The first thing to hit about Sukhothai New Town after our previous stops is that they don't expect so many English people there. This is a very Thai town, with very few hawkers trying to sell you suits/taxis/massages/drugs. We arrived around sunset, as their Night Market kicked off in earnest. The market is based round a Buddhist Wat, with a huge statue, and a big portion of the market is run by the monks themselves. A big town festival was starting in a few days, and they had a small (and incredibly rickety) fun fair, and a small area where locals were playing matches of a strange hybrid of football and badminton...
A luvverly bunch of coconuts
They don't have the hang of ripping people off here. For 20 baht (40p), we won 4 toys.
We also found several lovely restaurants. The first in a shed by the river;
The second had the greatest name ever;
Surprisingly tasty
And the final one, Dream Cafem just had the best food ever, and a selection of alcoholic elixirs claiming to give you energy, good health and virility!
Spring rolls 3 ways
Larb or Laap or I don't know they keep changing the spelling. Minced meat with mint and basil and chilli. It's lovely,
Various potions and crazy decor.
Chicken fried in banana leaf.
The main draw of the town is the UNESCO protected historical park in the old town. Tens of temples built by various rulers and kings over decades- proper Indiana Jones type stuff. You have to cycle round to see even half in a day!
Jenny being excitable
In other news... Ben ate insects and we failed to get a good picture of the music festival that we went to!
Much like Hanoi, Chiang Mai just seemed welcoming from the moment we arrived. We werw staying in the old town, a mile and a half square inside the old city walls. You can't walk more than 100 yards without passing a temple, and within hours, a local Buddhist had filled us in on the best ones to visit, and the best way to get cheap fares around. It's that friendly.
The original temple was HUGE, but then an earthquake made it just big
Jenny disapproves
We went to the Night Market by 'tuk-tuk' (a motorbike with a couple of seats attached to the back) in the evening. Ben bought vests (shock!) and on 'Halal Street', the Muslim section of the market we bought the tastiest and hottest dish made from rice balls, made fresh in front of us.
A picture cannot capture the sheer amount of chilli in this!
We washed it down with much needed Tiger beer, and watched a fan dancer in the middle of the market. The beer was lovely, and the fan dancing odd, but very watchable.
Later in the week, we arranged a trek through our guesthouse, involving an elephant ride, which was a little scary, as our elephant liked running up hills to fetch bamboo, but brilliant;
There are very few pictures where Ben isn't looking terrified...
This was followed by a trek through the jungle, with our guide Neo. He was a very funny chap, and had loads of info on the local wildlife (and what it tasted like!). We saw a chameleon, which was bigger than expected;
Some creepy spirit houses, where the local villages encourage evil spirits to stay out;
Shudder
A huge waterfall;
Some amazing views;
And rickety bamboo bridges;
We stopped off for a swim in a little lagoon by a waterfall, which was much needed after the walk, and was beautifully secluded. On the way to get some lunch, our tour guide showed us how to blow bubbles using plant sap!
After lunch, we went down the river on bamboo rafts. Ours was piloted by a 10 year old boy who liked hitting rocks!
And then we went and drank a lot of mojitos. There is so much more that's brilliant about Chiang Mai, but I think this post is now a little long. So I'll just put some food pictures to sum up the rest!
So to start, Qatar Airways is AMAZING. A 747 with comfy seats, good films and a delicious green curry wrap! This was tempered slightly by Ben messing up at immigration...
Anyway, we got to Bangkok late as a result, and got a cab to our hotel. The cabs here are lurid pink, which is strange. The Khaosan Road is anarchic, but was subdued by an enormous downpour on our first night (we now know what monsoon season means!), so we spent time in our room at Buddy Lodge, an amazing boutique hotel in the middle of everything- the towels are folded into elephants!
Worth every penny for this!
The following morning, the weather had cleared up, and we went for a wander to Sanam Luang, the park leading up to the huge Grand Palace complex, it was surrounded by a million little market stalls selling every manner of trinket, and a fair degree of pirated DVDs and games!
We spent the evening wandering Khaosan and the surrounding alleys- people sell hard here, and the people selling trips to ping pong shows make hideously graphic noises to let you know exactly what that is... Jen had coconut ice cream from a coconut shell- it was delicious. The fruit stands sell bags of fruit for about 40p, and you can get pat thai (glass noodles, chicken, egg and chilli) for about 60p. At the end of the market, some kids were playing strange Thai autoharp type instruments- we saw them play Coldplay and Lady Gaga!
The next day, we explored Bangkok by boat along the river. There are so many temples and amazing buildings you lose track of what they are.
They know wat is wat...
We stopped in Chinatown for vases full of iced coffee, then headed home for dinner at Mai Kaidee, an amazing vegetarian restaurant hidden on a little back street. The spring rolls with peanut sauce were mindblowing!
So after a quick stop in Guangzhou, we were on to Vietnam, and Hanoi. Guangzhou was very busy, and the only major point of interest was the Canton Tower:
Nice lights at the Canton Tower
Immediately in Hanoi, the feel of the city seemed more laid back. This in spite of a million motorcycles all desperate to get to their destination at speed, down narrow streets that seem more suited to traveling on foot, but more on that later...
On our first night, we went to the Newday restaurant on Ma May, and had barbecued ribs and lime chicken. The ribs affected Jenny emotionally they were that good! We followed that up with beers in a bar called Half Man Half Noodle, with a balcony that overlooked the busy street below.
We then strolled down to the Hoan Kiem Lake, where we saw a monkey taunting a dog.
Monkey vs. Dog
Twice because why not?
The next day, we explored the Old Town some more- loads of crazy stuff- the whole place seems to be held together by string, but laid back people and amazing food keep the whole place going.
In the evening the weekly Night Market took place on Hang Ba- absolutely packed but they sell some cool stuff- we bought a lovely pop up birthday card to send home. At the top of the market, under the train bridge, there was an amazing restaurant, with hot plates on every table- you are provided with butter, meat, chillies, onions and an amazing sauce and are left to cook your own wraps- so delicious!
Before
After
The next day, we couldn't resist going back to some places we'd already visited- Ben had more pho (noodle soup, fresh tasting and lovely)and Jenny had crazy Vietnamese muesli, which was cornflakes, yoghurt and bananas! , then a street barbecue lunch and back to Newday in the evening for Lemongrass and chilli chicken, spring rolls and special ribs.
You can also drink Bia Hoi, the local beer, served straight from the barrel, at street temperature- it's surprisingly delicious, and costs only 15,000 dong (17p!).
Six glasses for a pound. HEAVEN.
On our final day, we finally saw how laid back Hanoi is, as our entire street had a power cut, to which the hotel staff said 'It won't be long. Power will be back at 4 o clock.' At 10am in the morning... We wandered round the town again- many places had generators, so I assume this was a regular occurrence!
There were crazy balloons flying over the river, and we had iced coffee by the lake and watched them.
And finally, to cap off our stay, Jen took the perfect video of the motorbike traffic, and the fun of crossing the road here!!!
Unfortunately, due to the weather in the South, trains were severely limited, so we had to cut short our stay, as we couldn't travel much further, and so our next stop became Bangkok...
