Thailand

Hello hello,

So it was our second day of trekking today. We woke up with the rooster and the sun which was very annoying more than anything else - but considering there are no curtains (or windows for that matter) it was unavoidable. Luckily enough we didn't get any mossie bites. As this is the area we had to take the malaria tablets for every time we see a mossie we are freaking!

After breakfast we went elephant riding for about 1hr 30mins. This was truely a rollercoaster experience. The guys who were helping us get onto the elephants were calmly jumping from one elephant to the next but I was too scared even to get onto one! The set-up was three people per elephant, two on the chair which was tied to its back and one on the head. Dom and I got the daddy elephant which was the biggest of the lot. To climb onto it we had to go froma platform, step across its head then onto the chair. Dom got on first, and without been insulting, the chair looked liked it was going to tip over to one side when he got on, I got on next hoping to balance the weight out. The last guy who was on the same trek as us had the privilege of the head whic turned out to be quite bony! At first we were going down a steep hill and it literally felt as if we were going to slip off, then we started going down really narrow tracks that you would never think in a million years that an elephant would fit down. Ours must have been really thirsty as it kept heading towards the river instead of the tracks - we didnt know what to do as how do you control an elephant? After the tracks we started to head back to the village, in the river, the elephants were squirting water and finally ours got the drink it wanted. At first it was quite scary as your legs are dangling down the side of the elephant (and its a long way down!) but after a while you got used to it and started to enjoy it. Dom and I had nicked a couple of bananas from breakfast which we both (Dom as well) fed to the elephants when we got back to the village. All of a sudden about 5 women appeared with a whole bunch of bananas for 50 baht each to feed to them - always about money!

After the exitement of the morning we packed our bags ready to bamboo raft back to the first village we were in yesterday. If you remember from Kanchanburi in Thailand we actually did bamboo rafting there, but it turns out that this was completely different. In Kanchanburi we were sat down on the rafts, there was no current and we just paddled leisurely along for about 20 minutes. This time it was like the river wild! There was four to a raft plus a guide and each person was strategically placed. The guide went though what we were to do on his instructions for every time we got to rapids -so we knew this was getting serious. We had all been told to put shorts on and take off our shoes and socks, and all the bags had been tied to a post at the front of the raft. When we got going we really got straight into, it was rapids all the way. Dont forget that these rafts are literally just pieces of bamboo tied together with bamboo bark, no straps and nothing to hold onto to stop you going into the water - in fact, one guy did fall in - with his camera - doh! Some of the rapids were so strong that the water was above your knees. We were rafting for about 2 hours downstream which was hard work but so well worth it, everytime we got through a whole bunch of rapids there would be screams of joy!!

After some lunch we then headed back to Chiang Mai as our trekking was over. It was a fantastic experience in a wonderful place and we survived in one piece.

We are so looking forward to a proper bed at some point as the last few days have been hellish. Tonight was to be another long night as we were flying to Bangkok, spending the night in the airport before flying to Penang in the morning. Obviously last night we slept in a hut, the night before we had about 4 hours sleep (due to the pageant) and the night before that we were on the overnight bus!!

Onto Malaysia...

Team Domro

Sawadeeka,

So after the most hectic day yesterday all we wanted to do was rest, but that was certainly the last thing that happened.

Since my new title of Miss International flower bloom required duties beyond taking part in the pageant, I had to get up at 4am to get my hair and make-up done to greet the governors at the grand parade this morning. Dom unsurprisingly didn't go to this parade as I think he couldn't face the possibility of a repeat of yesterdays events. The parade was really fantastic with music, dancing, flowers, floats, colour etc. The last two days I have had my picture taken so many times you wouldn't believe. This morning was just extreme though, literally hundreds of people all at once wanting a photo!! It was definately my 15 minutes of fame!!

At 8.30 I had to come back down to earth and get back to the guesthouse quick as the two of us were heading off on a two day trek. I hopped in a tuk-tuk and like lightening in slow motion got back.

Chiang Mai is renowned for its trekking - apparently among the best trekking in Thailand. Even when we were in Bangkok, one of the travel agents we were talking too told us not to trek in Bangkok as you never get as much for your money and its just not half as good and to wait for Chiang Mai to do it. So we were really looking forward to this.

