July 21st-22nd–Homeward Bound

I’m going to lump two days into one for the first time because really, I haven’t done anything of note! Yesterday morning we had a lazy check out time of 12pm… we headed down to breakfast at 10am and then went straight back to our room to watch Forrest Gump. Not exactly the most adventurous travellers! Both Andy and I have both been in Bangkok before though and we didn’t feel like we had anywhere pressing we wanted to go. Plus, Andy was feeling unwell.

It was for this reason that after checkout at 12pm we went straight to the lounge room and chilled there for another two hours (Andy slept, I continued to plod through my epic book). Eventually Andy started feeling a little better and we decided we better at least see some of Bangkok. So we walked around the neighbourhood for an hour, past a few temples and through a nice little park. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really a fan of big Asian cities and I don’t exactly love this one. I much preferred Chang Mai in northern Thailand and the smaller towns in Laos. Ah well, at least we saw a bit of Asia on our trip!!

   

Around 3.30pm we grabbed a taxi to the airport – getting to our gate was easy, hardly any lines at all. And then began our long haul back to Sydney. I must say it was nice to see the Qantas plane, to hear Sarah Blasko music playing and to hear the Aussie accents of the air hostesses. I’ve been to many fabulous places the last four weeks but a part of me is definitely happy to be homeward bound, to see friends and family again, to dive into Grease and a whole bunch of new kiddies at work and to just have those familiar comforts back!

Anyway, the trip was relatively uneventful and I got about three to four hours sleep. Soon enough we were in Sydney – and all the lines there. Wow Sydney, you are rivalling LAX here. So silly. Eventually, another plane, this one back to Adelaide!

And then, we were home. The house feels strange after four weeks away and the weather is ridiculously cold, as expected. And here the blogging ends! Thanks to everyone who has followed along, as always I am astounded by how many people have read this thing.

Until next time x

July 20th–Pattaya to Bangkok

This morning we had planned to get up and actually use the resort pool – and then we woke up at 11am. Oops. No time for a swim and completely missed breakfast! Checkout was at 12pm so we cleared the room, dropped off our bags and waited next to the pool before our 1.45pm transfer. That is, until the torrential downpour started – the weather has not been to kind to us in Thailand so far!

We huddled under shelter until our transfer came – off to the Nong Nooch gardens for us. I’m not exactly sure how to describe these gardens. They are basically large gardens full of random animals statues – ants, mammoths, giraffes, flamingos. There is also a petting zoo, aviaries, a fish feeding pond, elephant rides and more.

   

When we got there it was still pouring with rain – we attempted walking around before deciding this was not much fun, enough so to go sit and endure the ‘Thailand Cultural Show’ on offer (inside). Andy and I have seen our fair share of these and girls walking around twirling their hands has very limited entertainment value after you’ve seen it once. There was some staged boxing and sword fighting however – this made the performance a little more bearable. And we were dry.

Afterwards, on to the elephant show – this reminded me of Kelly’s excitement seeing elephants last time we were in Asia (two years ago). Again, Andy and I have both seen this before but still the elephants doing their painting, bowling, bike riding etc. were still very cute and entertaining. Even if there is that niggling feeling that the elephants aren’t enjoying it at all.

   

Before we left we had a little time to wander again (now that the rain had stopped). Perhaps the most notable part of the gardens here are the ‘tame’ tigers tied to chains on rocks that you can pay to have your photo with. They are very popular but I couldn’t help but feel so sorry for them – there was one tiger trying to pace with his chain, getting no more than some criss crossing side to side leg motions. There was a monkey in a similar condition. Sad.

Back to the hostel in time for another Thai dinner and then our two hour transfer to Bangkok. Our hotel here is lovely – a little wooden Thai house in a random back alley. We dumped our bags and headed for a quick stroll down Khao Sahn Road. Last time I was here there was an alcohol ban (day before an election). Certainly not this time – hello big buckets of alcohol everywhere. And lots of Australians, here is where they have all been hiding lately. Our walk down the road was relatively quick (again, feeling a little uncool here)… past the fried scorpions, the market sellers, the street Pad Thai, the massage parlours, the homeless people. This city is exactly as I remember it.

Back to the hostel by 11pm – this holiday has not exactly been drunken and rowdy! But really, I am perfectly content with early nights in air conditioned rooms right now.

July 19th–Pattaya

As my blogs come close to an end they do seem to be getting less exciting! Life is crazy again the minute we get back in Adelaide so today we took the opportunity to relax. Breakfast was at 10am and very good – fried rice, fried vegetables, chicken satays, hash browns, fruit and yoghurt for me!

