked by “impressive Bangkok travel”. I can assure you they should be called unimpressive Bangkok travel). I went on booking.com and found a cute little hostel, the “if you want hostel” this was in the ‘new town’ as opposed to the ‘old town’ I had stayed in the night before. So I booked myself into a mixed dorm which sleeps 8, it cost 747THB (£16.82) for three nights breakfast included (600THB if you book direct). It was perfect, the best hostel I’ve stayed in to date, all the staff were so hospitable, and I met some great backpackers too! Shout out Elodine from France, and Maria from Germany. On my first night myself and two hosts watched a movie on the rooftop. “Snowden”. I could feel the soft breeze of the fan brushing between my toes, whilst the humidity of the nights air, prickled my skin. On my second day I smelt some amazing aromas coming from the kitchen, as I made my way downstairs in search of streetfood. When I asked what it was, they insisted I share the meal with them. Of course I wasn’t going to say no. Legumes, steamed with garlic, chillies and egg). It was so good! So I asked that next time they cook they allow me to watch so I can learn (for free). I learnt how to make Thai fried rice on my last night.
Later that night, my roomie Elodine and I partook in free Thai keep fit class, that was on in the park opposite our hostel. We joined half an hour late, actively partook for an hour, until we were dripping with sweat and severely out of breath, but the Thai ladies continued for another half hour.
The next day I befriended Maria in the social area of our hostel only to later find out that she too was my roomie. Having previously travelled, Mexico, Belize and Guatemala (south America) this was her second back packer trip. Together myself, Elodine and Maria, took a Tuk Tuk to the old city, where we hired bikes for 30THB teach and rode around some of the ruins at the Sukhothai historical park, the park is filled with beautiful lakes and luscious lawns, we also cycled to see “big Buddha”. On my last night in the “if you want hostel, Elodine, Maria and I were joined by a new roomie, Eloise, from Australia. Together we took to the vibrant “walking market” which takes place right outside our hostel every Saturday from 16:00–21:30 and running a few hundred metres down the road. The park where Elodine and I had sweated our lives away was now home to traditional Thai dancers, who danced continuously for hours and anyone was welcome to join in. The street was filled with foods beyond your wildest imaginations. I tried a fried squid ball, I would say it was nice but it was.. Edible. I opted for chilli fish fritters for my dinner and followed up with a banana pancake. Which of course you can see prices for on my food Instagram @gorging.globally .
After Sukhothai, I continued northwards up to the mountainous, Chiang Mai, for one night in my next accommodation “the BMP Residence” (backpackers meeting point). Before heading out with a new group for 3 days and two nights trekking in the jungles of Thailand.
https://biblia.com/bible/niv/Matthew%206.25-34 link for the verses
Big hugs, Tesni xx
Originally published at tesnithetastebudtraveller.blogspot.com