The truck picked us up at 9am. There was already two people in the truck suffice to say who thought I was a freak dressing up for trekking (I had changed into jeans and T-shirt but the hair and make-up was still on). We picked up another 4 people at different guesthouses to make a total of eight of us heading to the depths of the jungle. It must have taken a couple of hours to finally reach a small village where we had a traditional Thai rice lunch cooked for us. Following a break to let the food settle we began what turned out to be a 3 hour walk through the jungle in the blistering heat. We spent the first hour going up - that was hard work, plateaued for a bit before becoming really steep downwards. Along the way was fantastic as our guide kept picking out lots of plants which are used as spices in cooking, we were able to taste them and everything.

There was only one path so it was impossible to get lost, so when I say Dom and I got separated from the group it means that there was a large distance between the people in front of us and behind us - not to worry. We were on our own as some oldies(!) had fallen behind and the athletic ones were way out in front when we saw a village to which we presumed was our destination, however on approach to the village we heard a couple of gunshots - aaahhhh!! It then comes as no surprise that we didn't enter the village alone, we waited for the laggers hoping they woud be shot first! (It turns out that 'the men' were out hunting).

Walking through this village was like stepping back in time. The huts were made of bamboo and were all on stilts, there were children running around picking things up off the ground, eating them, dropping them, the picking them up and eating them again, there were piles of wood for burning and piles of bamboo scattered around the place, there was also animals everywhere; chickens & dogs especially.

Once we were in the village we were free to walk around and explore. Dom and I walked down to the river where 'the men' were building bamboo rafts. Everytime they get tourists into their village who are bamboo rafting back to the other village (the one we had spent the day walking from) they have to build new rafts. This is because this tribe live upstream and the village can only be reached by walking meaning they woud have to carry the rafts back to their village each time. So instead, they continously build new rafts. The village downstream then breaks down the rafts after use and uses the bamboo for their own needs. We were to do the bamboo rafting tomorrow so they were working quickly. We walked up the river a little bit when we realised that we had stepped in a footprint much larger than ours - elephants! Wanting to explore but not get trampled at the same time we didn't go too much further upstream but enough to get the picture that the jungle is a very beautiful but scary place.

Eventually we headed back up to the village there were half a dozen teeangers from the village playing a game which is like volley-ball but with your feet. They have to do the keepie-uppies (that footballers do) over a net in the middle, obviously if a side dropped the ball, the other side would score a point. The main difference was the ball, it was about the size of a coconut but made from weaved bamboo! After a few minutes of us watching they invited us to play. I declined sparing myself from humiliation but Dom joined in. Being the footballer he is he fitted right into the game and did really well, he was doing over-head kicks, backward kicks, and fancy twists and turns with the ball - they knew he must have played at home coz he was a bit too much of a natural at the game!! He ended up playing for about 45 minutes with them until it got dark.

The food that night was good - traditional, but I think they had spiced it down a bit for the tourists which was a bit of a shame, nevertheless it was still lovely. As there was no electricity, we spent the evening sat around the fire with the villagers playing games with matches (sounds worse than it is), telling jokes, stories and singing (as one of the guys had a guitar) until late.

There was one large room which had about 20 thin mattresses laid out on the floor with mossie nets over them - this to be where we all slept for the night. Whilst this was great to do and an experience in itself, i was glad it was only for one night, it may be ungrateful/selfish/snobby etc but I would not be able to live without the luxuries (or what I view as necessities) of home; electricity, toilet, windows, road access etc. I wonder if these tribes started living with modern luxuries would they still prefer their traditional living methods?

Anyway, a fantastically tiring day...well deserving of a good nights rest...

Team Domro

Hello,

Well we arrived safe and sound in Chiang Mai at around 6am. We knew it would be too early to check into the guesthouse but we thought we would chance our arm anyway. In the end we were able to leave our bags there for a few hours to wander around until it was time to check in. I won't bore you with details of the morning as it is the afternoon where the fun really started.

We went back to the guesthouse at around half one and was greeted by the owner, Annette, who also happens to be Irish. Her first question was are you under 25? Yes...Do you want to enter a beauty pageant? Ummmmm...Of course she used the good ol' phrase 'Just for the craic!!' - so how could I refuse. The entry form said however to be there for two o'clock which gave us half an hour to get the hotel and register...so quick march we went.

A little bit of culture for y'all. Chiang Mai has many festivals during the year, with one of its most popular and famous being the Flower festival which takes place usually on the first weekend in February since 1977. The whole town is awash with flowers of every colour shape and size with several parades and shows also going on. There is also the all important Miss Flower Bloom and Miss International Flower Bloom beauty pageant!!

