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Normally when one undertakes a journey such as that which I am about to commence you would be in your twenties but that certainly is not the case with me and so the auld man is taking to the road. Many of you would know that my journey will take me through Northern Thailand, Laos, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan. Georgia and Turkey. A good part of the journey is along one of the  ancient Silk Roads. While I know physically where my journey will take me, the unknown is the most exciting part of this journey. Experiencing the different peoples, cultures, customs, climates, friendships, histories and scenery are a wonderful prospect. Many people have helped me to prepare for this journey through gifts, helpful suggestions, advice and support and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

 

Heathrow Airport 21st August 2015

While waiting to board my flight to Kuala Lumpur I started thinking about the genesis of this journey. The idea for this trip started 12 months ago when I was reading “The Silk Road” by Frances Wood. I was wondering if anyone still traveled the Silk Road and so I googled it. The company Odyssey Overland came up and a trip The Himalayas and The Silk Road is part of the adventure trips they provide. Having researched the itinerary together with the activities I decided that this was something I would love to do and this then prompted me to investigate my retirement options which I had been thinking about anyway. So I made the decision to retire and booked the trip last September.

Postscript to 21st August 2015

By coincidence yesterday the 21st was 3 years and 3 months since Margaret’s passing and somehow it seemed an appropriate day to be commencing this journey. Even though Margaret would never have agreed or taken part in any adventure such as this she will still be travelling on this journey in spirit. Some of the others traveling in spirit are my niece Becky, my father Johnny, my dear friend Bob Tublin from New Brunswick, New Jersey, my friend and next door neighbour Eugene Storan and not forgetting my father in law Phonsie. All of these would have enjoyed discussing this adventure and the details, planning, sites, peoples, histories, cultures, foods and customs.

The flight with Malaysian Airlines was 12 hours and 45 min which is the longest flight I have taken in 9 years and adding the 7 hours time difference means that I arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 8.10 this Saturday morning. The aircraft was the largest I have seen in a long long time.

Saturday 22nd August 2015

The flight from Heathrow airport was slightly late getting into Kuala Lumpur but I had no problem getting the connection to Bangkok. However when I got to Bangkok I discovered that my backpack was delayed but I was not the only one. On the flight I got chatting to a chap from Bhopal in India who was going to Thailand with some friends for a short holiday. This man was surprised that I knew about the Bhopal tradegy. The public taxi service at Bangkok international airport is very well organised. I am staying in a nice boutique hotel in a small side street

Sunday 23rd August continued

My backpack still had not turned up on Sunday morning but following a number of phone calls it transpires that the backpack had been delivered to another hotel with a similar name. It was delivered to me close to lunchtime . I had visions that it might be missing and trying to replace all my gear would have been horrendous.

While at reception I met with Anil Kashyap who is one of the Odyssey group and are sharing accommodation. Anil is 68 living in the U.S. and has been on some amazing journeys. We decided to visit the Bangkok National Museum. The Museum is situated in the Palace of the Front or Wang Na, was constructed in 1762 and was used at one time by the Thai Royal family. The buildings are exceptional, beautiful, housing treasures of many kinds and one was effectively a shrine to Buddha where you had to remove your shoes and hat. We spent hours going through the various buildings.

Sunday 23rd further update

On Sunday at 5.00 the expedition officially commenced and the traveling group came together for the first time. At present there are 15  members and the two guides from Odyssey. It is expected that a further member will join us in Chengdu, China. There are 6 from USA, 5 from Australia, 3 from UK but one is travelling on an Australian passport. And then there is the single Paddy. Each of the group gave a brief introduction of themselves and the guides outlined the details relating to the expedition. Much to my surprise the age bracket goes from 23 to 68 years and is more weighted towards the upper age. So I am still only a young fella. Group went for dinner and a few beers to start the getting to know you phase.

Monday 24th

Met up with Kent, Martha and Kelly at reception at 10.00 as we had decided to go to The Grand Palace. On the way we had an interesting encounter with a guy who appeared to be offering assistance but he was reeling us in to take a tour in his buddy’s tuk tuk. After a while it was obvious what was going on and we took off. The volume of people heading to The Grand Palace was incredible.

When we arrived I discovered that you are required to wear long leg trousers. Kelly offered me a sarong which she had and which I said I would wear but the guy at the gate said men had to wear trousers unless I was a boy (ladyboy) so that solved that problem. I went and procured the standard issue trousers.

