the songserm travelogues: part I
Blog: katie has itchy feet - 7 September 2009
By: kenners
okay, well if we're gonna be anally retentive about it, it's actually vol III of the songserm travelogues, but let's skip over that minor blip!
travelling in thailand involves a lot of waiting around between modes of transport and in the blazing sun. once we were dumped off the overcrowded ferry with our bags, some total gibroni emerges who thinks he's got the ultimate power by shouting orders, ie destinations, and pointing in random directions whilst blowing a whistle. give a man a whistle, eh? so i was sat in the blazing heat and met three lads and got chatting. two of them are from london and i've absobloodylutely no idea how we came onto it, but it appears that george is my doppelganger in every shape and form when it comes to music and the sesh. i think grouper and type records is how it got started, and it seems everything from slint, to flylo and lukid, to drone, to godspeed and we've covered all our tastes and what not. pretty refreshing after you've heard nothing bu ub40 or that "hold up, roseanna-anna" tune for two weeks solid. it was also funny to see they were real sticklers for sedatives as much as i was. this journey was gonna be fun!
now i must stop and say that bus journeys in thailand really aren't that bad at all (especially compared to vietnam and just wait 'til we come to burma's roads...) it's just the waiting, like i said, in between that can be utterly arduous. mutterings of "will our bus ever come?" are exchanged but once on it, it's generally a breeze, comfy and aircon ahoy. i've decided i should make a bloody zine about the antics, legends and nutters i've encountered on asian buses. once again, just you wait 'til we get to burma!
the trip from the south islands involves I.D in the form of a sticker slammed on your chest to differentiate you and your bag from people heading, say, to the andaman coast. the company songserm generally caters for your average student-cum-fullmoon-revellers and the boats of generally at three times the capacity. the trip itself was a breeze, i was sedated and had my beautiful brain melting playlist to keep me content so that was me sorted 'til we arrived back into the city of broken dreams, bangkok.
i concur that if i ever die on khao san road, then i know i must've done something seriously wrong in the last 23 years. it's absolutely fucking horrendous there. one of the pluses i have to give it (and soi rambuttri, which is now my "preferred" kipping places in this end of town) is that you're without a doubt able to get a cheap, clean-ish room at any time of the day. we rolled in at 5.30am and opted for a chang and another 5mg before sleep. always fun watching the lads trying to fend of prostitutes when we're sat in a bar at that time.
i managed to make my flight to chiang mai in plenty of time. chiang mai itself is really pretty and really bloody cheap. i was able to get a bed in "same same"(good grief) for 100baht which is just under two quid. i have to say, it was the roughest bed ive ever slept on, i'm sure it was just a sheet over fucking springs, but it did the job.'i booked myself onto a trek through julie's. julie's seems to be the preferred kip space for travellers. they don't take bookings and alas! they were full.
funny things happen in this world. as i was climbing into bed this (rather beautiful) french chap (who, once again i can't remember the name of, let's call him sebastian for argument's sake) was saying he'd found somewhere better, cleaner and for the same price if i wanted to move tomorrow. fuck! i was already booked on a bloody trek! he was in town doing a massage course and when i woke he was rousing too and i heard the words "would you mind me practicing a massage on you this morning?" come flowing my way. what a bloody silly question! problem number two arises. we're both having to be in separate places in half an hour and we didn't realise this until we'd sorted our shit out. whack. although i don't seem to have done too bad on this trip and have no complaints thus far, it does pretty much sum me and my general luck up to a tee! welcome to the world of kenners. ha.
the trek itself was OK. i'm really, really, totally not one for group tourist-trap packages, and this was me walking straight into one. the elephants got treated like shit and it really broke my heart to see it. one younger elephant looked distressed the whole time then at the end just went mental and started charging at a dog. i don't fucking blame it, if you ask me.
the trek was beautiful, mind. the humidity and sweat factor, wasn't! luckily for me i wasn't the only one who felt that i was shedding layers of skin in the heat. met two awesome people, alex and harry, on the trek and here comes the infamous french english divide! well, all the others were french, we don't speak any french, and alas, the group was instantly split. shitter.
the following day was much better in my eyes, but that's cos i got to be a kid and get in a raft and go down some tepid rapids. ha ha.
back to chiang mai and a quick turn around, picking up of laundry and i'm on a night bus back to bangkok. no battery on ipod and no Vs and i'm sat next to a total redneck from iowa who just wouldn't stop talking to me. more frustratingly he talked really slow and didn't really have anything interesting to say except that pai (somewhere near chiang mai) was full of hippies and pot. people who know me know i have a good tolerance for people. i love meeting people and i love lending an ear to hear new things. if they're annoying, i don't mind. i normally find it amusing and play on it. more importantly i fucking adore people with good stories to tell, or who give people the time of day. well i'm sorry mum and dad for letting you down but on this occasion i had to go against my kindness and goodwill and feign tiredness and pretended to sleep most the way just to get him to shut up! all i remember of him is that he looked like michael moore and had a sweat band round his head. ha ha.
so, back to bangkok to await the arrival of nathalie and get stuff sorted for burma. first off epic sleep as it was another 6am arrival in the city of doom for me.