At this point Dom's day and my day go in two extremely different directions so I will get him to write his own experience. Anyhoo, myself and twenty-five other contestants were dress in traditional Thai clothing and make-up. The clothing was in actual fact lots of pieces of material wrapped around you and pinned together. I also had this 'chain-belt' around my waist so tight that I could only breath in half way, and that doesn't even take into account the corset tight material around the chest. Breathing and the toilet were put on hold for the day!! The make-up was really extreme and Dom couldn't stop laughing, it actually looked like I had four eyebrows. What was quite funny as well was that the lighter the skin colour the darker they made it look and vice versa. So all the Asian girls (not Thai though, just international) looked as if they hadn't seen the light of days for years and I looked like an 'ompa-lumpa'. Anyway, I drew the line at having no mascara on so I snatched it off the table ran into the bathroom and applied it myself!! Its a girl thing.

A quick note: Dom and myself have different views on political correctness, so unlike in Doms version of todays events, I refuse to emphasise this point!! But...the day cannot be told without its mention. The women that were doing all the hair and make-up were not actually 'women' in the sense of the word but more of the physically converted type with quite extreme mannerisms. I think this provided the answer to why Thai clothes and make-up continue to be so extravegant. Read Doms version for more detail!! He apparently had close encounters...

Continuing on, we got given extremely unclear instructions about where we were to stand and what to do etc so with the whole situation being as clear as mud all 25 of us headed down to the stage area. Once at the stage we met up with the Thai girls who were taking part in the Miss Flower Bloom - wowee - the hair and make-up were to perfection - They looked as if they had been preparing for this moment their whole lives.

I actually found out at this point that we had to do a little speech/song/dance talent thing for 2 minutes on stage to which I freaked!! What an earth was I going to talk about!! Also I found out that those who came in the top three would have to answer a question each in the final and take part in the parade the following day to greet governors and stuff. But that was ok coz we had organised to go on our trek the following day so I wouldn't be available, not that I told them coz what were the chances!

We did the dress rehersal which still didn't clear anything up so I planned on playing it by ear when the time came. At this point I hadn't actually seen Dom for a couple of hours, he and one of the other girl's boyfriends had buggered off.

The pageant begun. The spotlights were going mad, the cheesy music was blaring and the hosts had really strong american accents that you would associate with sports commentators - the stage was set. I knew we had to go out twice, the first time in a straight line for everyone to glare at you and the second when you did the 'speech' and the 'walk/pose' on your own. The first apperance came and went, and the second was fast approaching for me. I was number 19 so I had seen 18 girls doing it before me meaning you would think that I would get it right - wrong, completely wrong.

I appeared in the back/middle of the stage knowing I had to walk elegantly and gracely to the microphone on the right as this was to be the taller of the two microphones on the stage. However, I so fixated on the right side that I didn't realise that the mics had been swapped. As the mic was so low on the right I spent my entire speech bent really far forwards to reach it (gracely though of course!). Once I had reached the mic I was supposed to say "Sawadekaa" which means something along the lines of 'Hello, god be upon you' (don't quote me on that though) - I must have tried about six times Sakeda, Saweedak, Sawah etc - im sure you get the picture - in the end I gave up and greeted the audience "Good Evening!". After the speech during the audience clapping, I was suppose to do the walk/pose on the front stage so the judges can score your elegance and grace! So nervous and wanting to run off the stage as quickly as possible I completely forgot! So all the judges saw was me talk and swiftly walk away! Unfortunately, I swiftly walked to the wrong place! Instead of continuing the obvious straight line the girls before me had made, I thought I was to go to the back and start a new one (I told you the instructions were as clear as mud). In saying that they must have been clear to the girl after me as she continued the straight line making it clear I had pretty much made an absolute eejit of myself. The best solution I could come up with was to 'Swan Lake' it to where I was supposed to be - I therefore ballet danced 4 meters across the stage!

Of course I was representing Ireland in the pageant so I thought it would be nice to talk about the Green Isle itself. All I really remember is finishing off the speech with the fine words "In Ireland we have a similar opportunity to participate in such a wonderful event called the Rose of Tralee, I unfortunately have never taken part in it so I am delighted to represent Ireland Internationally where I can hopefully bring Chiang Mai home with me instead." Looking back - In a round about way its true- but what a cheesy way to put it!