The Grand Palace is a complex built in 1782 and consists of the royal residence, throne halls and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. In total there are 34 buildings and in some such as The Emerald Buddha you cannot take photos, also you must remove you shoes and hat. The complex is vast but it is a visually stunning, beautiful and colourful place. We walked through the complex taking in the sights, sounds, beauty of the architecture and Buddhas. The veneration for the Thai Royal Family and Buddha is very noticeable.

Monday 24th August continued

Went for lunch after visit and went back to hotel. That evening went out to go for dinner and came across other members of the group at Gecko Bar. Sat down for a drink and ended up staying and having a few beers and craic. The bar has an arrangement with a street stall across the road and we could order food from the stall and eat at the bar. The cost of food from the stalls would be less than 2 euros and the quality is great. The ingenuity of the people is extraordinary and to see freshly cooked food on the streets is a wonder. The atmosphere on the streets is uplifting and the Thai people are very friendly and accommodating. For me coming to Bangkok has been an eye opener.

Tuesday 25th August

Myself, Anil, Martha and Kelly decided that we would go to visit the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho. Anil suggested that we go by river taxi/ferry and we headed off to catch this ferry at a pier not to far away. We boarded ferry which was quite crowded as there were not only tourists but all Thai people who were going about their normal daily lives. People going to work, kids going to school and others going shopping. It was fascinating to see the activity on the river with boats going back and forth.

Disembarked from ferry at the Pier for Wat Pho which is the official Thai name for the site of the Reclining Buddha. This was another fascinating site and the reclining Buddha was a wonder to behold, 46 meters long and 15 meters high. Once again this is a complex with multiple buildings of extraordinary architectural beauty and incredible artwork. This was an enthralling site with new wonders in every building. But the Reclining Buddha is breathtaking. We spent a couple of hours walking through the complex and enjoying the unbelievable beauty that was all around us.

Anil suggested that we go for lunch at a restaurant which was recommended in a tourist brochure. On the way to the ferry we bought coconuts to drink the coconut water and brought them on board the ferry. We finished drinking before our stop and left the four coconuts on a shelf in the middle of the ferry. As we were going up the gangplank to leave the ferry I heard the conductress calling to us in Thai and laughingly holding one of the coconuts “what about your coconuts”. After lunch back to Erawan House to get organised for transfer to Bangkok Station.

I came to Bangkok with a certain amount of apprehension but I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit. Walking through the streets, visiting the wonderful sights, seeing the different markets, food stalls, and listening to the sounds was a wonderful experience making one feel alive. Walking through the streets one always gets a great insight into a country and its people but you need to see other parts of the country to get a complete picture.

Our group met at 4.15 to transfer to Bangkok Train Station and the journey to Chiang Mai. This turned out to be a unique experience on a 13 hour train journey overnight. When we boarded the train we were unable to store all the backpacks in the luggage spaces due the their size and we ended up propping some of them up on our seats. This presented an interesting situation when the bunks were made up and Kelly ended up sharing her bunk with my backpack as the lower bunks are much wider than the upper ones.

We were no sooner settled than the waitress moved through the carriage taking orders for dinner at 8 pm and breakfast in the morning at 6 am. The bunks were made up after dinner and we all settled down shortly after but I was still awake at midnight as this was the noisiest bumpiest night I ever spent. There was no need to worry about being kept awake by snoring.

Wednesday 26th August

Up before 6 am to have breakfast and get organised for arrival at Chiang Mai station. The efficiency of the operations on the train in terms of meals and organising the bunks was good and the staff were friendly and entertaining.

Piled all luggage and ourselves into 2 Tuk Tuks. Tuk Tuks are effectively flat bed small trucks with seating for about 10 and a cover over the seats. Everywhere you go in Bangkok and Chiang Mai You hear the sweet refrain from drivers “Tuk Tuk”. We transferred to our Hotel which was called “Tri Gong” and again was located on a quiet small street but was within walking distance of many of the sites and places of interest.

Once we got booked in and organised myself, Anil and Kent decided to visit Wat Phan Tao which is an extraordinary site and the location of a wonderful teak Temple. This is also the site of a temple monument from the 1400’s. One of the interesting aspects of this Temple is that it is  a functioning monastery with a school for young monks.

At this site there was a long yellow cloth on which you could place a personal message and this would be carried by the young Monks as part of a ceremony of remembrance. As I was there I wrote a message.

