Thailand part 2

Since we made many international friends, we decided to do the following stories in English.

Bangkok
From Koh Phangan we took the nightbus to Bangkok. After this terrible 16 hour drive we finally arrived at Bangkok southern busstation. Since it was 6AM and we had no idea where to go we wandered around and tried to ask people where to find the local bus. Unfortunately, people in Bangkok are not so helpfull unless you want a taxi. So after a while we actually found the local bus to go downtown. We immediately found out that Bangkok is a polluted, chaotic and unfriendly city. When we arrived at Khoa San Road it felt like arriving in Lloret de Mar: lots of tourists drinking beer at 9AM (probably from last nights party). Taking a side road we arrived at our first hostel in Central Bangkok. Then we decided to go into Bangkok on foot because the tuk-tuk drivers were driving us crazy with their crazy high fees. All the time we had the feeling that ever local was trying to rip us off, very uncomfortable.
The second day we bumped into a friendly local who informed us about must sees in Bangkok. He stopped a tuk-tuk for us and told the driver to takes us to the designated places for only 20THB. This resulted in a trip to the biggest standing buddha, the black buddha, the golden mountain and a tourist information center (where we could book our trip to Chang mai). Arriving at the tourist information centre the lady helped us planning our further trip to Kanchanabury (3 day tour), Ayutthaya and Chang Mai (incl. 3 day trekking). After this fast planning (and paying) we went to New Bankok and had dinner at a big shopping mall. Afterwards we found ourselves in the middle of a Thai Kick Boxing World Tournament. Very interesting to see. When we got back at our hostel, we couldn't help the feeling that we were ripped off by tourist information centre (we paid a lot of money but had nothing but a plain receipt of our paiment). So after a terrible night of moaning we decided to go to the tourist information centre ourselves. But there was one problem: we didn't know the exact location. So we went back to the place where we've last been (we knew it was close to the tourist information). After wandering around, we recognized the place and found the tourist information centre (lucky us). With the intention to get our money back we went back in. The employees immediately recognized us and tried to help us to sort everything out (all the tickets were ready and waiting for us). We decided that they looked real and were relieved and laughed about it the rest of the day.

Kanchanabury
Being picked up from Bangkok (this god forsaking town) we were brought to the war cemetary in Kanchanabury. Here we were surprised how many Dutch soldiers lost their lives in the second world war building the railway into Birma. The museum showed us some amazing footage about the second world war. After this impressive experience we went to the bridge over the river Kwai and got in the train. This tourist train is the only train using this track and stops at the birmese border because the political connection with Birma is nonexisting. After this trainride we were picked up and brought to the Kitti raft restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was floating on the river Kwai with some amazing views. Here we had time to finally get to know our group. After lunch we went to the tiger temple which happend to be more like a zoo without the fences. All animals were walking free, except for the tigers. Here we had the change to take a picture with the tigers, a bit touristy but we were there anyways. After this day of being a terrible tourist we went back to the restaurant for dinner. After dinner we were picked up by a boat to go to our floating hotel: amazing. The peace and quit, the astonishing views and friendly people (both the people in our group as the Thai people) were the perfect ingredients for a beautiful night.
The following day we went to the Erawan waterfalls which had 7 different steps. Each step more beautiful than the one before. In the afternoon the biggest part of the group left to Bangkok while only a French couple stayed with us to see the hellfire pass. Since we had a really good connection with Stephanie and Victor we had a great time together. Additionally the hellfire pass was impressive. Back at the restaurant we requested to have dinner at our hotel at a later time (since dinner was served at 17PM), which was OK. Back at the hotel we shared an 'aperitif' (a big Chang with some chips) and had a great time together. During dinner we met our new group: also some great people.
Our last day in Kanchanabury we went bamboorafting on the river Kwai, which was very relaxing and enjoyable. In the afternoon we were brought back to Bangkok trainstation to get a train to Ayutthaya.

Ayutthaya
The train to Ayutthay was full of locals who through all their rubbish on the rails. We made several stops in the middle of nowhere so people could get on and off (and do some shopping, very weird). After finally arriving at Ayutthaya we were supposed to be picked up, but of course there was no one due to our late arrival. A friendly women lend us her phone to call the hostel and the owner arrived only 10 minutes later. The owner was very friendly and the room was great (airco!).
Ayatthaya is the city of ruines, so thats what we saw: a bunge of ruines. Additionally we saw some temples and of course a nightmarket. Since it was only a small town we left the next day with the nighttrain to Chang Mai.

Chang Mai
Of course the train was delayed by two minutes Thai time (two European hours), but at least the train was airconditioned (freezing cold). Arriving at Chang Mai's trainstation we were actually being picked up (suprise!) and brought to our new guesthouse. This happend to be an amazing place with a swimmingpool, kingsize bed and TV with a moviechannel. A perfect place to hang back and relax but we had planned a 3 day trekking into the mountains the next day. After checking out in the early morning we took of to the mountains. Arriving at the mountains we started walking in the heat of the day. Again this trip was with a group (11 people): 2 French guys, 1 Belgium women, 3 Germans and 5 Dutch which was convenient. Surprisingly two of the Dutch also happend to live in Amersfoort: weird. After a 4 hour walk we finally arrived at a hill tribe village where we stayed for the night, next to a huge spider (tarantula). Again we had a great time with our group and relaxed around the campfire.
The next day half of the group left and we were joined by a second group at lunch. This day we also walked about 4 hours before we arrived at our next stay. A nice place near to a river (which happend to be the shower as well) with beautiful scenery. We made some new English friends during and after dinner and had a great time together.
The third day of the trek we only walked for an hour and were picked up by a car to go to the bamboo rafting and elephant tour. Again bamboo rafting was fun but the elephant tour was not what we expected (a bit dull). Completely exhausted we arrived at our guesthouse again to check in and stay for a week. Even though we were exhausted we had a great night with our new English friends: Taks and David. The next day we did absolutely nothing but laying at the swimmingpool and having lunch with Anouk (the Dutch girl we met in Malaysia). In the evening we went to the famous sundaymarket with Taks, David and Anouk. Here we had a great time, had dinner together, grapped a coffee and drank few beers back at our guesthouse.
The next day it was time to say goodbuy to the English guys which we promised to visit.
The next day we did a cooking class. We can now be called: certified Thai cooks. Really fun experience and learned a lot about the Thai cuisine.
The rest of the days we watched movies, relaxed and did some sightseeing until today when we rented a bicycle. A nice way to experience the city and nice to be back on a bike!

Until next time,
Love Rob & Floor

PS. We wanted to upload more pictures but reached the limit. More pictures the next time.