We then had to stand on stage for at least another 20 minutes continuously smiling (my cheeks were killing me at that stage, and I had run out of different ways to smile) while the judges were choosing the final three. Eventurally the drum roll went and believe it or not my number was called out!! This adrenelin rush lasted only a few seconds though as I now realised that I had to answer a question. Expecting it to be on world peace or something I was trying to recall the film Miss Congenialty. The question I got was "What do you think are the differences between the women of Thailand and your own country?" Well, after the 'women' that had been doing my hair and make up all day that was the main difference that sprang to mind. In the end I started saying that Thai women always seek to continue tradition and thats why Thailand has a strong culture of food and music and that this is dying trend (as more women are choosing to go to work, therefore tradition in Ireland needs to be revived." I would like to make my position clear on this statement though - It is wonderful Thai women are strong and look after the home/ children etc. But...I am in no way advocating that women should give up work even though it may sound like it - Independent women are the way forward!! Enough said. Anyhoo, the other questions were on flowers and stuff so im glad I didn't get that. After what seemed a lifetime of the judges deliberating the results were read out.......drum roll please - I came 2nd!!! My official title - Miss International Flower Bloom 2007 Runner-up.

My prizes were a 5000 Baht (Euro 100) voucher for Dinner in a certain Chiang Mai restaurant, a 3000 Baht (Euro 60) voucher for a professional photo shoot, a bouquet of flowers and a plaque. Oh, and I had the honour of greeting the governors at the parade the following morning. Unfortunately we were going trekking at 9am so I thought I could bow out gracefully, it turned out that the duties started at 7am and I could finish if I wanted at 8.30am - Doh! I had no choice, it was to be a 4am start the following day for more hair and make-up...

Overall an unbelievable day, a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime experience, but it wasn't over yet.

Regards for another day,

Roisin
Miss International Flower Bloom 2007 (Runner-up!)

P.S - I donated the dinner as a prize to an upcoming silent auction charity event which builds schools for the tribal children of Thailand, and I gave the photo shoot voucher to Karen (another contestant who I became friends with, she is also Daniels girlfriend - you'll have to read Doms entry to see the connection.) The bouquet went to Annette (the Irish lady who told me to do it for the craic!), and the Plaque will be forever displayed in our livingroom (when we get one!)

Well Roisin explained the mechanics of the day, basically she had agreed to enter a beauty contest without checking what it involved,or how long it would take,which i wasn't too impressed with but I got on with it all the same. When we arrived at the hotel I was a bit pissed at the thought of just sitting around watching girls getting plastered in make up all day,so I was glad to see another blokes girlfriend had done the same thing to him and entered the contest herself. We got chatting anyway and came to the conclusion that we were in for a long day. We decided we had to find something to do so the obvious answer is to go for a beer. He was a Canadian guy called Daniel by the way.He had told me that when he got there all the ladyboys had been telling him how they were doing his make up when they finished with the girls so we knew we had to get out of there.

There was a guy sitting there through the whole thing,doing nothing really and when he saw us get up he came over and asked what we were doing,after we explained we were going for a beer,he said he would drive us to a bar as we needed to be back in the hotel at 5pm,of course he didn't tell us why which was the theme for the day. So, we found a bar and me and Daniel had a couple of Changs,he just had the one.This guy was from Chang Mai and could speak little English so it was hard having a conversation with him. Anyway, it was quarter to five so he ushered us back to the hotel.Daniel decided to go to the toilet before we left the bar and the Thai guy got up and went with,i thought nothing of it at the time really,just sort of joked with Daniel when they got back.

We got back to the hotel were all 25 girls were lined up outside getting there photos taken in a group before heading on down to the festival.We still of course didn't have a fuckin clue wot was happening. The guy who came to the bar with us told us to go with him to the festival. So, we headed off to the car only to realise that the two ladyboys doing the make up were coming with us too! We loaded up the car and I hopped straight into the front seat which left poor Daniel in the back with the two frecks. The other guy started the car and Daniel was calling me a fucker through the back.I couldn't stop laughing in the front seat thinking how the fuck I ended up in this car while Roisin was in an international beauty contest!Anyway things took a turn for the worst for poor Daniel when the ladyboys took out one of their favourite magazines!It was basically pictures of young guys probably in their early 20's.They were saying how much they liked this one and the other.At this stage I couldn't even look away from the window I was pissing myself so much.I turned around eventually and asked Daniel if he would like a picture with his two new friends,he went for it anyway and the two ladyboys got either side of him. He passed me his camera and I got a lovely shot of the two of them kissing him on the cheek!We got out of the car eventually and Daniel told me that when i took the photo one of them had put his(her) hand up his shorts! Thank you God for me not sitting in the back seat. We got to the Flower Show and they still wouldn't telll us wot time it started or finished,they also wouldn't let us go backstage to the girls.We wanted to get away from these people,so we said we wanted to go for a walk but the two ladyboys and the other weirdo followed us,we sat down at bar and they brought over a jug of beer.Then another two ladyboys turned up,of course all the other tourists in the area were looking at us. We couldnt get away from them,we poured the beer out in case it was spiked!Daniel then decided to show them pictures of his girlfriend to try and put them off but they were just saying how horrible she was.I started getting annoyed and cursing at them without them knowing cause they couldnt understand my accent!We got away after a while,and went down to the very back of the festival.Daniel then told me that when the first guy followed him to the toiliet earlier on he was looking over the urinal at him pissing and smiling. We spent the rest of the evening avoiding them and trying to watch the pageant,which didnt finish till round 11pm. Roisin was brill though when she got on stage and i knew she would be at least in the final 3.Of course she should have won,she was way better than them all.
Eventually i got to talk to her after all the photos and we had a few beers with Daniel and his girl and filled them in on our experience.
Im just glad i wasnt on my own!