One strange sign we came across on our walk through the site was one saying Women not permitted at the entrance to one of the Temples. This is very unusual and I did not come across any other such sign. We could not find out the reason for this peculiar exclusion. Also met a nice Spanish family from Barcelona and had an interesting chat with them. There seems to be a considerable number of Spanish tourists in Chiang Mai and there is even a tourist information centre providing service in Spanish.

Following our visit Anil suggested that we go visit the Irish Pub as he would like to have a pint of Guinness. This pub is known as the UN Irish Pub and this is due to the fact that various nationalities had run this watering hole. Not necessarily being a fan of the Irish Pub abroad but as there was one in Chiang Mai I felt that I should pay a visit. We met Kelly, Joanne and Martha there and both myself and Anil had pints. It has been a long while since I have had a pint of Guinness and I enjoyed it

That evening we headed to the Night Markets which are an incredible mixture of foods, clothes and and other general items. They are teeming with people and it is difficult to walk the footpaths. We had dinner in an area within the markets which John one of our group knew from a previous visit. I had a soup type dish, Chicken with Lemongrass and steamed rice. The food was very good and the cost very reasonable at 200 Baht which is slightly less than 6 U.S. Dollars.

Thursday 27th Chiang Mai

Myself, Anil, Joanne, Ed, Kath, Peter, John, Izzie, and Rob Todd had booked ourselves on a trip to go zip lining in Amphoe Doi Soket with the Dragon Flight Company. We had an early start with pickup at 7.00 am. We were collected by minibus and transported outside the City up into the hills and forest. This company had a good setup and lockers were provided for our valuables.

Kitted out with harness and helmet we were then transported further up into the forest and walked along a forest path to the first platform. Two guides accompany the group and one always zip lines to the next platform first. The first line was short obviously to give us a chance to become comfortable with traveling across open space sometimes a 100 feet above the forest floor.

So to the first platform and the feeling of apprehension as you set out on the line flying through the air and you reach the other side with relief. After 3 or 4 lines you begin to enjoy the thrill. After the first line Peter decided that he could not continue and had to go back. This was the right decision as the lines became longer and there were also 2 abseiling lines towards the end.

In all there were 49 platforms and the location in the forest is 1300 meters above sea level. There is a different kind of thrill associated with the abseiling and it requires a leap of faith as you launch yourself off the platform. The complete trail takes approximately two and a half hours. This was a beautiful location and you are climbing higher up into the forest canopy for a period as you go from platform to platform. Throughout the for there are coffee trees planted by farmers who harvest the Arabica beans. We had lunch before we were transported back to the hotel.

Afternoon

In the afternoon four of us, myself, Anil, Joanne and Ed decided to go to the Temple called  Wat Prathat which is located at Doi Suthep on a mountain outside the city. Talking to some of the girls who had been there in the morning. We then set out to find a Tuk Tuk to take us on the 30 minutes drive up to the Temple. We negotiated a fee of 500 Baht (just over 14 dollars between four) to take us to the temple, wait for an hour and transport us back. Our Tuk Tuk driver did not like to be overtaken and as we wended our way up the mountain he wandered back and forth cutting off drivers who were trying to overtake us.

When we arrived at the location we took the lift up to the temple as it was a couple of hundred feet above the parking area and our time was limited. Once again this was a beautiful site. Quite a large sum of monetary offerings are left at various points throughout the Temple. Also within the Temple buildings there was a Monk who blessed people who came to pray before him. Also saw two plaques relating to one particular family who had made donations of 10,000 and 20,000 U.S. dollars. We walked back down the 360 steps. On the way back down the mountain I reckon that our driver covered half the distance traveled going up as he cut every corner on the way down and did not let anyone pass him. Then when we arrived back to the city our driver dropped us on the wrong side of the canal so that it took us a while to get our bearings and find our way back to the Tri Gong Hotel.

Evening

In the evening the whole group went to the Riverside Restaurant which was a nice restaurant but the music for me was very loud. I had a most lovely dish of fried rice with Pineapple, Chicken and Seafood. The dish was served in half a Pineapple which had been scooped out. It was unusual and colourful. Walked back through the streets which are a hive of activity with vibrant night markets, bars with music and girls who say hello as we pass.