photos will follow when i can be arsed, loves!
travelling in thailand involves a lot of waiting around between modes of transport and in the blazing sun. once we were dumped off the overcrowded ferry with our bags, some total gibroni emerges who thinks he's got the ultimate power by shouting orders, ie destinations, and pointing in random directions whilst blowing a whistle. give a man a whistle, eh? so i was sat in the blazing heat and met three lads and got chatting. two of them are from london and i've absobloodylutely no idea how we came onto it, but it appears that george is my doppelganger in every shape and form when it comes to music and the sesh. i think grouper and type records is how it got started, and it seems everything from slint, to flylo and lukid, to drone, to godspeed and we've covered all our tastes and what not. pretty refreshing after you've heard nothing bu ub40 or that "hold up, roseanna-anna" tune for two weeks solid. it was also funny to see they were real sticklers for sedatives as much as i was. this journey was gonna be fun!
now i must stop and say that bus journeys in thailand really aren't that bad at all (especially compared to vietnam and just wait 'til we come to burma's roads...) it's just the waiting, like i said, in between that can be utterly arduous. mutterings of "will our bus ever come?" are exchanged but once on it, it's generally a breeze, comfy and aircon ahoy. i've decided i should make a bloody zine about the antics, legends and nutters i've encountered on asian buses. once again, just you wait 'til we get to burma!
the trip from the south islands involves I.D in the form of a sticker slammed on your chest to differentiate you and your bag from people heading, say, to the andaman coast. the company songserm generally caters for your average student-cum-fullmoon-revellers and the boats of generally at three times the capacity. the trip itself was a breeze, i was sedated and had my beautiful brain melting playlist to keep me content so that was me sorted 'til we arrived back into the city of broken dreams, bangkok.
i concur that if i ever die on khao san road, then i know i must've done something seriously wrong in the last 23 years. it's absolutely fucking horrendous there. one of the pluses i have to give it (and soi rambuttri, which is now my "preferred" kipping places in this end of town) is that you're without a doubt able to get a cheap, clean-ish room at any time of the day. we rolled in at 5.30am and opted for a chang and another 5mg before sleep. always fun watching the lads trying to fend of prostitutes when we're sat in a bar at that time.
i managed to make my flight to chiang mai in plenty of time. chiang mai itself is really pretty and really bloody cheap. i was able to get a bed in "same same"(good grief) for 100baht which is just under two quid. i have to say, it was the roughest bed ive ever slept on, i'm sure it was just a sheet over fucking springs, but it did the job.'i booked myself onto a trek through julie's. julie's seems to be the preferred kip space for travellers. they don't take bookings and alas! they were full.
funny things happen in this world. as i was climbing into bed this (rather beautiful) french chap (who, once again i can't remember the name of, let's call him sebastian for argument's sake) was saying he'd found somewhere better, cleaner and for the same price if i wanted to move tomorrow. fuck! i was already booked on a bloody trek! he was in town doing a massage course and when i woke he was rousing too and i heard the words "would you mind me practicing a massage on you this morning?" come flowing my way. what a bloody silly question! problem number two arises. we're both having to be in separate places in half an hour and we didn't realise this until we'd sorted our shit out. whack. although i don't seem to have done too bad on this trip and have no complaints thus far, it does pretty much sum me and my general luck up to a tee! welcome to the world of kenners. ha.
the trek itself was OK. i'm really, really, totally not one for group tourist-trap packages, and this was me walking straight into one. the elephants got treated like shit and it really broke my heart to see it. one younger elephant looked distressed the whole time then at the end just went mental and started charging at a dog. i don't fucking blame it, if you ask me.
the trek was beautiful, mind. the humidity and sweat factor, wasn't! luckily for me i wasn't the only one who felt that i was shedding layers of skin in the heat. met two awesome people, alex and harry, on the trek and here comes the infamous french english divide! well, all the others were french, we don't speak any french, and alas, the group was instantly split. shitter.
the following day was much better in my eyes, but that's cos i got to be a kid and get in a raft and go down some tepid rapids. ha ha.
back to chiang mai and a quick turn around, picking up of laundry and i'm on a night bus back to bangkok. no battery on ipod and no Vs and i'm sat next to a total redneck from iowa who just wouldn't stop talking to me. more frustratingly he talked really slow and didn't really have anything interesting to say except that pai (somewhere near chiang mai) was full of hippies and pot. people who know me know i have a good tolerance for people. i love meeting people and i love lending an ear to hear new things. if they're annoying, i don't mind. i normally find it amusing and play on it. more importantly i fucking adore people with good stories to tell, or who give people the time of day. well i'm sorry mum and dad for letting you down but on this occasion i had to go against my kindness and goodwill and feign tiredness and pretended to sleep most the way just to get him to shut up! all i remember of him is that he looked like michael moore and had a sweat band round his head. ha ha.
so, back to bangkok to await the arrival of nathalie and get stuff sorted for burma. first off epic sleep as it was another 6am arrival in the city of doom for me.
photos will follow when i can be arsed, loves!
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