Spaceship buses: imagine light coming out of every crevice
As I would be going up to Bangkok later, I decided to head straight for the North-East: the real Thailand: Isaan, where hardly any tourists go (unless they get lost or want to go to Laos). That also means that people don’t speak English, but they help you all the more ;-) But what really impressed me was the public transport: the buses and the trains. Continue reading
The beginning of another little trip around the world
Thailand just makes me smile: the overdose of pinkness, the constant hellos of the children, people helping you out no matter you speak a different language, the Thai massage by frail giggling girlies that could nevertheless easily break your bones, temples made out of recycled bottles or buses that look like spaceships and the trains that are like planes…
Massage literally on every corner of the street...
Not sure how to summarise Chiang Mai, the charming relaxed city of the North of Thailand: full of temples, nice hotels, yummy food, biking around town, smiley people, superb China town and night market, massage on every street corner (literally sometimes), street food a go-go, quaint old town, enjoying yourself for no money, just a night train away from Bangkok!
Sea, sand, sun and s... nothing
Many people go to Portugal for the sun and SEA, so I wouldn’t mind a bit of sea, sand, sun and s… (forget about that last S, nothing of that around here) The only ‘challenge’ was that I was based in the Portuguese countryside. We could of course take the car down to the sea, but that would be too easy. We decided to put the Portuguese public transport system to the test (most of it is paid by my tax-money anyway – EU subsidies). Easier said than done.
Bye bye Malaysia - Hello Thailand
Bangkok seems to be a central point in South East Asia and in my trip around the region: cheap flights, good connections, lovely shopping, exciting nightlife, efficient infrastructure, great people,… It’s like an interchange station between different parts of my trip, between nature and back to civilization, between luxury and back to basics, between shopping mall’s food courts and street food.
This time round, I tried something different and traveled overland, by train, and almost lost my luggage in the process. I took the night train to Bangkok from Butterworth (North Malaysia, in front of Penang island), which set me back 105 Ringit but saved me a night in a hotel. It was also 22 hours of rambling route and forced relaxation, finally having some time to read the brick of a book that I am carrying with me already for a month or two.
Continue reading