Friday 28th Chiang Mai

Whitewater Rafting today with Anil, Joanne and Ed. The site is one and a half hours away from the city in the mountains and we were picked up at 10.30 in a minibus in which there were 6 girls, 4 from Taiwan and 2 English girls. The 2 English girls had just finished their primary degrees and were spending 7 weeks traveling in Asia before returning home for further study.

On the way we stopped at a garage and I had the pleasure of using the most scenic urinals I have ever had the pleasure of using.

The drive up to the rafting location was very interesting and you could see that large section of the mountain and forest were given over to activities such as Elephant rides and other associated with the elephants, trekking, quad biking, and zip lining.  When we reached the site we had lunch surrounded by chickens.

Following lunch we were transported 10 kilometres further up the river to the start of the White water section of the river where we were kitted out with flotation vests and helmets. We were then given safety instructions and advised of the commands. There were 4 inflatables with 4 passengers and 1 Thai captain.

This was another unique experience, floating and rowing down the river was a lovely feeling. There were 13 Rapids, some long, some short, some hard, some easy, some drops of a couple of meters. We struck rocks head on, got stuck on rocks, collided with other boats but no one fell out of the boat. It took over 2 hours to travel down the 10 kilometres of water and you get a great rush from some of the rapids.

We were delivered back to the Tri Gong Hotel at 5.30. That evening went along to the night market for food and we went to a food area in a different part of the market. I had Pad Tai with seafood which cost only 60 Baht. There are all different sorts of foods in this area and it is all at an extremely reasonable cost. Once again walked back through the streets and all the nighttime activity.

Saturday 29 August Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai and on to Chiang Khong 

Today we move on to Chiang Khong with a stop to visit the White WAt at Chiang Rai on the way. We are traveling in 3 Minibuses, 1 for the luggage and 2 for ourselves. I had woken up in the night as something I ate (probably the seafood) did not agree with me and I spent a bit of time in the think tank pondering life. so I was a bit apprehensive as we were going to be travelling all day but thankfully I survived and had recovered by evening. Of course I got the usual jokes about putting a cork in it.

So we set out on the road to Chiang Rai and as soon as we got outside the city our drivers put the foot to the floor. This was the most dangerous driving I have ever seen or experienced. The drivers were overtaking on bends, hills, on the wrong side of the road forcing other drivers to give way or pulling in sharply in front of the drivers ahead of us and cutting the corners. We endured 2 hours of hair raising travel, my ponytail even stood up but when we reached the White Wat (Ban Lao) the 3 drivers were given an earful about the quality of the driving and that it had to improve.

The White Wat is a most dazzling, mind blowing site as nearly everything is white silver and shining glass. This is definitely the most unusual temple we have seen to date with all sorts of strange sculptures, demonic images,sculptures of hands as though reaching out to be rescued. One scene has a bottle of whiskey on a demon’s head – the demon drink I suppose.  In the main Temple there was an artist painting one of the walls and including characters such as Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine, Elvis, and Michael Jackson. Another of the interesting aspects of this Temple were the golden toilets. Discussing various bathroom facilities will become a daily topic on this trip and animated and graphic conversations will arise from time to time.

We spent approximately two hours at this site and it was dazzling not only from a visual perspective but also from a mental perspective as the person who conceived this project had to have a brilliant mind to conceive the embryo and then bring this to life. In some respects it would remind one of the Gaudi cathedral in Barcelona.

Back on the buses as we need to travel for another two hours to get to Chiang Khong where we are spending the night. The driving had improved immensely and we had an incident free journey to Chiang Khong. Along the way there we pass considerable flat areas given over to rice cultivation. Our accommodation for the night is the Nam Khong Riverside Hotel which stands on the banks of the Mekong River and looks across into Laos our next destination. This was a lovely hotel and we have balconies looking out over the Mekong River. I sit and sip a whiskey with Rob and Maree as we discuss various topics about Ireland and Australia.

I am so excited to be on the banks of the Mekong as I remember it from news reports on the Vietnam war and it is so lovely to see it in peaceful times.

As we leave Thailand my thoughts are that the Thai people are generally friendly, willing to help, industrious, ingenious with motorbikes and their attachments which are little stalls, kitchens, restaurants, shops, and goods transport. You see people traveling along on their motorbikes with large parasols shading the bike and they also use the bikes as transport for the family with three or even four on a bike. Chiang Khong was a lovely, peaceful place to finish our sojourn in Thailand .