Wot a fucked up day.Definitely one i wont forget.

Dom

Firstly my apologies for not putting the photos with the last entries - forgot the lead to the camera...shall put them up next time.

Ola,

So today was another adventurous which is fantastic but so many adventures in a row is really tiring. We had booked a half day tour to the floating markets in Damnoen Saduak which is about 80km southwest of Bangkok so it took a couple of hours to get too - yes a couple of hours, the minibuses are so past their sell-by date Im surprised they still move. They jammed about 10 people into this small van so it was really crammed on a hot day and the AC wasn't really working - doh! To top it off as well the ceiling was so low in the van that Dom had to spend the entire time bent over as he couldn't sit up. On the way to the floating markets we stopped at a coconut sugar factory which was interesting even though we didn't have much interest in it, for us it was more about the smell of the sugar - devine! There was also about 20million other tourists there which kind of ruined it a bit - still, there was a small market and orchid garden as well which kept us entertained for a while. Thankfully this was the only stop as we wanted the journey to end as quickly as possible.

Damnoen Saduak is like Venice in the fact that it is entirely made up of canals, but is a much poorer place. We arrived at our starting point where we had to switch to a long tail speedboat for a tour of the canals. As soon as we had sat down some random guy shoved a camera in our face and took a picture - extremely strange we thought...we found out why later. The tour on the speedboat was great, the boat was so narrow that we actually though that it would tip over at some point, also every time we hit the waves caused by someone elses boat we would go flying into the air and crash back down onto the water, which is not as refreshing as one may think as the water is murky/dirty/green - so our mouths stayed firmly shut as to not swallow anything. We were able to see all the huts on the water and inside them too, they were so bare, obviously these people just live with the necessities. I think its very admirable that people can live like that but I in no way envy it. Im afraid that the only time I will willingly give up luxuries is on this holiday, and even at that we haven't stayed anywhere that doesn't have hot water!

We got to the markets which were amazing, people including little old ladies rowing up and down the canals selling everything from hats to meat in their boats exchanging money over the water! Some of the canals were lined with shops that you could only get to by boat. We wandered around for about an hour or so before heading back to Bangkok. Just before we got on the bus we passed a stall selling plates with pictures on, and there we were staring back at ourselves beautifully posed on a plate: mouth open, eyes closed. We didn't buy it.

Our overnight bus left at about 5pm so we had about 3 hours to waste when we got back to Bangkok which we spent enjoying the fresh fruit juices we have come to love about Bangkok - whether the juice comes from a shop or a street stall, it is freshly made in front of you and it only costs about 30cents (Euro).

Unsurprisingly we were not looking forward to the bus journey as it was supposed to take 12 hours - little did we realise at the time that we would spend the first hour circling bangkok as the bus driver forgot to pick up two people, then he stopped every 20 minutes for a toilet stop! The only thing that kept us entertained was the two real 'darleen' Americans sitting behind us. The wife was moaning that she didn't realise the bus would be 'liyke thiiis', when the husband tried telling her its not as bad as that, she said 'ays baayad ays whaat?...Exayactly' - we couldn't do anything but laugh. The laughing stopped though when the two French people in front of us put their seats so far back their heads were in our laps. A little bit of consideration wouldn't have gone a miss there. The night went on and on and on but as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and thankfully we reached Chiang Mai.

Hopefully we will get better sleep tomorrow night.

Team Domro