Heading North

Well its been a while since my last entry, although Shaun is keeping you all well informed. I'm over my thai belly bug and finally regaining an appetite. Had many thai soups, pad thai, curries and local fruit - YUM! Left Hua Hin which to be completely honest, was glad to see the back of. Too commercial, seedy, and expensive. Arrived in Kanchanburi which i'd been really looking forward to from the reading i'd done on the area. Poor Shaun got Thai belly, but recovered after 24 hours which was impressive. The place lived up to expectation for me. Beautiful country side, spectacular sights to be seen and ultimately just a charming place to be. Erawan National Park was stunning. The walk up the 7 tier water fall was well WORTH IT! The cat fish were interesting however, I went to go in and they were magnets to humans. Shaun basically had to fight them off us to get in the water. They suck at your legs, rather weird sensation. Once i got past the ickyness of it all, i went for a quick swim and out again - refreshing but cold! The photos don't do justice to just how special this place is. Went to Hellfire Pass which was haunting and as Shaun said, sombre, but an important place to visit, as was the War Museum (impressive, loved the audio, film, hellfire pass model) and cemetry. Went to the Bridge over the River Kwai too, walked across to be met with a distressed chained up elephant :( I'm sure there's more of that to be seen. Chiang Mai was calling, so we left Kanchanaburi, surprisingly got to Bangkok safely - even though the mini van driver was a lunatic! I thought the best thing to do was sleep for the entirity of the journey. Made it to our destination in 90 minutes instead of the usual 2 1/2 hours... that might give you some idea of his driving.
Next stop was Bangkok train station, not as manic as i thought it would be. The toilets there are another story altogether - EWWWWWWWWWWWWW GROSSSSSSSS YUKKKKKKKKKKK. Most of you will know about my purchase of the Gwhizz (an aparatus that allows women to pee standing up). It took me many months to psych myself up to purchasing one of these contraptions, and now I consider it one of the BEST inventions of all time!. I thought the train station toilets were bad, well i had a thing of two to learn... the train toilets were something else altogether. The 14 hour train ride over night up to Chiang Mai meant it was time to give this thing a go. Boys have it so easy! I used it 3 times with success, and now carry it with me every where. I also have to mention when i went the first time on the train i realised i was quite literally peeing on train tracks, and for some reason everytime i went to go, the train stopped at a station, rather hilarious, especially when there is a window and everyone could see a women standing up peeing. There was lots of laughing out side.:)
The over night train was awesome - second class perfect. Quite the adventure. I thought i'd sleep easy on a train, much like lulling myself off to sleep from all those holidays on Mr Walker and Scarlet Fever - NOT A CHANCE. swishing of water and gentle rocking doesn't come close to comparing clunking and severe side to side motions of a train. None the less, fun and most memorable.
Chiang Mai is great. Loving this city. Cheap, cheerful and charasmatic. First night's accommodation was dire. Staying at Thapae Gardens Guest House now which is gorgeous and only 50 baht more ($2.50NZ). Went to Doi Suthep this morning - great view of Chiang Mai, Buddhas and Stupa (300 stairs later). Many thai people there and it was clearly a very sacred special place. We're spending roughly $25 (500 baht) a day each which includes sights, accommodation, delicious food ... but we want to get it down to $20 a day - more than achievable.
Ginny & Scott - hope the house reno's are going well???
Mel, B & Wendy - roof top bar very cool.
Marlon - enjoying Pass the Pigs.
Nicole - bargains are even BETTER in Chiang Mai, i want to buy everything but there is no where to put it!!!
Mum & Dad - hope you're looking after each other and poker is up and running soon! And Shaun says get a microphone and camera for skype - Xiao can hook you up i'm sure.
Ma & Pa - great talking to you on skype today.
Arina & jared - you're off tomorrow on the rest of your adventure, keep safe, we'll miss the toilet stops, yummy food you keep buying and making us eat too, and ofcourse your great company! The last couple of weeks have been truly special.