After breakfast we went back to the room for a bit to read… and we stayed there until 5pm. Seven hours in our room doing not much. Oops.

In the evening we did venture out into central Pattaya, via the shared, pick up truck style taxis they have here. These are fun, with the wind in your hair you get to experience the smells and sights of the streets as you drive We arrived at 6.30pm – for a lady boy show at Alcazar! (more on that later).

   

After the show we wandered around the town to find an ATM and some dinner. I’m not exactly sure that I like it in the city here – I have never really been a fan of big Asian cities like Bangkok and Hanoi and here is really a mini version. It does have a beach of course, but the overcast, windy weather the past two days have not really given us the opportunity to enjoy this.

Anyway, we wandered down the streets, past the random smells and food stalls, past lots of people trying to sell us suits and lots of middle aged white men with Asian women. Pattaya is apparently famous for its sex industry and ease finding a hooker and it is not hard to see why. They are everywhere! 

   

Dinner was traditional Thai and a non-traditional Singapore Sling cocktail! Then on to our next show…. another lady boy show at Tiffany’s. I figured I might as well talk about these two shows together as they were very similar. As well as hookers, Pattaya is also famous for its transvestite shows. In the first we were seated at the back, in the second we somehow scored front row middle seats. Perfect for scrutinizing the lip synching and the ‘ladyness’ of each performer (there were big varieties in both areas). Some of the ‘girls’ were incredibly convincing. And others, despite their breast implants, were clearly men. Overall, both shows were entertaining, with very glitzy costumes and sets and had a mix of Thai, Russian, Indian and English songs. Pretty unique really.

After that, we took a couple of taxis back to the hotel – back by 11.30pm for some more blogging and reading!

(P.S. Andy took much better show photos that I did, so check them out top right… when he uploads them)

July 18th–Bangkok to Pattaya

Today is a mini blog – time zone differences made a chunk of today go away! Our flight from Zurich to Bangkok was again relatively uneventful – we walked wistfully past the comfy business class seats this time. I can’t say I slept anywhere near as well in our economy seats! I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, read a bit of A Clash of Kings but mostly I just tried to sleep for the 10.5 hours.

We arrived in Bangkok around 3pm and found our transfer – a chartered car all the way to Pattaya. This trip took just over an hour and staying awake was a mighty struggle. Eventually we arrived at the ‘Rabbit Resort’. It sounds perhaps a little dodgy but it’s lovely and tropical, with two pools and a big spacious room with a kitchen and two double beds. It also takes its ‘rabbit theme’ seriously – there are rabbits on the towels, a tiled rabbit at the bottom of the pool, hedges shaped like rabbits…and we were given a small pink stuffed rabbit upon check in!

    

Andy and I very much enjoyed our showers and just chilling in our room for a long time. Eventually we meandered along the beach to find some dinner – we found a lovely restaurant with a nice atmosphere. Time for our first Thai food for the trip (plus a Pina Colada for me!). And back to the hotel by 8.30pm! The prospect of just relaxing for a couple of nights is very appealing indeed!

July 17th–Leaving Amsterdam

This morning was our last one in Europe! How crazy. This trip has been a whirlwind so far and I’m definitely going to need reread these blogs and remind myself of everything we have done. Disneyland seems an age ago!

After another undisturbed sleep we were up, breakfasted and checked out by the required 10.30am For our last morning here we decided to rent a bike – it is a very Amsterdam thing to do! This experience was very interesting – as I have mentioned before I am not a very confident rider and the bikes given to us were without gears, helmets or a brake system I was used to. I had a ball riding through the parks and along the deserted pretty streets. I may have had some mini meltdowns attempting to ride in the chaos of the city, amongst trams, pedestrians, cars, the local rides… Andy did lots and lots of waiting for me, and I managed to scrape my right leg up a bit. I’m clearly as sporty as ever.

As mentioned, we did cycle to Vondelpark and the Museums Quarter, both very lovely spots – we stopped to read our books on the lawn both places, coupled with locally bought lunch at the second (cream puffs and wine, mmm) I had planned to go see the Van Gogh museums (whilst Andy chilled on the lawn). Unfortunately there was a huge line outside that was moving very slowly indeed so I decided to give it a miss. A pity, as Van Gogh was one of the first artists I had learnt about and I had a poster of his in my bedroom for years – I contented myself with looking at the postcard souvenirs and oil painting replicas being sold outside instead!

