My First Third World

There are no words to describe how insane Bangkok is, I was lucky enough to hook up with Sofia( Old work buddy) and her brother Andrew for my first few nights because I completely underestimated the enormity of where I am. There are a few things you notice pretty quickly in Thailand, 1. EVERY Thai loves their King, I don't believe he holds much power but the respect he holds is astonishing, no matter where in Thailand you go the King is looking down on you in the form of huge photographs in large golden frames usually accompanied with his really unattractive wife. 2. You can buy Anything, Anywhere, Anytime...... Literally, Every spare footpath or alleyway there is a street vendor trying to sell you something from meat sticks to tazer guns. 3. The Thais are incredibly happy people, they have a lot of pride in their country and although it's just complete Chaos, everything works. Consider the amount of people in Bangkok, and Auckland would have 4x the amount of Graffiti and litter even though rubbish bins are pretty scarce to non exist int here. You feel so safe here because of that temperament, I would and do walk down any Rd in the middle of the night by myself and wouldn't even think twice. 4. The smell and heat, you get the smell of open sewers, raw and cooked meat with car fumes fermenting together and you have Bangkok. The smell of meat with the constant heat can get quite claustrophobic at times and quite unbearable, it's like not been able to get any real air. You basically walk down Bangkok for 5 seconds and you have another completely new more potent smell every time. 5. The food here is amazing and so cheap, I have eaten things I didn't even know existed and still don't know what they are.
The first day, after getting my Vietnam Visa we went out of town to Kantabuata which is near the river Kwai which runs parallel to the 'Death Railway'. There is a place called the Tiger Temple where a senior Monk takes in Tigers and the Soi Nak Falls which is where the Death Railway ends and you can watch the rest of the day go by in the water hole. We got back that night and decided to hit Bangkok's' street life. Bangkok is so much more alive at night, nothing closes and nobody sleeps, we ate, drank, shopped and of even saw a show. When you're in Bangkok you can't avoid people advertising the infamous Thai Ping Pong shows, so after been quite inebriated we all decided to have a look. We chose one called 'Ping Pong Pussy' and for 100Baht you get a beer and a show, it was anything but erotic but the old men seemed to enjoy it. One of the the girls offered themselves to Sofia for 150Baht (approx $6.50NZD)
Day two we went on a tour, which I can highly advise avoiding. It took us to the famous floating markets which was nice but very expensive and very commercial, it's only designed for tourists to say they've been which is funny because I foolishly forgot my camera, then the bus took us to a very cruel cobra show and an elephant dancing show then a fake Thai kick boxing show, pretty much a very expensive tourist trap. That night Sofia and Andrew left for Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand and I decided to stay since I hadn't seen enough of Bangkok.
Day 3 I had to go and see the temples and monuments of Thailand, Wat Pho, Grand Palace, Golden Mountain, all very impressive the reclining Buddha was more then anything I then hopped on the train that night for the 14hour trip to Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai is much more relaxed then Bangkok and much cheaper, I'm staying in a room for 80Baht a night (Approx $3NZD) I got sick the first night which led me to bed early, I'm been a bit slack with fruit, it's just so good here even if I'm not meant to eat it.
I had organised a two day trek up in the Chiang Mai mountains with the Hill Tribes, there were about 7 of us and we started off with an Elephant ride through the hills where we went past the indigenous Hill tribes of Thailand. We eventually got to one were we stayed the night with them and all their family. Very primitive people who literally live in Huts and grows and hunts for all their food, very interesting night with wild pig for dinner. We then Hiked for most of the next day until we finished it by bamboo rafting down the river Won.
Today I'm going on a mediation training night with a Monk at the Monastery down the Rd, you can't talk for 24hours and they teach you more about the ways of Buddha and meditation which starts in 1 hour. My next stop will be Pai and maybe Chaing Rai.