   

We got back to hostel around 4pm and decided we might as well head off to the airport. I have enjoyed this city – it is very unique and has a lovely balance of places to party places to relax and enjoy the beauty of the streets.

As expected we got to the airport rather early – time for sitting, reading and blogging. The flight to Zurich was uneventful, taking about an hour… and then some more waiting before our flight to Bangkok left at 11pm!

July 16th–Amsterdam

Against all of our expectations of this place, last nights sleep was comfortable and relatively undisturbed! We were up at a lazy 9.30am and all breakfasted in time to grab the Sandeman’s Tour of Amsterdam. Which, as usual, means a rather unexciting blog! We mainly just wandered around the canals, past all the houses with their unique Amsterdam character, learning little stories here and there. It was a nice and entertaining little intro to the city, as always. There are perhaps not so many impressive building to see here, the best way to enjoy Amsterdam seems to be wander around and soak up the relaxed atmosphere.

   

After that my blog gets a bit uninteresting! We headed back to the hostel, getting there about 2.30pm and then relaxing with books and internet (plus a bit of sleep) until at least 5pm. We grabbed two hostel pizzas for dinner, plus some wine and beer. From there we spent the evening wandering aimlessly around the street of Amsterdam! We had initially planned to go on a pub crawl and walked past the first pub – the people spruiking the crawl gave everyone around us flyers but were apparently not interested in us. So we decided we weren’t interested in them. Instead we wandered - we ate lots of random things, from ‘Holland’s Best Fries’, to waffles, to these random Febo snack out of a wall things they have here. We got lost a few times but eventually found our way home or a much needed sleep.

(It is funny that we do seem a little out of place here. Not the usual young drunken tourists apparently. Particularly in our hostel, we are very tame indeed!)

July 15th–Berlin to Amsterdam

Today we weren’t exactly sure what to do – we’d researched a few options the night before but in the end just decided to ‘wander’, as we do. This meant a lazy sleep in and an easy check out around 10.30am, followed by a chilled breakfast in the hostel courtyard.

And then we headed back into the city to basically do a backwards version of our tour yesterday. We started at Alexander Platz, with half a mind to go up the TV tower before we saw the long line for tickets. We wandered back past the museums and sat outside on on the grass, reading our books for a bit. This was lovely. Next back past a famous chocolate shop which we popped into. Here I wanted to eat everything, including their giant sculptures made of chocolate and their exquisite looking cakes. Instead we just bought a sample pack of nougat chocolates, which we nibbled at across the course of the day.

   

Back then to Checkpoint Charlie where we ate a kebab at the ‘pop up beach’ there. Strange. And then on to the wall to see the exhibition there and pop into the ‘terror’ museum – lots more reading that we didn’t feel up to but we wandered around briefly and looked at the pictures. Then back to the hostel via the Brandenburger Tor once more.

Soon we had grabbed our bags and were off to the airport, via the subway, train and then lots of walking. I can’t say I was particularly sad to leave Berlin. It does not strike me as a very pretty city, full of construction and modern city buildings. Yes, it does have some impressive old architecture (mostly rebuilt after the war) but there are not too many squares that really drew me to sit down and just enjoy. The appeal in this city lies in its history and in its modern, progressive culture. The first I feel we got more than enough of and the second I think we saw too little. My favourite memory of Berlin is still that first night seeing all the random modern bars and perhaps to have truly fallen in love with the city we needed to do a pub crawl or an ‘alternative Berlin’ underground scene tour. We had looked at both but neither ended up happening – perhaps our experience here was poorer for it.

Anyway! The flight to Amsterdam was relatively uneventful, as was our transfer to our hostel. Already Amsterdam seems very clean, organised and efficient. We arrive at our hostel ‘The Flying Pig’ around 9pm, to find that the reception is pretty much a bar – which probably sets the scene for our stay here nicely. Our room is full of 8 double bed bunks and we have a bottom one in the corner, kind of like sleeping in a cave.

   

After settling in we head out for a little walk. I have been here before in 2005, during the day and with an 8 and 10 year old for company. As such I have never really experienced what Amsterdam is famous for. And it certainly is interesting! Of course, lots of coffee shops, a persistent smell of weed and lots of pastries on display (no doubt to tempt those drunk and high later in the evening). The Red Light District is something else, windows upon windows of women standing and beckoning, wearing not very much at all. And then of course the ads for sex shows, live porn etc. Fun times.

Tonight we were back in the hostel around midnight, deciding to make a proper go off the nightlife here tomorrow night. We will see what happens!